‘I’m not sure whether you made his day or ruined it. Let’s have a look at what else is in that pile of stuff…’
Phoebe had thrown herself into the morning’s duties and hadn’t said a word to Midnight or anyone else about what had happened between her and Jack the night before. She had tried desperately not to dwell on it herself, let alone discuss it with anyone. This new job was too important and she couldn’t get distracted. But as they pondered this outfit and that scenario, it seemed that Midnight knew something was amiss. Every so often she threw Phoebe a puzzled glance, as if trying to fathom what was out of place.
‘What?’ Phoebe asked finally.
‘Nothing…’
‘Then what’s the matter?’
‘I could ask you the same thing.’
‘There’s nothing the matter with me… I’ve just got a lot to do this morning.’
She was saved further interrogation by Steve bursting into the staffroom.
‘Shop opened fifteen minutes ago and I seem to be down one checkout operator.’
‘Have you checked under the desk?’ Midnight said.
‘Very bloody funny. Are you going to stay up here all day parading around in that ridiculous get-up?’
‘Not all day, no. Perhaps all morning…’
Steve’s mouth worked but no sound came out. Either that, or in his rage his voice had gone so high that only dogs could hear it.
‘She’s helping me…’ Phoebe cut in. ‘I hope you don’t mind… I did clear it with Mr Hendry.’
She had done nothing of the sort, not officially anyway, but she hoped the conversation she’d had with him the day before would be a kind of permission. The fact was that Midnight had got so excited by the idea of being able to dress up at work that she had turned up with her entire wardrobe before Phoebe had even had a chance to get the proposals on paper and approved by Dixon or Mr Hendry. But Steve didn’t need to know that and she didn’t want to get Midnight in trouble.
Steve stared at her. She could almost see the cogs working. It must have pained him immensely to utter his eventual reply.
‘I see… In that case can I have my checkout operator back ASAP?’
‘As soon as we’re finished. I’ll be as quick as I can.’
As soon as the door to the staffroom swung closed and Steve was gone, Midnight snorted. ‘Did you see his face?’
‘You’d better be careful,’ Phoebe warned. ‘You’re not bullet proof, you know.’
‘I don’t need to be. Steve’s gun isn’t even loaded.’
‘Just watch it, that’s all I’m saying. You can only push him so far before he goes higher with his complaints and then you’ll be on disciplinary.’
‘That’s where you’re wrong.’ Midnight flashed a grin. ‘He’ll never go higher because that would mean him admitting he can’t control his staff which would mean he has failed.’ She grabbed the basque and pants from Phoebe’s arms. ‘So let’s have some fun and get these photos done.’
Out of sheer habit, Phoebe reached into her pocket and checked her phone as Midnight reapplied her lipstick. Usually, there would be a message by now from Jack – something silly and unimportant to do with the weather or a new cake recipe he’d found online – his way of letting her know he was thinking about her. But today, there was nothing. Was he really angry about last night? She knew she hadn’t done anything wrong, unless you could consider trying to help wrong. She had thought about calling him first thing and apologising, but kept coming up with reasons why she shouldn’t: he would be taking Maria to school, he would be working, he might be on the landline to a client. What she found hard to admit to herself was that she was plain afraid to call him. She was afraid that she would be rejected again, as she had been the night before.
‘Ready?’ Midnight asked. ‘Shall we do Cat Woman first and then try out some of the others?’
Phoebe shook herself. ‘Yeah, sounds good.’
*
On the pavement outside the store, Midnight’s unabashed performance was drawing a small crowd and they’d hardly begun. It seemed that Millrise on a Tuesday morning was bored and ready for action, which Midnight was only too happy to provide. As the morning sun shone kindly down on them, Phoebe snapped away as her friend twisted her body into a series of increasingly theatrical poses. She was clearly loving every minute of it.
‘Right…’ Phoebe said, ‘I think we’ve got enough of that outfit. You want to go and change?’
‘You wait here; I’ll be back in a minute.’
