If the Shoes Fit

by Pauline Lawless

  Grace hugged them both. “It’s wonderful to see you again, Susie. I’m dying to hear all your news. And yours too, Amber,” she said, turning to her with a smile. “I didn’t want to pry too much at the interview, what with Carlo there.”

  “Just as well you didn’t,” Amber laughed. “He’d have thought I was a nut-case.”

  Grace had a bottle of champagne on ice and when the waiter had poured it for them they settled down for a good natter, all of them talking at once.

  “It’s great to have a night off like this. I’m actually working harder than I ever did,” Grace told them, sipping her champagne. “Especially with this new venture, but it’s worth it to have nights like this.” She raised her glass to them.

  “To If the Shoes Fit!” Amber said, and they all clinked glasses.

  “Well, girls, tell me what you’ve been doing with yourselves,” Grace said, looking at each of them.

  “You first,” Amber said to Susie.

  “Not much to tell really,” Susie said. “I got married to Tony seven years ago and we have two little terrors,” she rolled her eyes to heaven, “Rachel and Joshua, four and five.”

  “Don’t mind her! They’re adorable,” Amber said, giving Susie a poke in the arm.

  “Well yes, they are, actually,” Susie smiled. “They’re my life.” She held out her glass to the waiter who was offering more champagne.

  “Mmmm, delicious,” Amber said, noticing that it was Krug they were drinking. Grace had always had great taste.

  “I’m still working away,” Susie continued, “but I don’t fly transatlantic any more. I couldn’t bear to be away from the kids for so long.”

  “Is there still a lot of the same old crew working?” Grace asked her.

  “Indeed there is,” said Susie, shaking her head in disgust. “Some of them should be collecting their pensions! They practically need a wheelchair to meet them off every flight!”

  All three roared laughing at the vision she’d conjured up.

  The waiter came with menus and they sipped the delicious champagne as they decided what to order.

  When he’d taken their order, Grace turned to Amber, raising her eyebrows, and said, “Tell me, what was all that about you being divorced?”

  Amber found herself actually laughing and making jokes as she told Grace all that had happened to her in the intervening years. Susie couldn’t believe her ears. Amber had never, ever, joked about Dermot before, yet here she was, talking about it as though it wasn’t that important.

  “You poor pet!” Grace sympathised with her. “What happened since? Did the twenty-year-old have his baby?”

  “No idea,” Amber replied, her eyes blank. “I’m not interested. He’s not my business any more.” This wasn’t strictly true. Privately, she often wondered how he was doing and whether he’d had the child. Somehow, she’d always expected that he would come back to her, begging her forgiveness and admitting he’d made a terrible mistake.

  Susie squeezed her hand. “That’s my girl,” she murmured. She felt that Amber was finally moving on. She certainly hoped so. “It’s left her royally pissed off with men,” she told Grace.

  “I’m not surprised,” Grace said, kindly. “Poor Carlo is in for a disappointment then.” She turned to Susie. “Did Amber tell you about her conquest of my brother-in-law?”

  “What conquest? She never mentioned anyone.” Susie looked at Amber reproachfully.

  “Carlo’s quite fallen for her. He couldn’t talk about anything else, all the way to Rome. It got boring, believe me!” Grace rolled her eyes as she spoke. “He’s flying in tomorrow morning. He was hoping to be here tonight but he had a previous dinner engagement in Rome.”

  “I’ll bet. Probably with some supermodel,” Amber replied sarcastically.

  “Really, Amber, you’ve got him all wrong,” Grace tried to assure her. “He’s not a womaniser, not at all.”

  “I’m sure.” Amber didn’t believe it for a moment.

  Susie wondered what was going on. She’d heard nothing about this Carlo fellow from Amber. Knowing her friend well, she was surprised that she hadn’t mentioned him. She must like him. Well, time would tell!

  Grace told them all about her kids and her life in Rome, which sounded idyllic. Her children, Silvio and Lucia were the same age as Susie’s.

  “You’ll both have to come over and visit for a weekend,” she told them, “and bring the children, Susie. Mine would love to meet them and Carlo will be delighted, that’s for sure,” she said, glancing slyly at Amber.

