A Silver Lining

by Christine Murray

‘That it was a deliberate attempt to create a satirical advert that would send up the company’s reputation as stuffy and only for serious players. In essence, it was designed to go viral.’

  ‘What, so companies will think that we’re a good bet if they want to send themselves up and make themselves look ridiculous?’

  He sighed. ‘No, my idea was that prospective clients would think you’re a good bet if they want to go viral.’

  That brought her up short. ‘But it’s impossible to predict what kind of stuff goes viral.’

  ‘Almost,’ said James. ‘But there are things you can do to weigh the odds. If you have a creative brain, of course. Which you do.’

  Her phone buzzed. She hesitated.

  ‘Go on,’ James urged. ‘Answer it.’

  ‘Hallo?’

  ‘Hi, is that Mollie Butler?’

  ‘Yeah, speaking.’

  ‘This is Liz Fennel. I work for a company that provides mobility products. We’re doing fairly well, but we think that we could win a bigger slice of the market if we were more visible. We wondered if it would be possible to arrange a meeting with your company to discuss a visual campaign?’

  ‘Of course,’ said Mollie, fighting to keep her voice level. ‘When were you thinking of.’

  They agreed a time and a date.

  ‘We’re not as big as Empressario, now,’ the woman cautioned.

  ‘That’s no problem at all, we work with companies of all sizes,’ she assured Liz. ‘Talk soon.’

  She hung up the phone barely able to believe it. More clients? Admittedly, Liz Fennel was representing a tiny company, but nevertheless it was a new client.

  She looked at James who was smirking.

  ‘Stop that,’ she warned. Her phone rang again.

  ‘I’ll get the coffee while you get that,’ he said, walking away.

  It was yet another client. It was the manager of an up-and-coming rock band who wanted documentary style footage for their website, but they wanted a professional feel. It was a dream job. More importantly, along with the earlier gig, it meant she’d be able to keep her crew employed for a couple of months longer.

  ‘Good news?’ asked James with a raised eyebrow as he sat down opposite her with a cup of coffee.

  She opened her mouth to make a snappy retort, but then remembered that her new jobs were all down to his help. ‘Thanks,’ she said simply.

  ‘It’s the least I could do,’ he said seriously. ‘After everything that happened.’

  ‘What made you join Empressario?’ she asked. ‘I wouldn’t have thought that it was your kind of company.’

  ‘After you left, Glenda thought that me and her were a set thing. I didn’t know how to handle it; well, you know how badly I handled the whole thing. Apart from anything else it was way too soon. We’d just broken up, I was heartbroken. I tried to let her down gently, and she basically insinuated that she’d get her father to fire me if I didn’t go along with what she wanted. So I sent out my CVs quickly, and Empressario was the only place with a suitable vacancy. It wasn’t perfect, but you know it’s always easier to get a job when you already have one. And I wasn’t going to have one for long.

  ‘I know I handled that badly, Mollie. I made a mistake. But to walk out of my life without giving me a chance to explain myself was a bit much.’

  ‘You humiliated me,’ said Mollie. ‘How was anyone supposed to take me seriously in that office when Glenda was flirting with you in front of me? I looked ridiculous!’

  ‘So it all comes down to work?’ said James incredulously.

  ‘You didn’t exactly do anything to discourage her,’ said Mollie. ‘It hurt that you seemed to be enjoying the attention, enjoying it a little bit too much. I was hurt.’

  ‘So you ended it?’

  ‘I was sick of being the talk of the office,’ said Mollie defensively. ‘What else was I supposed to do?’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I really am. But the reason I messed things up was because I was trying to do the right thing. I didn’t think how awkward it was for you. I never even considered leaving you for her.’

  ‘Is there a chance we could try again?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘No?’

  ‘If we got back together,’ Mollie said, a smile playing around her lips. ‘Then everyone in Empressario would know that you had a part in making that ridiculous video public.’

  ‘I dunno,’ he said putting his hand out and picking up hers. ‘We could be discrete, like covert spies.’

