‘So chic with your trainers,’ Beatrice added and, before Sophy could protest that she already had lots of black dresses and all her wages were meant to be going towards her airfare, the hefty staff discount was applied and Beatrice said that it was all right, she’d just deduct the money out of Sophy’s wages.
Then the cashing up and the vacuuming and the countless other tasks that needed to be done to close the shop were accomplished in record time, while Johnno sat on the sofa with Coco Chanel perched on his lap like she was the prow of a ship.
‘Watching you all run round like headless chickens has made me work up a thirst,’ Johnno said, as they all trooped out of the door so Phoebe could set thealarm. ‘Where shall we go? The White Swan?’
‘Pheebs is banned for life from The White Swan,’ Chloe said sweetly. She seemed a lot more chippy now she’d clocked off.
‘I am not banned. I said that I would never go back there because they don’t give you a bottle of tonic. They give you soda water from the tap but they try to charge you for a bottle of tonic,’ Phoebe snapped as she locked up. ‘So I threatened them with the Trading Standards…’
‘… and then they banned you for life,’ Chloe reminded her with a smile.
‘Well, I wouldn’t go back there if they paid me.’
‘The Hat and Fan it is then!’ Johnno said quickly, and he led the way, or rather Coco Chanel, sporting a very fetching pink diamanté lead and collar, surged ahead, her bottom and stump of a tail wiggling furiously.
The Hat and Fan was down a side street that led to the Regent’s Canal. It was one of those Victorian pubs that London excelled at. A proper old-fashioned boozer with intricate patterns etched into its lead glass windows, ornate vine leaves carved into the mahogany wood of the bar and red velvet banquettes as far as the eye could see. As it was late Friday afternoon, it was full up with workers happy to have downed tools for the weekend, though being Primrose Hill none of them had downed actual tools. But they’d switched off their computers and put their email on Out of Office until Monday morning and were starting the weekend with a drink and a bowl of mixed nuts.
Once they’d taken everyone’s orders (‘and make sure the tonic is in a bottle, not from the tap. Slimline tonic and a slice of lime, not lemon’) Sophy went to the bar with Johnno.
He still seemed surprised to see her. He’dbeggedher to come and work for him, she thought, then sorted things out with Freddy and discussed her withCharles. So she wasn’t sure why it was such a shock to him that she was on the payroll.
It was also a shock to see the easy, breezy relationship that Johnno had with the rest of the staff, including Phoebe. Especially Phoebe. They were all big with the banter and the in-jokes and surely Sophy should have banter and in-jokes with Johnno. She was his flesh and blood, but she felt like an add-on.
Sophy needed to remember that working in his shop didn’t change the fact that she and Johnno had always led very separate lives. She’d be gone in a couple of months anyway. Which reminded her, she really needed to gently nudge him about the documentation he was meant to be digging out for her dual citizenship application.
‘By the way, have you had any luck finding your passport or your birth certificate?’ she asked, but he’d just caught the attention of the man behind the bar and didn’t hear her.
‘Ah, Henry, mine host,’ he said warmly, because he was clearly more pleased to see the barman than Sophy. ‘Can I introduce you to Sophy, my beautiful daughter?’
‘Lovely to meet you,’ Henry said. He looked almost as Victorian as the fittings in his pub, with huge mutton-chop whiskers and waistcoat and pocket watch. He reached across the bar to shake Sophy’s hand. ‘You clearly take after your mother rather than this ugly mug.’
‘She does,’ Johnno agreed. ‘But you’re still fond of your old man, aren’t you?’
‘You have your moments,’ Sophy decided because, as was so often the case with Johnno, she went from being hurt and disappointed in him to suddenly getting the warm fuzzies when he showed the sweet, thoughtful side of his character.
It was a very slow procession back to their table in the snug. Not just because they each had a heavy tray groaning with drinks and mixers and bowlsof nuts and crisps but because Johnno was greeted on all sides and, every time, he introduced Sophy, as his ‘lovely daughter’. And ‘Have you met my girl, Sophy, she’s joined the family firm?’ And even, ‘This is Sophy, yes, my daughter, the one I told you about. Said she had brains and beauty, didn’t I?’
‘You’ve told people about me?’ Sophy asked once they were seated and she had her hands clutched round a very welcome gin and tonic.
‘Why wouldn’t I?’ Johnny asked, his weatherbeaten face creased in confusion.
‘Well, because—’
‘Ah, Freddy! My main man!’ Johnno called out as Freddy came through the door. He saw them, waved and headed their way. ‘I’ve put my card behind the bar. Get yourself a drink. Pheebs, Freddy is here.’
Phoebe, who was sitting across the table from Sophy with her gin and tonic, not soda water, and with a slice of lime, not lemon, raised her eyebrows a fraction of a centimetre. ‘Yes, I did notice, thank you very much.’
Sophy decided that she’d park the awkward topic of why Johnno had been singing her praises when they hardly ever saw each other. Not important. Not when there was a whiff of scandal to be had.
‘What’s the story with Phoebe and Freddy?’ she whispered to Chloe, who was sitting on her other side, surreptitiously hand-feeding crisps to Coco Chanel. ‘Is there a story there?’
‘Can’t stand each other,’ Chloe whispered back.
‘Really? What gives?’
Chloe shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I’ve only worked at the shop for the last year and a bit and they already hated each other.’
It was comforting to know that she wasn’t the only target for Phoebe’s wrath, but also very annoying that Chloe had no dirt to dish.
