by CJ Morrow
‘We’re a good team; we’re doing some excellent work. We’re getting recognition, my,’ she shook her head hastily, corrected herself, ‘our profile has been raised. We shouldn’t let this spoil all that. What do you say?’
‘No thanks.’
‘Are you sure about that?’
‘Quite sure.’
‘Your friend Sam will lose her job, her reputation, and her maternity pay and her maternity leave and she won’t be able to come back. Probably won’t be able to work in HR ever again. Do you want that on your conscience?’
‘She never told me your name. She’s innocent.’
‘The evidence suggests otherwise. It’ll be hard for her to prove. The thing is Ella, you did nasty things in front of an audience, you’re not exactly a person of credit, a reliable witness, are you?’
‘And you are?’
‘I’m a manager. The company will support me over you and your friend.’
Ella watched Gwynnie’s smiling, confident face. Was that true? Would they?
The door opened and Sally appeared. ‘We’re ready for you, Ella.’
So Ella went with Sally to be interviewed. Also in the room was Misha, the HR administrator taking notes and – sitting silently at the back of the room – the HR Director, a man who only made himself visible during times of crisis; not a good sign.
‘So,’ Sally began, ‘I understand that Sam told you that Gwynnie’s real name is Gladys.’
‘Sam never said anything of the sort. Not one word.’
‘So how did you know?’
‘I guessed.’ That was true; it had been a guess – a guess made on Sam’s unconscious reaction to the names Ella suggested.
‘But how? That’s a quite a leap from Gwynnie to Gladys.’
‘I knew her name couldn’t be Gwynnie, especially as she goes so far out of her way to copy Gwyneth Paltrow, it was just too ridiculous.’
Sally’s face was impassive. Misha scribbled down Ella’s words.
Ella stopped speaking; she wasn’t going to say anymore than necessary.
‘But how? Why Gladys?’
‘I had other names; Barbie was one of them.’
Sally’s eyebrows shot up.
Oh, what the hell, Ella wasn’t coming back to Gubbins.
‘Barbie?’ Ella thought she saw Sally’s lips curl a little.
‘Yes.’
‘Still a leap to Gladys.’
‘Yes.’ Oh shit, this wasn’t going to plan. How Ella wished she hadn’t done the Derren Brown thing on Sam. ‘I said I was glad about something and I noticed that Gwynnie jumped when I said glad. I tried it out a few more times, then put two and two together.’ Ella shrugged. It was true – to some extent.
‘That sounds perfectly plausible.’ Sally stood up, smiling. ‘Thank you, Ella. Appreciate your help with this and coming in on your own time too.’
The silent HR Director also stood up, nodded at Sally and left the room, but not before he gave Ella a quick glance and was that the hint of a smirk?
‘That’s it?’ Ella looked between Sally and Misha who had already put down her pen and closed her notebook.
‘Yes. We knew Sam would never do such a thing.’
‘Well, why all this?’
‘We had to. You understand. A complaint was made.’
‘Poor Sam, having to go through this. I’ll just go and say hello.’
Ella followed Sally into the main HR office and Sally gave Sam the good news before leaving them alone. Sally now had the lovely task of telling Gwynnie.
‘I’d love to be a fly on that wall,’ laughed Ella.
‘Don’t even go there. Thanks for being on my side.’
‘My pleasure. And I only told the truth.’
‘I do appreciate it, but, why did you come dressed like that?’
‘Oh, the boiler suit, it’s a long story. Actually a lot has happened since I last saw you; I’d love a catch-up.’
‘Well here’s not the place. Maybe later. Have you actually seen yourself?’
‘Yes, I know it’s a bit big but it was a present so…’
‘No,’ Sam interrupted. ‘I don’t mean what you’re wearing, though that’s bad enough, I mean your face. You need to look in a mirror before you leave the house.’
Ella blinked. That sounded like a rebuke if ever there was one. ‘Okay, shall I pop round this evening?’ Ella waited for Sam, who seemed to be considering the idea.
‘Sure,’ she said finally. ‘Message me the time, but not before seven and not after nine.’
‘Okay, I’ll see you later,’ Ella said, her voice falsely cheerful.