  Susie was amazed to see Amber blushing. Uh oh, something’s going on here definitely, she guessed.

  Chapter 10

  The following morning, Amber arrived at the Red Cow Hotel for the training course and was directed to the Leinster Suite where she found Niamh sitting in an ante-room, talking to two women. Amber was relieved to see that one was about her age and the other a bit older. Thank God she wouldn’t feel like an old fogey amongst a crowd of young ones.

  “Hi, Amber!” Niamh called out.

  “Hello, Niamh. Great to see you!”

  “I’m delighted you’re here. I knew that you would be!” Niamh was beaming. “We met at the interview,” she explained to the two women, introducing Amber.

  “We met at the interview too,” the older woman said. “I’m Rosie and this is Tessa. I was delighted to see her here today too,” she smiled. They shook hands and Amber sat down beside them.

  Rosie was in her late forties, Amber guessed, very elegant and beautifully dressed. She was a big woman with short sleek ash-blonde hair and a good figure. Amber took in the expensive jewellery, bag and shoes. “A real lady,” her mother would have said.

  Tessa was drop-dead gorgeous. Not pretty-pretty but exotic and striking. She was very tall and slim with smooth olive skin and high sculpted cheekbones. Her hair was the colour of dark chocolate and fell like a silk curtain, almost to her waist. It was so shiny and glossy that she could have done the commercials for the L’Oréal TV ads. As if all that wasn’t gorgeous enough for one woman, she also had perfect white teeth and wide-set amber eyes, like a tiger’s. Amber thought she looked familiar.

  “Have we met before?” she asked Tessa, a slight frown wrinkling her brow as she tried to recall where it might have been.

  “I don’t think so. I’m sure I would have remembered you,” Tessa replied smiling, a twinkle in her eye.

  Amber liked her at once and guessed she would be good fun.

  Amber was a dab hand at these quick once-overs. Her cabin-crew colleagues used to tease her about how quickly she could size someone up. Standing at the door of the aircraft as the passengers boarded, she would size them up in a split second and signal any potential problems to the other crew members. Nervous; drunk; diva; demanding; troublesome kid; Casanova. Sometimes she’d alert them to “eligible bachelor” or “shoes-to-die-for”! She had a private code for them all. The amazing thing was, as her colleagues soon found out, she was always right. They learned to heed her advice and give a wide berth to those whom she saw as trouble. She couldn’t stop the habit and she was doing it again now, as she sized up the other women.

  I wonder how they see me, she asked herself. Do they see “sad divorcée, verging on the alcoholic”? I hope not but that’s how I’d see myself, she thought with a grimace. She stuck her chin out. Well, all that was about to change!

  In fact, the others were all very impressed by Amber. Although not beautiful in the true sense of the word, her sheer force of personality made her seem so. She had a golden glow about her – like an aura, Rosie thought – and she charmed them all. She appeared confident and self-assured. None of them could have guessed what she had been through – how empty her life was and how low her self-esteem. Tessa was sure that if there had been only one vacancy, Amber would have got it. Amber would have been surprised, and delighted, if she’d known what the other women were thinking.

  Niamh was thinking that everything about Amber was pe
rfect. She was so glamorous – how Niamh wished she could be like her! Noticing Amber’s beautifully manicured nails, she was embarrassed by her own, and tried to hide them. Having them constantly in hot water, she could never get them to grow.

  Tessa envied Amber’s bubbly personality. Although Tessa was stunningly beautiful, she was lacking in confidence and she wished she had Amber’s self-assurance. She’d sort George out jig-time, Tessa thought. How I wish I could!

  Rosie thought how Jack would have admired Amber. He’d always had an eye for an attractive woman, though always adding, in his debonair way, “But she’s not a patch on my Rosie!” She’d loved him for that. Yes, he’d have appreciated Amber.

  As they sat chatting, taking stock of one another, the door opened and another girl joined them. She was small and slim with purple hair, a nose stud, and larger-than-life breasts. Silicone – I’ll bet my life on it, Amber thought. What was this girl doing here? She was a slapper! Amber shuddered and threw a glance at Tessa, who raised her eyes to heaven.

