The Promise of Summer, Part 1

by Bella Osborne

  They crossed a bridge in front of a glass building so tall that Ruby couldn’t see the top of it, even if she tilted her head right back, which she had to stop doing for fear of toppling over. Inside it was all very swish, modern and airy and full of busy-looking people. Curtis walked up to a circular reception desk while Ruby tried to work out how the queuing system would work or if it was just a free-for-all.

  ‘Curtis Walker to see Cordelia Stuart-Bruce.’

  Ruby stepped forward. ‘And his assistant, Ruby Edwards, to see Cordelia, Stuart and Bruce.’ The smartly dressed receptionist smiled before tapping away on her keyboard.

  ‘Cordelia’s assistant will be with you shortly,’ said the receptionist, handing them each a visitor’s badge on a blue lanyard. ‘Fire escape instructions are on the reverse, please have a read. Please help yourself to refreshments while you wait.’ She indicated a plush seating area with lavish half-moon sofas and a large bowl of individually wrapped biscuits.

  Curtis took a seat and Ruby took a handful of biscuits. ‘If I’d known there was free stuff I’d have brought a bigger bag. Drink? Coffee?’ she asked, pulling a paper cup from a dispenser.

  ‘I’ll wait until the meeting thanks.’

  ‘Or there’s mint tea or camomile or hot chocolate or—’

  ‘Really. I’m fine.’ He seemed to be getting irritated. Ruby shrugged and helped herself to a hot chocolate.

  After a few minutes someone approached. ‘Hi, Curtis, good to see you again,’ said a trendy-looking young man thrusting out a hand for Curtis to shake.

  ‘Hi, I’m Curtis’s assistant, Ruby Edwards.’ She was quite getting into her role now. She swapped her biscuits to her other hand so she could shake his. ‘Bruce or Stuart?’

  Curtis did a slow blink. The man tilted his head appearing unsure how to react. ‘I’m Jonty, Cordelia Stuart-Bruce’s assistant.’

  ‘Ohhhh,’ said Ruby as the penny dropped. ‘Double-barrelled name. Wicked,’ she added, biting into a biscuit that promptly exploded into crumbs.

  Chapter Five

  The meeting was on the sixteenth floor and the super-fast lift made Ruby’s stomach tumble. They walked out across luxurious carpet to a large glass meeting room where Jonty left them to set up. Ruby rushed to the floor-to-ceiling windows to take in the view.

  ‘Wow. Look, it’s the O2 arena and the Thames. You can see for miles and miles.’ She stared out at the sight of London laid before her like a pop-up book coming to life.

  ‘Ruby, would you like to take a seat?’ suggested Curtis.

  ‘In a minute.’ She was scanning the scene to work out what buildings she could identify from her sketchy knowledge of London. ‘Can you see the tower from here?’ she asked without pulling her eyes away.

  ‘No. Completely the wrong direction.’

  ‘Shame.’ She watched a boat moving up the river quite slowly. It was a long way down.

  ‘Ruby, as we’re cutting it finer than I would like please can you write out a few flip charts for me?’ asked Curtis, moving the flip chart board nearer to her.

  ‘Hmm.’ She was distracted, wondering who was on the boat and where they were going. Was today just another day in London for them or was it like her day, with the potential to change their life forever?

  ‘Ruby, please.’ Curtis was sounding exasperated.

  At his words Ruby snapped out of her daydream and spun around. Not expecting the flip chart stand to be so close, she clattered into it sending it crashing to the floor.

  ‘Whoops, sorry,’ she said wincing. She was often inept when she was uneasy. And a meeting in a London office was definitely starting to make her feel that way. She had no place here and now she was anxious that she was going to mess things up. The best she could do was front it out.

  Curtis smoothly lifted up the stand and set it upright. ‘I suggest you sit here and do something quietly.’ He pointed to a chair at his end of an extra long white table.

  ‘What, like colouring in?’

  ‘That would be perfect.’ Curtis looked relieved.

  Ruby grinned. ‘I was joking. I’m not a child, Curtis. I can be trusted.’ The twitch of his eyebrow said he disagreed. ‘What? Do you think I’m going to mess this up for you?’

  ‘Not on purpose, no,’ he said, popping out a piece of plastic from the middle of the table and connecting his laptop to a cable that magically appeared.

