‘Did you?’ Ingrid looks up from her computer, her frown of concentration while peering at the monitor not lessening any as she lifts her head. ‘How is he? Haven’t seen him for a while but I know he’s been busy at work, some new directive or other they’ve got to get off the ground.’ She lowers her eyes to the screen once more; squinting as she double-checks the figures against Nathan’s handwritten quote.
‘He was with someone.’
‘Someone you knew?’ Ingrid asks absently, jabbing at the arrow key to move up the document to make a correction.
‘Oh, I never talked to him but he knew I’d seen him cos he went all red when I waved.’
‘If you waved, he’d have known you’d seen him whatever colour he went.’
Charlene looks at her blankly. ‘Yeah..whatever...But this girl, she turned round to see what he were lookin’ at, so I waved at her as well.’
Ingrid spends a few seconds making another correction and realigns her ruler at an angle under Nathan’s list of materials and costing, the corresponding items being anything but level as his writing slants down the page. ‘And did she wave back?’ Each word is spoken separately to accompany every tap of the arrow key as she spots another mistake.
‘You int really list’ning are you?’
Ingrid heaves a sigh and gives up on any idea of accurately typing the quote without a rest from it and Charlene’s chatter. She pushes back her chair, ready to go and make a drink, ‘I wouldn’t ask if I hadn’t been listening, would I? In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m busy.’
‘So am I.’ Charlene retorts and, to prove her point, takes a sheaf of invoices from her in-tray and waves them in the air before dropping them back in again. ‘And I done all the job sheets already. You been on that all morning.’
‘Is that surprising? I can’t concentrate with you yapping on! Say what you’ve got to say then, as soon as we’ve had our coffee, you can take yourself off down to the warehouse for half an hour so I can have a bit of quiet to check all these figures. This is a new contract and the quote’s got to be out today. I don’t want to lose business by being sloppy or lose us money by getting it wrong. Okay?’
‘I was only saying.’ Charlene pouts resentfully. ‘It int no good you getting all funny wi’ me just cos Jon’than’s going out with somebody.’
‘Why on earth would that annoy me?’
‘Well, it weren’t Ros’lyn, were it.’ The pout is at odds with the glimmer of satisfaction in her eyes. ‘And she won’t like that, will she?’
In the doorway between the office and the kitchenette, Ingrid stands spoon in one hand and jar of coffee in the other while her mouth hangs open. ‘And you’re gloating?’
Charlene shrugs and returns to her work.
‘Rosalyn and Jonathan have been friends almost as long as I’ve known him and I’d be very surprised if they hadn’t had the odd kiss and a cuddle along the way,’ Ingrid declares icily. ‘But I know for a fact she isn’t looking for a long term relationship with him or anyone else.’
‘Nor’s he, is he? Not with her, anyway.’
Uncharacteristically, Ingrid’s retort is spiteful as she puts down both jar and spoon in favour of snatching her pack of cigarettes from the corner of her desk and slamming out of the office. ‘Not with you either.’
Samms Plant Hire, Oatfield
Chapter Forty-seven
Outside Il Pavone, Woodbury
‘You sure you won’t think about it again?’ Daniel curls his fingers around Vivienne’s hand and closes the gap between them as they walk along. ‘Me and you.’
‘If you say ‘can make sweet music together, I’ll clock you one!’ The street lights catch the glint of her teeth as she laughs. ‘Don’t spoil a nice night. I’ve had a lovely time. We’ve talked up a storm and I’ve really enjoyed meself. Even the pommes frites didn’t niff. But that’s all there is and all there ever will be.’
‘That last bit didn’t seem too definite.’
‘The ‘that’s it’ bit? I’m sure, sweetheart,’ she says when he dips a diffidently smiling nod. ‘Good company, a few laughs, just what a girl needs to take her out of ‘erself but I’m no girl. I can pretend all I like but I’m an old woman...’
‘Bollocks, are you!’ Daniel is quick to deny, dragging her hand back and managing to turn her to face him. They stand in the middle of the pavement. ‘You’re not,’ he says sincerely.
Viv briefly touches her fingertips to his cheek and smiles up at him. ‘Ten years ago, I’d’ve jumped at the chance of bein’ somebody’s bit of rough but...’
‘Will you stop doing yourself down!’
‘Someone’s got to make you see sense! It would never work. Inside a week, you’d be fed up with ‘earing me moan and groan...’
‘Moaning’s good.’ Daniel’s hands meet behind her back and he smirks but jumps back when her handbag makes contact with the side of his head. ‘Shit, that hurt!’ The shock soon dissolves into laughter.
‘I told you I’d clock you one!’ Viv bites her lip, realising just how hard she has hit him.
‘Jeeze!’ He rubs the spot ruefully. ‘What the hell’ve you got in there?’
‘A flat iron and a packet of three.’
