answered.
"And as to whether they will all be cost-effective, I can't 54
say yet. Again, we need to speak to David, but before we do that perhaps you'd like to put forward any ideas of your own."
Marielle looked down at the single sheet of paper she was holding.
"If I have any/ she said eventually, Til let you know."
Not a particularly satisfactory reply, since brainstorming was something Penny adored. However, it seemed she was going to have to wait until they had a few more people on board for the real fun to begin and, meanwhile, time hadn't been wasted. Several decorators would be arriving over the next few days to give quotes; delivery of a photocopier was promised for the end of the week; a team of boffins from a computer company were eager to explore how best to serve their needs; France Telecom had agreed to come and discuss phones the following week; an office-supply company had already biked round their brochures and an employment agency was lining up security guards, secretaries and cleaners to be interviewed.
Unfortunately, throughout all their endeavours not so much as a crack had appeared in Marielle's polar icecap of a demeanour, which, Penny was thinking to herself as she stretched and yawned, was going to become pretty wearing if she didn't break it down soon. But, she reminded herself, she wasn't looking for a bosom pal and since Marielle's efficiency, grudging as it was, had more than helped to get the ball rolling Penny supposed she'd just have to make do with that for now. It would be a whole lot easier, though, if Marielle would come out with some serious opposition to the changes, or if she'd spit out all the resentment she was harbouring and give them the chance to have a thundering good row and clear the air. But maybe that wasn't Marielle's style.
"OK, time to call it a day,"
Penny said, stifling another yawn as she hefted her briefcase back on to her desk and
55
began to refill it.
"What time am I meeting the estate agent in the morning?"
Ten o'clock."
Penny looked at her, waited, then with a long-suffering sigh said,
"OK. Is she coming to the hotel?"
"Yes."
"Does she know which hotel?"
"She will by the morning."
"Fine. Now, if you wouldn't mind dropping me off I'll see what I can do about hiring a car."
After leaving Penny at the fancy Carlton Hotel, Marielle sped out on to the Croisette and raced furiously off towards Cannes la Bocca and the HLM council flat - she shared with her mother. She'd known, even before meeting Penny Moon, that she was going to despise her. Now that they had met, she more than despised her, she loathed her, self-opinionated bitch that she was. Oh, sure, she was going to make a success of this glitzy new magazine - how could she fail when she had the backing she had? Well, that was OK by Marielle, she'd always wanted to lift the profile of the magazine, and if having to put up with Penny Moon for a while was the way it had to be done, then so be it.
Penny Moon wasn't going to last long, though, Marielle already had assurances on that, but she had to make sure that Penny Moon's personal failure did nothing to damage the magazine, so that when Penny Moon went back to England in disgrace it would be she, Marielle, who was the obvious choice to take things over. She gave a snort of laughter. Just one day in Penny Moon's company had been enough to show Marielle where her Achilles"
heel lay, for Penny Moon was, without a doubt, the kind of woman who'd let her heart rule her head. Disastrous! And with the self-esteem problem Marielle had detected the instant they'd met, Marielle didn't see how she could fail. And maybe, now she came to think about it, she was going to enjoy using 56
Penny Moon's emotions as the weapon that would finish her, and, if all that Marielle had been hearing about David Villers was true, then Marielle could hardly wait to meet him.
The next two weeks sped by and what she, Marielle and Clothilde, the mumsy, smiley assistant of
"And as to whether they will all be cost-effective, I can't 54
say yet. Again, we need to speak to David, but before we do that perhaps you'd like to put forward any ideas of your own."
Marielle looked down at the single sheet of paper she was holding.
"If I have any/ she said eventually, Til let you know."
Not a particularly satisfactory reply, since brainstorming was something Penny adored. However, it seemed she was going to have to wait until they had a few more people on board for the real fun to begin and, meanwhile, time hadn't been wasted. Several decorators would be arriving over the next few days to give quotes; delivery of a photocopier was promised for the end of the week; a team of boffins from a computer company were eager to explore how best to serve their needs; France Telecom had agreed to come and discuss phones the following week; an office-supply company had already biked round their brochures and an employment agency was lining up security guards, secretaries and cleaners to be interviewed.
Unfortunately, throughout all their endeavours not so much as a crack had appeared in Marielle's polar icecap of a demeanour, which, Penny was thinking to herself as she stretched and yawned, was going to become pretty wearing if she didn't break it down soon. But, she reminded herself, she wasn't looking for a bosom pal and since Marielle's efficiency, grudging as it was, had more than helped to get the ball rolling Penny supposed she'd just have to make do with that for now. It would be a whole lot easier, though, if Marielle would come out with some serious opposition to the changes, or if she'd spit out all the resentment she was harbouring and give them the chance to have a thundering good row and clear the air. But maybe that wasn't Marielle's style.
"OK, time to call it a day,"
Penny said, stifling another yawn as she hefted her briefcase back on to her desk and
55
began to refill it.
"What time am I meeting the estate agent in the morning?"
Ten o'clock."
Penny looked at her, waited, then with a long-suffering sigh said,
"OK. Is she coming to the hotel?"
"Yes."
"Does she know which hotel?"
"She will by the morning."
"Fine. Now, if you wouldn't mind dropping me off I'll see what I can do about hiring a car."
After leaving Penny at the fancy Carlton Hotel, Marielle sped out on to the Croisette and raced furiously off towards Cannes la Bocca and the HLM council flat - she shared with her mother. She'd known, even before meeting Penny Moon, that she was going to despise her. Now that they had met, she more than despised her, she loathed her, self-opinionated bitch that she was. Oh, sure, she was going to make a success of this glitzy new magazine - how could she fail when she had the backing she had? Well, that was OK by Marielle, she'd always wanted to lift the profile of the magazine, and if having to put up with Penny Moon for a while was the way it had to be done, then so be it.
Penny Moon wasn't going to last long, though, Marielle already had assurances on that, but she had to make sure that Penny Moon's personal failure did nothing to damage the magazine, so that when Penny Moon went back to England in disgrace it would be she, Marielle, who was the obvious choice to take things over. She gave a snort of laughter. Just one day in Penny Moon's company had been enough to show Marielle where her Achilles"
heel lay, for Penny Moon was, without a doubt, the kind of woman who'd let her heart rule her head. Disastrous! And with the self-esteem problem Marielle had detected the instant they'd met, Marielle didn't see how she could fail. And maybe, now she came to think about it, she was going to enjoy using 56
Penny Moon's emotions as the weapon that would finish her, and, if all that Marielle had been hearing about David Villers was true, then Marielle could hardly wait to meet him.
The next two weeks sped by and what she, Marielle and Clothilde, the mumsy, smiley assistant of
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