[Friday Afternoon at an Office in South Kensington, London]

“Hello? I’d like to speak to Ms Baker,” said the Messenger who was dressed in a set of red and black motorcycle leathers.

“Is that a package for her? If so, you can give it to me,” said the assistant.

“Sorry, I have to give it to her personally.”

The assistant smiled.

“I’ll call her.”

She didn’t have to call as the door to the inner office opened and a well-dressed woman emerged.

“Lewis has cried off tomorrow. That is the third time this month, so I told him what I thought of him,” said the woman angrily.

Then she noticed the messenger.

“Ms Baker?”

“That’s me.”

“I have to give you this,” he said and thrust an envelope at her.

“You have been served,” he said.

To his astonishment, Ms. Baker just laughed.

“Let me guess. This is yet another attempt to get control of my business,” she said smiling as she opened the envelope.

She looked at the sheet. It was indeed a writ and it named her and her former husband as the parties to the case.

Then she chuckled and then tore the writ up and threw it in the wastepaper bin.

The man smiled and went to leave but the door to the corridor was locked.

“Can you let me out?” he asked.

“Let him out. He’s done his job,” said Ms Baker.

The door buzzed and the messenger left. Before the door could close, another man came into the office.

“Can I help you?” asked the receptionist.

“My name is Hope, Leslie Hope. I have an interview here at three.”

The receptionist looked at the clock. It was a few minutes before three.

“Please come into my office Mr Hope,” said Ms Baker.

The pair went into her office. She shut the door behind them. For the moment the writ had been forgotten. It would go into the shredder just like the previous ten had been. The divorce had been final for years and was long past the time to review the financial settlement.

Half an hour later they emerged.

“Thanks for coming Mr Hope. We will let you know about the position by the end of business on Tuesday.”

Leslie Hope smiled. He was unsure about the interview, but at least he’d know one way or the other in a few days.

Ms Baker stood there looking at him.

“I know that this may sound strange Mr Hope, but are you doing anything tomorrow?”

Leslie looked startled.

“Eh?”

“It is fairly simple. If you are not doing anything tomorrow and want to earn a hundred pounds cash, no questions asked then just say, yes?”

“I don’t understand?”

“I have a wedding to go to tomorrow and my now former ‘plus one’ has decided to go in a different direction and I’d rather not on my own. I’m asking you to go with me. No strings, just me giving you £100 at the end of the day. Well how about it?”

“I’m gobsmacked. This is most unexpected. But why me?” he asked.

“You are here, you aren’t ugly, you seem to be over eighteen and you are a man. That’s it really.”

“I’m not actually doing anything but how do you know that I’m not some axe murderer?”

Ms Baker smiled.

“I have all your details and I know for a fact that you do not have a criminal record. Am I right?”

He nodded.

“Good. If you come with me, Sara here will know so if something happens to me, she can point the finger at you, but I’m confident that it won’t so are you game? The wedding is at two and the meal and reception should be over by five so we can be back in London by seven or eight.”

Leslie shook his head and then smiled.

“Ok, I’m in. It beats going to watch my local non-league football team get beaten again.”

“Great,” said Ms Baker.

Then she stepped forward towards him and put out her hand.

“I’m Corrine and this is my assistant Alex Norris.”

Corrine looked at the clock.

“It is nearly four. I have to make the final selection for my dress. Do you have a suit suitable for a wedding?”

“How posh is the Wedding?”

“Pretty Posh. My brother is getting married and he’s a professor of Linguistics at Cambridge. There will be a lot of academics, mostly unattached men, which is why I don’t want to go alone.”

“Then I don’t have a suit worthy of the occasion. This one is about the best I have at the moment.”

“No matter,” said Corrine with a smile on her face.

She turned to Alex.

“Can you lock up?”

Alex smiled.

“Yes boss.”

“Good.”

Suddenly, she dashed off into her office only to return a few seconds later putting on her coat.

“Shall we go?” she said smiling.

Alex unlocked the office door using the button on her desk.

As Leslie and Corrine waited for the lift, Corrine said,

“I should have asked before… Do you have anywhere to go in a hurry?”

“No. It is the end of the week so it is not worth going back to my job. By the time I get there everyone will have gone home or down the boozer to drown their sorrows because another fifty or so people were made redundant on Monday, and today is their last day.”

“Good. First stop is to get my dress sorted out and then to Moss Bros in Knightsbridge to get you kitted out. I know that they are open until seven. Does that sound ok?”

“Sounds good to me,” replied Leslie.

Five minutes later the pair arrived at a small shop in Beauchamp Place. There wasn’t a name above the door but a couple of dresses were on models in the windows. To Leslie, this was a place where people who didn’t have oodles of money were not allowed to cross the threshold.

He was right when the staff looked down their noses at Leslie as soon as they saw him, but a stare from Corrine made them adopt their ‘customer is right’ pose.

“Ah, Ms Baker, we have the dresses ready for you to try on.”

“I won’t be long,” said Corrine
Leslie was looking a bit uncomfortable. This was well outside his comfort zone.

