Fitting In

by Amanda Radley

Scarlett didn’t say anything, but she privately wondered if Nico’s invisible powers were why she had offered Scarlett a lesbian romance book shortly after meeting her. Was Scarlett projecting some kind of signal that she was unaware of?

  “Ravi!” Nico shouted.

  Scarlett jumped.

  “Ravi, come here!” Nico insisted.

  Ravi was a great distance away but easily heard Nico and waved over to her to indicate that he was on his way.

  “Ravi knows everyone,” Nico explained to Scarlett. She waited anxiously for him to finish his conversation and join them, almost bouncing on her feet.

  “Yes, Nico?” Ravi asked with a grin as he closed in on them. “You bellowed?”

  “Who is the gorgeous French woman walking around like some Amazonian queen?” Nico got straight to the point.

  “French? Health and safety woman?” Ravi confirmed. At Nico’s nod, he continued. “That’s Heather’s ex. She’s back from head office today.”

  For some reason a loud rushing in Scarlett’s ears prevented her from hearing any more of the conversation. She was aware that Ravi and Nico were continuing to talk, but was unable to take any of their words in.

  Ravi had casually informed Scarlett of some very interesting news; Heather dated women. Unfortunately, Heather dated women like Aurelie. Scarlett was all too aware that she was nothing like Aurelie.

  Their conversation had only lasted a few seconds, but the class, elegance, confidence, and grace of Aurelie were all attributes that Scarlett knew she would never possess.

  The rush of excitement that Heather dated women was dashed just as quickly by the knowledge of who she dated.

  In the blur of emotions, Scarlett quickly became aware that she was interested in Heather, something that she hadn’t been conscious of up until a few seconds before.

  It wasn’t unusual for Scarlett to not be fully aware of her feelings. It often felt like a large cloud sat atop her feelings like a heavy fog, preventing her from seeing or processing them. In a flash, that fog had cleared.

  “Why did they break up?” Scarlett asked, breaking her way back into the conversation with a question she simply had to know the answer to.

  “Aurelie finished it,” Ravi said. “But I think they just grew apart, too different. Anyway, if that was all, ladies? I need to get back to work.”

  Nico said farewell and Ravi left them to it.

  Scarlett considered what she had just discovered. It was interesting, but she had no idea what to do with the information.

  “Earth to Scarlett?” Nico said, waving her hand in front of Scarlett’s eyes.

  “I’m sorry, did you say something?” Scarlett asked, blinking.

  Nico tilted her head to one side and regarded Scarlett. “Do you like Heather?”

  Scarlett had no idea how Nico had come to that conclusion and wondered if it was akin to Nico’s gaydar. Maybe she was giving off some kind of signal she was unaware of.

  But she also appreciated Nico’s honest and direct approach.

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “Can I give you some advice?” Nico pressed.

  Scarlett nodded again.

  “Don’t hang around and wait for things to happen, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. If you want something, you should go out and get it. Before someone else does.”

  “Heather is interested in people like Aurelie,” Scarlett pointed out.

  “Heather and Aurelie broke up,” Nico said.

  “So, Heather wants to be with someone who exceeds Aurelie’s assets. Assets which I don’t have.” Scarlett really didn’t know why they were discussing the matter. It wasn’t making her feel any better about herself to realise in the same moment that she liked Heather that she would never be enough for her.

  “People aren’t ranked on a ladder system, Scarlett,” Nico said. “Aurelie isn’t better than you. Yes, she’s hot and French and tall and—”

  “Is there a point to this?”

  “You’re all those things too,” Nico said.

  “I am not French. I’m half Irish.”

  Nico rubbed her face with her hand and looked suddenly tired. “Scarlett, you can’t compare yourself to other people. You are you. You are beautifully unique. We all are. Embrace your differences, be proud of them. And if you want to ask Heather out, then you better go and do it. She might say no, and then you’ll know where you stand, and you can get on with your life. But she might say yes.”

  “You think she might say yes?” Scarlett sought clarification.

  “I think there’s an extremely good chance that she’ll say yes,” Nico said. “But if you see an opportunity, then you have to grab it. How would you feel if someone else got there first? If Heather said yes to dinner with someone else tonight?”

  “I wouldn’t like it,” Scarlett said, standing a little straighter and feeling a tad tense at the thought.

  “Then do something about it,” Nico suggested.

  Scarlett nodded and spun around, leaving the pop-up shop and heading for the offices as quickly as she could without running.

  Saturday with Heather’s family had been one of the most enjoyable social activities Scarlett could recall. It was certainly better than spending time with her own family and even better than some of the times she’d had with Steph. Especially towards the end when Steph had become cold and distant.

  Scarlett mulled over Heather’s last words to her. They had demonstrated an understanding that love came in many different forms and that even Scarlett could experience it.

  She hadn’t been able to shake the emotions she had felt in Hastings that Saturday. She couldn’t explain exactly what they were, but there was a warmth there that she hadn’t felt before.

  Now it was becoming painfully clear that Heather was at the root of those feelings. Feelings that she wanted to experience again.

