Page 16 of Teacakes & Tangos
‘I’ve put all the invoices for work completed into a folder marked... well, invoices?’
Lois chuckled. ‘Clara, I think a ten-year-old could work that out. Just go to your class and leave me to it, okay?’
‘Okay.’ Relieved, I slipped out. Then I realised I’d left my phone in the office, so I nipped back.
Lois was standing by the filing cabinet and she turned, holding up the mobile. ‘Is this what you came back for? You left it on here.’
‘Yes!’ Surprised, I took it. ‘Thanks. I’d lose my head if it wasn’t attached.’
‘No problem.’
‘Hey, maybe you should be my assistant. You seem to be able to anticipate what I need before I even know I need it.’
‘Crikey, I can’t imagine that working. Can you?’
I chuckled. ‘Definitely not. Sisterly love can stretch only so far before it snaps.’
I pocketed the phone and hurried along to Studio One where a few guinea pigs were already gathered in anticipation.
The Dancing in the Dark session went even better than I was expecting. There were only five volunteers taking part but they seemed to have a brilliant time, letting their hair down and busting moves to the beat. Flushed and smiling afterwards, they all gave it a big thumbs up, which was a big relief.
Maybe everything was going to be fine, after all, I was thinking with a smile as I showered quickly then went to join Lois in the office.
‘The internal phone rang when you were out,’ she reported. ‘I took down a message.’ She indicated the yellow sticky note on the desk.
‘Great. Thanks.’ I looked at the note and phoned the workman back straight away. I had people in today finishing off the special sprung flooring in Studio 2, and a modern chandelier was being hung in the reception area.
After I’d sorted that out (there was alwaysso muchto sort out these days), my mobile rang. It was a friend of mine from college days, Roz, and she didn’t sound happy. She’d met a guy online the year before and eventually decided to move up to Lancashire to live with him. But it seemed that things weren’t going well.
‘We seem to be arguing all the time these days,’ she confessed, ‘and honestly, Clara, I’m missing my family and friends so much.’
We chatted for a while, with me perched on the edge of the desk and Lois earwigging nosily (I’d told her all about Roz moving to Lancashire). When Lois got up and mouthed to me that she was nipping out to the loo, I nodded and carried on sympathising with Roz.
Then suddenly, without warning, there was a deafening clanging in my ears which drowned out everything, including Roz.
The fire alarm?
Seized with panic, I rushed for the door and bumped into Lois who was coming back in.
‘What the hell?’ she gasped. ‘Thank goodness I’d finished and wasn’t caught with my knickers down! It’s not a real fire, is it?’
I shook my head, although I was sniffing the air all the same. ‘I doubt it.’ A fire at this stage, a few days before opening, would be a total disaster. ‘But we need to exit the building anyway. I’m still on the phone to Roz.’
Lois scanned around the office. ‘I’ll grab your laptop, just in case. You don’t want to lose that. And I’ll take your phone to keep it safe.’ She grabbed it from my hand and spoke into it. ‘Sorry, Roz. Lois here. Fire alarm. She’ll call you later, okay?’
We assembled outside the building, along with the workmen who’d been working in the building.
I’d been trained in fire safety so I knew that I had to check we were all present then investigate the fire alarm panel which showed where the alarm had gone off. Dashing inside, I found that the break-glass sensor in the entrance area had been smashed, although there was no sign of a fire anywhere. One of the workmen, carrying ladders, must have set it off accidentally without realising it.
In any case, there was no harm done thankfully, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I went back outside. Lois was studying her phone intently and didn’t see me for a moment. Then she looked up.
‘Everything okay?’ she asked, sliding the phone back into her pocket.
I nodded at everyone. ‘No fire. Not sure how it happened, but it’s safe to go back inside,’ I said, and we all trouped back into the building.
‘Thanks for thinking of the laptop.’ I grinned at Lois. ‘You’re not supposed to take things out with you, just in case it’s a real fire emergency, but I’d have lost all my records if that had gone up in flames.’ I gave a shudder just thinking about that. ‘Oh, where’s my phone?’
‘Here.’ Lois took it out of her pocket and thrust it into my hand.
