Decisions-Decisions 4

Eric made the call to his son from the Managers office. It didn’t take long. When he returned he said,

“John will meet us on Thursday at 10. The problem is that we have to go to see him in Derby. That journey will need an early start.”

He was right. Living in the back of beyond has one huge disadvantage in that it takes ages to get nowhere fast. The roads in the region are crap. Full of potholes and often covered in mud from farm traffic.

I opened my handbag and pulled out the train timetable that I’d used for my trip to Sheffield before Christmas.

“Bummer! The first train from here gets into Derby after the meeting is supposed to start.”

“Then it is agreed. I’ll drive and we leave at six sharp?” said Eric.

“Eric. It was good of you to volunteer but this is our plan, our company,” said Sandra.

He smiled.

“Don’t worry. I’ll just be your driver for the day. If they accept your plan then I am willing to invest but I’ll be very much in the background. You three deserve the opportunity to decide your own future. But I’ll be there if you need some advice from me. Sort of like a mentor. The last thing you want is an old fogey like me muscling in on your business. I like you all and want to help you in a small way succeed. I can help now by opening a few doors. Later? Well, it is all down to you isn’t it?”

We all sat in silence for a while trying to take in what he’d said. It didn’t take me long to realise that this was Eric being … well Eric. Quiet and unassuming in everything he did. When he made a sale, there were no celebrations. All he’d do was go and make himself some Tea using a blend that was reserved for just that situation.

As neither of the others was saying anything, I took the plunge.

“Eric. Thanks for the offer. Driver it is then but we need time to talk over investment and everything else.”

He smiled.

“And I wouldn’t have it any other way. As I said, Thursday is a big day. Let me cover for you here while you three pretty young things go and sort out what you are going to wear. That will take you all day won’t it?”

We all saw the funny side of his remark.

I went over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. That was something that Stewart would never have done in a million years. Now it just seemed natural.

Eric was right. I didn’t have a thing to wear. Well, nothing suitable for a business meeting. Back at my place Gwen said,

“Sandra why don’t you take Louise over to Lincoln and get her something suitable to wear for Thursday? I’ll make us something to eat for when you get back.”

“I guess I should get keys made for both of you then?”

“I’ll do that while you are away. We probably ate you out of house and home so I’ll need to do some shopping anyway.”

I grinned back at her.

“What’s so funny?”

“I do like the new and improved Gwen. Before Christmas, you were almost invisible. Now you are ready to make decisions. What do you think Sandi?”

Sandra nodded her head.

“Something changed in you our Gwen. I don’t know what it is but if you could bottle it you’d make a fortune.”

At that we all hugged.

Sandra and I went off to Lincoln in search of clothes.

After an hour of fruitless searching Sandra exclaimed,

“You are being such a woman. Why can’t you make up your mind?”

I giggled.

“Thank you. That was such a nice comment.”

Then I kissed her right in the middle of the Debenhams.

After another hour I settled on a Dress/Jacket combination. The dress was black and white. Knee length with a ‘V’ neck. Because I didn’t have any real cleavage, I also bought a white blouse to go with it. The jacket was ¾ length and matched the dress perfectly.

“Well genius? How do I look?”

“Knock’m dead baby. Well… apart from a few little things.”

My feeling of euphoria disappeared in an instant.

“Tights and Shoes. Then your hair.”

“What’s wrong with my hair?”

“It needs a bit of style.”

“But… you trimmed it.”

“But you need to have a bit more style.”

“Ok. We go to a hairdresser?”

Sandra smiled.

“Doesn’t anything get you down?”

“Sure but not for long. We are here for a finite time. Why not try to enjoy every minute of it?”

This time it was Sandra’s turn to gush.

“Whatever happened to that person…. What’s his name? Oh yes. Stewie?”

“He disappeared without trace sometime around Christmas Eve never to be seen again.”

Then she kissed me. This time we were in the middle of ‘House of Fraser’.

On the way back to Skeggie, Sandra arranged a hairdressers appointment for the following day.

“Don’t worry, it will be fine,” said Sandra.

“But…”

“Look girl, you are great. So what if they make you? Does it really matter in the long run?”

“I suppose not,” I replied reluctantly.

“Look Louise, you are going to have to sell this idea to Eric’s son. It is your idea and … well you are so passionate about it, neither Gwen nor I can sell it like you can.”

“I know. But…”

“We’ll be there with you.”

In the end, the trip to the hairdressers went well. I emerged with a not only a new hairstyle but a bit of a new hair colour. While I liked the deep auburn that Sandra had died my hair at Christmas, I was a bit envious of Gwen with her red tips. I emerged with a nice bob and a fringe that was now platinum blonde.

Both Sandra and Gwen thought it was cool. They had to look at it not me so that made me happy.

Thursday morning was frantic. Three women all trying to get washed, dressed and madeup all at once was crazy to say the least. At least it taught me one thing and that was that there would have to be some alterations to my home if they moved in on a more permanent basis.

Still, we emerged looking as good as it was going to get dead on 06:00. Eric was waiting for us patiently.

“Morning Ladies. You all look fantastic today,” said Eric as we climbed into the car.

Sandra who was sitting in the front gave him a big lippy kiss on the cheek.

“Enough of that. Imagine what the neighbours will be thinking?” remarked Eric.

The street was deserted. Some discarded fast food wrappers were blowing around in the cold wind that was coming right off the sea.

The three of us burst into laughter.

“That’s the spirit. Shall we go?” asked Eric.

“Yes please.”