  At first, she had been eager to keep Heather at arm’s length, as she did with everyone else. Heather’s insistence on joining her for lunch on those two occasions had frustrated her. Now, she felt she would love to see Heather sitting across from her.

  Finding out that Heather dated women felt like a lottery win. Literally, considering the statistical probability of Scarlett being interested in that person and that person being gay.

  But the stars had aligned and Scarlett fully intended to take Nico’s advice and do something about it.

  33

  A Surprise Invitation

  “If they think they are getting a rent reduction, they have another thing coming,” Leo said testily.

  Heather wasn’t going to question him on the matter. The large fashion chain was in financial difficulty and had requested assistance, but Leo had given a very firm no.

  She’d just spent an hour in a meeting with him and the senior management of the store, an hour in which Leo basically reminded them that he wasn’t a charity.

  While Heather would have liked to have stood up for them, she knew when it was time to pick her battles. Such a large business would be able to take action in reducing the number of stores they had rather than shutting down completely.

  She hadn’t worked with Leo for long, but she knew that her influence over him was limited and she needed to ensure she stood up when it really mattered.

  Leo continued to grumble about the meeting as they walked through the main thoroughfare of the centre. Heather had tuned him out soon after they walked out of the meeting and into the public area.

  She didn’t want to have a business conversation where shoppers could hear them, and so she didn’t reply to him and hoped he would tired himself out soon enough.

  In her attempts to avoid talking to Leo, she was looking around the centre to check everything was in order. As usual, she checked on cleaning and maintenance standards, just in case anything had escaped the keen eyes of her team.

  As she glanced around, her gaze rested on a familiar figure.

  Her breath caught.

  Aurelie was back.

>   Of course, she’d been expecting to see her ex, but she had hoped that she’d be able to avoid her a little longer. She thought it a touch unfair that she saw her the first morning Aurelie began working at Silver Arches.

  “Father, may I talk to you?”

  Heather was surprised to see an out-of-breath Scarlett suddenly appear at Leo’s other side.

  “Now is not a good time,” Leo responded gruffly without even looking at her.

  “I’d really like to speak with you now,” Scarlett insisted.

  “Fine. Make it quick.” Leo didn’t stop walking.

  “Would you be averse to my dating someone?” Scarlett asked, keeping in step with Leo’s stride.

  That was enough to cause a reaction from him; he looked at his daughter with confusion.

  “Why would I care?” he demanded.

  Heather was torn between wanting to give them some privacy and desperately wanting to know whom Scarlett wanted to date.

  It would be just her luck that weeks of her own inaction would pass only for Scarlett to find someone she was interested in dating at the very same time Heather realised that she’d quite like it to be her.

  “Do whatever you like,” Leo continued.

  “Even if they are staff?” Scarlett sought clarification.

  Heather felt faint. Who in Silver Arches did Scarlett want to date? She mentally ran through a list of all potential prospects. Surely Aurelie wouldn’t act so quickly?

  “Yes, I’m not a monster. As long as it doesn’t interfere with work. Really, Scarlett, I don’t have time for this,” Leo said, picking up his pace a little in an obvious attempt to lose her.

  “Thank you. Heather, would you like to go out to dinner tonight? I believe Pizza Express would be a good location?”

  Leo and Heather came to a combined skidding halt. Scarlett continued walking a couple of steps before she realised that they had stopped. She walked back, looking at Heather curiously and clearly expecting an answer.

  Heather felt a second set of eyes burning into her. Leo was glaring at her with shock and, quite possibly, some anger.

  “Unless Pizza Express isn’t a good location? I heard that it was?” Scarlett asked, clearly detecting that something was wrong but completely missing what it was.

  “You’re dating my daughter?” Leo asked Heather coldly.

  Shoppers started to look at them, wondering why three members of staff were standing in the middle of the main walkway all looking at each other in various degrees of shock.

  “Shall we take this somewhere more private?” Heather suggested.

  34

  Time Optimist

  Scarlett had no idea why Heather was dragging her and her father through a set of fire exit doors to a cold corridor but did as she was told.

  The second the door clicked shut, Leo spun around to glare at Heather. “How long has this been going on?”

  Heather held up her hands to calm him. “Nothing has been going on.”

  “You expect me to believe that?” Leo demanded, anger rising in his voice.

  Scarlett realised then that she had mis-stepped.

  It seemed that her father had lied to her, not that she could fathom why. He did care that she dated someone from the centre. And for some reason he cared a great deal that it was Heather.

  “I expect you to believe me when I tell you that I’m telling you the truth,” Heather said in a firm tone.

  “I’ve made a mistake,” Scarlett said, wishing she could take everything back. “I retract the question.”

  “Stay where you are,” Heather ordered, causing Scarlett to pause halfway in her turn to leave. “I’d like to have dinner with you, Pizza Express or wherever.”

  Scarlett felt a rush of something in her stomach, possibly excitement, but it was quickly tempered by the realisation that her father was clenching and unclenching his fists.

  She’d somehow upset him.

  Heather took a position next to Scarlett and looked at Leo seriously.

