“Hello,” I pant into the phone but I hear nothing. “Hello, anyone there?”
When I get nothing but silence again I end the call, plugging my headphones back in. I haven’t been running more than five minutes when the caller rings again and again I’m greeted by silence. By the time I’m making the return run home I have answered four times, each time getting no reply so I stopped answering. It didn’t stop the calls interrupting the music and my run though. When I get home I have eight missed calls which stop as soon as I get through the front door.
That night when Dayton finishes work he calls, both of us needing to satisfy our withdrawals.
“What have you been up to?” he asks, sounding incredibly tired and I snuggle down into my duvet, pulling it around me like he is cuddling me and talking to me as we fall to sleep.
“Nothing much. Work was boring, I went for a run and sent out some CV’s to prospective firms. Did you try calling earlier, from a withheld number?”
“Not me, babe. Why?”
“Oh, nothing important. I just got a bunch of cold calls but they’ve stopped now.”
“Did you give your number out to anyone new?” He yawns.
“Nope.”
“You really shouldn’t have it on your Facebook profile, you know.”
“You’re probably right. It just annoyed me because it kept interrupting the music on my phone that I was listening to.” I chuckle.
“Well, hopefully you won’t get anymore. I’m missing you already, I hate working away.”
“Me, too. It’s going to go so slow until Thursday night,” I whinge and pout, it earns me a small laugh from him.
“You’ll just have to fill your time with shopping with the girls and reading. I’m stuck on this damn contract and want the job finished as soon as possible so I can get home to you.” He yawns again and I imagine him working on a roof all day, the thoughts of him being tired and careless because I’ve kept him awake so late with long phone calls worries me.
“You sound exhausted, baby. I’m going to go and let you get some sleep. Speak to you tomorrow?”
“Okay, sugar. Dream of me, won’t you?”
“It goes without saying. Night, Dayton.”
“Good night, baby.”
He ends the call and I put my phone on the bedside table, my whole body craving his good night kisses and cuddles. I pull the duvet up to my chin and cuddle my pillow, noting the empty feeling inside. My feelings for Dayton are greater than I ever imagined they could be. He undoubtedly owns a part of my heart now and the only thing about that which scares me is the fact that Regina has already started her hate campaign against me, her first play to come between us.
Last weekend I noticed Dayton watching me intently when I was talking to Brent on the dance floor. Dina and Ross were dancing with us so it wasn’t like I was dancing with Brent, we weren’t touching, just dancing collectively. The slight crease on Dayton’s forehead told me he wasn’t happy and I was unsure how to broach the subject. Later that night when Brent offered to help me carry the trays from the bar Dayton quickly interjected he would help me. I couldn’t resist asking him in the taxi if we had a trust issue and he shook his head.
“I trust you, Alannah. It’s him I don’t trust.”
“Dayton, you do know he is seeing Dina, on and off, right? They aren’t serious but he’s not pursuing me in any way, shape or form. Anyway, he idolises you. You know how I feel about you. We would never do anything to hurt you.”
“That’s not what I’ve heard. Apparently Dina was overheard telling Macy she is worried he has eyes for you. I’ve heard he is very attentive to you when you’re out in the bars, too. Didn’t you say yourself he gave you his jacket when you were caught in that shower last weekend?”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, I just knew where the things he had heard had come from. Regina’s smarmy smirk played in my mind and I could almost hear her cackled laugh.
“Everyone had a jacket except me, he was just being chivalrous. I thought you of all people would understand that. Anyway, I bet I can guess your source of information. That’s bullshit about hearing such a conversation between Dina and Macy. If Dina was unhappy we are more than close enough to talk things through. She had no such conversation,” I replied, very irritated and his silence annoyed me further.
I dialled Dina who answered with a smile in her voice. I put her on loud speaker for Dayton to hear.
“Babe, have you and Macy recently had a conversation in regards to Brent having eyes for me?” I cut to the chase and Dayton’s head snaps up, his eyes wide and looking incredibly worried.
