Phoebe smiled. ‘Your prince is out there, there’s no doubt about that.’
‘I don’t want a prince. I want a hot rock god with a penis the size of a Boeing 747.’
Phoebe erupted into a fit of giggles that quickly gave way to a coughing fit. Once she had composed herself again, she threw her arms around Midnight and gave her a hug.
‘Steady on,’ Midnight grinned. ‘You don’t want to get too close, I haven’t made up my mind about whether I like girls too, yet, and there’s no telling where it might lead.’
‘I just love you. I’m so glad you’re okay with the dress shopping.’
‘What did you end up with?’
‘Something quite traditional and white. You’ll find it terribly boring.’
‘Probably.’
‘It’s got a gorgeous blood red trim, though, to spice things up. I thought, you know, with it being a winter wedding it would be good. And I’ve got an adorable little hooded cape with a fur trim to go with it and keep me warm.’
‘Not real fur I hope.’
‘Don’t worry, it’s fake. And no tiny nylon nymphs were harmed in the making of it.’
‘Is the dress huge?’
‘No, it’s pretty sleek actually. I thought my bump didn’t need making any bigger.’
‘You’re probably right,’ Midnight said, not bothering to offer the usual platitudes. ‘You do realise I had to turn down a lot of awesome New Year parties to come to this wedding?’
‘Jack and I really appreciate it. We’ll make sure we still sing Auld Lang Syne especially for you when the clock strikes twelve.’
‘I’ll be too pissed to care by then.’
‘I’m so excited now I can hardly wait two more months.’
‘Three, really. At least you’ll have finished work by then.’
‘Yeah, I just hope I can get everything straight here before I go.’
‘Don’t sweat it, you’ve got me. So, you’re glad you said yes to Mr Stalker after all?’
‘I am. I can’t believe I ever thought about saying no.’
‘I think you had a pretty good excuse at the time.’
‘I suppose.’
Midnight dragged a box from a shelf and blew a layer of dust from the top. There was a lot of jangling and tinkling and what sounded suspiciously like breaking glass as she let it drop to the floor. Phoebe tried not to wince as Midnight bent to open it. ‘Is the boy wonder still behaving?’
‘Archie?’
‘Yeah, him.’
‘I think so. It all seems to be quiet on that front. Jack says that he’s going to his gambler’s support group.’
‘He’s going or he says he’s going? There is a difference.’
‘I think Jack’s dad drives him there and waits for him to come out, so I’m pretty sure he’s going. How much good it’s doing is anyone’s guess. He’s still a massive pain in the arse at times, especially when he turns up at all hours without letting us know first, but I’m just grateful he’s not asking us if he can move in again.’
Midnight held up a string of bedraggled tinsel and raised her eyebrows. ‘I think you may have a point about these decorations.’
‘I know, but I do wonder whether we’ll be allowed the budget to change them all.’
‘Now that Adam’s not your best friend anymore?’
Phoebe glanced around and lowered her voice. If he was eavesdropping somewhere out of sight it wouldn’t be the first time. ‘Exactly.’
‘I wouldn’t stress about it,’ Midnight returned, her voice at its usual indiscreet volume, ‘I heard he’s dating someone from the Echo.’
‘He is? How do you hear all this stuff?’
‘Stav. Why else do you think I walk there for my dinner every day? It’s not for the exercise, I can tell you.’
‘Who is she?’ Phoebe asked, unable to name the strange emotion that was pulling at her. Was it just the tiniest smack of jealousy?
Midnight shrugged. ‘I think she’s head of advertising or something. She bumped into him with a coffee and tipped it all over him. I guess he must find that attractive because she came away from the scene of the crime with his phone number. Lucky cow. If I’d known that was all it took I’d have done it months ago.’
Phoebe smiled. ‘Good for him. I’m glad he’s not dating the daughter of a Lord something-or-other.’
‘What does it matter to you?’
‘It doesn’t. But I think, underneath that posh and scary boss veneer, he might secretly want to be a pleb, just like us.’
