The Great Christmas Breakup Part 10

Or at all.

*Why did you call?'

He cleared his throat. *Shop windows, actually. Lolly's, specifically.'

*Oh.' I got it. He'd called because he liked the sheep or something. Probably wanted to score some for Christmas presents. Lucinda was going nuts with people asking if they could buy the animals as gifts.

Lolly had been insane to think Robert was still interested in me.

And wait until he gets a load of those thighs, the evil voice added.

Shut up!

*Scarlet, I work with a number of clients who have successful retail enterprises. Lolly mentioned that you were doing window dressing professionally now, and from what I can see, you are terrific at it.'

*I, um, well . . .'

Nice one, Scarlet. Completely professional.

Thankfully, Robert didn't seem to notice I was slightly bonkers. *Care to expand your client base? I can think of one particular client who is in desperate need of your services.'

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

In need of my services?

*Are you there?' The voice had dropped a tone a he didn't sound so confident now.

*Sorry, yes.'

*Lolly says you're experienced in all types of retail environments.'

What! I didn't even know what that meant. *Lolly is certainly vocal when it comes to boasting about the talents of her friends.'

I didn't want to lie, but I didn't want to lose the opportunity for work either, if that's what it was.

Especially if I had to make an emergency dash back to the UK to see Dad.

*Do you have a portfolio of your work?'

What could I say? I had a portfolio of fas.h.i.+on work a for which I got a C before I dropped out to have J.

*I don't know where it is at present, to be honest. With so much work on at the moment, I just go from one job straight onto the next.'

*Perhaps I'd know some of the names?'

*Um, er . . .'

Now what?

To add to the tension, the noises in the hallway were getting louder; time was running out.

Delaying tactics were in order. If I spoke with him in person, it might be easier to steer the conversation towards new jobs instead of old.

I'd never thought of window dressing as a career before, but it had to be admitted that the afternoon at Lolly's had been more satisfying than anything I had ever done, with the exception of having the kids, of course.

Said a lot for Carson, didn't it?

The footsteps were almost upon me.

*Robert, I would love to help, but this really isn't a good time.'

*Perhaps we could meet up tomorrow afternoon? I can't do the morning as I'll be upstate but this client is eager to get moving on the project so could we do it tomorrow afternoon? How about we meet at LollyBliss? Lolly tells me they do a mean mocha at a nearby cafe. My treat, naturally.'

It would have to be.

And as for meeting up, how on earth could I let him see me like this? I was about four of the person he once knew.

Then the nasty voice in my thick head brought me back to reality. You're married. This isn't about you, it's about work.

*Will the job take long?' I asked, one eye on the door, trying to gauge whether the humiliation of displaying how I'd let myself go was worth it.

*No. It's urgent. And it pays well. Three stores, three windows, three thousand dollars. That would have to include all the dressing materials, of course, but I am sure it is still something to consider, isn't it?'

Three thousand dollars! That was half my year's takings working with the enigma that was Dan Phillit.

*So, two tomorrow?' Robert asked.

I was due at Flindes tomorrow for an afternoon s.h.i.+ft, beginning precisely at two. There was no way I could make both.

And if I asked for time off, Dan Phillit would sooner dance around naked in Saks than give it to me.

Sod it.

*I'll see you at Lolly's at two,' I said, throwing away any chance there may have conceivably been for a management position with Flindes.

CHAPTER SIX.

Monday, November 27 *If in doubt, trust your instincts. But don't act on them.

You may be right, but being right doesn't mean you'll get what you deserve.'

Jocelyn Priestly.

CECILY 2 WAS SNORING loudly and woke me. Again. I turned the calendar over, smirked at the nonsense Ms Priestly offered for the day, and then forced myself to ready the kids for school. I wondered what time Cecily 2 was supposed to begin her so-called *modeling' job.

Shuffling into the living room, I shook her. *Cecily 2! Wake up! You've got to go to work.'

In a trice she literally sat straight up as if a hundred volts had just shot through her and bashed right into my head.

*Oww!' I exclaimed, seeing stars.

And smelling booze.

*She always wakes up like that,' Carson called from the kitchen. *I used to charge my mates to see it when I was a kid.'