“What?! Don’t talk shit. The answer to that question is a definite no.”
“You don’t think for one minute there is anything between Brent and me, do you?”
“Of course not. That’s ridiculous. Hang on, I’m with Macy and Brent now, I’ll put you on speaker.” There is a change in the clarity of the connection. “Macy, have we had a conversation in which I have said I think Brent is crushing on Lana?”
“What the fuck?” I hear the disbelief in Brent’s voice.
“Of course not. Who came up with that horse crap?” Macy asks and I flick my eyebrows at Dayton who looks pretty embarrassed.
“Say shit twice and you will get it the third time. Nasty rumours are being spread and I’m not fucking happy,” I state the obvious.
“That evil bitch is lucky I don’t rip her a new arse hole. I’m so fed up of her,” Dina almost growls and I agree with every word she says.
“Well, as long as we are all cool. Yeah?”
“Of course we are, babe. Listen, don’t let the bitch get to you, she is just trying to push you and Dayton apart. Don’t let her get in your head, she is poison,” Dina answers and I take her off speaker, putting the phone to my ear, satisfied Dayton has heard all he needs to.
When I end the call he quickly pulls me onto his lap. He couldn’t apologise enough and he promised he wouldn’t listen to the lies Regina was putting in his mind. He swore she must have an unreliable source but I couldn’t convince him she was the source and she had created this conversation between Dina and Macy in her head to put doubts in his.
I get a chill run through me and I pull the duvet tighter around me, pushing the whole episode to the back of my mind and trying to fall to sleep. I don’t want the last thing I think about before sleep to be Regina so I revisit some of my happiest times with Dayton, one of them being a picnic at Tatton Park before touring the gardens.
The next morning I wake up feeling like I haven’t slept more than an hour, my head aches and my eyes are sore and gritty. I roll over and see I’ve actually overslept by more than an hour and am going to be late. Regardless I drag my ass into the shower and wash quickly before wolfing down a bowl of cereal and grabbing my keys from the hallway table.
“Oh, my days! You have got to be shitting me,” I grind out through gritted teeth. My tyre is totally flat and I look up to the heavens, wondering what I did to deserve the morning from hell. Could this get any worse? Well, the answer to that is a definite yes.
“It’s a blatant slash, dew drop. Kids for you,” Dad confirms after putting on my spare, pushing me to sixty minutes late. My phone bleeps a text and it’s from Gemma which tells me David Hallam is annoyed I didn’t bother to call the office if I needed the day off sick. I reply quickly telling her I’m on my way in. “Listen, I have no bookings today until eleven so I can nip it in and get you a new tyre on that alloy. You get yourself off to work, love.”
“Oh, thanks, Dad. You’re a gem.” I quickly slap a kiss on his cheek before jumping in the car and rushing to work.
When I rush through the door I run into David in the staffroom. I mean literally, I wind him and almost fall flat on my ass. “Shit, sorry, David. I mean, sorry I’m late, someone slashed my tyre and I got in as quickly as I can. I should probably have called ahead to say I was on my way but I was…” I trail off when David shakes his head and puts his
hand up.
“Alannah, just stop blathering and get to work, Josh has been alone all morning. You can take lunch after him today.”
I simply nod and shoot past him out onto the shop floor, totally flustered and in the worst mood I’ve been in for a long time. Josh gives me an unimpressed look and goes through to the stockroom without a word. Great, even he is in a mood with me today. I spend the next two hours rushing from one customer to the next, barely getting time to speak to Gemma.
I’m just serving a young man in his twenties when David comes to stand beside me, I instantly prickle, knowing he wants a word. I think I literally feel my stomach drop into my ass when my phone starts to ring in my pocket. I look from the customer to David then back to the customer who puckers his lips before rolling his eyes. I apologise and fish the phone out of my pocket and stab decline on the call, which, would you believe it, was from a withheld number again. I switch my phone off and mumble another apology.
