by Julie Caplin
‘The only reason I got this job was Lars came to the agency at the last minute. On the day that he came in, there was no one else to deal with him, so they let me do it because they knew I wouldn’t say no. And,’ I stopped trying to work out how to phrase it diplomatically, ‘Lars had been quite …’ Although Eva’s incredible English vocabulary might put some English people to shame, the word assiduous might test even her, ‘careful, so they really didn’t expect for him to choose us.’
Eva rested her hands loosely on the table, a knowing smile on her face. ‘I know my son. He knows what he wants but he’s not always very good at explaining it. He relies a lot on gut instinct.’ The fierce maternal pride lit a tiny spike of envy. ‘He’s very like me, although he has his father’s business drive.’
‘My bosses were … gobsmacked when Lars gave us the business. Me too. But then he insisted on us organising a press trip, which they didn’t think was the right thing to do. It’s challenging to get the press to commit to coming to something like this.’
‘Do you think a press trip was the right thing to do?’
‘I do now especially as Lars has arranged such a fantastic itinerary. Everyone has, well almost everyone, is having a great time. I think most of them will want to write about his new store and how it relates to the things they’ve seen on the trip. And I think it’s left a lasting impact on their view of things. Some people will be making changes in their lives as a result, which,’ I paused, ‘is actually a rather lovely bonus.’
‘But arranging for them to come on the trip? The difficult bit, that was left to you,’ observed Eva, shrewd as ever.
I stretched my neck feeling the tension resting there. ‘Yeah. That’s pretty much it.’
‘Lars is a very good judge of character. He talked to lots of people in London before he made his final decision.’
I sighed. ‘I’m not posh like the other girls at work,’ I blurted out. ‘They all come from well-heeled families, they’ve got connections and know the right people. I’ve had to work my way up. I’m not really good enough.’
‘Why would you think that? Of course, you are.’
‘Oh Eva.’ She was so kind but she didn’t understand. ‘I’m not.’ I pushed my hair off my face with the back of my floury hand, wanting to be honest with her. ‘I’ve been trying to get promoted for the last year and every time I think I’m getting close, they raise the bar.’
‘Do you not think that says more about the people you work for? I’ve seen you in action. I see how much you want to do a good job for Lars’ company. You’re good with people, you look after them because you’re a nice person. Not because it’s your job. Look how you’ve looked after Conrad. And Avril. You’ve made Fiona feel good about herself with her photography. And I don’t know what’s going on with Ben,’ her eyes twinkled wickedly, ‘but he seems happier. David too. It’s just Sophie, we still need to fix.’
‘Sophie?’ Sunny, happy Sophie. What needed fixing there?
‘Yes, I worry about her. She puts on a great front, a bit like you, but there’s something that isn’t right. She’s almost too happy. Too upbeat. Being positive to hide the truth. Like you’ve been hiding. You have choices Katie. You can choose to change things. Now finish this last batch and we’re done.’
Just as I loaded the trays into her oven, movement beyond Eva caught my eye and I looked up over her shoulder towards the café door.
‘Good morning Eva,’ boomed Conrad pushing open the door. ‘Ah, Kate fancy seeing you here.’ He marched in, slipping off his leather gloves and slapping them down on the table as if he meant business. David and Avril filed in behind him looking decidedly furtive as they crowded around the table.
I peeled off my apron and went out to join them.
‘Morning Eva,’ said David quietly. ‘Sophie and Fi are on their way. And I believe Ben is just finishing his call.’
The three of them brimmed with suppressed glee.
With a nod, Conrad indicated outside the window, where as usual Ben was pacing up and down talking on his phone. ‘His sister, I believe.’
My pulse immediately picked up an unwelcome beat at the sight of him and the H&M bag under his arm. I’d returned the spare jeans to him yesterday before we’d gone out to the Tivoli Gardens.
‘What are you all doing here? Not that I’m not pleased to see you guys, but …?’ Although I was particularly grateful that Ben had stayed outside.
