The Christmas Spirit (12 page)

21st December

‘So, I thought perhaps we could have a little party here on
Monday.’ Natalie ran her idea past Jacob. ‘What do you think?’

Tabitha, who had become almost a permanent fixture and who
subsisted solely on pieces of cake and multiple decaf lattes, interrupted her
before Jacob had a chance to answer.

‘Did I hear you say party? That’s a great idea. I can’t go
to any proper parties this year. No point. I can’t drink. But a party here
would be perfect.’

She turned to Jacob, to see if he would agree.

Jacob supposed it couldn’t do any harm. Tabitha was as
excited as a little girl. He began to see what the following year would be like
when they would have a baby present at Christmas, although he supposed the baby
would be too young to take it all in - the year after, perhaps.

‘So what did you have in mind?’ asked Jacob, wondering how
much more Christmassy they could make the bakery, which was already festooned
with holly, mistletoe, and Christmas decorations from every possible space, not
to forget the sumptuous Christmas tree.

‘Well, I thought we could make some special Christmas treats
in miniature - similar to those we made for Meredith - a selection of those we
made throughout the month. Those and some sandwiches, sausage rolls, vol au
vents, and some hot and cold drinks ought to cover it.’

‘But won’t that cost a lot of money for all the
ingredients?’ Jacob frowned.

‘Tsk! No. I’ll take care of that. I think we give the
customers a free afternoon where they can come and try the bakery’s wares. That
way we might get even more new customers after Christmas.’

At this Jacob looked doubtful, but shrugged, ‘You’re the
boss.’

‘Right, that’s settled then,’ Natalie winked at Tabitha.
‘Tabitha, perhaps you can help me come up with some ideas for drinks?’

‘Love to,’ and Tabitha took the piece of paper and the pen
Natalie proffered her.

A party. Yes, a party was exactly what was
needed
, Natalie thought.

Sugar and Spice invites you all to its
FREE Christmas party - 1pm-5pm Monday 23rd December

Christmas cakes from around the world,
prizes, music, and plenty of festive cheer

We’d love to see you there.

Sophie read the sign on the door as she pushed it open to go
in and have her daily caffeine fix; oh OK then, she admitted it, her daily
sugar fix, too.

What a great idea. I wonder
...

When things had quieted down later that afternoon, Natalie
called Mrs Williams to see how her progress was going and also to tell her
about the party. She didn’t want her hearing about it from another source. She
needn’t have worried. Mrs Williams thought it was a wonderful idea and
congratulated Natalie on her quick thinking.

‘Why didn’t I think of that myself?’ she said.

Natalie then broached the other matter she’d called about.
Mrs Williams trusted Natalie’s judgement, as she had heard such good things
from her regulars who had called to check on her well-being or popped in,
bringing her homemade cooking, since she was still largely indisposed.

She had no hesitation in agreeing to Natalie’s proposal.

‘Sophie, come in,’ Amelia ushered her in the front door.
‘What are you doing here at the weekend?’

‘Meredith asked me to come by as she has something she wants
to discuss with me.’

‘She didn’t mention anything about you stopping by. Let me
take your coat. It’s boiling in this house.’ She held out her hand, as Sophie
removed her scarf, coat, and gloves.

‘It’s certainly not boiling out there,’ Sophie remarked with
a grin, ‘But yes, what a difference as soon as you come in here.’

Sophie was still in awe of Amelia’s house. It was like
something out of an interior design magazine. Everything was so beautiful. She
was admiring the cornicing on the ceiling in the atrium, when she was almost
bowled over by a gorgeous golden retriever.

‘Oh what a beautiful dog. Come here, boy.’ Sophie scratched
Sheba under the chin.

‘Girl,’ said Jasper, coming up behind Sheba.

‘Ah, sorry, girl. She is, though, gorgeous, I mean; her coat
is so healthy-looking.’

‘You a dog person?’ Jasper asked, curling Sheba’s leash
around his fingers.

‘Well my grandparents always had dogs, although I’ve never
had one myself. I’d love to, but it’s just not feasible with the hours I work,’
Sophie explained, stroking Sheba’s silky coat.

‘Ah, there you are,’ Meredith said warmly. ‘I thought I
heard your voice. Amelia, is there somewhere private, apart from my room, where
Sophie and I can talk?’

