Page 4 of The Winter We Met
‘No, but the apple strudel was excellent. This is Nik. His family own a toy manufacturing company and he was also in Germany. Nik, please meet my assistant, Seb.’
‘Ah sorry, I thought you were a customer browsing.’ Seb reached out his hand, biceps bulging in his tight shirt.
Nik shook it enthusiastically. ‘Great to meet you.’
‘How about I get three coffees, Jess, and you can tell me all about the trip?’
I gave him a thumbs-up. Nik wandered off towards the reading area, picking up a child’s dropped beaker as he passed a buggy. Seb moved closer to me.
‘So… you had a good trip? I’m glad. You deserve it.’ Seb jerked his head towards Nik. ‘How? When? Where?’
‘We were on the same flight. Earlier this morning. Above the North Sea.’
‘It’s great not to be given your usual answers of online, late last night after drinks and Tinder.’
‘That was only once and taught me never to trust a profile picture again.’
‘That’s ageist, Jess. You’ve got to take your hat off to anyone in their eighties trying to get a date.’ He glanced at Nik. ‘Clearly this time you’ve nothing against white hair.’
‘This is business. Pure and simple.’
‘Really? Given half a chance I’d—’
‘Coffees please, Seb. Don’t make me use my managerial voice,’ I said, trying to keep a serious face.
Seb had joined the team five years ago, whereas I’d been selling toys here since I was eighteen. I’d even come up with the shop’s name, which was meant to give the sense of it being Christmas all year around. There wasn’t one toy I disapproved of selling – they all had an important place in a child’s life, regardless of whether they were produced to educate or just share cuddles with. I’d never received many gifts as a young child. Somehow, over the years, working here had compensated.
I told Nik more about my job as we sat in the staff room. Seb had offered to man the shop as we had an unexpected rush of customers.
‘Angela’s brilliant,’ I said. ‘Over the last eighteen months she’s worked hard towards opening another shop and has started to pass more responsibility to me.’
‘That’s great.’
‘It is and I’m really excited to have been given this opportunity to prove myself…’
‘I sense abut…’
I drained my cup. ‘I’m just being silly.’
He leant forwards, eyebrows raised, encouraging me to explain.
‘This trade fair was the first I’d been to. Angela came and spent the first day with me – before going to Munich to stay with friends for a few days. She’s back after the weekend. I have to admit – I felt completely out of my depth.’
‘But wasn’t it exciting, leaving your comfort zone? My company has got complacent and that’s why I’m doing this trip. We need to challenge ourselves. I’ve had an idea of how we might do that but need to research and I feel more fired up about work than I have for years.’
‘True. I can’t deny the thrill I got from researching the direction our stock might take next year and to be given the opportunity to attend seminars such as the one about current market trends. My hand ached afterwards, I took so many notes. I felt so comfortable talking to other retail managers.’ It was still sinking in that little old jet-setting me had spent the last few days hobnobbing with fellow industry types and had been taken seriously as a contender. ‘But I’m worried about letting Angela down. The sheer size of the fair, with the thousands of products and visitors… and I don’t think I saw nearly enough of the technological toys promotion area nor—’
‘Me neither. But we aren’t superheroes and can only do our best.’
‘That’s exactly the sort of thing my gran would say.’
‘My Grams too. She was a fantastic sounding board, if I didn’t want to worry Mum or Dad. I knew she loved me to bits, but being one step back from actually bringing me into the world, with that little bit of emotional distance that parents don’t have, she was able to give me real perspective.’
‘I know what you mean. Even though Gran brought me up from the age of nine and we’re really close, I’ve always felt she could mentally take a step back when it came to my problems and offer logical solutions.’
‘Is she happy at her care home?’
‘Willow Court is great. The warden, Lynn, treats residents like family and does her best to make everyone as happy as they can be, whatever their challenges, whether it’s with dementia or mobility. I don’t know how she finds the energy, each year, to help organise the Christmas party. But it means so much to Gran and her friends. Lynn makes sure they all have their part to play and everyone is still talking about it well into the New Year.’