‘We certainly have more fun,’ Midnight agreed as she clamped a faded Santa hat on her head. ‘So, you don’t regret missing your chance when you had it?’
Phoebe pondered the question. There had been the briefest moment when she had almost imagined that she did fancy Adam Hendry. But it would never have lasted. She had been right to fight for Jack and put Adam firmly out of her mind, she was certain of that now. She had never been more certain of anything.
All day Phoebe had wondered how on earth it was that people still needed to buy toys. It was Christmas Eve, and surely if they hadn’t already got what they needed it was time to give up. Janitor Jeff had been kept busy in the grotto too, with hopeful last-minute requests from those kids still naïve enough to believe that Santa could manufacture and deliver their gifts in less than twenty-four hours, and had realised a glaring omission from their already never-ending list of gift demands.
Thank goodness for a Christmas Eve early close, Phoebe thought to herself as she wandered the heaving shop floor. Really, there was very little for her to do today, with most promotions already nearing their end or set up for the New Year, and everyone kept telling her she should have made the most of the option to end work before today. But she had wanted to be there regardless. Now she wondered why – she was exhausted just looking at how busy everything was. By the time four o’clock came, she was positively looking forward to the moment she had been dreading up to then – finishing work for her maternity leave.
As Steve locked the door behind the last customer, Phoebe was already making her own way to the exit, shrugging her coat on.
‘Hey, where do you think you’re going?’ Midnight called across the shop floor as she hurried towards her.
‘Home.’ Phoebe had said her goodbyes throughout the day as she crossed paths with all the people she knew, and that had been emotional enough. She had decided to avoid further trauma by slipping quietly out while no one was looking. It seemed that Midnight had other ideas.
‘No you don’t, Clements. You need to come back up to the staffroom and say a proper goodbye to everyone.’
‘Midnight… I’ve said goodbye and no one is going to care that much anyway. It’s Christmas Eve and people want to go home too, they don’t want some weeping pregnant woman stopping them from getting to their eggnog. Besides, Jack is waiting to pick me up and it’s freezing out there. I don’t want to keep him longer than I have to.’
‘Ten minutes. He won’t get hypothermia. I have something for you so you need to come up with me. We can take the lift if your bump is wearing you out.’
Phoebe sighed. ‘Okay, ten minutes.’ While it was sweet of Midnight to make a fuss, it wasn’t like she wouldn’t have another opportunity to see her before the baby was born. In fact, she had a feeling she’d be seeing Midnight a lot.
Phoebe started towards the stairs.
‘No, you can’t.’ Midnight grabbed Phoebe’s arm and began to steer her towards the rickety trade lift. It wasn’t a contraption that Phoebe was particularly fond of and she usually avoided it for fear it would break down with her inside. Today, that fear was doubled by the knowledge that if it broke down with her inside in her current state there would be a puddle of wee on the floor within half an hour, because that was just about how long she lasted these days before she needed to go.
‘Do we have to?’ she groaned.
‘Humour me, okay?’ Midnight almost shoved Phoebe through the doors as they slid
open before punching the button for their floor with such force that Phoebe wondered if she might put a hole in the control panel. It seemed safest not to mention it; Midnight actually seemed rather agitated about the whole business, as if taking Phoebe up to the staffroom was a chore.
‘You know it’s really lovely that you have a gift for me but if it’s a hassle you can give it to me after Christmas,’ Phoebe said.
‘It’s no hassle.’ Midnight drummed on the control panel with her fingers as she leaned against the wall.
‘Maybe I’ll text Jack, just to let him know I’ll be a few more minutes,’ Phoebe said. She rifled in her bag for her phone just as the lift stopped with a jerk.
Phoebe looked up sharply. ‘Don’t tell me it’s broken down…’
‘Looks like it,’ Midnight said, now seeming far more relaxed despite their current predicament. If Phoebe hadn’t known better she’d have thought Midnight was actually pleased the lift had broken down.
‘What are we going to do?’
‘Don’t stress, someone will come and get us in a minute.’
‘Have you even pressed the help button?’
‘Oh, yeah…’ Midnight gave the button a whack and then leaned against the wall again.
