She told him what Emily had said about her, and her subsequent warning in the staffroom.
‘Oh God, I had no idea she’d been so bad with you.’ He swallowed. ‘You should’ve come to me, Holly, you should’ve—’
‘So how did Emily get rid of the last girl?’
Josh was silent for a few seconds before clearing his throat.
‘I’m sorry, I can’t discuss private staff matters.’ He took a step back from her. ‘Confidentiality and all that. I know you’ll understand.’
Holly’s interest was immediately piqued. Whatever had happened to the last member of staff Emily hadn’t liked might have well happened to her too. Irritation with Josh squirmed in her throat.
‘Anyway, cheer up,’ Josh said brightly. ‘Mr Kellington’s in no rush to take someone else on, so he wanted me to ask if you feel confident enough to look after Emily’s regular customers.’
She wasn’t sure she could follow Emily’s Oscar-winning performances with Mr and Mrs Fenwick, but she felt delighted that Mr Kellington had displayed such faith in her.
‘I’d love to, thanks.’
She pushed Emily’s bitter words before leaving to the back of her mind. What could the woman do to her, really? Nothing. Unless she wanted to do time for it.
‘Excellent.’ Josh began to walk away. ‘I’ll tell him right now and you can thank me with a cream cake on payday… You’ve got to spend that enormous commission on something worthwhile, right?’
Commission! She reminded herself she’d be raking it in big-time now Emily had gone.
A pleasant place to work and a big fat pay packet… what was not to like?
* * *
It had been normal for Geraldine’s mood to be on the low side.
Holly had quickly come to realise that although Brendan popped in and out of the house most days, he stayed away from home a lot. Consequently, there had been an ongoing expectation for Holly to think of suitable ways to cheer his wife up.
It didn’t sound much, but Holly actually found it hard work to make suggestions and motivate Geraldine, particularly when she was feeling low. So it had made a pleasant change when Geraldine had approached her, upbeat, one morning.
‘Brendan is home for dinner tonight and I’m cooking him something nice. Let’s sit down over breakfast and discuss what needs to be done.’
Holly made skinny lattes at the coffee machine whilst Geraldine scribbled notes. She eventually decided on beef stroganoff with rice and a simple pavlova for dessert.
Holly had watched enviously as her employer scrolled through Google looking for suitable recipes. She’d almost forgotten what it was like to have your own phone to play with, swiping through the various screens.
She’d written Aunt Susan a short note as Geraldine had suggested, and the housekeeper, Patricia, had kindly posted it for her. But that had been a little while ago now and she’d had no reply.
It was at that point that Holly had realised that although she was out of the house a lot, shopping, at the cinema or restaurants, she was never out alone. Since she’d arrived, she had been constantly in Geraldine’s company in and out of the house.
There was nothing wrong with it; just a funny little fact, she’d thought at the time. And when she’d mentioned it to Geraldine, she’d shrugged and asked Holly coolly if that was a problem for her. Holly hadn’t mentioned it again.
‘I’ll help you get everything ready for the meal and then I’ll disappear upstairs to my room before Brendan gets home,’ she told Geraldine now.
‘No way!’ Geraldine had grabbed her hand. ‘The three of us will eat together, I insist on it.’
Holly had smiled and successfully hidden the uncomfortable stirring in her stomach. She certainly didn’t relish playing gooseberry to those two.
She had noticed that Geraldine was very touchy-feely with Brendan, on the few brief occasions he stayed at the house longer than ten minutes. It was as if she saw so little of him, she had to make it count when she did.
After an afternoon at Waitrose getting all the stuff, and then a couple of hours in the kitchen preparing the dishes, Holly had felt exhausted and sorely wished she’d got the night off.
In the last week or so, Geraldine had been proving to be very hard work.
On the face of it, Holly’s job sounded like every young girl’s dream. Lunching out in fabulous eateries, watching films, shopping, coffee and endless chats… but she had soon realised she could never be herself.
She hadn’t thought she even liked herself that much, but now that ‘new Holly’ was the only one around, she’d started to mourn the more relaxed, authentic version of herself.
The one that wasn’t always kowtowing to Geraldine, always down in the gym, always watching what she ate.
She could never complain that she was too tired for the next marathon shopping trip, or tell Geraldine that actually she didn’t feel like watching yet another episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County. She couldn’t decline Geraldine’s offer to accompany her to the nail and hair salon and say that she’d much rather stay in her bedroom and read, or go for a nice relaxed walk around the grounds for a bit of space and fresh air.
It was also a job that had no set hours. Holly was on call twenty-four hours a day. One time Brendan was working away and Geraldine had suffered a stomach upset in the middle of the night and been unable to sleep. Holly had also been roused from her slumbers and summoned downstairs to look after her boss as you would do a sick child.
It was times like this that she had known she must swallow down the resentment that clotted in her chest.
She’d still felt lucky to have the job, but with no contract to refer to, she didn’t know whether she’d actually signed up to such demands, so she couldn’t begin to do anything about it.
Maybe, she’d thought, when she had Brendan and Geraldine together at last tonight, it would be a good chance to try broaching one or two uncomfortable subjects again.
It had seemed like a good idea at the time.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Holly
Halfway through the first week at Kellington’s without Emily on her tail, Holly felt like her life was truly coming together in ways she could never have envisaged.
Most of Emily’s customers recognised her and made a beeline for her as they entered the store, and as a result, her month-end commission bonus was growing daily.
She felt delighted that she’d taken the trouble to introduce herself and say hello to the regular customers, even when Emily was the one who was benefiting from their spend. That decision was really paying dividends now.
They had all been terribly shocked when Holly enlightened them about Emily’s sudden departure from the store. Josh had advised her not to discuss what had happened unless the customers themselves raised it, but actually, she’d taken great delight in instigating the conversations.
The Fenwicks’ had been the best reaction. When she told them that Emily had left the store after damaging the Lalique vase, she thought Mrs Fenwick was going to need to be medically revived.
‘But why? Why would Emily do that?’ the woman had demanded, clutching her throat as if she couldn’t get her breath. ‘She was so conscientious.’
Holly had to be careful how she phrased what had happened, just in case one of the customers repeated something to Josh. She had to keep the pleasure off her face.
‘I’m sure she had her reasons,’ she said sadly. ‘I was so shocked when she led everyone to believe I had damaged the vase, and then… well, I can’t say too much, but when the flowers were found in her handbag, thank goodness I was cleared of suspicion.’
Mrs Fenwick gasped at Emily’s treachery.
‘You poor girl.’ Mr Fenwick shook his head. ‘What on earth must have got into Emily, to pull a stunt like that?’
‘It’s very sad.’ Mrs Fenwick nodded. ‘Emily always took such good care of us here, but…’ she grasped Holly’s hand and smiled at her husband, ‘I just know that Holly is going to do an even better job. Am I right?’