‘Sure, use the downstairs study,’ Amelia suggested.

‘Thanks. So, how are things?’ Meredith asked Sophie as they
headed towards the study. Sophie noticed Meredith was scrutinising her intently
and tried not to gulp. She’d always tried to avoid direct eye contact with her
in the past, when it was clear something was on Meredith’s mind. She rarely
came off better for it. Sophie began to rhyme off a list of things Meredith
might want to know about the goings-on in the company, but Meredith stopped her
by raising her hand. ‘No, Sophie,’ she smiled, ‘how are you? How are you
coping? You’ve had a lot to deal with unexpectedly.’

Bewildered, Sophie mumbled that she was fine, just a bit
busy. ‘So,’ Sophie asked, trying to steer the conversation away from herself.
‘Did you get your presents wrapped?’

‘Yes, I did, thanks.’

Still that warm smile. It was quite unnerving when you
weren’t used to it.

‘Did you forget anything?’ Sophie asked, wondering if that
was why she was here.

‘No, I don’t think so. Why don’t you sit down, I have
something I need to talk to you about.’

Truly worried now, Sophie perched on the end of the chair
opposite the walnut desk, behind which Meredith now sat, swinging on the
leather swivel chair.

‘The thing is, Sophie, I’ve had a chance to think about
things,
really
think about things whilst I’ve been
ill...’

Oh God, she’s going to sack me
,
thought Sophie.

‘And I’m going to be cutting back the hours I’m working,
taking the occasional holiday...’

What? Had she heard right? Sophie’s eyes were wide with
disbelief. Maybe Meredith had suffered more of a bump on the head when she’d
fallen than first thought.

‘And although I’ll be delegating some of my workload to some
of the department heads, I was thinking about creating a new position - someone
to act as liaison between the department heads and myself.’

Right
, Sophie was thinking,
and
?

‘I’d like that person to be you. It would include some of
the extra stuff you do for me currently, but you would no longer be a PA. In
fact one of your first tasks would be to find me another PA. There would be
more responsibility and recognition and a considerable increase in pay.’

At the ‘considerable increase in pay’, Sophie’s ears pricked
up. Had she heard right? Was Meredith offering her a promotion?

‘I hope you’ll see this as the step up you deserve and that
you’ll accept.’ Meredith fixed her once again with that disconcerting stare.

‘I-I-I don’t know what to say,’ Sophie stammered, because
honestly she was lost for words. It hadn’t occurred to her that Meredith might
ever promote her. She had barely tolerated her until last week, hadn’t shown
her much if any respect until then. Maybe she’d had a near death experience
with this bout of pneumonia, that must be it. No doubt Sophie would find
herself back as PA in a few weeks’ time, but for the moment she’d just humour
her.

‘That sounds great,’ she finally got out.

‘Excellent. Here’s a list of the items I need you to address
ASAP with regard to informing other departments about your new appointment, and
I’ll leave it to you to choose the correct channels for organising your
replacement. Here are the terms of your contract. If you could type that up for
me in the company’s usual contract-speak and pass it to Legal for
authorisation, we’ll be good to go.’

Sophie was flabbergasted. It was actually happening.
Meredith was finally trusting her with something of her own.

‘I-I-I don’t know what to say,’ she stuttered again.

Meredith said, ‘Then say yes.’

‘Yes.’

‘Good, now that’s sorted, there’s just one more thing.’
Meredith withdrew an envelope from her bag.

‘Oh?’

’Your Christmas bonus.’

‘But we don’t give Christmas bonuses.’

‘We do this year, but I’d be grateful if you’d keep the
contents of the envelope confidential.’

‘Of course. Thank you.’

‘No, thank
you
.’

Sophie stood there as if Medusa had turned her to stone.

‘Well, aren’t you going to open it?’

‘What? Oh yes, sorry.’ Sophie opened the envelope and
withdrew a cheque for five thousand pounds.

That really did render her speechless. She’d reckoned maybe
a hundred or even two hundred quid, but five grand? Bloody hell. By the time
Meredith uttered the next sentence Sophie had pretty much spent it.

Meredith had seen behind the rosy glow of Sophie’s cheeks,
due to the cold outside, how pinched her assistant’s face really was, the dark
circles under her eyes and she knew that Sophie must be running herself ragged
in her absence, trying to keep everything ticking over. She was glad she had
finally rewarded her and chided herself for not having done so beforehand.

