Adam smiled across at her. “I’m pleased you’ve made that decision. You won’t regret it. Don’t let anyone talk you into anything you’re not ready for. And make sure you’re not alone with him where he could force you to do something you don’t want to.”
She got up to leave. “I won’t. I’ll remember what you said.”
He watched her departing figure disappear with a confident stride down the corridor.
“So it was worth it,” said Lisa. “At least you reached one of them.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Towards the end of the Autumn term everyone was winding down for the Christmas holidays. The relaxed atmosphere in the staffroom during the morning break led the women to compare notes on men. Kate O’Brien complained that her husband refused to undo all the buttons on his shirt before putting it in the wash basket. “He undoes the top three buttons and pulls it over his head and leaves me to undo the rest. And he just leaves his dirty underpants on the floor. We both work, so why should I have to run round after him?” she said, banging her cup down on the coffee table with such force that the tea slopped into the saucer.
“You know what I used to do,” said Lauren Mathews. “I used to wash and iron my husband’s shirt and then I’d fasten the top three buttons and put it on a hanger. He was forced to undo them before he could wear it. He soon got the message. And as for his underpants...” she began, but broke off when Adam walked in and they all fell silent.
He looked at enquiringly at Lauren Mathews. “Please continue. I wouldn’t want everyone left in suspense on my account,” he said, moving to sit opposite Barbara Crook.
Lauren shrugged and turned to Kate O’Brien, “I used to wash them and put them in a neat pile and then push them under the bed with the broom. He had to get down on his hands and knees to retrieve them. It didn’t cure him, but it gave me a lot of satisfaction,” she said with a smug grin.
“All men do that, don’t they?” said Barbara Crook, looking directly at Adam who was resting his foot on the edge of the coffee table, much to Eleanor Stannard’s frowning disapproval, and had The Telegraph folded on his knee filling in the crossword puzzle.
“Not the ones who’ve been in the US navy,” replied Adam without looking up.
“Oh,’ replied Barbara Crook, feeling crushed. “Let us know if you need any help with the crossword,” she said.
He glanced up. “Woman’s topless beach garment. Eight letters. Third letter N.”
She hadn’t expected a clue to be thrown at her and was momentarily stunned, but Jenna Murray, who was filling in her own crossword in a magazine, said quietly, “Monokini.”
“Thank you, Miss Murray,” said Adam, filling it in. “Perhaps we can help you with one of your clues.”
“Beast of burden. Four letters ending in e,” she said.
“Wife,” blurted Lauren Mathews.
There were splutters of laughter, and Barbara Crook dropped a spoon on the floor. She was wearing a low-cut scooped T-shirt that fitted so snugly it was obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra. As she bent to pick up the spoon Adam and everyone sitting opposite had the full benefit of her assets.
“Try mule,” said Adam, unfolding his newspaper and spreading it out in front of him to avoid further visual contact with Barbara Crook’s cleavage.
His phone rang and Lisa recognised the ring as a personal call. “Excuse me, ladies,” he said, and got up to leave the room.
When he’d closed the door Lisa turned to Barbara Crook. “I don’t want to be personal, but do you think it’s appropriate to come to school in a tight low cut T-shirt with no bra?”
“A bra spoils the line of it, you can see the straps. Besides, I’m using strong tit tape to keep them in place.”
Lisa hesitated. “All the same, it might make it uncomfortable for Adam, especially when you bend down.”
“Oh, Adam’s a big boy. I’m sure he can handle these babies.” They all caught the double meaning. Barbara really was incorrigible.
“But the girls watch to see his reaction - where his eyes focus when you bend down.”
Her face clouded. “Has he asked you to speak to me?”
“No. No. Not at all,” said Lisa hurriedly. “Adam would never discuss such a matter with me.” But Adam had mentioned to Neil that Barbara Crook kept offering him an eyeful.