“I believe the customer wanted the Adidas in a size 11, Miss Matthews,” David squeezes out and I can practically see the venom in the spittle at the corners of his mouth. I nod and quickly scarper, damning myself and my phone to hell. I totally forgot it was in my pocket and I haven’t had a minute to visit the locker room all morning to lock it away. I quickly escort the customer to the pay point and let Gemma serve him. She gives me a sympathetic look and gazes past me. Sure enough, when I turn David is behind me, looking like someone just pissed on his strawberries.
“Alannah, a word, please.” His tone fills me with dread and he nods towards the steps to his upstairs office. I give him a small nod and obediently skulk off to his office. His daughter, Tracy, sits in his outer office and gives me a sympathetic smile and I try to smile back but thus far today I haven’t had a damn reason to smile.
David opens his door and directs me to a simple office seat which I perch on and David rounds his simple pine desk to his pretty boring looking swivel chair. The whole room reeks of budget bargains. I wait silently, not knowing what he is going to grill me about first, being late or taking my forbidden phone onto the shop floor. He takes a deep breath before giving me an even look.
“I understand you’re not having a great day, Alannah. I’m trying not to take your late start this morning into account. I am, however, struggling to find a feasible explanation for your phone being on the shop floor when we provide perfectly safe lockers for personal belongings.” I try to interject and explain I’d forgotten in my haste to make myself useful. I am cut off by David raising his hand and shaking his head. “Your explanation aside I have received a complaint from a very disgruntled customer this morning, too.”
My mouth falls open. Did I hear that right?
“Pardon? A complaint? About me?” I can’t keep the astonishment out of my voice.
“I’m not going to repeat myself, Miss Matthews. My point is that regardless of how bad your morning has been I won’t tolerate unhappy customers. They come before your moods and frankly I have no care for your explanation. The long and short of this meeting was to inform you that I have issued you an official written warning. Take this as your notice to get your act together or I will have no choice but to ask you to leave.”
“What?! Listen, David, I have worked here the whole time I have been a student. You know me and I have never had a customer complain about me. None of the customers I’ve served today have given the impression they were unhappy with the service I provided.”
“Not even the guy who interrupted your personal phone call during work hours?” His tone is laced with sarcasm.
“It was him who complained?”
David shakes his head before tossing an envelope across the desk to me, my formal warning obviously enclosed. “Surprisingly not. It must be someone else on the list of people you ticked off today. She has already made a point of leaving a one star rating on the website stating the poor customer service.”
“She? I’ve only served three women this morning and all of them left with a smile.”
“Maybe so, after Gemma served them at the checkout.”
I sigh and admit defeat, obviously David is adamant this complaint lies firmly with me and who would blame him after my performance today? I figure the very least I should do is apologise, even if I don’t feel I’m at fault.
“David, I am sorry about today. I feel I should do something to make up for the blunders today. As you know my college course has come to an end and the least I can do is offer to do any extra shifts you have available?”
I’m surprised when David laughs, looking at me like I must be joking. “Alannah, the young lady who has been working part time whilst you were at college is more than eager to work and is happily looking forward to picking up your shifts when you start your next job, now you’re qualified and all.” I’m surprised by this. Gemma assured me the young single mum was a lovely person but I can’t help but feel everyone will be happier once I do leave Hallam Sports for a new job. “Believe it or not, Miss Matthews, some people are more than happy working here and are grateful for their job. So thank you, but no thank you, tomorrow we don’t need you to come into work.”
I deflate, somewhere inside me kind of gutted that I’ve got nothing to fill my hours tomorrow. I feel very unwanted. “Okay, fine. Again, David, I am sorry about today. I assure you Thursday will be totally different and I’ll be back on the ball.” I try a weak smile but it isn’t returned.
“I hope so. That will be all for now, thank you.” He dismisses me and I leave feeling totally blue but at the same time totally confused as to which customer complained about me.