‘We fancied breakfast here for a change,’ announced Avril, plonking herself down at the table and immediately arranging the table, moving the menus to one side and tidying up the napkin holder, assuming charge as if she were the queen at court.
‘All of you?’ I asked.
‘Yes,’ said Avril in a tone that brooked no argument.
Then Sophie and Fiona walked through the door and a second later Ben followed them.
I took a big slurp of coffee, examining the milk froth at the bottom of the cup for all I was worth.
‘Morning all,’ said Sophie coming to sit down next to me bringing with her the cold chill of the morning as she shrugged off her coat. I made a fuss of helping her pull it off and arranged it on the back of the seat for her as Fiona pulled up a chair from the next table squeezing it in next to David. Out of the corner of my eye I was aware of Ben sitting down next to Avril but I studiously avoided looking that way.
‘Isn’t this nice? Breakfast together,’ said Sophie. ‘Everyone together. Shame you couldn’t get us all in a selfie, Fi,’ she added picking up a menu.
‘I can!’
Within seconds Fiona had set up a portable War of the Worlds looking tripod, screwed her camera to the top of it and placed it on the opposite table.
‘Eva, you have to come in too,’ I insisted.
Fiona set the timer and dashed over in time to hear the whine of the timer counting down.
‘Whatever you do don’t say sausages,’ shouted Avril, ‘because that makes me think of something completely different and not a look I want on camera.’ Her theatrical shudder made us all laugh as the camera clicked.
Eva bustled off back to the kitchen as Fi showed us the picture. It was a one in a million shot, a perfect moment in time, capturing shared joy and one that made you smile just looking at it. Avril, eyes alight with naughty amusement, had her arm around Ben who had a secretive smile on his face, almost as if he were looking at me. Conrad between Fiona and Sophie was laughing uproariously while David next to me grinned, happiness shining from his face and Eva squished in the middle of all of us beamed proudly like mama hen with her chicks.
‘Now what’s everyone having?’ Sophie had disappeared behind the menu again.
‘Do you ever think of anything except food, Sophie?’ asked Avril, leaning over the table and poking her.
Sophie laughed. ‘Occasionally I think of… Hi Eva. Ooh coffee and kanelsnegle. Yum.’
Everyone round the table burst out laughing as Eva brought over a tray of coffees with a plate piled with cinnamon rolls, which smelt delicious.
As plates and coffees were handed out I spoke to Fiona. ‘Would you be able to email me that shot?’
‘Sure.’
‘When could you do it?’ I’d had an idea but wasn’t sure how feasible it would be in the brief timescale available.
‘Right this minute.’
‘Really?’
‘Blue tooth to my phone. Email. Bish. Bosh. Bash.’
The picture appeared almost immediately in my email inbox.
I looked at my watch, the kanelsnegle had been demolished and an enthusiastic discussion had ensued about whether people wanted anything more to eat.
‘And you didn’t fancy breakfast in the hotel?’ I asked.
Shit, Josh was going to have a cow. I had an image of him sitting alone at a table for eight waiting for everyone to rock up. It was hard to feel sorry for him though.
‘That Josh guy was a tosser,’ said David with a quick glance at the others as if he’d decided to be spok
esperson. ‘It’s not been plain sailing,’ he mimicked. ‘What does he know?’
I blinked a little at the unlikely words coming from him of all people.
‘How dare they send someone out to check on you,’ said Avril indignation quivering in her voice. She tossed her hair over her shoulder in true princess style. ‘We heard what he said to you last night – we’re not having it.’ She, David and Conrad, the united front, straightened in unison as if preparing themselves to take on an army. ‘No, we’re not having it at all. We’ll show him. He’ll soon realise that he’s not going to swan in and take charge of our little gang.’
‘That’s nice of you all but …’ Tears pricked at my eyes.
‘But, nothing,’ said Conrad. He put his elbows on the table and leaned towards me and pointed both his fingers at me, as if they were pistols. ‘This is my fault. Isn’t it? I’m a stupid old fool and now I’ve got you into trouble.’
‘No Conrad-’
‘Yes Kate,’ he said. ‘I behaved badly and you shouldn’t be punished for it.’