  ‘I promise I will be on my best behaviour. Now what can I do to help?’

  ‘Maybe take some notes,’ said Curtis, handing her a notepad and a posh-looking black pen with a fun white splosh on the end.

  ‘I could do that.’ She was excited at the opportunity to do something useful and fulfil her new role even though it was just for today. ‘What shall I write down?’ she asked, taking her seat and straightening her back.

  ‘Just my actions.’

  Ruby frowned. Did he think she was an idiot? ‘What? Curtis is standing up. Curtis is waving his fist at me. Don’t take the p—’

  ‘No. Anything where I need to do something,’ he clarified.

  Now she felt stupid. ‘Oh, right. That kind of action. You should have said. I can definitely do that.’

  Jonty returned with a posse of well-groomed people at the same time as a woman appeared with a trolley. She watched as plate after plate of delicious-looking food was unloaded – and she’d thought the biscuits were a highlight.

  Jonty sidled up to Ruby and handed her a small plate. ‘The mini eclairs go really fast so grab a couple while you can,’ he whispered.

  In her haste Ruby quickly pushed back her wheelie chair and heard someone squeal. She turned to see she’d run over a man’s toes. ‘Whoops, sorry. I’m Ruby.’

  ‘Bob,’ he said, before limping away.

  Ruby took a steadying breath. She was way out of her comfort zone and in her experience she occasionally acted a bit ditsy and panicky when she was in uncharted waters. She needed to keep that little quirk of hers under control for the next couple of hours. She checked the coast was clear before she reversed some more and followed Jonty. ‘I’ve been to weddings with less food than this,’ said Ruby and she wasn’t lying.

  Jonty chuckled and moved along the buffet. ‘How come you’re working for the infamous lone wolf?’ He tipped his head.

  ‘What, Curtis?’ Jonty nodded and fixed her with interested eyes. ‘You’ve heard the phrase – it’s not what you know it’s who you know?’

  ‘Ahh,’ said Jonty, with a sage nod. ‘Well done. He’s the best in the business.’

  ‘Yeah, I know,’ said Ruby. ‘So am I.’ She bit into a samosa. The filling was a bit hotter than she was expecting and she spent the next few minutes listening to Jonty while nodding wisely and waiting for her mouth to cool down. At least she hadn’t embarrassed herself again.

  After some light chat they all took their seats and Ruby felt a frisson of excitement. She could tell it was an important meeting and she felt like she was on The Apprentice.

  An elegant woman took the seat at the opposite end of the table to Curtis. ‘I can see we have a few new recruits.’ She smiled warmly at Ruby. ‘Shall we do a quick round of introductions? I’m Cordelia Stuart-Bruce, Head of Information Technology Development.’ She nodded to the man to her left and he reeled off a very long job title. It was like a competition; as it moved to the next person the job titles got longer and longer.

  When they reached Curtis, he tapped his laptop and the wall behind him lit up and emblazoned on it was Curtis Walker, Technical Consultant. Ruby spontaneously clapped and then, realising nobody else was, picked up her pen and pretended to write something down. ‘I’m Curtis Walker and this is my assistant, Ruby Edwards.’ Ruby gave a wave and then instantly wished she hadn’t. It was met mostly by puckered brows with the exceptions of Jonty and Cordelia who smiled.

  The meeting that followed could have been conducted in Swahili for the amount of sense it made to Ruby. Every sentence was littered with technical jargon. She doodled a dragon
during the excruciatingly dull bit. A couple of times Curtis pointed at her, which she took as an indication she should be taking notes. Each time he pointed she hastily wrote something down, which prompted a brief nod from him and that made her feel like she was doing okay.

  ‘I agree with everything you’ve suggested with the exception of the timelines,’ said Cordelia.

  ‘If you implement any quicker you lose your contingency window and will be loading on unnecessary risk as per slide fourteen,’ said Curtis.

  ‘Surely you could mitigate that risk?’

  ‘Not really. I don’t want to compromise the testing and this slide shows our maximum capacity.’ Curtis tapped his laptop and a previous slide appeared.

  Ruby looked at the slide. ‘Is that based on people working nine to five?’ she asked.

  Curtis spun in her direction as if he’d momentarily forgotten she was there. ‘Yes,’ replied Curtis. He turned back to Cordelia. ‘My recommendation—’

  ‘Five days a week?’ continued Ruby.