Adam came back to say that his mother was checking to see if he’d booked his flight home and what time he would arrive. Lisa confirmed that she’d taken care of it several weeks ago. He always went home to Hawaii for Christmas as his birthday was on the 30th December. Polly and Jack had been invited and would be staying in the guest house on the Honolulu property, but Nicole wouldn’t be joining them as all the camps in the Kruger Park were fully booked over the holiday season and the staff was kept busy, so there was no one to take over Nicole’s project.
There was a knock on the staffroom door and the head girl entered to report that the prefects had finished decorating the Christmas tree. The school tradition of erecting a six foot Christmas tree in the foyer had been continued and each girl was expected to bring a small wrapped gift for a charity of her choice. Some brought tins of dog or cat food for the RSPCA, while others lovingly wrapped a toy for underprivileged children. There were toiletries for the Hospice and sweets and chocolates for the elderly. A few of the more artistic girls had made bookmarks in the art class and had them laminated. Each gift was anonymous, except to say it was a gift from one of the St Mary’s girls.
There were other St Mary’s Christmas traditions that Adam was discovering. The girls usually had a collection to which the staff added and they bought gifts for Fred Smith and the kitchen staff. It would be Adam’s job to present these on the last day of term. But what they were really waiting for was Adam’s reaction when they broke the news that on the last day of term the girls were allowed to forego their school uniform and dress in whatever they liked, however, the teachers were expected to wear fancy dress. His reaction was a horrified, “What!”
“Come on,” said Barbara Crook. “I thought you had family in Texas. Surely you’ve at least got cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. You could be Wyatt Earp.” She was planning to dress as Annie Oakley.
“As long as I’m not expected to dress as an idiotic cartoon character,” he said, sounding relieved.
“You could always come as Father Christmas,” said Jenna Murray, with an impish grin.
“You can come as whomever you like, as long as it’s not the Head Teacher of St Mary’s,” said Lisa. “We sometimes hire a costume if we run out of ideas. And you can rummage in the drama department’s costume wardrobe. We usually change into our costumes at morning break, so we don’t have to drive through the morning traffic making a spectacle of ourselves.”
“I’ll consider it,’ said Adam.
“Come on, Adam, don’t be a spoilsport,” said Lisa. “The girls look forward to it.”
He gave her a non-committal smile.
Two days before the end of term the head girl and the prefects had sorted the gifts into boxes ready for distribution. They carried the boxes to Lisa’s office and stacked them in a corner. The head girl handed Lisa a gift that had been left out. “This one is addressed to Mr Wild,” she explained.
Lisa took it through to Adam. “It seems that the Christmas Fairy has left something for you,” she said, handing it to him.
He looked up from the computer. “Do you think the Christmas Fairy wants me to wait until Christmas day, or should I open it now?”
The staff had long ago dispensed with buying each other gifts, so Lisa was curious to see what it was and who it was from. “I think you should open it now,” she replied.
He carefully unwrapped it and when he saw what was inside he frowned. There was a small card attached. He took it out and as he read it his face broke into an amused smile. Whether it was the Christmas spirit, or whether he saw the funny side of it Lisa didn’t know, but as he handed it to her he was grinning. She was shocked to see it w
as a box of condoms, the exact type he’d asked Neil to buy for him. But when she read the card: To the HEAD Teacher. Something for the holidays, Sir. Don’t forget to wear them; even if you’re only getting HEAD, Lisa also gave a splutter of laughter. Although it was damn cheeky, it was also quite amusing.
“What are you going to do with them?”she asked.
“If it’s who we both think it is, I wouldn’t put it past her to have put pin pricks in them, so the best place is probably the bin. But you’d better put them inside something else – we don’t want the cleaners gossiping,” he said, with a rueful grin.
The final day of term brought with it an air of excited anticipation as the girls arrived in their ‘civvies’. They were looking forward to seeing the staff wearing fancy dress and speculated on what Adam would be wearing. He strode into school carrying a suit bag hooked through his thumb and slung over his shoulder, but they had no idea what it concealed. He stored it the head’s cloakroom away from prying eyes.