‘I think “punished” is a bit strong.’
‘It’s my fault too,’ butted in Avril. ‘If I hadn’t sent that tweet no one would ever have known about Conrad. Not to mention my stupid bridge escapade.’
‘You’ve looked after us really well, Kate,’ added Sophie.
‘Really well,’ added Fiona.
‘Quite well,’ said Ben. At the sound of his voice I sneaked a quick look his way, which was a mistake because catching the tiny smile lifting his stern expression sent an ill-considered flutter in my stomach. My memory leapt into action, making me want to touch my lips at the remembered imprint of his mouth there last night. I stiffened. Not going to go there. It was a salutary reminder I needed to stay well away from him today.
‘Very well, indeed,’ pronounced Conrad, nudging Ben in the arm.
For a minute, I was too choked to speak, looking round at their earnest faces.
Perhaps I could have been a bit firmer with them all as it now seemed I had full-scale mutiny on my hands which wasn’t going to do me any favours with Josh, even if it made me feel rather warm and lovely inside.
‘Listen to them,’ said Eva coming to stand behind me, putting her hands on my shoulders. For a second I wanted to lean back into her and I felt a warm glow in my chest at the sight of them all looking at me with such support.
‘Sophie said you usually came here first thing, so last night when we were in the bar we decided we’d come here to see you instead of going to breakfast,’ explained David.
‘You’re all so lovely. Thanks for the vote of confidence … it means a lot.’
‘And so it should,’ said Sophie linking her arm through mine. ‘That jumped up little toad, isn’t going to … I don’t know. It’s like in Dirty Dancing. No one puts Baby in the corner. Well no one tells our Kate that she’s surplus to requirements. We love you. We love being on this trip with you. And you don’t need reinforcements.’
‘Thank you, I really appreciate your support but I … well I don’t think Josh is going to take much notice. They sent him because they think I’ve made a hash of things.’
‘Well, today they’re going to find out they’re wrong.’ Sophie squeezed my arm. ‘Today we’re going to be Team Kate.’
‘So what can we do to help?’ asked Fiona, picking up her camera and taking a shot of me and Sophie together.
I looked at my watch. ‘OK, there is one thing you can do for me, I’d be so grateful if you could be on time to meet Mads at nine-thirty in the foyer.’
‘Is that all?’ asked Avril in disgust.
‘That would be perfect.’ I just wanted the rest of the trip to go as smoothly as possible.
‘We’re on it,’ said David lifting a hand and turning to Avril who high-fived him and then like a Mexican wave, everyone joined in.
Chapter 21
At nine-thirty everyone was all present and correct in the foyer awaiting Josh. I could have kissed every last one of them. Even Ben.
When Josh emerged from the lift he looked a little put out at first but quickly rearranged his expression to hide his irritation.
‘Ah, excellent. Everyone’s here. I missed you all at breakfast.’
‘Oh, sorry Joseph,’ said Avril.
‘Josh,’ he corrected.
She waved a hand in a whatever gesture. ‘I do like to take a quick walk in the morning, it helps me think of angles for the breakfast feature I’m thinking of running. You know, how the new department store, Hjem, brings the true flavour of Copenhagen to London. It’s so helpful to do some extra research. You know, so that we do justice to the Danish concept of hygge. This trip has brought it home to me, what it’s all about.’
‘Yeah,’ Fiona chipped in, ‘and I like to get out and take lots of photos so that I when I do my blog posts, I can show my followers an insight into how the new store reflects Danish culture.’
Josh nodded looking quite bewildered, surprised by the well-drilled students in front of him. ‘Right. Excellent. So is everyone ready for our trip to the Design Museum this morning? We have an excellent speaker who will be talking about the importance of Danish design to the national psyche.’
‘Yes, so Kate’s been telling us,’ said Conrad with a lie so bare-faced I had visions of his nose growing a centimetre a second.