  ‘Yes.’ Curtis’s tone was clipped.

  ‘I’ve a suggestion,’ said Ruby. Curtis slowly turned back to look at her as if in disbelief.

  ‘Go ahead,’ encouraged Cordelia.

  ‘In my um … previous job, if we were up against a deadline we worked around the clock. Maybe get in some extra workers. Could you get some more of those um …’ Ruby pointed at the slide where it said headcount.

  ‘Testers,’ offered Jonty.

  ‘Yeah, testers and have them work a night shift? Wouldn’t that shorten the testing phase?’

  Curtis opened and closed his mouth but didn’t make a sound.

  ‘Excellent suggestion,’ said Cordelia. Jonty gave her a little thumbs up just visible above the table. Ruby felt a glow from the inside out. She’d helped.

  ‘Whilst that is an option, it brings with it its own level of risk. Additional testers would need training. I think the testing phase would then need overseeing,’ said Curtis, finally finding his voice again.

  ‘Fine,’ said Cordelia. ‘You can take offices on site here for the duration. Jonty, can you liaise with Ruby so they have everything they require?’

  ‘Certainly,’ said Jonty.

  ‘I’m sorry. I need to dash to another meeting,’ said Cordelia getting to her feet and swiftly heading for the door. ‘Thank you, Curtis … and Ruby,’ she added as she exited the room, followed quickly by a few others.

  Jonty came over. ‘What’s your direct line, Ruby?’ He was poised with a pen.

  ‘Ahh funny story,’ said Ruby.

  ‘Which we don’t have time for,’ said Curtis, packing up his laptop at speed.

  Jonty accompanied them back to the airy entrance, relieved them of their badges and lanyards and they said their goodbyes. As they walked away Ruby leaned into Curtis. ‘How did I do?’ she asked.

  ‘Unmitigated disaster,’ he replied.

  Ruby was niggled by his grim view. ‘Hey, I solved your problem back there.’

  Curtis stopped walking and swivelled on his heel. ‘No, you caused me a problem.’

  ‘How?’ Ruby threw up her arms.

  ‘With my assistance they now need to recruit additional top-level testers, get them inducted, briefed and in place and up to speed on a bespoke system in a very short timescale. On top of that I am expected to decamp to London for the duration of testing supposedly with my new assistant.’

  ‘You can tell them I got headhunted and left for an offer I couldn’t refuse.’ She gave him a cheeky grin.

  Curtis looked as if he was going to add something but then thought better of it, shook his head and strode off in the direction of the DLR station. Next stop – baby central.

  On the train Ruby passed Curtis back his notepad and fancy pen. He glanced at what she’d written.

  ‘What’s this?’ he asked pointing to the first point.

  Ruby tilted her head to see what she’d written. ‘“Bald man next to Bob said could you do something about data mining.”’

  ‘Helpful,’ said Curtis, with a straight face.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Ruby.

  ‘And this?’

  ‘“Lady in floral print top, possibly Stella McCartney …”’

  ‘Her name is Daksha not Stella.’

  Ruby let that go and continued reading word for word. ‘“She just said future something or other. I don’t know exactly because I wasn’t listening but you pointed to me so now I’m writing this.”’

  ‘Excellent. And the dinosaur?’ he said, tapping the picture.

  She grinned. ‘That’s a dragon. Sorry, I zoned out for a bit.’

  ‘For a bit?’ Curtis put the pad away. ‘You said you were drawing on experience in your day job for the twenty-four-hour working suggestion.’

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘What is it that you do?’ he asked.

  ‘I’m a florist,’ said Ruby proudly and Curtis dropped his head into his hands.

  Kim was rubbing her temple and wondering if she could break her no alcohol mid-week rule when the door chime sounded and in walked Adrian doing a bad job of trying to hide something behind his back.

  ‘Blimey I know it’s been a long day but don’t tell me it’s half five already,’ she quipped.

  ‘No. Day off. I just popped in to um …’ He looked around as if searching for the answer. ‘To say thanks for last week’s flowers.’

  ‘Okay.’ Kim sensed there was something amiss as Adrian looked uncomfortable and this was the first time in about three years that she’d seen him outside of their usual end-of-day window. ‘I’m glad she liked them. Is everything okay?’

