Read Online The Troutbeck Testimony by Rebecca Tope - Free Book Online Page B

welcome.
    ‘Should I turn the sign to “Open”?’ asked the girl. ‘You do open at nine, don’t you?’
    ‘Yes. Thanks. You’re very punctual.’
    ‘I wasn’t sure what time you wanted me, actually. And I didn’t know whether Melanie was coming in today, either. She didn’t sound very sure, did she? You might not want both of us together.’
    ‘She said she wouldn’t be in until this afternoon, if at all. She’s sent you instead. She’s not going to be here much at all from now on, as far as I know.’ The pang at the loss of her assistant was sharper than anticipated. ‘I’m really going to miss her.’
    ‘She is amazing,’ Bonnie agreed. ‘I wish I could be more like her.’
    Simmy cocked her head and smiled. ‘I think you are quite like her, actually. In some ways, at least.’
    Bonnie flushed and turned away. ‘Where should I put my coat?’ she asked.
    Simmy showed her, as well as pointing out the toilet andemergency fire exit at the back. ‘That’s the basics done,’ she concluded.
    ‘What about upstairs?’
    ‘Pardon?’
    ‘There’s another floor.’ The girl pointed a vertical finger as if thinking Simmy might never have noticed. ‘Does somebody live there?’
    ‘Oh! No. It’s just storage space. The previous people kept loads of stock up there. Technically I can use it how I like, according to the lease. But I’ve not needed it so far. I don’t have a lot of reserve stock. It sounds funny, but I’d almost forgotten about it. There’s no direct access from inside the shop. You have to go out the back and up some metal stairs. Like a fire escape.’
    ‘Hmm,’ said Bonnie thoughtfully. ‘Would a person be allowed to live there?’
    ‘Um … I doubt it. There’s no loo or kitchen, for a start.’
    ‘But there’s electric? And water?’
    ‘I think so. It’s in two rooms, back and front. Why? You don’t want it, do you?’
    Bonnie made a grimace, part embarrassment, part rueful amusement. ‘I might,’ she admitted. ‘I could work in exchange for rent. I could just get a little gas ring and kettle, and maybe some sort of chemical toilet?’
    ‘But why ? What’s wrong with where you are?’
    Bonnie wriggled her shoulders. ‘Nothing really. I just prefer being on my own.’
    ‘I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it – and go up there for a proper look. That’s not going to happen before next week, with things so busy. And quite honestly, I can’t imagine my landlord would be very happy. Or the council.They’d want it all made official. In their eyes, you’d be a squatter.’
    ‘Right,’ said the girl, as if none of these arguments counted for much. ‘Okay. It was just an idea.’
    A customer interrupted them, and Bonnie watched closely as Simmy dealt with a request for a mixed bouquet. Afterwards, she asked questions that reassured Simmy that her new helper was going to prove rather an asset. The morning drifted along with no mishaps or irritations other than the gloomy weather outside.
    Shortly after midday, a familiar figure appeared. Ben Harkness hefted a heavy schoolbag onto Simmy’s little table and extracted a lunch box. He looked at the girl standing beside Simmy and nodded. ‘Bonnie Lawson,’ he said carelessly. ‘Fancy meeting you here. Started your exams yet?’
    ‘Ben,’ she returned. ‘First one’s on Monday.’
    ‘You know each other,’ Simmy realised, with a sense of being slow-witted. ‘Of course. Are you in the same class?’
    Two identically patronising looks greeted this question. ‘They call them tutor groups now,’ Ben told her. ‘And no, we’re not. Never have been. But everybody knows Bonnie Lawson.’
    ‘They don’t!’ the girl protested. ‘Not like they know Ben Harkness, anyway.’
    ‘We’re both famous,’ he shrugged. Then he looked from one to the other. ‘You’re not working here, are you?’
    ‘That’s the idea, yes. I’m training, at the moment. Melanie thought it would work out. She brought me