At morning assembly they had a carol service and then Adam presented Fred Smith with his gift of a warm winter cardigan, which had been discreetly selected by his wife.
When the bell went for morning break the staff streamed into their cloakroom with their costumes and began changing, amid squeals of girlish laughter.
Barbara Crook was decked out as Annie Oakley with a button-straining check shirt and complete with toy rifle.
Dee Taylor had decided on Boadicea and wore an ankle-length woollen dress with a cape made from an old curtain.
Kate O’Brien had hired an Alice in Wonderland outfit.
Annette Woolf had found an old shawl and a shabby skirt in the props wardrobe and had dirtied her face with stage make-up to look like a beggar. She was carrying a begging bowl with a few coppers rattling around in the bottom.
Hayley Price had used her artistic talents to create a hippie outfit.
Lauren Mathews wore a calf length skirt with scarves layered over it and an off-the-shoulder low-cut cotton blouse. A red headscarf and long gold earrings completed her ensemble as a gypsy.
Eleanor Stannard had scratched through the props and found a pointy hat and a cloak and made a name badge declaring herself Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter.
Lisa wore one of Neil’s shirts, a pair of bedsocks and a knitted bobble hat and carried a candle as Wee Willie Winkie.
When they had all gathered in the staffroom there was still no sign of Adam. Lisa was about to call him when he suddenly appeared in the doorway, his tall frame almost filling it. There was a collective gasp of approval. He was wearing his naval uniform. The black double-breasted jacket had six gold buttons, gold stripes on the sleeves, and ribbons over the left breast pocket. His crisp white shirt was set off by a neatly knotted black tie. But it was the white peaked cap pulled low over his brow that gave him a movie star appearance. What was it about a man in a uniform? Perhaps it was the symbol of authority that made it such a powerful aphrodisiac.
There was an amused smile playing on his lips as he shifted his weight onto one foot and leaned on the doorpost surveying them.
“Well, hello sailor,” said Barbara Crook. “Come on in and join us.”
He pushed himself off and walked into the room just as Jenna emerged from the kitchen. She had done a role reversal with her costume and was wearing a junior girl’s school uniform. Her long hair was divided into bunches tied with burgundy ribbons. The yellow cotton blouse was worn under a burgundy pinafore dress that fitted her slim figure while still following its subtle curves, but was way shorter than school rules allowed and showed off her long smooth legs that ended in white ankle socks and black shoes. She was every man’s sexual fantasy and as she slunk cat-like across the room and sat primly on the couch there was no mistaking the look that flashed fleetingly across Adam’s face – which did not go unnoticed by Barbara Crook.
He sprawled on the sofa opposite Jenna, his arm resting along the back, his legs spread wide. Her lips curved into an amused smile. “What does your cap badge say: The Dorchester or is it The Hilton Hotel? Is there valet parking?”
He fixed her with a quiet gaze. “Careful Miss Murray,” he said. “Cheeky girls get detention.”
“And what do good girls get?” she coyly replied.
“Some of my shortbread,” snapped Barbara Crook, standing between them as she offered the plate first to Jenna and then to Adam. She’d encouraged the girls to experiment and the slices of shortbread had been spread variously with fudge, caramel, chocolate, and orange icing, and one girl had layered mincemeat between the slices.
“These are actually very good,” said Adam.
“Why do you sound so surprised?” said Barbara Crook.
“We keep telling her she should compile a cookery book,” said Lauren Mathews.
“Sounds like a good idea,” said Adam. “My mother-in-law used to work in advertising and marketing. She might still know someone in publishing.”
Barbara Crook looked doubtful. Her class of senior girls had also made mince pies and she placed them on the coffee table, unaware that she had dropped a brown paper packet. Lisa picked it up and a sprig of mistletoe fell out. She put it back in the packet slowly weighing up the implications. No one else had seen it. Should she save Adam the embarrassment of an ambush by Barbara Crook, or would it just be a bit of harmless fun?
