Page 14 of Lean On Me
‘At a catering job?’
‘Well, you’d better think of something. There’s a party you need to be at.’
As I suspected.
‘Is it at White Cross Manor?’
‘Yes! Did you figure it out? If you did that was pretty low of you to go to work. I know you’re trying to be assertive, but still.’
I could hear her growing breathless as she jiggled a restless baby up and down.
‘I didn’t know I was invited! I need this job, Marilyn. I’ll call Perry and tell him I’m ill. He won’t mind. There’ll be other parties.’
‘Er – not where you’re the guest of honour, there won’t.’
‘Excuse me?’ The party sounds faded into the background, overpowered by the hammer in my head.
‘It’s a surprise engagement party. For you and Perry. I can’t believe you hadn’t guessed. You need to get here as soon as possible.’
‘Right. Well, that’s not the problem. I can be there really quickly. In no time at all, in fact.’
There was silence on the other end of the call for a few seconds. Then Marilyn began to turn slowly around as the truth dawned. I stepped back out from behind the tree and gave her a small wave.
Speechless, she hung up the phone and handed Nancy to James, swapping her for a glass of champagne. Downing it in one, without taking her eyes off me, she handed the glass to a waiter and headed to the side of the manor house, where a back entrance offered some shelter.
I joined her moments later.
‘Well this is a fine crock of pickle,’ she said.
‘Yep.’ I nodded.
‘What the Jiminy Cricket are you going to do?’
‘If I disappear from work, I’ll not be hired again and this company provide over half my bookings. Plus, one of the other waiters is bound to notice when they serve me my smoked venison.’
‘Look around you, Faith. Champagne, swanky dinner, semi-famous swing band. This party probably cost five figures. If you don’t turn up, you’ll bring shame on the Uppertons. People will gossip about it for years. They’ll be a laughing stock.’ She waved her hands in the direction of the marquee.
‘I can tell them I had an accident and had to go to A&E.’
‘Without telling Perry? He’d be straight over there. You can’t pretend to them all you had an accident when you didn’t. And are you really going to be able to hide from them all evening?’
I checked my phone. ‘My break’s nearly over. I need to figure out what to do. Whose house is this, anyway?’
‘Perry’s aunt’s. Eleanor Upperton. The whole family are here to meet the woman who finally snagged golden boy.’ She grimaced.
I tucked my phone back in my pocket and folded my arms. ‘What if I told them the truth? I’m not ashamed of being a waitress.’
‘Are you sure? Are you brave enough? And if you did, you can hardly expect them to let you keep on waiting on them all at your party. You’ll have to be introduced to everyone, in your uniform.That’ll be it for getting any work done. And, no offence, but you stink of fish and could really do with five minutes in front of a mirror.’
I shrugged. ‘Then I’ll explain to the manager. No one could expect me to keep working at my own party. I’ll tell her while you race home and grab me a change of clothes. I can call Perry and tell him I’m at work, but on my way.’
At that moment, the catering manager opened the door, bursting out with a tray of salmon entrées ‘There you are! Your break ended five minutes ago. We’ve been given the go-ahead.’ She rammed the tray into my chest, forcing me to grab hold of it.
‘What are you waiting for? We’re twenty minutes behind schedule, I’m half blind with a stress migraine, and Richard just sliced his hand open on a broken glass. We’re already one man down thanks to that loser Karen not turning up. Do I give a filet mignon if her daughter’s fallen out of a window? Get those on the tables and be back here in two minutes. I want to see you harassed, pressured, in crisis mode. Go!’
‘Errr…’
‘Go!’ She whipped out an inhaler and started puffing on it furiously.