Phoebe nodded. One or two women with children watched and she wandered over to them as Midnight disappeared into the store. ‘Do you like superheroes?’ she asked one of the boys. He looked about Maria’s age, maybe younger, and he smiled shyly at her.
‘He loves The Hulk,’ the woman with him said. ‘Don’t you, Nathan?’
‘That’s cool,’ Phoebe replied. ‘We should get him in to do a visit. Would you come to see him if we did?’
The boy nodded, a small smile appearing on his face.
‘Brilliant,’ Phoebe said. She turned to the woman. ‘It’s good to get ideas from our customers.’ She glanced up at Hendry’s majestic store frontage and then back again. ‘Do you shop here?’
‘Sometimes,’ the woman said. ‘We mostly go where there are offers.’
‘Right… but if we had events on… say, story times, superhero events… would you come to those with your children?’
‘I’m all for anything to entertain them,’ she said. ‘There’re only so many times you can watch children’s television and look at the ducks in the park before it starts to melt your brain.’
‘I was hoping you’d say that.’ She looked at the little boy. ‘So maybe we’ll see you in the store soon?’
‘Absolutely,’ the woman replied. ‘Will you be advertising when you do these events?’
‘I expect so. Do you use social media?’
She nodded.
‘We’re just putting a new Facebook page together. If you like us on there you’ll get the details of anything coming up in plenty of time.’
‘I’ll do that,’ the woman said. She tugged on her little boy’s hand and led him, still staring at Phoebe, up the high street.
Phoebe suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun around to see Adam Hendry behind her.
‘Oh!’ she cried, the exclamation more violent than she would have liked.
‘Nice to see you charming the population of Millrise,’ he said.
‘I was just… you know… getting a feel for what people want.’
‘I heard. Very well handled.’
Phoebe blushed. She really wished she could stop doing that in front of him all the time. Jack would have laughed and kissed her, but she didn’t imagine it had quite the same effect on the future boss of Hendry’s. She glanced behind him.
‘I’m on my own today,’ he said, seeming to read her thoughts. ‘My father has important business to attend to in Edinburgh.’
Phoebe was relieved. One Hendry was quite enough to contend with. ‘Have you come to see someone in particular?’
‘Perhaps,’ he replied.
Phoebe blinked. Terrifying and cryptic. She gave a silent prayer that Midnight would come back soon and save her from any more of this excruciating conversation. Now that would be a superhero deed.
‘What are you doing out here?’ he asked, nodding his head at the camera in Phoebe’s hand. ‘I take it you’re not just hobnobbing with the public.’
‘Photos.’
‘Of the store?’
‘For the cosplay ideas we talked about. To illustrate our proposals for Mr Hendry.’
‘Which Mr Hendry?’
Ok… terrifying, cryptic and facetious. Where the hell was Midnight? Phoebe forced a smile. ‘Dixon is just putting some marketing figures together if you wanted to go up and take a look.’
‘I think I’ll stay down here and watch what you’re up to, if it’s all the same to you.’
&n
bsp; ‘It’s just silly messing about really…’ As soon as she said it she blushed again. He raised his eyebrows. ‘I mean… I didn’t mean I was messing about… I am working of course… I meant that Dixon is taking care of the cold, hard business facts and I’m doing the creative stuff…’
‘I’m interested in the creative stuff. Four years doing an advanced business degree means I already know the rest. Show me something I don’t know… impress me.’
What she wanted to do right now was shove his head in a bin and see how much that impressed him; he was making her morning very difficult and it had been bad enough to start with. She glanced at the shop entrance again. She had never been so desperate to see Midnight.
‘I think my model might have got waylaid. You won’t want to be waiting out here for her all morning.’
‘I don’t mind.’
‘But she might be quite a while. Especially if she’s been grabbed by her line manager to do something on the shop floor for him.’
‘Who is her line manager?’
‘Steve Thomas.’
‘Hmmm,’ he was thoughtful for a moment. ‘Ah, yes. Why don’t you go and have a word with him while I wait here?’