  ‘That’s not exactly my strong point,’ she admitted.

  ‘Then I’ll get a new job,’ said James. ‘We’ll work it out, whatever it takes to get our relationship back on track, I’ll do it. I just can’t face the thought of losing you again.’

  They stood up, desperate to embrace each other.

  ‘I’ve missed you so much!’ he whispered into her hair.

  An angry cough came from behind them.

  A man was standing there covered in coffee. Mollie must have knocked into him in her eagerness to get into James’ arms.

  ‘It’s nice to know,’ said James, ‘that some things never change.’

  THE END

  Read On For the First Three Chapters of Christine’s Bestselling Novel

  Storms in Teacups

  CHAPTER ONE

  As the second hand of the clock moved ever closer to a brand new year, Rose knew Daniel was going to ask her to marry him. The moment Daniel turned to her, his eyes soft and beseeching, and told her that he had something to ask her, she knew. She was going start the New Year as an engaged woman, a grown up, like her sister Charlotte. On second thoughts, maybe not like her sister Charlotte, because if being married to a man like her brother-in-law was the benchmark for fully fledged adulthood then quite frankly, Rose could do without it.

  Rose didn’t like New Year’s Eve. The history teacher in her new that the date was arbitrary, when the New Year started depended entirely on which calendar you used. She knew that the date held great symbolism for some people, but she also knew that when many people woke up on January 1st the only thing different about them was a colossal hangover and a swollen wrist from some maniac pumping their hand up and down too vigorously to the tune of Auld Lang Syne. She’d only come to this party because Daniel had insisted that it would be fun.

  But maybe this year would be different. After all, getting engaged was a big deal, a life changing event. Tomorrow she would be different from the person she was right now.

  She wondered if he had already picked out the ring. In one way she hoped that he hadn’t, choosing a ring meant he was one hundred per cent sure that she was going to say yes. On the other hand, when she’d dreamed about this moment as a little girl, she’d imagined the man in question getting down on one knee, opening one of those unmistakeable ring boxes and gazing up at her with an expression of complete adoration on his face.

  The countdown to the New Year began. ‘Ten! Nine!’

  Honestly, she was surprised that Daniel was proposing at all. He wasn’t exactly the conventional type.

  ‘Eight! Seven!’ The crowd chanted.

  Who would she have for her bridesmaids? Her sister Charlotte, obviously. And Frankie. Maybe Amelia could be a flower girl. . .

  ‘Six! Five!’

  . . . Or maybe Amelia was too young. Was two years old too young to be a flower girl? Anyway, it depended on when they actually got married. They might wait for a couple of years, after all.

  ‘Four! Three!’

  She needed to look surprised when he asked her. She didn’t want to ruin it for him by letting him know that she’d guessed his surprise.

  ‘Two! One! Happy New Year!’ A cheer rose up and everyone began to hug each other, misty eyed with alcohol-induced emotion.

  Daniel gripped both her hands in his and gave her a winning smile. The deep violet of his shirt made his pale blue eyes stand out even more, and her breath caught in her throat.

  ‘Rose,’ he sai
d, his voice low, anxious and heavy with meaning. ‘Will you move in with me?’

  *

  Ok, so it hadn’t been exactly what she’d been hoping for. But moving in together was a sign of commitment too, right? At the very least it was a step in the right direction. So Rose put away her disappointment, and packed her belongings into a series of cardboard boxes. She had trawled around the local newsagents looking for something to stow her worldly treasures in, but they’d all had none. Either that or they were too lazy to go into the store room and check for her. Her last stop had been an off-licence, who, luckily for her, had a load of empty boxes on the premises after the festive season. When her new neighbours saw her boxes they were going to think that she had a major drink problem

  She looked around now at the bedroom she’d lived in for the past few years. It was empty now and looked bigger without her things in it. She was going to miss it. She’d moved into this house with some fellow teachers she’d met in college, and had the time of her life. Over the years, however, the original group had moved on with their lives, leaving one by one and were replaced by new housemates. Rose was now the only one left. The atmosphere in the place had completely changed. Instead of living with a group of friends who, apart from the odd dispute over who’d used someone’s expensive Jo Malone shower gel, had gotten on really well, she was now living with a group of strangers. Her new housemates were fine, but they tended to keep themselves to themselves. The easy atmosphere had gone and she felt like she was living with permanently disgruntled houseguests.