  “Val!” Niamh jumped to her feet when she caught sight of the newcomer. “What is it? Is something wrong at home?” Niamh had visibly paled.

  “No, nothing,” the girl replied, shrugging her shoulders.

  “Then what are you doing here?” Niamh asked, perplexed.

  Amber could see that Niamh was distressed and wondered what she could possibly have to do with this dreadful person.

  “I’m here for the training,” the purple-haired one replied, lounging up against the wall.

  Niamh looked confused. “You’re here for the training? I don’t understand.”

  “What’s not to understand?” said Val. “I’ve got as much right to be here as you do.”

  The others were shocked at Val’s aggressive attitude.

  “But why didn’t you say something?” Niamh asked her, a look of bewilderment on her face.

  The girl called Val shrugged and said nothing. It was obvious to the other three girls that Niamh was very upset.

  “Do you know each other?” Amber asked.

  “She’s my sister,” Niamh replied.

  Amber gasped in surprise. She found it hard to believe. They couldn’t have been more different. Val was as nasty as Niamh was sweet. What’s going on here, she wondered? She took in Val’s tight black pants and vertiginous black studded heels. Amber loved her stilettos but these were ridiculous. How could she even walk in them? She looked like a dominatrix. All she was missing was a whip! Amber could see that the others were equally shocked.

  She was about to quiz Niamh some more but just then Grace came out of the meeting room to greet them.

  “Hello, girls, and welcome,” she said, smiling. “If you’d like to help yourself to coffee and biscuits” – she directed them to a table at the back of the room – “we’ll be starting in approximately ten minutes. If you’ll excuse me, I just have some final things to prepare.” She smiled as she left them and went back into the room.

  They headed for the coffee table while Val went outside for a smoke.

  “I get the feeling she’s trying to avoid you,” Amber whispered to Niamh.

  “So well she might,” Niamh replied, with a grimace. “She never even mentioned that she’d applied for this job, or that she’d got it. She never said a word, not to me nor my mother.” Her lips trembled as she spoke and Amber felt very sorry for her.

  As they sipped their coffee, Carlo came and said hello and poured himself a coffee. At that moment, another girl arrived. She was about thirty, Amber guessed, with a mane of jet-black curls framing a pretty, delicate face. She had startling blue eyes that were cold as they looked over the four women. She had a fantastic figure and was dressed in a tight pink brocade suit with high sparkly pink satin shoes. She nodded to them but didn’t say hello. She went straight up to Carlo and Amber noticed that her face lit up as she greeted him. He poured her a coffee and stood chatting to her.

  The four women looked at each other, each thinking the same thing – tacky!

  “Where does she think she’s going?” Tessa whispered. “A wedding? All she needs is a big pink hat,” she giggled.

  “Most inappropriate,” Rosie murmured.

  “She’s very sexy though, isn’t she?” Niamh sighed.

  Amber had to agree that the newcomer was oozing sex appeal and she noticed with dismay that the fact wasn’t lost on Carlo.

  “God, we’re a motley bunch,” Tessa remarked, laughing.

  “You said it,” Amber agreed. “I reckon we’ll be having some fireworks before the week is out.”

  “Variety is the spice of life,” Rosie smiled.

  Niamh said nothing. She was still feeling upset at Val’s behaviour.

  As they finished their coffee, Grace reappeared. Although the last girl still hadn’t put in an appearance, Grace had decided to start the meeting. She ushered them into the room.

  “Well, girls, we can’t wait any longer for Phoebe. Please be seated and we’ll go ahead without her as we have a lot to get through.”

  She waved them to the chairs which were arranged in a semi-circle around a table. She and Carlo sat together at the top of the table.

  “Welcome, ladies, to If the Shoes Fit,” Grace began. “Carlo and I are delighted that you are joining us in this very exciting new business. We’d like to start by asking you to introduce yourselves, so that we can all get to know one another. Amber, would you like to start?” She smiled at her friend. “You can go next, Niamh.”

  Amber did as she was asked and, as she was speaking, Niamh started to panic. What could she possibly say about herself?

  Amber finished and Grace signalled to Niamh to take her turn.

  Shaking with nerves, Niamh was about to speak when the door opened.