‘I hope everyone hasn’t gone home for Christmas. What if there are no engineers to come and rescue us?’ Phoebe could feel her chest tightening. She reached into her bag for her inhaler and took a puff.
‘That’s not going to happen. Steve has to check the lift before he locks up for the holiday and he’s such a jobsworth about everything that there is no way he won’t. Someone will come for us.’
‘But how long will they take?’
‘I don’t know. You’ve got your mobile – phone someone.’
Phoebe lifted up her phone. ‘Actually, the signal is crap in here. I don’t know whether I’ll get through but I’ll try.’ She dialled a number and put the phone to her ear. ‘No reply from Dixon,’ she said after a few moments. ‘I don’t have Steve’s number or Jeff’s.’
‘You’ll have to try Jack and see if he can get security to open the doors for him.’
‘Right…’ Phoebe dialled again. ‘No reply from Jack either. Shit, this is not good.’
Midnight shifted position slightly, so that the control panel was behind her. Was that a grin Phoebe could see her trying to hide?
Phoebe narrowed her eyes. ‘Are you doing this on purpose?’
‘Why would I do that? I know you get baby brain or whatever but even you can’t be stupid enough to think I’d trap us in a lift on Christmas Eve deliberately.’
No sooner had she said this than the lift groaned into life. Phoebe frowned at Midnight as it clanked its way to their floor, but Midnight merely shrugged. ‘Well, that was lucky, wasn’t it?’
Then the lift ground to a halt and the doors juddered open far more stubbornly than Phoebe was comfortable with. The feeling of relief that washed over her was almost palpable – even if Midnight, for reasons best known to herself, had stopped the lift on purpose, Phoebe had still not enjoyed the idea of being trapped.
‘Come on,’ Midnight said cheerfully.
Valerie Cox was at the staffroom door as they reached it. She looked red and very out of breath.
‘Oh,’ she said, glancing at Phoebe and then at Midnight.
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Midnight grinned. ‘She’ll have guessed by now anyway.’
‘Who will have guessed what?’ Phoebe asked, but as Valerie pushed open the door, Phoebe didn’t need to ask any more. As far as she could see, the entire staff of Hendry’s had stayed behind to give her a proper send-off and were now squashed into a room that was far too small to hold them comfortably.
‘SURPRISE!’ everyone shouted before a wave of laughter rolled around the room.
‘What…?’ Phoebe stared at them.
‘Bloody hell,’ Midnight said, ‘you’re very hard to get somewhere when you don’t want to go. Not to mention the fuss you make about being in a lift for ten minutes. Anyone would think you wanted to ruin the surprise.’
‘You did stop the lift, you cow!’ Phoebe grinned. ‘Come to think of it, the shop floor was very quiet when I was leaving too. I wondered why there wasn’t a stampede for the exits.’ Her gaze ran over the crowd again, struggling to take in the fact that everyone had waited behind on Christmas Eve just for her.
Then Jack stepped out from behind Dixon. ‘Hey…’ He smiled.
‘Jack! How did you…?’
‘I had to sneak him in through the back doors before I fetched you,’ Midnight said, looking rather smug about her subterfuge. ‘It wasn’t easy, I can tell you.’
Phoebe beamed at them both. ‘I can’t believe all this is for me.’
‘Well, there’s booze…’ Midnight waved a hand in the direction of a table groaning with bottles of beer, alcopops and various spirits. ‘That’s clearly not for you. There may be one or two foodstuffs you can eat but mostly we bought the stuff you’re always banging on about not being able to eat – you know, soft cheese, raw eggs, peanuts – so mostly that’s not for you either. I was all for a fag table but Dixon shot me down. The breast pump and the lady nappies wrapped up in the gift pile over there… they’re all yours, baby.’
Phoebe let out a snort of laughter. ‘Wow, I’m so spoilt.’
Dixon took Phoebe by the arm and led her to the centre of the gathering. ‘I want to say a few words, and then we can all get stuck into the party food.’
‘Hurrah!’ Jeff shouted, his eye already on the more potent beverages.