On the way out she popped into the toilets and saw her reflection. She’d already seen the paint on the boiler suit, but what she hadn’t realised was that she had paint on her face, a wide stripe on both cheeks, perfectly symmetrical and a white exclamation mark in the centre of her forehead. It looked like war paint. Ella laughed out loud and considered washing it off, then remembered that she was going back to Spring Cottage to more painting and didn’t bother.
In the car she felt a mix of emotions, excited to be going back to her soon-to-be home, relieved that Sam wasn’t in trouble anymore and sad that Sam still appeared to be annoyed with her.
When she reached Spring Cottage the cavalry were in the kitchen drinking tea and eating cake.
‘Ella, have a piece of carrot cake, it’s one of Edna’s best. Then I’ll show you what we’ve done in the cellar.’ Walt passed one of the newly found blue and white plates to Ella with a large piece of cake on it.
After carrot cake and tea, the cavalry started to leave. Ella was disappointed because she’d missed a couple of hours but she was still immensely grateful. Walt led her down into the cellar, they’d even replaced the light bulb – with a low energy one that took a while to fully light the room.
‘We’ve finished the walls, the floor must have been done just before your aunt and uncle died because it doesn’t need doing, and we’ve found a tin of oil for the wood. Look.’ Walt waved an arm at the hatch. It shone brightly, the dark painted stars and moons showed up in sharp contrast to the lighter background wood.
‘It looks amazing. Thank you so much for all the hard work you’ve done. How can I ever repay you?’
‘It’s an honour to help you.’
An honour? Ella shook her head and looked closely at the hatch. The carving around the rim was now much clearer and she could see that what she had previously thought were symbols were in fact words.
‘What does it say?’ Ella twisted her head to follow the writing, then read it aloud. ‘WHEN EVIL VISITS, WELCOME IT. WHEN SORROW VISITS, REPEL IT. FEED THE SPRING OF LIFE, RESPECT THE SPRING OF LIFE. Spring of Life; you called it that earlier. What does it mean?’
‘Oh, who knows? These old words get written on these old things. Pay it no heed.’ Walt gave a muted laugh.
Ella looked around the room, vases of Edna’s flowers stood in each corner; they looked beautiful. ‘The flowers smell lovely. This is a different room to the one we found this morning. I just cannot thank you enough.’
‘That’s the spring you can smell,’ Walt said, starting up the stairs. ‘We can move onto your bedroom tomorrow. When are you moving in?’
‘Oh, I completely forgot, I meant to ring the solicitor and my landlord’s agents and I still don’t know how much money I’m getting from work. I’ve quit my job, did I say?’
‘I’m not sure you did, young Ella. But never mind, you’ve plenty here to keep you busy. Why don’t you go and make your calls. Tomorrow is another day.’
‘Of course, of course. Thank you so much.’
Walt gave Ella a broad grin as she let him out of the cottage. She collected up her change of clothes – work clothes, which she wouldn’t be needing again – locked up and drove home.
‘Well, hello Ella,’ Hal’s liquid voice said as Ella barged in through the communal door.
Ella inhaled his exquisite odour, she wasn’t familiar wit
h the aftershave he used but it smelled expensive; intoxicating. He grinned at her, crinkling his eyes, it made her knees go weak. He wore dark trousers, a white shirt tucked in to show off his perfect V-shaped body and a dark jacket slung over his shoulder. Ella gave him her best smile, desperately wishing that she had taken the time to wash the paint off her face.
‘That’s a fetching little outfit,’ Hal said. ‘I think I even prefer it to the frog one.’
Ella laughed. Flirty laugh.
‘Oh darling, what happened to you?’ Another voice said with a shrill laugh and Phoebe appeared behind Hal. She also smelled expensive and looked immaculate in a cream designer floaty creation.
‘Been decorating,’ Ella said. She felt ugly, scruffy, embarrassed.
‘Why don’t you wait in the car Phoebes, I need a word with my neighbour.’
Phoebe cast a critical eye over Ella, shrugged and teetered out to the car.
‘So,’ Hal said, leaning in towards Ella who inhaled his deliciousness further. ‘Have you been to your cottage?’