Poor deluded Carson.

It wasn't her sudden waking they were paying to see.

It was her t.i.ts.

Cecily 2 slept in the nude.

*Always have, always will,' she'd told me, when the kids had first complained of the horrific sight on a sleepover at Cousin Howie's place.

Next, there was a knock on the door. It was only early, and already I was exhausted by the day.

Hammertro stood in the hallway, looking inside expectantly.

*Come in,' I said, waving him towards the living room and the object of his affections. *The more the merrier.'

*Now that you've got that thing repaired, I can't just walk in,' he complained, re-fixing his coordinates on Cecily 2's b.r.e.a.s.t.s, which were almost completely visible beneath the thin sheet covering her. *Morning hotstuff, fancy doing somethin' in town again?'

The suggestion was full of innuendo and Cecily 2 giggled. It sounded like a horse farting.

*She can't, Hammertro, she is working today.'

It crossed my mind that if Cecily 2 lost the nonsense job she'd come for, she'd have to leave. So far, so good.

But in order to be exonerated from any guilt in relation to said miraculous event, I had to at least try to get the stupid cow to go to work.

Hammertro licked his lips. *Where's this job then, sweet cheeks? Maybe I'll check it out?'

*Down the road in a bas.e.m.e.nt,' Cecily yelled. *They've turned it into some dungeon. I'm gonna be the mistress in a movie, apparently.'

*It's all making sense to me now,' I whispered to Carson, who grinned, obviously thinking the same thing.

You didn't need to be a stunner to be a mistress, you just needed to be a scary b.i.t.c.h.

Enter Cecily 2 Teeson.

My neighbor, however, remained impressed. *Mistress, hah? Sounds seeeexy.'

*How's Uncle Rufus?' Jessie piped up. My daughter's bright pink gla.s.ses were slightly askew and there were worry lines on her forehead from her ferocious frown. It was a reminder of my own youthful discovery of betrayal, and my heart skipped at the memories of that woman and my dad a of knowing the truth about him.

I leaned over and kissed Jessie. *It's all fine,' I told her. *Now, eat your breakfast.'

Plonking her spoon unenthusiastically into her bowl, Jessie sighed.

The poor kid deserved better than con-flakes for breakfast, didn't she? A whole cupboard full of proper food would be the first thing I'd buy if Robert managed to get me that window dressing job.

Cecily 2 didn't comprehend the implication of the question about her husband and answered matter-of-factly: *He went off with Howie to some place with lots of trees.'

*A park?' said Jessie.

*A forest?' said J.

*Yeah,' Cecily 2 said to both of them. *Campin', I think.'

*I'd like to put you in my tent,' Hammertro told her. *My pants' tent.'

J laughed and immediately relayed the faux-rapper's latest missive to all his mates via his mobile Facebook app, tapping with one hand as he shoveled con-flakes with the other.

*Hammertro, the children!'

*Where?' He and Cecily 2 looked around.

*Jessie and J.'

His striking face broke into a huge grin and Hammertro punched my arm playfully. It hurt.

*Come on, Mrs T., they ain't no children. They are twelve and fourteen. I was doing it with forty-year-old nightclub hookers at fourteen.'

*Really?' Both my husband's and son's eyes were wide with astonishment.

Jessie's hands were over her ears.

I didn't blame her.

*Can you tell mea* J started to say, but I cut him off by asking if he wanted some of the day old milk that he'd picked up the night before. Because if J asked which nightclub forty-year-olds with no sense of decency or legality hung out at, I vowed to ground him for eternity.

Sensing he was on thin ice, my son took his dismal plate of breakfast with added milk and hurried back to his room.

*So, leave off work and come play with me?' Hammertro wasn't giving up.

Carson told Cecily 2 that whilst the subject matter of her employment might be fruity, the organization was probably professional. In which case, she had less than an hour to get dressed and present herself at the *studio'.

*You don't get modeling, do you big brother? They give you the clothes and do your hair. Once I've washed my teeth, I'm ready.'

Surely she wasn't planning on sashaying down the street naked?

*I could go naked,' she confirmed, winking at Hammertro.