Part Nine   "Forgiveness"

 
 
Saturday 17th January 2015 Continued
 

"A fashion show? I doubt if we would have the time to organise it, when do you propose it should be?"

"It has to fit in with the shows we're doing elsewhere and in time with our magazine advertising and newspaper features. We're looking at Saturday the seventh of March."

"That's seven weeks today, impossible!"

"Not at all, my team will do most of the work. I'm here to get things moving, book the venue and so on. Do you have any suggestions?"

"The nightclub in the Central Hotel might work, it's called 'The Disco' locally."

"Yes, Sarah mantioned that. Anywhere else?"

"The golf club, large area with several side rooms for changing, that sort of thing."

"That's good, we do need to make sure there's no events on that weekend. Anywhere else?"

"St Andrews School, or the college."

"Good ideas, what are you studying?"

"Business Studies, Maths, English Language and English Literature at A level."

"I thought you were at college?"

"No, Penny, I start my degree course in September."

"What are you planning to do?"

"Business Administration."

"I see, if you need a work placement then give me a call, here's my card."

"Thanks, and I'll get you one of mine."

The barman had seen Tammy and Angela as they arrived and now brought over their fruit juice.

"So, Angela, what do you suggest?"

"About what?"

"The fashion show, which venues might be suitable?"

"Like Tammy said, those places."

"Are you a natural blonde?"

"No!"

"Tammy, would you be able to join Sarah and myself here tomorrow lunchtime when we can look at this in more detail? I and Sarah need to go back to the shop and make some calls."

"Sure, that won't be a problem."

"Great, we'll see you here tomorrow about half twelve? I want to take the five o'clock train."

"Where are you based?"

"Speke, in Liverpool. It's handy for John Lennon Airport and the trains."

Sarah and Penny then returned to the shop, leaving Tammy and Angela at the table. It wasn't long before John and Tanya rejoined them.

"Mum's told us we distract everyone in the salon so she's told us to get out for an hour or two."

"I can see where she's coming from!"

"Some friend you are! Maybe I shouldn't have given her that cash!"

The barman took their orders and retreated to a safe distance.

"Tammy's been asked to be a model."

"Angela, it's my job to start rumours around here and I didn't start that one."

"Tanya, she's right but I haven't said yes, yet."

"Whoa, why didn't you say something this morning?"

"Because I was only asked ten minutes ago."

Tammy explained what she knew.

"Will you be paid?"

"I don't know."

"How do I sign up?"

"I don't know."

"Do we get any freebies?"

"I still don't know! Look, I have a meeting tomorrow lunchtime with Sarah and this lady. Angela, are you going to be here?"

"No, Mum and I are off to Glasgow tomorrow so we can see Professor Roberts on Monday morning."

"Are you worried?"

"A little, can we talk later?"

"Sure. Tanya, if you're so concerned why don't you be here at twelve thirty tomorrow?"

"We were planning to have a quiet day together before John has to go back to school."

"Ah, now I know what your priorities are!"

"That's not fair!"

The barman interrupted them by carrying over Tanya's and John's drinks, bringing some calm to their corner of the hotel lounge. Angela decided to be the voice of reason.

"Tanya, I can't be here tomorrow either so I presume Tammy would let me know anything relevant and would do the same for you, isn't that right?"

"Yes Angela, naturally I would let you all know; if this show happens then I guess it's going to need up to a dozen models so there's scope for everyone. Having said that, it would, of course, be Miss Lane who gets the final say."

"Good, so there's no point in arguing about something's that theoretical, is there?" Tammy paused. "John, have you decided what you're going to say in school on Monday?"

"I don't think there's going to be a problem at school, Tanya's the one who'll have all the questions thrown at her."

"Nah, most of them know already."

"What have they been saying?"

"One boy asked me if I was pregnant."

"Woah, what did you say?"

"That the DNA test would confirm it was his, I made sure a few others saw that reply too."

"Now, can we talk about the party yet?"

"Well no, there's nothing to talk about."

"But you must have an idea when you want it?"

"Maybe at the start of the half-term break?" Tanya shrugged.

"That's only four weeks away and it's ... Valentines Day. You don't stand a chance of finding a venue or a disco for that weekend."

"Oh well."

"Tanya, think about it, I'm sure John's folks would like to be there, or will do when they've been told."

"Err, yes, I must call them."

"Yes, John, you must call them soon, very soon. How about Easter, they can come up for Macbeth in the school?"

"Sure, they'll need somewhere to stay too."

"Even more reason for giving them as much notice as possible. Look, I'd best get back up to the house. If I remember correctly, there's a minibus back to the school in ten minutes, are you coming Angela?"

"Sure."

They first needed the ladies and only then could get ready to face the cold streets. Fortunately the minibus was waiting and there was only one other student on there, Thwaites. Tammy intended to query the boy's presence but first quickly arranged for the driver to drop her off at the McPherson house and Angela at the cottage.

"Miss Smart? Miss Small?"

"Yes, Thwaites."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry for the name calling?"

"Yes, that."

"Why did you do it?"

"Miss Stewart asked me to do it and promised I wouldn't get into trouble."

"How?"

"My father's originally from Inverness and knew Miss Stewart at school twenty years ago."

"I thought you had your weekend passes cancelled."

"I went to Deputy Head Mr Thompson and explained everything that had happened, he called Miss Small and asked if she'd accept the apology, so I could have my Saturdays back."

"Thwaites, there's more than my forgiveness, isn't there?"

"Yes, Miss Small. I'm also going to write an essay on 'discrimination in modern school life'. I'm not looking forward to that."