“Andy knows a photographer who specialises in food photography. He’ll know all the publishers,” Jenna said.
“You could involve the girls in the project and perhaps use one or two of their recipes. It would be a useful work experience for them,” said Adam.
“Perhaps I should think about it,” said Barbara Crook, her face in contemplative mode.
With Barbara Crook’s mind elsewhere, Lisa took the opportunity to sneak the mistletoe into the kitchen and hide it in the bin under some tea bags and orange peelings.
After the break Adam and Lisa took the Christmas gifts to the kitchen staff. They walked in to the unmistakeable Christmas smell of roasting chicken and spicy Christmas pudding and were greeted by wolf whistles and shouts of, “Aye, aye, captain.” “Hello, sailor.” “Ahoy there.” Most of the women had worked in factories and ragging the foremen had countered the boredom of repetitive jobs. Adam acknowledged their comments by raising his cap to them.
He went into Sue Lawrence’s office and placed the box of gifts on the floor before taking off his cap and placing it on her desk. He ran his fingers through his hair and sat down.
Lisa opened the box and took out the gift for Sue Lawrence and handed it to Adam who presented it to her and thanked her for her dedication to the thankless task of feeding teenagers.
Then he went into the kitchen and began handing out the gifts to the kitchen staff and shaking their hands. Winnie Jones was all simpering coyness and dissolved into giggles, which she did even when kindly Fred Smith spoke to her. But some of the women demanded, “Don’t we get a Christmas kiss?” and he laughingly kissed them on the cheek.
At two thirty they had their final assembly and once the girls had settled in their seats the teachers filed onto the stage and each was given a round of applause for their fancy dress efforts. But when Adam got up to give his end-of-term speech and took off his cap there was a chorus of “Aaawww, Sir.”
“Do you want me to leave it on?” he said, in mild surprise.
“Yes, Sir,” they all replied.
He put his cap back on and pulled it low over his brow as he delivered the speech, ending with a reminder for them to be careful when attending Christmas parties.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The first day of Spring term felt nothing like Spring. The typical January weather had brought blustery snow that melted and formed dangerous icy patches overnight. Fred Smith was kept busy salting the entrance to the school and everyone was glad to get inside out of the miserable cold and into the warmth of the school where the girls exchanged fur-lined boots for school shoes, and damp coats were hung above the radiators in
the drying room giving off an overbearing musty aroma.
The girls spent their time catching up on holiday gossip instead of settling down to work, but many of them had taken to heart what Adam had said about sex and boys, and there was less bragging about sexual conquests.
In the staffroom they were sharing holiday photographs, most of them family pictures taken round groaning Christmas tables, or bundled under layers of clothing as they ventured out for walks in the light sprinkling of snow they’d had on Christmas day. Except for Kate O’Brien and her husband who had gone to Italy for a second honeymoon, which had elicited a few knowing winks and hints of babies that Kate had quickly dispelled with, “We want a house before a baby.”
Adam, however, had returned with a deepened tan and his brown hair a sun-kissed shade lighter. “What about your photographs?” said Barbara Crook.
“Yes, we could do to see a bit of sunshine,” agreed Lauren Mathews, glancing out of the window at the slate sky.
“You must have taken some photographs,” urged Lisa.
“We did take a few to send to Nicole,” Adam said, reluctantly opening his laptop. They crowded round with jealous ‘oohs’ as Adam revealed a picture of Polly and Jack lounging next to the shimmering palm-fringed swimming pool with the ocean as a back-drop. “My in-laws,” said Adam. The next one showed Adam and another man, both bare-chested and in shorts, posing on a yacht beneath a brilliant blue sky.
“Who’s the hunk?’ asked Barbara Crook.
“My brother-in-law,” said Adam. “We jointly own the yacht. He’s been looking after it while I’ve been away.”
The third picture had been taken on the beach with Adam emerging from the crashing waves a surfboard under one arm and the other around an attractive bikini-clad girl who was laughing up at him.
With the Headmaster's Approval Page 8