The drive west to Derby was long and boring. We stopped for a natural break near Nottingham. We had enough time to do some makeup repairs before we set off on the last leg of our journey.

At 10:05 the three of us was shown into a meeting room at the company head office. Eric’s son was waiting for us.

“Good afternoon ladies. I have been expecting you. Please sit down. My assistant will be in with some tea and coffee shortly.”

We all sat down. I pulled a buff folder out of my bag and placed it on the table in front of me.

“My father was very circumspect when he called me the other day. He wouldn’t say what you wanted talk about. He was very insistent so in deference to him I agreed to meet you today.”

He paused.

“Thanks for seeing us. I’m Louise and this is Sandra and Gwen. We all work with your father in Skegness.”

“So who’s first?”

“That would be me,” I said.

He sat back and waited for me.

I looked at the others and they both gave me a small nod.

“As you know, the Skegness branch has been earmarked for closure.”

“Hold on a moment. What is this?”

“We were told on the 31st of last month that the branch was being shutdown at the end of the month.”

“Who told you this?”

“Jeff Cook. He works at the Lincoln regional office. His son, also Jeff is head salesman in our office.”

John went rather red in the face.

“This is not right. We are supposed to be closing the Louth Office not Skegness. Let me get HR. Please excuse me a minute.”

He dashed out of the room.

I turned to the others.

“I smell a rat here.”

“Me too,” said Gwen.

“Yeah and Jeff is at the centre of it. Why am I not surprised?”

A few minutes later John returned with a woman.

“This is Linda Stone, head of group HR. Can you please tell us right from the beginning what happened on New Years Eve?”

“Ok. We were called to a meeting in the Office where Mr Cook from the Lincoln office addressed us. He said that because of falling profits the office was being closed at the end of the month. That was it in a nutshell.”

Ms Stone said,

“Did you get any paperwork? Such as an official letter explaining the reasons and giving advice plus a statement of your redundancy settlement?”

“No. We got nothing. Nothing at all.”

She looked at the others.

“Nothing,” said Sandra.

Mr Stone took charge.

“We are closing a branch but not yours. Please forget what was said to you. There are proper procedures that have to be followed. That is the law.”

“Have you seen Mr Cook since then?”

“Which one? Senior or Junior?” asked Sandra.

“Senior,” said Ms Cook.

“No we haven’t. Well we wouldn’t would we? He works in Lincoln.”

“What about the son?”

“Been conspicuously absent since the 31st.”

“I think I should call Lincoln and check up on Jeff senior,” said John.

He stood up but I Interrupted him.

“There is something else.”

He stopped mid stride.

“What is it?”

“We came here originally to investigate the possibility of taking over the Skegness branch and running it ourselves. In the course of our work we came upon some information that seems to show that the two of them were skimming off profits from the branch. We estimated that at least thirty thousand pounds has gone missing.”

I handed over the sheet of paper that we’d found in the office.

John looked at it for almost 30 seconds.

“Where did you find this?”

“In the office. On Jeff’s desk.”

John looked at his colleague.

“I think we need to find both of them pronto? I have a few questions for them.”

She stood up saying,

“I’ll make some calls. That paper looks important. You carry on examining it.”

John carried on looking at the paper for another minute. Then he looked up.

“You said that you found this in your office?”

“Yes,” answered Gwen, “Is there a problem?”

“Well, if what this says is correct then they were rather foolish to leave it there. If this isn’t true and it will take a lot of investigation to find out one way or another, I can’t help but think that this is some sort of horrible prank like telling you that you were all out of a job.”

None of us said anything.

John put us out of our misery by asking me,

“Louise, my father told me that you were Stewart. I suppose he showed you that picture of Erica?”

“Yes. Yes he did.”

“He thinks I don’t know buy my mother told me a long time ago. Tell him from me that if Erica wants to make an appearance then he’ll be very welcome to visit.”

I was stunned.

“You don’t mind?”

“He’s my father.”

You couldn’t argue about that.

As if she’d been cued in, at that moment the door opened and in walked Ms Cook.

The look on her face said that she’d not been successful in locating the Jeff’s.

“No one has seen them since New Years Eve. I tried his mobile but no one answered.”

“I think I need to verify the figures on this before we go any further. Why don’t the three of you go back home and carry on with work and I promise to let you know what is going on before the end of the day.”

“Thanks for that,” said Gwen.

“Can we have something in writing stating that we are not going to be made redundant at the end of the month?” asked Sandra.

“Linda?” asked John.

“That won’t be a problem. I understand your concerns. Give me a few minutes and I’ll have something for you.”

“Good,” said John.

“Ladies, thank you all for coming. It has been nice to meet you all. It would have been nice to have been in better circumstances.”

As the meeting broke up, John made a point of shaking each of us by the hand.

Then we were left alone again.

Sandra had a smile on her face.

“What are you smiling about?” asked Gwen.

“I think he fancies me,” replied Sandra.

We looked at her.

“He gave me a little squeeze.”

I giggled

“He did the same to me. What about you Gwen?”

She smiled and nodded her head.

“Oh well, a girl can dream,” said Sandra.

“Aren’t we good enough for you?”

“But he’s a hunk.”

We couldn’t argue with that.

“And there was no ring on his finger.”

I laughed,

“As long as I can catch the bouquet when you get married.”

That lifted our spirits as we left the building with a letter stating that we weren’t being fired at the end of the month. It remained to be seen if this would turn out to be our ‘Munich’[1] moment or not.

[to be continued]

[1] This was then Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from meeting Hitler in Munich with a paper declaring ‘peace in our time’. Then the 2nd world war started less than a year later.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_for_our_time