‘Yes. I’ve given up my job and I’m just going to sort out the details. I have to the ring the solicitor now.’
‘Good move. Well done. Will you be there tomorrow? Painting in this sexy little number again?’ He pulled the neck of the boiler suit, at the same time pulling Ella even closer to him.
‘Oh yes. There’s a lot to do. Fortunately I’ve got lots of help. My neighbours and some other villagers have been amazing.’
‘If I get time tomorrow I might drop in,’ his voice was husky now. ‘If that’s all right?’
‘That’d be great,’ Ella said, her voice almost a squeak. She coughed, before continuing. ‘Anytime.’
‘Maybe we could fit in a bit of dinner tomorrow evening. I have to do this work thing with Phoebes, otherwise I’d suggest tonight. Until tomorrow.’ He leaned in and kissed her on the nose.
Ella stood on the stairs inhaling his trailing odour for a full two minutes after he had left.
Ella messaged Sam to ask if seven-thirty would be okay, it took Sam an hour to reply, by which time it almost was seven-thirty. Okay, was all the reply said.
‘Hi,’ Ella beamed at Sam’s front door. She waved a bottle of wine in the air. ‘No alcohol.’
Sam smiled, but it was a brief automatic smile; she stood aside to let Ella in.
‘A lot’s happened since I last saw you.’ Ella’s voice showed her excitement. ‘You won’t believe what’s going on at the cottage.’
Sam nodded but didn’t say anything. She took the no alcohol wine into the kitchen and came back with two full glasses, placed them on the coffee table.
‘Is everything okay with you?’ Ella began. ‘Hopefully that stupid business with Gwynnie didn’t cause too much trouble for you. I have to say, they didn’t take much convincing; it was a lot easier than I expected. That silent HR Director was in the room, that freaked me out, but true to form, he never said a word. Not one.’
‘Everything’s fine now. Thanks.’
‘So you okay? Only you seem a bit quiet. Hey, I never told you about the police stopping me that night I came to pick you up when Charlie’s car broke down. I was wearing my frog onesie. Really embarrassing.’
Sam rolled her eyes, shook her head. ‘That’s typical you, isn’t it?’
‘Suppose.’ Ella laughed, took a sip of the wine, wished it was alcoholic.
‘Bit like what you were wearing today.’
‘Sorry about that. I didn’t plan to turn up dressed like that. Who would? It was just that I didn’t realise the time, if I’d changed, which was my intention, I even had my clothes with me to change, my one business suit, no less, I would have been late. You said, don’t be late. So…’ Ella waved her hands around. ‘Sorry.’
‘Doesn’t matter. It just made you look a fool. And me by implication.’
‘Sorry. I didn’t think.’ Ella laughed again. Sam didn’t.
‘Bit like the way you jacked in your job.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, if you’d spoken to me about it first, we could have worked something out.’
‘I hadn’t planned to do that, it just sort of happened. Gwynnie pushed me too far. You should have seen hers and Tiffy’s faces when I threw old Rueben’s smelly dog rag at them.’
‘Yeah, I bet it was hilarious,’ Sam said in a flat tone.
‘It was, actually. Anyway it was a crap job.’
‘It was a good job, Ella. You used to love it.’
‘That was before Gwynnie took over. Before she decided to pay Tiffy more than me and effectively make her my boss. Controller, ha, what the hell is that? I couldn’t go on like that. It was eating me up.’
‘So now you’ve decided to go live in that cottage.’
‘Yes. Took me a while to see its merits, but I’m really glad I did. Those magazines really helped. Thank you.’
‘Mmm. Did they?’
‘Is everything okay with you? Baby okay?’ Ella suddenly had a horrible feeling she might have missed something.
‘Baby’s doing really well, thanks for finally asking.’ Sam stroked her bump.
‘Oh sorry, Sam, I know I’m babbling on about the cottage, but it’s ages since anything good has happened to me. You know what a shit time I had when my mum was ill and then, well…you know.’ Ella drew a quick breath, then started talking again. ‘My mum would have loved that cottage, even if it has come from my dad’s side. Though my mum has seen it before, she used to visit with my dad and me, when I was little. Still…’ Ella stopped talking.