‘All prepared, then,’ he chortles.
‘It’s an old handbag,’ she replies in kind.
‘And the flat iron?’
‘For a quick rub over, save the bloke retching. Stripped off I look like the London bleedin’ Underground.’
He winks. ‘Mornington Crescent’s fun.’
‘You lookin’ for another clip round the lug’ole?’ Viv grins and starts to walk on, her handbag safely hung on her arm while her hands seek the warmth of her pockets.
‘Think I’ll pass,’ Daniel follows, taking one or two longer strides to catch up. ‘Quite like my head this shape.’ Unable to hold her hand, he casually lays an arm around her shoulder. ‘I still don’t see what the problem is. Couldn’t we give it a try, see how it went?’
‘And spoil it all?’ She looks up at him. ‘What we’ve got’s really nice. Two mates that can say anything to each other, ‘ave a bit of a laugh. And talk things through with, don’t forget that. That’s where we started. I don’t want to stuff that up. We’re good as we are.’ Sighing at the look on his face, she nudges him with her elbow. ‘Now, don’t you go gettin’ all moody on me. I told you before we ever come out that there weren’t anything’on.’
‘I know.’ He lowers his head and watches his feet as they walk along.
‘So do me a favour and stick that bloomin’ smile back on. You’re givin’ me the creeps, all mean and moody. And I can’t run in these bleedin’ shoes.’
‘You won’t need to run, I know when I’m beat.’
‘Thank gawd for that! Come on, sweetheart,’ she says as they come to a gap in the low wall surrounding the car-park. They walk in single file to take the shortcut. ‘Get me ‘ome; got an early start tomorrow.’ In a very natural move, she threads her arm through his and squeezes reassurance into her words with her hand. ‘You’ll thank your lucky stars at least one of us was being sensible when you meet somebody else.’
‘I don’t want somebody else. I meet plenty of women but they’re shallow and got nothing upstairs but bloody cotton wool.’
‘Mine are real, I’ll give you that much.’
‘In their heads!’ Daniel stops, throws back his head and roars with laughter. ‘Now who’s the Muppet?’
‘Gawd!’ Laughing with him and at him when his laughter verges on the hysterical, Viv crosses her legs. ‘I’m gonna wet meself in a minute.’
‘You’re real, that’s what I’m getting at. That’s what I like about you, that’s what I lo....’
‘You mention the ‘L’ word and I’ll get a ruddy cab home!’ She walks on, talking to him over her shoulder as she heads for the car. ‘You got the ‘ots, mate, that’s all you’ve got. ‘Ots for something you can’t have and that’s why you’ve got ‘em.’
‘That’s not it at all.’ He gestures with his thumb between two lines of cars when she goes past the gangway without turning off. ‘Down here.’
Viv trots back to him, continuing to put her argument. ‘I’m long past one-night stands and that’d be what it’d turn out to be. Once the itch was scratched, you’d be off like a rocket. It ain’t worth it for me and it ain’t worth it for you and it sure as hell ain’t worth risking our friendship for.’
‘You like this with every bloke who fancies you?’ Daniel laughs, taking keys out of his pocket. He releases the central locking and towards the end of the row they are walking along, the lights on his car flash.
‘No, just with the ones who are young, rich and ‘andsome and they’re a bit thin on the ground, there’s only one of the buggers.’
‘I’m not any of those things, so give over and give in,’ Daniel pauses at the rear of the car to gently hold her by the upper arms. ‘I’d make it work.’
‘Ohh, I’m sure you could, darlin’!’ she says, patting his chest with the flat of her hand. ‘You’d breathe life into Finchley Central when it’d been closed for renovations but you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. I’m the sow’s ear and you’re definitely a silk man. There’s someone out there for you, you just got to look a bit ‘arder. ‘
‘I won’t give up.’ He opens the passenger door and stands waiting for her to get in.
‘I’m not for you. You get out there and find a nice girl. I’m glad I’ve made you see there can be somebody else after your poor wife; you’ve grieved long enough, but you need someone with a bit more to offer. Someone you can perhaps start another family with.’
‘Leave off!’
‘No, I’m serious.’ Viv puts her hand on the top of the door and faces him with it between them. ‘Cyn’s a lovely kid, you should be proud you’ve made such a good job of bringin’ ‘er up but I bet that was a long and lonely road. It’s always better with someone else along for the ride, not just with kids but the day to day things.’
‘Like warming my slippers?’ He laughs again.
‘Someone to come home to; someone who can keep up!’ Her hand lifts to his face and she smiles sadly. ‘I’m past all that, Dan, much as I’m flattered you’d even consider me in all this. I’m too set in me ways to be bothered with ‘aving a man about the place. I’ve got me own life and I like it how it is.’
‘Fair enough.’
‘We’re still mates, though?’
‘We’ll always be mates.’