‘I know I speak for us all, Phoebe,’ Dixon continued, ‘when I say that you mean a great deal to us here at Hendry’s…’
Phoebe could feel the heat rushing to her face. She was really hoping Dixon wouldn’t get too carried away with his speech. She didn’t deal with public praise or sentimentality well and she’d either start nervous and uncontrollable giggling that made her look like a simpleton, or she’d start weeping. Either way it would be a seriously disturbing sight.
Dixon turned to the gathering. ‘Personally, Phoebe has been like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. She shook my working life up and made it fun again. Her hard work and commitment to our store has never faltered, even when she wasn’t having the greatest day herself. She never complains, never shirks, and always does her best. I’m sure you’ll all agree when I say she’s a considerate colleague and fun to be around…’ He turned back to Phoebe. ‘You’ll be sorely missed, especially by me. But if you try to do any work at all while you’re supposed to be looking after that baby there will be severe consequences!’
The laughter whipped around the room again as Phoebe gave a smile that was full of shy pride. Had she really made that much of a difference? It was a lovely feeling to think she might have done. But as she looked around at the faces in the room again, she couldn’t help noting that the Hendry family was not represented at all. Clearly, they had very different ideas about Phoebe’s contribution to their business than Dixon had. She tried not to let it take the shine off her wonderful surprise.
‘I don’t know what to say…’
‘You’d better make some kind of speech as we’ve gone to all this trouble.’ Midnight replied. ‘Although, feel free to keep it short – I’m starving and I want to go home at some point today.’
Everyone laughed again; so many people who were really quite new to Phoebe’s life, but they all meant so much to her now.
‘Thank you,’ she began. ‘I love working here with you all and even though I’m going to be busy during my time away it won’t stop me from missing you all like mad. I can’t tell you what this means to me.’
She stopped, and the room was silent in expectation of more, but she could only give a slight shrug. ‘That’s it. I don’t want to stop you all from getting stuck in.’
‘Especially Midnight,’ Dixon chuckled.
Sue Bunce stepped forward now with a large box wrapped in colourful paper decorated with a repeated moti
f of a stork with a bundle in its beak. ‘We didn’t know what you needed and no amount of digging seemed to get any clues from you – Lord knows poor Dixon tried – so we thought a bit of everything would be fun.’
‘Let me…’ Jack stepped forward to take the box from her. He balanced it in his arms and nodded to Phoebe. ‘There, now you can open it.’
With trembling hands she undid the large yellow ribbon that held the wrapping in place and tore the paper away. Inside the box was a colourful assortment of equipment and treats – everything from rattles to teething rings to mummy pamper products to baby vests. Phoebe’s eyes filled as she went through the gifts one by one.
‘Oh, God, don’t get all emotional on us,’ Midnight said.
Phoebe looked up and wiped away her tears. ‘Thank you so much, everyone, I couldn’t have asked for anything more thoughtful and lovely than this.’
There was a round of applause. As it died down and people’s attention now turned to the plates of food ranged along a large table at the far end of the room, Jack put the box to one side and wrapped an arm around Phoebe. ‘Are you alright?’
She let her head fall onto his shoulder. ‘I’m fine. A bit overwhelmed, I suppose.’
‘I don’t know why.’
‘I just didn’t expect all of this.’
He kissed her head. ‘When are you going to realise just how amazing you are? Everyone is fond of you. Why should it surprise you that they want to make a fuss about you leaving them?’
‘I’m not actually leaving for good,’ Phoebe sniffed, ‘so it’s daft, that’s all. Although I’m not complaining.’
Dixon came and interrupted them. He shoved the remainder of a sausage roll into his mouth before rifling in the breast pocket of his suit jacket.
‘Can I have a quick word?’ he asked, glancing at Jack for approval, who simply nodded amiably and stood to the side with his hands in his pockets.
‘I have to give you this,’ Dixon said in a low voice, ‘but you’re not to open it in front of everyone.’
Phoebe took an envelope from him. She turned it over but it was blank – no name, no label of any sort. ‘Is this from you?’ she asked.
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