  “Helloooo!” trilled a voice. “Frightfully sorry to be late but the traffic – it was horrendous. And trying to get parking – impossible!”

  This was obviously Phoebe – making a grand entrance. The others gaped at the technicoloured vision before them. Tiny and plump, she looked like she’d strayed off the set of South Pacific – in full stage make-up. She had a mane of blonde hair, flicked back in that old Farah Fawcett style. It was much too long for someone just barely the right side of fifty. She had enormous pendulous breasts which knocked Val’s siliconed ones into the small category. Her blouse was orange, her long skirt was acid green and she wore green and yellow shoes. A myriad of glass beads, green, yellow and orange, jangled on her heaving bosoms. She had two bags slung over her shoulder: one capacious green one, one smaller yellow one.

  The others couldn’t believe their eyes. Mutton dressed as lamb, Amber thought. Had the woman not looked in the mirror before she came out?

  “Just take a seat, Phoebe. The girls have been introducing themselves,” said Grace.

  “Oooh dear, have I missed that? Frightfully sorry.” She spoke in a pseudo-posh Dublin 4 accent, which the girls later discovered became a flat working-class one when she was excited.

  She doesn’t look a bit sorry, Amber thought. Not my type, most definitely not!

  “Well, in that case let me tell you about myself,” said Phoebe, still standing. She dumped her bags on the table and opened her mouth to address the group.

  “No, it’s Niamh’s turn now,” said Grace coolly. “Please sit down.”

  Phoebe looked as though she were about to protest, then she ungraciously relinquished the floor.

  She seemed quite oblivious to the effect she was having on the group. Rosie looked stunned and when Amber caught Tessa’s eye she could see that she was trying to stifle a laugh.

  Niamh’s introduction went down well, as did Rosie’s who was next. Then it was Tessa’s turn. The others were very impressed by having a successful London model in their midst. They were not surprised as she was exquisitely graceful and striking. And clever too by the sound of it, even running her own modelling business. Amber, Rosie and Niamh smiled at her as she sat down. The dark sexy girl was next. She now had
a name – Lesley. In a very strong Dublin accent, she told them that she was married with no children and had worked as a representative with a direct-selling cosmetic company for three years but she now wanted something more challenging, hence her move to If the Shoes Fit. She oozed ambition as she spoke.

  “I felt my talents were not properly recognised and there was no chance of promotion to senior management, which is where I feel I belong. I’m hoping this company will give me that opportunity,” she finished up, flashing a dazzling smile at Carlo.

  “Let no one stand in her way!” Rosie whispered to Tessa, who dissolved in giggles.

  Dream on, girl, Amber said silently. You have me to reckon with.

  She couldn’t believe the arrogance of the girl though it looked like she had impressed Carlo. She wondered if Grace had swallowed it.

  Val went next and hadn’t much to say. It took her no more than thirty seconds to introduce herself.

  “Well, Phoebe,” said Grace, “maybe you’d like to tell us now about yourself?”

  “With pleasure.” Phoebe rose as regally as her four-feet-eleven would allow.

  According to herself, she was Superwoman incarnated. She mentioned about six companies she’d worked for, where, she claimed, she’d risen to the top. The others didn’t believe a word of it. If she’d been so successful, what was she doing here?

  After about ten minutes of this self-praise, Grace interrupted her. “Thank you, Phoebe. That will be sufficient. I think we get the picture. We need to move on now.”

  Phoebe looked offended as she reluctantly sat down. The girls enjoyed her discomfiture, glancing at each other and grinning.

  Grace passed round the schedule for the training and they could see that there was a lot of ground to cover. She then outlined the goals of the company and how it would work.

  “As I explained at your interview, your job is to recruit salespeople in the area we allot to you to sell our designer shoes, either by direct selling or on a party-plan basis.” She looked around at their eager faces and then went on to elaborate on how they could achieve this. “I also informed you that we would offer you a three-month contract initially – renewable, depending on your performance. Obviously, if you’re not delivering, we would have to review your position. Carlo will give you a copy of the contract now and you can peruse it in your own time or show it to your legal advisors but we would like it back, signed, by Friday.”