  Adrian took a breath. ‘Yep. Fine … It’s fine. I just thought you seemed a bit low last week and I feared I may have contributed to that in some way, so I was checking you were all right.’ He gave a shaky smile.

  ‘That’s kind of you, Adrian. I’m okay, really. Did you enjoy the theatre?’

  ‘Yes, very much.’

  There was an awkward pause where they looked at each other and waited for the other to speak. Kim was about to say something when Adrian jolted into life and thrust something green at her and almost up her left nostril.

  ‘And I brought you this,’ he said. ‘It’s a tomato plant.’

  Kim leaned back until it was in focus. ‘Oh, thank you. That’s kind. Who’s the gardener? You or Justine?’

  ‘Me. I’m not a gardener as such. I potter about in the greenhouse and mow the lawn.’

  ‘Can I interest you in a cuppa or do you need to dash off?’ asked Kim.

  ‘That’d be lovely. I had a bit of surplus holiday, so took the day off. But now I’ve run out of things to do.’ He scratched his ear and looked about as if seeking inspiration.

  With that the door swung open, causing the bell to clang rather than its usual chime, making both Kim and Adrian jump. Kim placed the plant on the counter.

  ‘Did we leave Bunnykins in here?’ It was the bride-to-be looking rather fraught as she scanned the floor.

  ‘I don’t think so,’ said Kim. She’d had plenty of biscuit crumbs to tidy up so she was fairly sure she would have noticed. ‘I’m assuming Bunnykins is a cuddly toy?’ These days they gave kids such odd names it wouldn’t have surprised her if it had been a sibling.

  ‘Of course it is.’ The woman came fully into the shop, towing the red-faced child. Adrian stepped out of their way. ‘She won’t be able to sleep without him. It’s a complete disaster. We’ve only been in here and the coffee shop.’

  Kim began having a root around the corner where the child had spent some of her time destroying her stock.

  ‘Ooh, now I like that,’ said the woman, running a finger along a frond of Adrian’s tomato plant. ‘Very rustic.’

  ‘I grew it,’ said Adrian proudly.

  ‘What, locally?’

  ‘In my greenhouse. From seed. No pesticides. No growth enhancers.’ Adrian pulled his shoulders back.

  Kim noticed a flash of grubby pink amongst the l
ilies. She grabbed hold of the soaked mass and pulled it free. ‘Bunnykins, I presume.’ She held up the soggy, dripping toy.

  ‘Oh, my word. How did that happen?’ The bride-to-be was aiming her question at Kim.

  ‘I think your daughter might have been using her freedom of expression,’ said Kim, trying to hand over the soaked toy.

  ‘What?’ said the woman. ‘Oh, yes.’ She pasted on a fake smile. ‘Ah, ha, ha, ha.’ Her laughter matched her smile perfectly. The woman gingerly took the rabbit by the tip of his ear.

  Kim returned to the counter. ‘Was there anything else?’

  ‘Yes,’ said the woman, picking up the tomato plant. ‘I also want lots of these as table centres.’ Kim looked at Adrian’s shocked face and tried hard not to laugh.

  Chapter Six

  Curtis and Ruby had left West Ham Tube behind them and turned into a narrow street with garages on one side and what looked like the back of a row of terraced houses on the other. Ruby studied the address on the piece of paper again. This couldn’t be right, could it? She inched down the road, looking for numbers or anything to confirm that this hopefully wasn’t the right place. She stopped outside a property with an orange front door. A plastic two and a stuck-on number six confirmed her worst thoughts.

  ‘I don’t like to intrude,’ said Curtis. ‘However, I fear we may have taken a wrong turn.’ As a breeze scattered litter at their feet, Curtis blinked at the row of grubby little houses with their fallen wheelie bins, abandoned like forgotten soldiers.

  ‘No. I think it’s the right place,’ she said, her voice almost a whisper.

  ‘I’m sorry. I have to ask. This baby.’ He made inverted commas with his fingers. ‘Is it something illegal?’ He looked about him. ‘Well, obviously it is.’ He answered his own question. ‘Ruby, could I suggest you have a rethink before you commit a serious offence. I mean—’

  ‘It’s legal,’ said Ruby, finally pulling her eyes away from the peeling paint of number twenty-six. ‘And it is a real baby … well, it will be.’