‘I doubt he’d do me any favours,’ Phoebe said, instantly regretting her reply. It sounded as though she was slagging him off and she hadn’t meant to.
Adam’s gaze was now fixed on her in that same way it had been up in Dixon’s office the day before – just a little too intense for her liking. ‘You mean there is someone in this company who can say no to you?’
‘Apparently,’ Phoebe laughed self-consciously, unsure of the true meaning behind his comment.
‘I find that hard to believe…’ He gave her that look again. She had never understood the phrase undressing with his eyes until now. It was deeply unnerving… and weirdly a little bit sexy… if you lumped dangerous and sexy together… which Phoebe did not of course…
‘Perhaps we can show you the photos later when we get Dixon’s approval.’ Phoebe stumbled over her words. He was having a strange effect on her and she had to get rid of him before she said something really stupid. And something more stupid than all the stupid things she’d already said would be very stupid indeed.
‘You really don’t want me to hang around, do you?’
‘It’s not that… it’s…’
Phoebe’s awkward reply was saved by the appearance of Midnight, her breasts barely contained by her red-and-gold satin basque, teamed with the blue satin pants, huge shiny platform boots and a long black wig. She had ramped up the make-up and now had massive red lips that looked like two mutant strawberries having a fight.
‘Wonder Woman…’ she sang (if wailing like a castrated cat could be categorised as singing in any way) as she leapt from the entrance of the store and whizzed around. ‘What do you think?’ She stopped dead in her tracks as she saw who was standing next to Phoebe. If even Midnight was thrown by his presence, then Phoebe reasoned that he must provoke a strange sort of reaction in everyone and she was thankful that it wasn’t just her.
‘Very creative…’ he said smoothly. ‘And which demographic, exactly, is this campaign aimed at?’
‘The cosplay market…’ Phoebe said uncertainly.
‘I think teenaged boys might rather enjoy it too. Although I suspect they’d have very different reasons for that.’
‘I… erm…’
‘Well, I think I’ve seen enough creativity for one day.’ He checked his watch and then looked at Phoebe. ‘I look forward to catching up later for those photos.’ Without waiting for her reply, he strode off in the direction of the shop entrance and disappeared through the doors.
‘What the hell?’ Midnight whispered as they watched him go.
‘I know… where were you? I was on my arse out here!’
‘On your arse? The way he was looking at you I think he would have liked to have been on your arse.’
Phoebe glared at her. ‘Shut up!’
‘What? I’m just saying. I look forward to catching up later for those photos…’ Midnight mimicked. ‘And I might just get my cock out and rub it on your face…’ she added.
‘MIDNIGHT!’ Phoebe cried. ‘That’s so disgusting!’
‘But true.’
‘Not true one bit. Are we going to get these photos done or what?’
‘Yes… Mrs Hendry…’
‘Shut up!’
‘Adam and Phoebe sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G…’
‘That’s it! Either you stop making idiotic comments or I go and hand you back to Steve.’
Midnight grinned. ‘You wouldn’t.’
‘Behave then,’ Phoebe replied, her face burning.
‘Right…’ Midnight placed one booted foot on the base of one of the Corinthian style pillars that marked the entrance to the store, pouting and thrusting her chest out as she did. ‘You must be a bit flattered though… I mean, he’s really hot.’
Phoebe put her camera to her face and started to click. ‘There’s nothing to be flattered about. Besides, I have a boyfriend.’ Phoebe’s mind went back to her phone. More than anything right now, she needed a text from Jack. But she couldn’t look, because she didn’t know what it would do to her mood if she found there was still nothing. She lowered the camera. ‘Maybe you should get changed into something slightly more action girl and less seen too much action girl?’
‘Lara Croft?’
‘Too dated for our younger audience.’
‘Black Widow?’
‘Could work.’
Midnight raced off towards the entrance. Phoebe perched on one of the bases of the pillars and pulled her phone out yet again.