  She needed to get going. She’d already transported most of her stuff over to her new apartment. This was the last run. She took the last item out of her chest of drawers, a stack of around two dozen letters held together with an elastic band. The stamps were varied, mostly commemorating some event in either American history or culture. The postmarks showed the dates that they had been sent. A cluster had been sent around twenty years or so, but they’d gotten less frequent as time went on. Some of the ones that had been sent in the last couple of years hadn’t even been opened. Rose preferred it that way. The letters arriving at her mother’s house were a big enough reminder of the man she’d like to erase completely from her memory. She hesitated for a second, thinking about throwing the whole lot of them in the bin. At the last minute she wavered and threw them into the top of a box.

  Rose picked up the last few cardboard boxes and brought them one by one to the car. The January air was cold, and she shivered. The night sky was clear and the stars twinkled dimly down at her.

  On her way to the apartment building she’d soon be calling home, a wind blew up, sending grey and navy blue clouds hurtling across the sky. Rose groaned as a few peremptory raindrops landed on her windscreen. The downpour gradually got heavier, and by the time she pulled into the car park the sky was throwing greedy handfuls of raindrops down to earth so fast that puddles had started to form on the tarmac. There was no way she could get into the building without getting drenched. Her arms were covered in goose bumps despite her warm coat and she wrapped her arms tight around herself to try and conserve what little body heat she had. She closed her eyes and rested her head on the steering wheel.

  She was exhausted. Thank God the four boxes on the back seat were the last ones. It was amazing how twenty eight years of living managed to fit neatly into just into just fourteen boxes.

  Rose jumped as the passenger door opened and Daniel swung into the seat beside her. He leaned over and kissed her soundly on the lips.

  She laughed as she pulled away, hitting him gently on the shoulder. ‘You scared the life out of me!’

  He grinned back. ‘You should be grateful I came down when I did. Otherwise you’d have the Volkswagen logo imprinted on your head. I’ve unpacked some of your stuff. The place looks less like a bachelor pad now. Come on.’ He opened the door to get out of the car.

  ‘Are you insane?!’ she protested. ‘We should wait until the rain lets up.’

  ‘The rain is down for the night, Rose. Come on, there’s only four boxes left. You take two and I’ll take two. We’ll be done in no time. Come on, I’ll race you!

  ‘We’ll get soaked!’ she protested. But she was talking to thin air. Daniel had already jumped out of the car and opened the back door. He picked up one box. ‘Come on, I’ll take the heavy ones to make it fair.’

  Rose sighed and unbuckled her seatbelt. She got out of the car and gasped as the cold water hit her skin. Ruing Ireland’s changeable weather, she picked up a box and hurried over to the front door of their new apartment block. She ran up the two flights of stairs and down the corridor to their apartment. Daniel was coming back out the door. She handed him the box which he took on reflex. She spun around and started running back down to the car.

  ‘That’s cheating Rose!’ he called running behind her. Thank God she was wearing flats, she thought as she pumped her legs faster. He had longer legs though, and was gaining on her fast. They reached the car together and picked up the last two boxes. Daniel nipped ahead of her, and Rose grabbed his sweatshirt from behind and pulled him back. She sprinted ahead, eager to win.

  Daniel caught up with her at the doorway. He pushed his shoulder against hers preventing Rose from entering the building. She tickled him in the side and tried to get in the door but Daniel put an arm around her waist and pulled her back.

  Rose struggled to keep hold of the box which was wet and slippery from the rain.

  ‘All my stuff is getting wet!’ she giggled. ‘Let me in!’

