CHAPTER 41
I looked at the two culprits. “Does Alice know?”

Andy actually blushed. “No. It was one of those things that come out when you don’t mean it to. I just got so used to her, and mentioned her as my boss, and Bev is a bit sharp like that”

“Well, then, I suggest we get her in to see what she actually thinks of this little slip”

Suzy went to collect her. I could hear a muttering outside the door, and then Alice entered the rest room. Bev’s gaze locked onto her, and it was clear she was looking for any signs of the woman. After a few seconds, she just breathed “Yes…..”

Alice looked a little nervous at that. “Yes, what, exactly?”

“Yes, I can see you in there. You hide it well, but you are still there”

I remembered Steph, the redhead. Knowing what I knew, I could see the man in her, but she was all woman. Bev was seeing the reverse, Alice as she really was behind the façade of Alan. Bev drew another long breath.

“Yes, you are definitely not a man in there. Andy tells me you have full support from your employers, so there is nothing I can offer professionally, but I am here to help if you need anything. Andy, as you were the one whose mouth ran away with itself, I think you owe us more coffees”

“The last round was all the cash I had, Bev!”

“Here’s a tenner, scoot. Girl talk, Andy, take your time”

He took the rather direct hint, and off he did indeed scoot. Bev looked us all over.

“You have a very interesting group dynamic here, and from what Suzy tells me your problem is at lunch just now. Alice, do you have any date set for your grand unveiling?”

She got rather shifty, then, and after a sidelong glance looked away from me.

“Actually, a week today”

Three of us jerked upright. Alice sat up straight, and with a little colour to her cheeks stared at us all in turn.

“Enough is enough. The more I watch that woman, the weirder she gets. The longer I wait for her to be brought onside, the less of my life, my real life, I get to live. So you know what? Fuck her. I mean, she might not even go off as we fear, she might just bottle it up and take it out on her knees later”

I put my hardest Mum-voice on. “And you were planning on telling me---us---when exactly?”

“I was going to mention it on the way home tonight”

“Bollocks you were. What was it, just turn up dressed and ride the shock wave? Have you spoken to Margaret??

She laughed, a little nervously. “Who’s the manager here?”

“Both of us. Who’s the part-timer here?”

No answer to Mum-logic. I deal with a small boy daily, and adults are easy after that.

“Alice, another question: have you told Enid?”

Her face told me the answer. “Call her. Now. After all she has done for you, she will be cut to the quick if you don’t. Phone! Both of them!”

She left the room, and I caught Bev looking at me. “Andy was right, you are one scary lady!”

I sighed. “A matter of concern, of love for the poor girl. She was good to me when I came over here, she has always been good to me, and my son loves her, so what else would I do?”

I looked back at her in the same way. “And let’s hear what you have to say, then. Andy?”

“Andy. Well. Andy is a nice bloke, once you get past the flash. He talks a phenomenal amount of crap, but behind that he is actually quite solicitous, and don’t even think about making that a joke.

“I noticed that the first time I met him, when he offered out a spare sweat towel”

I laughed. “Andy, woman in distress, it fits”

“No ,not at all. It was to one of the guys. Andy had overdone the stuff he’d brought the first time, obviously on Suzy’s advice”

Sniff.

“And one of the guys had forgotten a hand towel, so Andy just threw him one of his. There was no calculation in it. That sounds really insignificant, doesn’t it?”

I could see where she was coming from, though. “Bev, he does talk a lot of bollocks though, doesn’t he?”

“Signal to noise, Sarah, signal to noise. Once you filter out the cock-waving stuff, he talks a lot of sense, and he cares”

I could see Suzy weighing this up, and no disagreement in her eyes. I remembered his time with Iain and Kevin, and his first comments when we started dropping the hints. Bev continued.

“He’s incredibly shy, Sarah The impression I get is that he doesn’t think he can sustain anything, so he stays in the shallow end all the time”

“And you like him?”

“I do, I think there is a sweet little boy hiding there waiting to grow up. Real potential”

She suddenly grinned, happily. “And when he bends forwards in those shorts, it is really, really knickerwetting”

That broke the mood. Suzy was looking smug, now, a real “told you so” to her smile.

Andy knocked, then came into the room. I am sure he was totally in the dark when three women dissolved into giggles. But he had coffee.

I called him over. “Andy, Alice has just dropped a biggy. She’s planning on coming out next week. Any ideas?”

He thought for a minute, sipping his coffee. “Ringers. Stealth customers that know her. Enid, Janet, perhaps….yes, Pat! Imagine Anne seeing a priest being served by her and treating it as perfectly normal. I could ring my brother as well, get the kids in after school”

I looked at him with as much respect as I could make obvious. “Bev was wrong about you, you know”

He actually looked worried at that point, and I suspected a little falling was being done. “What have you been saying about me, Bev?”

“Just that your shorts aren’t tight enough”

I called it to an end. “Customers, and Anne will be back from her crypt soon. Bev, here’s my number. Lovely to meet you, and if you cam help with the stealth next week, it would be lovely. Mr Watson, a word if you please…”

The others cleared off, and I sat with Andy for a minute, recounting what Alice had said. “So, what do you think about her coming out next week?”

“What she says is dead right. She needs to get out, get her life moving forward before she gets too old to enjoy it”

“And what about you? What about this dark lady of yours?”

There was pleading in his eyes. “Please, Sarah, no piss taking there. I like her a lot, and I am terrified she will run a mile if I fuck up”

“And she isn’t nervous too? Suzy was right, it seems. Look, Andy, a word of advice. Be yourself. Not the twat we work with, Mr Trousers in the wine bar, but that bloke I met by Dane John with two little boys. Keep thinking about Iain and Kevin, and take your time.”

He hugged me. ”Alice first, though, Sarah”

He really is dense. That one remark showed how far he was moving on already.