  “You need to learn to communicate properly with your daughter before you lose her,” Heather told him. “Nothing has been going on between us. I invited Scarlett to see a dog rescue centre that my parents manage. We had a lovely day on Saturday, but nothing happened. That’s not to say that it won’t now. Scarlett is an exceptional woman, and I’m going to go on a date with her.”

  Scarlett felt her eyes widen. No one had stood up to her father like that before, certainly never for her.

  “Don’t you think you’re a little old for her?” Leo asked, his voice seeming slightly calmer.

  “Maybe. We’ll find out for ourselves, I’m sure,” Heather replied. “But I’m sure you don’t need a blow-by-blow account of what we discover.”

  Leo looked a little pale and quickly shook his head. “No, no… of course not. I… well, I don’t have much to say.”

  “Probably best,” Heather said, her tone dripping with ice that even Scarlett could detect.

  Leo’s mobile phone rang. It was a sound that had long since been the final punctuation mark to any conversation Scarlett had had with her father.

  He looked at the screen and then at the two women in front of him. “I have to go. You have my blessings, I suppose. Not that you need them.”

  “I should think not,” Heather added.

  “I… yes… I have to—” He turned and hurried through the fire exit door, back into the centre.

  Once the door clicked shut, Scarlett looked expectantly at Heather, wondering what would come next.

  Heather regarded her with a curious smile.

  “Scarlett, why did you ask me out in front of your father?”

  “I’d just been given some advice to not take too long,” Scarlett explained. “Time was of the essence.”

  Heather chuckled. “I see. Well, in future maybe we could talk about things like that in private, just the two of us?”

  Scarlett shrugged. “As you wish.”

  “What made you think time was such an issue?” Heather asked.

  “I was speaking with Nico when Aurelie, your ex-girlfriend, came over. It occurred to me that there was a possibility that you might have wanted to rekindle your relationship with her. So, I wanted to ensure I asked you first.”

  Heather bit her lip and smiled softly at Scarlett. “I see. Well, let me just say that there’s nothing between Aurelie and me anymore. There won’t be any rekindling.”

  Scarlett felt a wave of relief at that news. She now realised that she had acted a little too quickly through fear that she may miss her opportunity. Fear that was entirely misplaced. However, the results were still as she desired.

  “So, Pizza Express?” Heather asked, a smile lingering on her lips.

  “Or another restaurant?” Scarlett added.

  “Do you like Pizza Express?” Heather asked.

  “No. I once ordered a salad, and it arrived with a piece of plastic from a pre-packaged salad bag in it.” Scarlett winced at the memory.

  “Then why did you suggest there?”

  “Popular opinion indicated it was a good choice,” Scarlett said, slightly glossing over the fact she had received intelligence from Nico that it was an extremely romantic locale.

  “How about we meet at the food court and pick a place together?” Heather suggested.

  Scarlett nodded.

  “Six o’clock?” Heather added.

  “No.”

  Heather grinned. “No?”

  “No, I eat at six,” Scarlett explained.

  “Ten to six?” Heather asked.

  Scarlett shook her head. She was beginning to realise that Heather’s optimistic outlook on time would need to be factored into any future outings.

  “Ten minutes for the kitchen to prepare the food, five minutes to choose from a menu and attract the attention of waitstaff, ten minutes to decide upon and walk to our chosen restaurant. Half past five would be practical.”

  “Five thirty it is,” Heather agreed.

  Sc
arlett nodded again. Details finalised, she turned and left.

  35

  Baby Girl

  Heather watched the fire door close behind Scarlett and chuckled to herself. Not even a goodbye. She’d need to talk to her about that.

  Apparently, she’d have the chance that evening.

  If someone had told her before Saturday that Scarlett Flynn would have asked her on a date, she’d have laughed in their face at the ridiculous idea. If they’d said she’d do it in front of Leo, she’d have thought they were crazy.

  Heather was learning more and more that Scarlett wasn’t like other people. She was unexpected, and sometimes inappropriate, but Heather found that that kept her on her toes. Not knowing what Scarlett would say or do next was turning into a bit of entertainment, even if sometimes it meant nearly having an argument with her new boss.

  She exited the corridor into the centre and made her way back to her office.

  She wondered what Leo was thinking. Was she about to be suddenly made redundant? He couldn’t fire her for going on a date with his daughter, could he? And what did he care anyway? He wanted nothing to do with Scarlett.

  When Leo had become angry, Heather had been determined to stand her ground. Scarlett’s love life was nothing to do with him and his outrage was irrelevant. If he wanted to have a say in his daughter’s life, then he needed to earn it.

  In hindsight, she wondered if answering him back was such a good idea.

  As she entered her outer office, Yasmin gave her a look that indicated that someone was in her office. Heather raised an eyebrow, and Yasmin mouthed Leo’s name.

  Heather sighed, took a deep breath, and walked into her office, closing the door behind her.

  “Leo,” she greeted him.

  “Heather.” He was standing in front of the window, looking a little unsettled and anxious.

  “Are we going to have an argument?” she asked casually, taking a seat at her desk.

  “No. No, I wanted to apologise,” he said.

  Heather hadn’t expected that, but she wasn’t about to let him off the hook so easily. “Well, that’s nice to hear. But I thought I was too old for your daughter?”