‘Jacob, I wanted to talk to you about something,’ said
Natalie, as she took off her rubber gloves and massaged moisturising cream into
her hands, once all the customers had gone.

‘OK.’

‘I need to head home unexpectedly; family issues.’

‘Oh, right.’ Jacob was wondering how he would manage on his
own until she got back.

As if reading his mind, Natalie said, ‘I won’t be coming back.
I was only ever meant to be here on a short placement. Mrs Williams was meant
to be returning to work full-time, but I spoke to her yesterday and she’s still
not well enough. ‘

‘That’s not so good.’

‘No, it’s not. The thing is, even when she is better, she
doesn’t want to work full-time, so she’s decided to appoint a manager.’

‘Oh.’ Jacob hoped he would get on as well with the new boss
as he did with Natalie. ‘So when’s the new boss starting, then?’

‘He already has,’ Natalie smiled expectantly at him.

After a moment’s pause, Jacob said, ‘Me?’ his surprise
evident. ‘But I’ve only been here two minutes.’

‘Well, more like three weeks, but who’s counting?’ said
Natalie. ‘The important thing is you know what to do, the customers like you,
and you’re enthusiastic.’

‘But I can’t bake!’

‘Not a problem. Nuala’s broken leg is a lot better. She’ll
be back in on the twenty-seventh to help you and to bake the cakes, but you’ll
be responsible for everything else, including her.’

With the realisation that this wasn’t a wind-up, Jacob’s
face broke into a huge grin, showing off cute dimples which Natalie had only
noticed before when he spoke to Rebecca.

‘Mrs Williams won’t regret giving me the chance, I promise
you, and thanks. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be working here at all.’
Jacob gave Natalie’s arm a friendly squeeze.

‘Nonsense. You did it all by yourself. It was you who
plucked up the courage to ask for the job in the first place. All I did was act
as intermediary. Anyway, there are things we have to discuss before I work my
last day on Christmas Eve, so we had better make a start on your training
tomorrow.’

‘Sounds good to me,’ Jacob grinned, ‘I can’t wait to tell
Tabs.’

‘Do I look all right?’ Rebecca appraised herself in front of
the mirror in the Ladies’, where about a dozen girls were vying for space to
reapply mascara, lipstick and eyeliner.

‘Fantastic. Now let’s get out there on the pull.’ Hannah
dragged her friend, laughing, by the hand, back out into the throng at Stefan’s
thirtieth birthday party. Hannah had been Stefan’s neighbour when they were
teenagers and they had hung out together. Since her invitation had said Hannah
plus one, and she had no current boyfriend, she’d decided Rebecca could do with
a night out, especially after that git Ethan had been immutable about not
letting her buy out his share of the flat, now that it was already in the hands
of the lawyers. Rebecca needed perking up.

Stefan’s party was bound to be full of young, eligible men.
Hannah knew Rebecca wasn’t interested in a relationship, since she was still
trying to disengage herself from the mess of the previous one, but a snog with
a random stranger at Christmas could only lift your spirits and Rebecca was an
extremely pretty girl, even if she didn’t know it. She was bound to attract
some male attention.

They weaved their way back to the bar. Standing with his back
to Rebecca was Ethan. She’d know the set of those shoulders anywhere, plus he
was wearing the purple and white shirt she’d bought him for his birthday. Just
as well she could tell him from the back, as his face was almost completely
covered by the blonde locks of a lycra-clad woman who definitely wasn’t just a
platonic friend.

Rebecca stopped dead. She couldn’t move. They had just split
up for God’s sake. He’d moved on quickly enough. The girl eventually
disentangled herself from Ethan, saw Rebecca standing stock-still in front of
her and said, ‘Christ, she’s stalking us now, Ethan.’

Ethan mumbled something which sounded like
Sorry?
and turned around. The colour drained from his face
when he saw Rebecca and in that moment she knew. He had been right when he said
they wanted different things, or in his case different people, one person in
particular. He’d told her there was no-one else, but he had lied. It was all
becoming clear to her now. This celebrity wannabe who he’d been wrapped around,
was so far from being her, it was risible. What had she said,
she’s stalking us now?
So, they were a couple, and from her
comment it appeared not a recent development either.