Nothing. What was wrong with Jack? Of all days, why had he picked today to be silent and unforgiving? Were they having their first row? She hadn’t done anything wrong. Had she? If she could have done, she would have raced over and thrown herself into his arms; she just wanted to know that they were still alright. But right now, it felt like there was an invisible barrier between them. Something had shifted in their relationship – silently, imperceptibly, but definitely, nonetheless. And Phoebe was afraid that they might never go back to what they’d had.
***
PART 2: JUST LIKE REBECCA
‘Who, here, has ever been eaten by a troll?’
Every kid sitting on the carpet giggled. Some shuddered, their laughter slightly more nervous. The space in which they sat was decorated specially for the event and there was separate seating for the parents, most of whom were absently flicking through magazines, grinning at phones or hugging take-out coffee cups – all clearly relieved to have an hour more or less to themselves. Brightly-coloured pictures depicting various stories drawn by the groups that had gone before decorated one wall. Another wall had a giant fairy-tale frieze populated by the best-known characters. Lanterns and piñatas hung from the ceiling along with paper butterflies, aeroplanes and pterodactyls. It was an eclectic space that she was sure most people would hate in their homes, but Phoebe was proud of what she and her little team of helpers had achieved. She was also immensely proud of the business she had pulled in to Hendry’s toy store over just a few short weeks.
She stood at the back of the room now, leaning against a post, watching the story unfold with almost as much enthusiasm as the children. It had taken some persuasion for nineteen-year-old Melissa Brassington, a shy but obviously creative girl, to finally have a go at the story hour, but now that she’d done them for a week, Phoebe could see she was a natural and was pleased she’d agreed in the end. Midnight had begged to do it, of course, but Phoebe was afraid that left to her own devices, she would terrorise the children with an ad lib version of Little Red Riding Hood that involved chainsaws, bondage gear and cannibalism. Melissa, however – sweet, lovely and barely older than most of the children she was reading to – was a much safer bet. The kids loved her and she seemed to enjoy interacting with them now that she had got used to it.
‘If you’ve ever been eaten
by a troll,’ Melissa continued in a spooky voice, ‘you’ll know that it’s awful slimy in there…’
One boy’s hand shot up. ‘How can you stay alive if you’ve been eaten?’
‘Ah… that’s a good question…’ Melissa smiled. ‘And I’m about to tell you the answer…’
A low voice sounded in Phoebe’s ear. ‘Going well, isn’t it?’
Phoebe spun round to see Adam Hendry standing close. Far too close. He seemed to be everywhere she turned these days. If he wasn’t some day destined to be her boss she’d be having some serious conversations with him about personal space.
‘Melissa’s great,’ Phoebe agreed.
‘I don’t know why you’re not reading the stories.’
‘Oh no…’ Phoebe shook her head vigorously. ‘I’m no good at that sort of stuff.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘Surely it’s just like giving a presentation?’
‘Have you seen any of my presentations?’
‘Yes. I do believe I’ve seen something you presented with Dixon last week.’
‘Then you’ll understand why I don’t do story time.’
He gave a low chuckle.
‘Was there something you wanted me for?’ Phoebe asked.
‘I just came to watch the entertainment.’
‘Right…’ From across the room, Phoebe saw a familiar figure waving at her. She straightened up and gave a tiny wave back, before holding her hand up in a gesture that told her visitor to wait where he was. ‘Would you excuse me? It’s time for my lunch break and I’m meeting someone.’
Adam nodded shortly. Phoebe hurried off without waiting for a reply. Jack greeted her with a quick kiss on the cheek. He smelt of shower gel and fresh air, his blue eyes smiling.
‘This is good,’ he said.
‘Isn’t it?’ Phoebe smiled. ‘But I think I might get used to you taking me out to lunch on a work day. It will certainly break the week up a little.’
‘I know. I’m sorry I’m always so busy.’
‘Don’t be. If you’d been working out of town you wouldn’t have been able to anyway. I’m happy to get you when I can.’
Aren’t you sick of the sight of me by now?’
Mishaps in Millrise: Parts 1-4 in one book – plus a little extra… Page 9