Corrine disappeared with one of the assistants into the rear of the shop.

She returned a few minutes later.

“What do you think?” she asked Leslie.

Leslie’s face went red. He wasn’t expecting any of this.

“Eh? Well, it looks ok.”

“Will it do for a wedding?”

The pink creation that she was wearing was to Leslie, utterly repulsive. He had this opinion about women and weddings and the dresses that were worn. Apart from the bride many of them were horrible creations that would look more appropriate for the ‘Ugly Sisters’ to wear in Pantomime. There was nothing elegant about them. This was one of them.

His body language told Corrine all she needed to know. Corrine smiled and disappeared once again.

The next time she appeared, she was dressed… far more normally in a very well-tailored dress and matching jacket.

Leslie’s reaction told her that this outfit was perfect or as close to it as time would allow.

“That… That’s much better,” he mumbled.

Corrine grinned and said,
“Perfect. This will do nicely.”

They left the shop with Leslie carrying the garment and with Corrine's arm tucked into his. He didn't know if he should relax and enjoy it or 'run for the hills'. By the time they reached the 'Moss Bros' shop, he had decided to go with the flow. At the very least, he could get to know if he could work for this woman should he on the off chance, be offered the job.

Leslie was not the sort of person renowned for snappy dressing. He preferred to blend in with the crowd and not to stand out. The suit that Corrine eventually rented for him was nothing like he would have chosen in a million years. Leslie just went with it as after all, Corrine was paying for it.

Once back outside and now carrying two garments he said,

“I forgot to ask, where is this wedding?”

Corrine smiled.

“It is in a place called Godmanchester. That’s near Huntingdon.”

Leslie nodded.

“There is a place next to the Church where we can get changed. My outfit will crease if I drive in it. You can do the same.”

Leslie breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’ve got your address from your CV so, I think we are good to go?”

“What time in the morning?”

“I’ll pick you up around ten. Is that ok with you?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

Corrine smiled.

“Thanks for agreeing to do this. You don’t know how much it means to me.”

“Any closer to making a decision about the job?”

Corrine laughed.

“If all goes well tomorrow then I might be a lot closer to making that decision.”

“Thanks,” said Leslie.

_ _

The journey from Leslie’s home in Cricklewood to Godmanchester, allowed Corrine to not only get to know him a lot better she was able to brief him on what was expected and not expected of him at the wedding and subsequent reception. He understood his role perfectly. ‘Repel all boarders’ was his job for the day.

Leslie was also able to start to see what made Corrine tick.

She was quite unlike any woman he’d ever met and it was clear that she was not the sort of person to get on their wrong side.

Leslie got the surprise of his life when Corrine parked her car in front of the Vicarage. The surname of the local vicar that was clearly displayed on the adjacent noticeboard, was the same as hers.

Corrine saw his surprise.
“Yes, my father is the vicar and will be performing the ceremony. Don’t worry, they are not ogres. They know that you are here as my escort and nothing more.”

“They?”

“My Mother, Father and my dear Brother, the groom.”

If Leslie had been standing up, you could have knocked him over with a feather.

“Oh!”

Corrine laughed.

“They don’t bite you know… honest.”

Leslie just grunted as they got out of the car.

Dead on time, the bride arrived at the church resplendent in virginal white. She was a research assistant at the University, but in a different department from the groom.

Leslie was a bit surprised at how big an age difference between the bride and groom, but their obvious body chemistry during the ceremony, told him that it didn’t make a lot of difference to them. By the end of the formalities, he just wished them every happiness for the future. Leslie had once gotten close to getting hitched, but his bride-to-be had called things off two days before the wedding and eloped with the boss from the Ad Agency where she worked at the time. That was years ago but was still a bit of a sore point with him. To him, it marked him down as a failure. Since then, he’d only dated a couple of times but there had never been anything serious.

During the reception, Leslie had to intervene a couple of times when some pretty drunk academics made improper advances at Corrine. After the third such incident, Corrine took the hint and led Leslie out of the reception and back to the Vicarage.

Once they’d caught their breaths, Corrine said,
“Thanks for that. You did exactly what I wanted you to do. Some of those Dons don’t appear to have had sex since their undergrad years. Anything half decent in a skirt and who is not at the university, is fair game as far as they are concerned.”

Then she smiled at Leslie.

“When can you start?”

“Eh?”

“Start working for me. I think you are just the person for the job. The way that you dealt with those fools was impressive.”

“I don’t know.”

“Good,” replied Corrine.

“If you had said yes on the spot then I would have backed out. I’ll email you the offer tonight. Take a few days and let me know what you think.”

“I don’t know what to say?” stuttered Leslie.
“I didn’t expect that to happen.”

Corrine smiled.
“Neither did I but coming up here with you and going to the wedding together made me realise that you were someone I could depend upon. I need that for my agency to grow. You do seem to be the perfect replacement for Alex.”

“You didn’t say why Alex is leaving?”