"How long?"

"Two thousand words, Miss Smart."

"That's not too bad, I remember having to write a thousand words about an eggcup once."

"What did you do to get that?"

"I smuggled an Easter egg into my RE class once and was caught."

"Oh."

"Yes, it wasn't very egg-citing."

"Tammy, that was an awful yolk."

The two girls hadn't noticed that the minibus had set off and were giggling madly. It wasn't long before it pulled up outside the McPherson house, Joan's car was parked outside, alongside her father's and Cathy's cars. Tammy signalled for Angela to get off at the same time, whilst the boy asked a question.

"You live here?"

"Yes Thwaites, I do. I'll see you in school on Monday."

"Yes Miss, thank you Miss."

The minibus pulled away as the girls approached the front door. It swung open, as expected, in front of them and Thomas welcomed them into the house, taking coats, hats and scarves. They could hear voices from the sitting room.

"Elsie!"

"Come in dears, grab a seat somewhere."

Elsie was sat in her usual armchair with her legs raised and covered by a blanket.

"Now, I've done too much talking already so please don't throw questions at me but I'm not done listening. I'd like to know what's been happening in this sleepy town whilst I've been away for the past few days."

Tammy brought everyone up to date with matters at the school and then started on the events of Friday evening. Information about Michael's boyfriend was second, just, to queries about the engagement. Then she told them about the fashion show.

"When will you find out more about the show?"

"Tomorrow lunchtime, a meeting with Sarah and Miss Lane."

"Be careful Tammy, don't sign any contracts without talking to one of us."

"I know, but I get the impression that she wants me to be more than a model, plus she offered me a work placement once I was on my degree course,"

That prompted a round of questions to both Angela and Tammy about their academic intentions, and those of their friends, with the discussion circling back to the newly engaged couple.

"Tammy, I know the Hibberts and they're welcome to stay here for the party, can you let John know."

"Yes Elsie."

"The production of Macbeth at school is interesting, it wasn't done for many years as one of the English masters wouldn't have anything to do with the play."

Joan nodded, she knew exactly who that master was.

"I think we can find a little budget and put it on for more than just the year elevens, don't you Richard?"

Tammy was starting to regret her readiness to be involved.

"I would have thought so, Elsie."

"Good, I'll speak to Steven later."

Cathy stood and gave her mother a kiss. "I'd best head home, mum, but we'll be back over in the morning. You'll be in good hands."

"I know, and Tammy doesn't know they're here!"

"Who?"

From the far side of the room, where they had been sat out of sight, stood Alison and Andrea McPherson. Tammy rushed over, narrowly missing an occasional table.

"I've missed you two!"

"We've missed you too, and we'll have plenty of time to talk later."

"Okay."

"Angela, we'll still be here when you get back from your appointment, you'll have to tell us all about it."

"I will, if you don't mind mum and I have a long journey tomorrow so we'll get back to the cottage now."

There was a round of 'goodbyes' as three of them left the house.

"Dad, I didn't see Louise's car outside?"

"No, she's decided not to stay with us. That means we'll have to look for another office manager."

"She was only with us for three weeks."

"That was longer than planned by a week."

"I know, I know, but I thought she might stay."

"Well, she doesn't like to be tied to one place but she's happy to come back if we need her services again. Anyway, I have some news, the Dohertys are moving out this week and I have a set of keys already, we can start on some of the work in a few days. Louise has drawn up a security specification which has gone out to tender."

"To tender?"

"Yes, I've asked five companies to tender for the work and between us we'll decide on the best one, not necessarily the cheapest."

"Five companies?"

"Yes, because it'll be a tax deductible expense. Two of the companies are in England so I'm unsure if the'll want to do it, but that leaves three Scottish firms. We'll also have the doors and windows upgraded against the weather as well as any marauding Vikings."

"I don't think the Vikings came this far North, Dad."

"You'd fail a Scottish Higher paper on History based on that comment! The Vikings were present across the whole of the Highlands a thousand years ago."

That had Elsie laughing, the first laugh Tammy had heard from her for several weeks. Michael had now walked into the room, possibly absent until now because he was avoiding his sister. He came straight to Tammy and leant down to give her a kiss.

"Thank you."

"It was by chance we worked out who Mark was but I wasn't kind to him when I did realise who he was."

"Mark told me, and yes he was an idiot and he accepts that he was. I've forgiven him for abandoning me."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to leave it a week and see how I feel. This arm needs to go to the hospital on Wednesday to have the wounds examined and I'm not driving before then."

"It's a shame I don't have my driving licence yet, I could drive you. Oh, I don't have insurance."

"Yes you do, Tammy. Tell her Richard."

"One of the things I did in December was to change all the vehicle insurance. There's enough of them, including Michael's, to go for a bulk discount so everyone is insured for every vehicle. That change saved a few thousand pounds a year, which meant a few thousand spent on a car for my daughter."

"Oh, Dad, thank you!"

"We're not starting lessons for a few weeks but you could drive around the estate to get used to handling a car and maybe go into town with one of us tomorrow."

"I have a meeting, remember?"

"Yes, and that means no glasses of wine at lunchtimes if there's any risk of you driving later that day, regardless of the justification."

"Yes, Dad."

"I'd hope that you have a full licence by Easter."

"Me too."

"Now, go and wash, and think about a frock."

"Visitors?"

"Don't A&A count?"

"Doh! Oh, Dad, I had an email from mum but I haven't read it yet."

"She copied it to me, she wants to see us."

"When?"

"Next week."