‘Yes,’ Ben piped up clearly not wanting to be outdone by the others, ‘I’m thinking of running a feature on Danish happiness to coincide with the opening of the store. A lifestyle piece on how people can recreate the typical Danish cosiness and what they need to do. I think readers of the Inquisitor would be fascinated by the way that Danish culture is geared towards equality and togetherness.’
Ben’s outrageous declaration had me turning away, there was no way I could keep a straight face at that one or tamp down the little warm glow his words elicited, even though he probably didn’t mean them.
‘Right,’ said Josh nodding slightly wide-eyed. ‘I need a quick word with Kate and then we’ll be off.’
He drew me to one side. ‘I think it would be a good idea if you brought up the rear, make sure no one wanders off or lags behind. I’ll go up ahead with Mads. He seems nice enough but far too casual about things. We need to stay on schedule. I’m not sure he’s left enough time to get to the museum this morning, so we’ll need to walk quickly.’
‘Copenhagen’s very compact. I’m sure-’
‘Kate,’ his voice quivered with a definite repressed warning. ‘I want you to make sure everyone keeps up. We’ve got exactly three hours at the Design Museum, quarter of an hour to get to the market and then half an hour there before we have lunch nearby. If we fall behind there’ll be-’
‘Josh,’ I put up my hand, unable to keep quiet. He was clueless. ‘Mads knows exactly what he’s doing. Everyone is very laid back, that’s the Danish hygge thing.’
‘I’ll be the judge of that if you don’t mind. I think judgement might have been the issue.’
He clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. Conrad raised an elegant eyebrow and threw Josh a regal stare full of rebuke, Avril completely ignored him and carried on chatting to David and Ben while Fiona and Sophie were taking selfies and swapping phones.
Luckily Mads stepped in front of Josh. ‘The Design Museum is one of my favourite places. Today, you’re going to see a lot of chairs.’ In his sing-song accent, seeing a lod ov chess, sounded rather charming and like well-behaved children, all six journalists fell silent, turning to face him and listening with studious attention.
Bloody hell, that was a first.
Conrad groaned and clutched his hands to his heart. ‘Heaven, darling. Danish design. Chairs. Pure beauty. Strong, clean lines. Design classics.’ He fell into step beside Mads and I could hear the names, Arne Jacobsen, Hans Wegner, Alvar Aalto being bandied about.
Josh acting like an overenthusiastic sheepdog constantly doubled back to round everyone up urging them to pick up their pace. It was like a ro
ute march across enemy territory.
I stomped along at the back, conscious of the growing irritation among the group. Even Sophie was muttering under her breath which was not a good sign.
‘Illums Bolighus,’ announced Conrad in theatrical tones, stopping dead outside the stylish looking department store on Støgnet that we’d passed umpteen times in the last couple of days. I knew for a fact he and Avril had visited before because they’d come back to the hotel with the store’s distinctive carrier bags.
All of us had previously commented on the fabulous window display, a perfect outdoor garden picnic scene themed in tasteful lemon and grey. Forget wooden benches, Tupperware and plastic plates, this was garden furniture Danish style, a lemon canvas hammock full of grey pillows, ladder back shelves full of yellow and white pansies in silver conch shell pots, a glass table balanced on the top of six beech legs which curved out from the centre, lemon and grey chairs and a table setting with matching napkins and runners with chunky white pottery plates rimmed with grey lines.
‘We have to go inside,’ said Avril. ‘Look how gorgeous it is.’
‘Of course, we do,’ agreed Sophie, the two of them exchanging a look I wasn’t party to.
‘We have a minute,’ said Mads. ‘It’s not a problem.’
Josh glared at him. ‘It will be if we stop every five minutes on the way.’
He stepped in front of the entrance which was a bit ridiculous as it was two double doors wide up a small flight of stairs and of course to Avril tantamount to throwing down the gauntlet.
‘But Illums is famous throughout Scandinavia,’ said Conrad, his moustache quivering. ‘It would be criminal for us to pass and not take a peek. Fiona, get your camera ready.’
As Josh watched, they all skipped past, even Ben, who I’m pretty sure had absolutely no interest whatsoever.
‘This is your fault,’ hissed Josh hurrying after them.