  Daniel managed to get in the door ahead of her and ran up the stairs two at a time. She followed him, determined not to be beaten. Daniel was halfway down the corridor when the bottom of the box, made soggy by all the rain, finally gave up the ghost and tore. Books, DVD’s and photo frames tumbled onto the floor. The sight of him standing there with a panicked look on his face, her prized possessions littered the ground made Rose start to laugh. She laughed so hard that she had to lean one hand against the wall to support herself. Daniel’s face looked horrified as he bent down to check that nothing was broken. He looked up and caught her eye, beginning to laugh too.

  ‘If you’ve broken anything, you’re replacing it,’ Rose said with a smile on her face.

  A door opened across the hallway and an elderly woman looked out at the pair of them, her face creased in disdain. She looked them up and down with narrowed eyes, disapproval radiating from every pore. Having seen enough, she slammed the door shut.

  ‘Well that’s us blacklisted! Come on, let’s get you inside before you cause any more damage!’ said Rose, walking and placing her box on the floor, leaving Daniel to clear up the mess in the corridor. She looked around the apartment, light and airy but a little bit different than the way it had looked earlier. When Daniel’s friend Emmett had lived here it had been a complete bachelor pad, but Daniel had unpacked some of her stuff, instantly making the place look more feminine.

  ‘I won, you know’, said Daniel as he carried the last of her things into the apartment. ‘I got to the door first.’

  ‘You were disqualified’, Rose said, walking towards him and putting her arms around his neck. ‘Boxes have to be in one piece when crossing the finish line.’

  ‘Says who?’ he asked kissing her neck.

  ‘Says me,’ said Rose, closing her eyes.

  ‘You know your clothes are soaking, right?’ Daniel murmured into her neck.

  ‘Funnily enough I had noticed that.’

  Daniel kissed her deeply. When they came up for air he looked at her, mock concern etched on his brow. ‘I’m worried you’ll catch your death in that coat.’

  ‘Do you want me to take it off?’ Rose asked softly.

  ‘That might be best. For your own health, of course,’ he said with a serious expression on his face.

  ‘Of course.’ Rose shrugged out of her coat, and Daniel lifted her dress over her head in one swift movement, letting it fall to the ground.

  ‘Excuse me, that dress wa
s perfectly dry!’ Rose said in mock indignation. Then Daniel began to kiss her again, and she stopped protesting.

  Later on, listening to Daniel’s rhythmic snores and unable to sleep, Rose walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water. She needed to get back to sleep quickly; she was in work the following morning. Her eye caught the package of letters on the top of one of the boxes and she picked them up. She ran her fingers for a moment over the address scrawled in black ink. She brought them back into the bedroom with her and placed them in the bottom drawer of her locker, closing it with more force than was necessary. Today was a new beginning, after all. She didn’t need to be reminded of her past.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Rose felt her heart sink as she turned into Ravensfield housing estate the next morning. Ravensfield was what most people considered a ‘rough area’, comprising of hundreds of identical grey and brown council houses. The green areas that were meant to add a hint of natural beauty to the place sported black scars from bonfires and burnt out cars. There was litter everywhere, beer cans, syringes, rusting shopping trolleys, and an almost palpable air of depression. Nobody visited the estate unless they had to.

  Which Rose did. She was a teacher in St. Jude’s, a secondary school for girls in the heart of the estate, with an atrocious academic reputation. Daniel couldn’t understand why she continued to work there, and was always on at her to change her career. With her college results she could work in a large company, like her sister Charlotte did, he urged. She’d make better money and have an easier life. Maybe he had a point, but Rose really loved her job. It was challenging, sure, but that was part of what she loved about it.

  Rose manoeuvred carefully into her parking space. Across the car park she saw Frankie standing outside the front door, without a cigarette in her hand, which was unusual for her. Rose raised a hand in greeting and Frankie hurried over.

  ‘Well you certainly took your time,’ Frankie complained as she climbed into the passenger seat.