“Didn’t I? Oh sorry. She’s leaving to start on a full time MBA at the London Business School. She starts in eight weeks.”

“Ok, I understand that time is of the essence. I won’t dither about letting you know about the job.”

Corrine laughed.
“Perfect answer.”

Leslie was a bit taken aback by her words.

“Eh?”

“Sorry Leslie. I sort of slipped into interview mode. As you know, I place executives into very well-paid positions. When I interview them, I have to decide, about them and what makes them tick as well as weed out any fakes and liars. One of the tricks I learned from an old lawyer friend of mine is to ask them a question to which you already know the answer or a very good approximation of the answer. You answered correctly. Normally, I don’t react like that, so sorry for that.”

After a few seconds of thought, Leslie said,
“That’s ok. Part of starting a new job is to get used to the whims of the people you are working with.”

Corrine raised an eyebrow.

Leslie smiled.

“And I’m still going to take time to read your offer before giving you an answer.”

Corrine laughed.
Leslie relaxed knowing that he’d said the right thing.

Corrine dropped Leslie off at his home a few hours later. As agreed, £100 was exchanged and both parties felt that the day had been a success.

Leslie received Corrine’s email just before he went to bed that evening. He almost keeled over when he read it. Her offer was almost double what he was currently earning. Corrine knew that, but even so, he was shocked by it.

Sleep didn't come easy for him that night. He knew that Corrine was taking a big chance on him. He'd seen the advert for the job and had pondered about it at length before applying for the job. It was a huge step up for him and the doubts about his ability that had been etched into him by his father who never thought he'd amount to much at all. He was never backwards about coming forward and telling everyone loudly who would listen to him pour scorn on his son just because he wasn’t big and strong enough to do what he referred to as man’s work. Humping carcasses of meat in and out of a cold store was not what Leslie wanted to do with his life.

Leslie headed for the local swimming baths bright and early the next morning. He was a regular at the pool for the first session on a Sunday. The people he swam with all went for breakfast after an hour in the pool but several remarked to him that his mind was not on the swim. This happened after he’d forgotten the ‘lane etiquette’ for the third time.

“Your mind is elsewhere Laddie,” remarked Andy Wilson, a scot who called everyone ‘Laddie’ or ‘Lassie’ to save having to remember everyone’s names.

“Yes Andy, it is.”

“Race you for the next quarter!”

Leslie smiled and sped up and swam alongside Andy for the next fifteen minutes. Having something positive to think about made the rest of the session go much faster.

Over breakfast, the group tucked into a 'Full English' or as close to it as their dietary needs or religion allowed. They were an eclectic mixture of races and ages. Andy had just sort of tagged along with them for a bit, but it didn’t take long for him to become part of the group.

Andy sat down next to him and took a long swig from his very large mug of ‘builders brew’ which was a speciality of the café.

He put the mug down and said,
“Ok Leslie, who is she and how can we help?”

That put him right on the spot.

He took a deep breath before saying,

“She is the person I might be going to work for. We went to a wedding yesterday and she offered me the job on the way home.”

His words got the attention of the whole group which was not what he had intended.

“It wasn’t like that. Her ‘plus one’ decided to do something else and I was at her office on Friday for an interview for the job.

“Pull the other one,” chipped in Ken, a miserable wimp of a man who dreamed of dating a supermodel or at least that's what he'd led the group to believe.

“She… She was perfectly open about the day and what I was to do in the event of other guests getting a bit fresh with her.”

Leslie had almost mentioned the £100 but decided to leave that bit out at the last moment.

“Did you?” asked Andy.

“Did what?” replied Leslie slightly knocked off his train of thought by the question.

“Do what she wanted…?”

“Oh… Yes. Two of the Dons got a bit too interested in her so I stepped in and took her away…. Away from them. On the journey home, she offered me the job.”

“So, you passed her test then?” asked Ken.

“What test?”

“Boy, she’s really got you by the short and curlies…” remarked Helen, one of the two women in the group.

Leslie shook his head.

“It is not like that. There is an offer on the table which is very attractive. It would mean that I could move out of the place I’m in now which has a never-ending mouse infestation and there is damp coming through in several places and the landlord does not want to know about doing any repairs.”

“Moving in with her would solve that problem,” joked Ivy, the other female member of the group.

Everyone looked at her.
“Hey, I’m only offering a suggestion…”

“One which you used to your advantage if my memory serves me right?” commented Helen.

“Ok, so yes it did.”

“It is not as easy the other way around,” said Ken.
“I nearly did it but didn’t want to give up my freedom.”

“Is that why you are still single then?” asked Ivy.

“I have not found anyone I really like and can accept me coming out on Sunday mornings with you bunch of degenerates. My last girlfriend thought I was two-timing her so she walked out the first time she stayed overnight. I returned home after our swim to find a ‘Dear John, get lost you…’”

The group broke up soon after leaving Leslie alone and brooding over a mug of tea that was going cold in front of him.

Tasting the tepid liquid spurred him into action.

[to be continued]