Read Online A Summer Fling by Milly Johnson - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Milly Johnson
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get on with making something to eat.’
‘No, let’s get a curry delivered,’ said Raychel, pasting on a smile.
‘I won’t argue with that,’ said Ben. ‘Go on, and I’ll have the water after you, so no weeing in it.’
‘How will you know?’ teased Ray on her way out. He pretended to chase her and she squealed.
Ben’s smile dropped when she disappeared up the staircase.
‘Please God, make us happy in our new flat,’ he whispered. He didn’t ask to win the lottery or live forever, he just hoped God would come through for them and give them some peace at last.
‘What do you think for the reception, Cal? Roast beef or chicken?’
‘I don’t know, you pick,’ said Calum. He was watching a nature programme. A pride of lions was ripping up a gazelle. Well, the lion was just sitting on the sidelines letting the lionesses get on with it. The gazelle had long, thin legs like Dawn’s.
‘Are any of your lot vegetarian?’ asked Dawn.
‘Do us a fucking favour,’ said Calum with some amusement.
‘Maybe we should have a vegetarian option just in case.’
‘Aye, give ’em the option to eat the meat or fuck off.’
‘Prawn cocktail or melon, roast beef or chicken, Black Forest or summer pudding?’
‘What’s summer pudding?’ said Calum.
‘It’s like a bread mould with berries in it.’
‘Bread mould? Bread. Mould?’
‘Not green mould, shape mould, you numpty,’ laughed Dawn.
‘No, you’ve put me off that already.’
‘Black Forest then?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Calum. ‘You decide.’
‘We could have black pudding and poached egg starter, turkey and then sticky toffee pudding.’
‘That sounds all right.’
‘But it’s four pounds extra a head.’
‘Whatever,’ said Calum. ‘Ask my mam. She’d know.’
That night Dawn went to bed and dreamed that a giant sticky toffee pudding ate her savings and ripped holes in her wedding dress.
Chapter 12
Mid-week, at eleven o’clock precisely, Christie looked up and saw her ladies all beavering away. She had never worked in a department so banter-free. It unsettled her. Where she had headed other departments in her time that needed pulling into line for their gossip:work ratio, this was unnatural at the other end of the scale and didn’t make for the best working environment, in her opinion. They might have all been sitting surrounded by individual barbed-wire fences. She shook her head. Women working in close proximity to cakes and pastries – they should have been in their element! There was an air of disunity about this department she was determined to tackle.
‘Staff meeting, in the canteen please, ladies, two minutes, so switch your phones to voicemail,’ she called out. She’d begin by plying them with coffee and buns. Always a good start for bonding.
Down in the canteen, a fresh batch of buttered scones had just been put out. Christie piled five onto her tray. Proper elevenses!
‘No dieting allowed at the table,’ she said, sitting down. ‘Help yourselves, girls.’
Anna wasn’t all that hungry. She had hardly eaten anything since the weekend, her appetite had absconded with Tony, but everyone else had taken a scone and she would have felt a bit of a party pooper leaving hers untouched. She could nibble at it, she supposed. She really ought to eat something.
‘Right, I want to know three interesting facts about all of you – it can be anything – but things that are important to you,’ announced Christie, after swallowing a big bite of scone. ‘I’ll go first. I’m a widow, no children, and I live with my brother who is a dentist and though we used to fight a lot when we were little, as adults we get on surprisingly well. Two: I love clothes, especially vintage ones, and double especially shoes and have far more than I’ll ever wear. Three: I love strawberries and I can’t damn well eat them because they bring me out in a rash.’
The ladies laughed gently.
‘That’s cruel, isn’t it?’
‘No, let’s get a curry delivered,’ said Raychel, pasting on a smile.
‘I won’t argue with that,’ said Ben. ‘Go on, and I’ll have the water after you, so no weeing in it.’
‘How will you know?’ teased Ray on her way out. He pretended to chase her and she squealed.
Ben’s smile dropped when she disappeared up the staircase.
‘Please God, make us happy in our new flat,’ he whispered. He didn’t ask to win the lottery or live forever, he just hoped God would come through for them and give them some peace at last.
‘What do you think for the reception, Cal? Roast beef or chicken?’
‘I don’t know, you pick,’ said Calum. He was watching a nature programme. A pride of lions was ripping up a gazelle. Well, the lion was just sitting on the sidelines letting the lionesses get on with it. The gazelle had long, thin legs like Dawn’s.
‘Are any of your lot vegetarian?’ asked Dawn.
‘Do us a fucking favour,’ said Calum with some amusement.
‘Maybe we should have a vegetarian option just in case.’
‘Aye, give ’em the option to eat the meat or fuck off.’
‘Prawn cocktail or melon, roast beef or chicken, Black Forest or summer pudding?’
‘What’s summer pudding?’ said Calum.
‘It’s like a bread mould with berries in it.’
‘Bread mould? Bread. Mould?’
‘Not green mould, shape mould, you numpty,’ laughed Dawn.
‘No, you’ve put me off that already.’
‘Black Forest then?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Calum. ‘You decide.’
‘We could have black pudding and poached egg starter, turkey and then sticky toffee pudding.’
‘That sounds all right.’
‘But it’s four pounds extra a head.’
‘Whatever,’ said Calum. ‘Ask my mam. She’d know.’
That night Dawn went to bed and dreamed that a giant sticky toffee pudding ate her savings and ripped holes in her wedding dress.
Chapter 12
Mid-week, at eleven o’clock precisely, Christie looked up and saw her ladies all beavering away. She had never worked in a department so banter-free. It unsettled her. Where she had headed other departments in her time that needed pulling into line for their gossip:work ratio, this was unnatural at the other end of the scale and didn’t make for the best working environment, in her opinion. They might have all been sitting surrounded by individual barbed-wire fences. She shook her head. Women working in close proximity to cakes and pastries – they should have been in their element! There was an air of disunity about this department she was determined to tackle.
‘Staff meeting, in the canteen please, ladies, two minutes, so switch your phones to voicemail,’ she called out. She’d begin by plying them with coffee and buns. Always a good start for bonding.
Down in the canteen, a fresh batch of buttered scones had just been put out. Christie piled five onto her tray. Proper elevenses!
‘No dieting allowed at the table,’ she said, sitting down. ‘Help yourselves, girls.’
Anna wasn’t all that hungry. She had hardly eaten anything since the weekend, her appetite had absconded with Tony, but everyone else had taken a scone and she would have felt a bit of a party pooper leaving hers untouched. She could nibble at it, she supposed. She really ought to eat something.
‘Right, I want to know three interesting facts about all of you – it can be anything – but things that are important to you,’ announced Christie, after swallowing a big bite of scone. ‘I’ll go first. I’m a widow, no children, and I live with my brother who is a dentist and though we used to fight a lot when we were little, as adults we get on surprisingly well. Two: I love clothes, especially vintage ones, and double especially shoes and have far more than I’ll ever wear. Three: I love strawberries and I can’t damn well eat them because they bring me out in a rash.’
The ladies laughed gently.
‘That’s cruel, isn’t it?’
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