I’ve been extra nice to customers this morning, knowing full well David was watching me like a hawk. Surely they didn’t mean me? I make a mental note to check out the bad review left online when I get home. I just feel like today I am cursed and I want to go back to bed to start the whole day over. No over sleeping, no slashed tyre, which is still irking me because I haven’t had two minutes in my own head to rule Regina out of suspected culprits. Oh, and I wouldn’t have forgotten to lock my phone away this morning either.
“I’m going to lunch so you’re on your own,” Josh grumbles as he walks past me and makes a beeline for the exit. I roll my eyes and spot a pair of teens that need service, I slap on my best customer service smile and go to suck up to the pair of them, hoping I can hint at them leaving me some good feedback on the store’s website.
Chapter 10
The next day I arrange to go shopping with Corrine at lunch time. For 1 o’clock we are browsing in Lipsy and I’m totally unloading all my problems on her, needing to get it all off my chest before my head explodes.
“I swear, Corrine, the crappy review was left by user blonde-bombshell. Not very imaginative. I just know it was her.”
“So tell David you think it was a personal attack. I’m telling you, Alannah, she needs teaching a lesson.”
“It’s pointless. David won’t listen and, to be frank, I couldn’t give a damn anyway. I can’t wait to get out of the place. The only reason I haven’t walked away already is because I’m so bored when I don’t have work to fill my time.” I cringe, looking at a disgusting wrap dress the colour of something you cough up when you have a cold.
“You’ll be hired by a legal firm soon, babe. Just hang in there. Did you tell Dayton about the fake complaint and slashed tyre?”
“I told him about the tyre but he came to the same conclusion as my dad, that it was kids being destructive.” I sigh and Corrine looks up at me with a frown.
“Is Dayton really that blind to Regina?” I nod that he is. “Well, he needs a reality check. I mean, come on, I know he doesn’t see her as anything other than a friend but to really fall for her peaches and cream act is pretty dumb.”
I pout. “Aww, he’s not dumb, he’s just too nice to see the fault in other people. Plus, he has to keep her sweet, she is the boss’s baby girl.”
We leave the shop without making a purchase and Corrine loops her
arm through mine and rests her head on my shoulder. “You know, I kinda anticipated this was gonna happen once you got down and dirty with Dayton. It’s the least I expected from Regina. Although I will admit I didn’t think she would hit you in the work department. I bet it’s her making all these crank calls, too. I’m sorry you’re her latest target, Lana.”
I kiss her on the top of her head and smile. “He is worth it, babe. I just wish I could prove it was her causing all this shit. Even if not to the police or anyone official but at least to Dayton.”
I’ve laid plotting things in my head, trying to think up ways to catch her out.
“We’ll have to arrange something for her to walk right into.” Corrine grins a mischievous smile.
“Great minds, babe.” I wink. “If you think anything up let me know. It’s got to be water tight though. I don’t think Dayton would be happy if he knew we were setting his best friend up for a fall, right on her perky ass.”
Corrine pulls me towards the entrance of Monsoon. “I get that. Doesn’t it bother him that you and her obviously hate each other?”
“Probably, but it’s not me who is trying to sabotage her relationship with him, is it?”
“Maybe you should?”
“I’m not coming down to her level, Cor. I know I can be a bitch sometimes but it isn’t bred into me. She would just beat me with experience.”
“Babe, this tunic dress would be perfect on you, for work I mean.” I eye it and decide to try it on and we make our way towards the changing room. “So we aren’t going to play into Regina’s hands and confront her about her tricks so far?”
“Nope, let her think she is winning. As long as Dayton doesn’t find out about the bitching. I know I mean a lot to him but I don’t want to push him to pick a side. I’d rather keep things to myself for now. At least until I have some solid proof because if she has a way of digging her way out of it then I will just look like a paranoid idiot.”
“Okay. Whatever you want. I just can’t see a happy ending to any of this, you know that, right?”
The Final Note (DJ Series Book 1) Page 10