Sam didn’t say anything.
‘So, what have you been up to? What’s been going on with you since I last saw you? Apart from the work stuff – so glad that’s all cleared up now.’
‘No thanks to you,’ Sam spat out.
‘What? I came and gave evidence today.’
‘Yes, but if you could have kept your mouth shut in the first place I wouldn’t have had to suffer all that crap. It was humiliating, Ella. Having my integrity called into question. That’s my reputation you’ve trashed.’
‘I am really sorry, Sam. I can’t say that enough.’
‘No, you can’t.’ Sam reached for her glass, took a sip, grimaced and put the glass down.
Ella deciding to ignore that, changed the subject. ‘I told you about Hal, my neighbour, didn’t I? Well, he’s coming over to the cottage tomorrow. He’s already seen it when he took me out to dinner, but he’s coming round to help. The cavalry will be there, but the more the merrier, eh? Hey you and Charlie should come round too. Of course, you don’t have to do any painting.’
‘Charlie says that place is worth far more than this.’ Sam nodded her head around the room.
‘No. That can’t be right. Your place is this exquisite designer pad with all the latest gadgets; you’ve got wifi music and lights in every room. You can probably flush all the loos from here by remote.’ Ella laughed. ‘My place has only got one ancient and temperamental toilet.’
‘Poor Ella,’ Sam said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘You’ve only got one toilet in your half a million pound, listed cottage. I feel sorry for you.’
‘Listed. Is it? No one’s said. Anyway, I’m sure it’s not worth that much, and I can’t sell it anyway. You know that.’
‘But you can live in it and get paid for the privilege.’
‘I thought that’s what you wanted. I thought you were pleased for me. You were all keen, full of encouragement. You bought all those magazines.’
Sam didn’t say anything.
‘Aren’t you pleased for me?’ Ella watched her friend’s face.
Sam shrugged. ‘I did think that before you made these life changing decisions you might have thought to chat to me about it. I am supposed to be your best friend. In fact, Ella, I’m probably your only friend now. How long is it since you saw any of the girls?’
‘My mum’s funeral, they were all there then. There hasn’t been much
time since. And, of course you’re my best friend. Of course you are.’
‘What about this Hal? Isn’t he your new best friend?’ Sam made a phut noise.
‘Not best friend, no.’
‘Boyfriend? Really?’ Sam made a you must be joking face.
‘No. No. Of course not. It’s early days. We’re just …’ Ella’s voice trailed away, just what were they? Nothing yet. But did Sam really need to be so mean?
‘Oh, and by the way,’ Sam said, knocking back the wine now as though it were alcoholic, ‘Charlie’s heard from Nathan and that song was not about you.’
‘Oh. I thought no one knew where Nathan was.’
‘No, but Charlie messaged him and he replied. I know you think everything is about you, Ella, but that wasn’t. It was about some slapper who came between him and the woman he really loved, in a pub car park. Not very romantic, I know, but that’s Nathan.’
‘But I…’ Ella’s voice trailed away again. It was about her, she was convinced of that; so now she was a slapper. That was worse, not better. And she thought she had put Nathan behind her, forgotten about him, his rock star hair, the way he looked through his eyelashes, the way he rarely smiled so that when a smile did come it was so special, so amazing. And the way he kissed, as though he were reaching into her soul, melting all her fears and worries away, just making that moment, that single moment the centre of the universe.
‘Ella,’ Sam snapped. ‘I said what are you doing for money now?’
Ella pulled herself back together, shook off Nathan. ‘I have to move into the cottage end of next week, as soon as I do they’ll put my monthly allowance into my bank account. Until then I’m living on what I’ve got left from my wages. Actually I still don’t know what I’m owed from Gubbins.’
‘Ring Sally,’ Sam said.
‘Well, I rang the solicitor today and I’m going to need every penny at the moment because although I have to move into Spring Cottage, and it has to be a proper move, furniture, everything and sleeping there every night, I have to wait until the end of the month to serve notice on my flat, then it’s another month. So I have to pay for that grotty bedsit when I won’t even be living in it. The agent said he’d ask the landlord if we could reach an agreement, but she wasn’t very hopeful.’