Page 24 of Wrapped Up at the Vintage Dress Shop
Although the shop should have been open by now, the staff were still gathered in the back office and from the way they all went silent as she and Freddy returned, Phoebe knew that they’d been talking about them. Or rather, about her.
But before she could tell them to do some work, Freddy stepped forward so that he was blocking Phoebe’s path to the shop where she really needed to be among the dresses in order to find some inner calm.
‘Going forward, Phoebe is not to have any contact with the customers,’ Freddy said in a tight voice as there was a collective gasp. Though no one gasped as loud as Phoebe herself. ‘For now, Bea will step up . . .’
‘Oh no!’ Bea shrank back. ‘I don’t want to step up. Please don’t make me!’
Freddy was undaunted. ‘Then Sophy will have to be acting manager.’ He flicked a glance towards the woman in question, who didn’t look that happy about this undeserved promotion but Phoebe was sure that, on the inside, Sophy was punching the air. ‘You have tons of retail experience.’
‘Sophy!’ Phoebe echoed in a voice vibrating with fury. ‘I’m not having Sophy riding roughshod overmyshop!’
Freddy’s face and voice got even tighter. ‘It’s not actually your shop,’ he said. ‘You just work in it and if you don’t start behaving like a human being, then you won’t be working here much longer.’
There was another collective gasp. Phoebe was practically reeling from shock and outrage. ‘You don’t mean that.’
‘Oh, but I do.’ Freddy didn’t sound angry anymore but weary, as if he hadn’t slept in days. ‘We’ve been through this again and again. Either shape up or ship out.’
Phoebe had always known that, sooner or later, Freddy would turn on her. Would reject her. Everyone always did. Which didn’t stop it from hurting. Like a knife plunging into her already shrivelled little heart again and again.
She blinked back sudden tears. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of making her cry.
‘But . . . you . . .’ She couldn’t even manage to get out a single sentence. ‘I can’t believe . . . How dare you?’
The look Freddy gave her was cold, dismissive. ‘Go home, Phoebe,’ he said. ‘Go home and come back tomorrow with a much better attitude.’
She scooped up her shop keys, which were on the table in front of her, not daring to make eye contact with anyone although everyone was trying their best not to look at her anyway. With a straight back, eyes blazing, cheeks burning, Phoebe gathered up her coat in one hand, a furiously squirming Coco Chanel in the other, and stalked out, making sure she bumped Freddy so hard on the way that he rocked on his feet.
Chapter Ten
The next morning Phoebe thought long and hard about whether she was going to grace the shop with her presence.
She’d never ever skived off work before. She only took her annual leave because Freddy, and before him Johnno, insisted that she did. She’d even come in to work when she’d had the flu. Though it could have just been a bad cold and besides, anyone could power through a cold.
But this Tuesday, Phoebe lay in bed after her alarm had gone off, listening to the sound of rain pattering on the roof and windows, the boat gently rocking in the wind, and her immediate instinct was to pull the pillow over her head and let them manage without her.
‘Don’t be a quitter, Phoebe. Nobody likes a quitter and it indicates a serious moral failing.’As usual when faced with any kind of dilemma, she could hear Mildred’s voice in her head.
She didn’t want to be a quitter. She was better than that. Besides, now her thoughts were turning to the havoc that Sophy would cause if she was allowed to take charge of the shop. Despite what Freddy had decreed, Phoebe could at least glare at her from the sidelines, every time she put a foot wrong. Sophy was sure to put a foot wrong many times.
With a groan, Phoebe forced herself out of bed. Her morning routine was shot to pieces as it took her a long, long time to cover the puffy, red effects of being too angry to sleep for more than an hour here and there.
She arrived at The Vintage Dress Shop at an unprecedented 10.37 a.m. (let Freddy sack her, she didn’t care!) to find all the staff present and correct. Phoebeknewthey’d been talking about her, again, because they were assembled on the pink sofas, not a customer in sight, and they all went deathly silent as she walked in.
‘Oh, hey, Pheebs. How are you?’ Cress was very head-tilty and concerned. Anita was smirking, Bea looked sheepish and Sophy immediately stood up, her face flushing, her hands twisting anxiously.
‘About yesterday, I’m sure this will all be forgotten really qui . . .’
‘I have two brides coming in today,’ Phoebe said before Sophy could mouth any more platitudes that she didn’t really mean. Phoebeknewthat, secretly, Sophy had to be gloating that she’d finally seized control of the shop and that Phoebe had been cast as the villain of the hour. ‘One for a first visit, one for a second fitting. Cress, I’m trusting you to make sure that their most special day isn’t ruined because I’m no longer allowed to give them my undivided and expert attention.’
Cress winced. ‘Well, I’ll try my best.’
‘You could help me with the mail orders or I could show you how to upload new dresses onto the website,’ Bea suggested brightly, her tone at odds with the slightly manic look on her face.
‘Sophy’s in charge now,’ Phoebe reminded them icily.
‘I don’t want to be in charge,’ Sophy said quickly and almost convincingly. ‘I really don’t want to tread on your toes. Like I said, this will all be forgotten soon enough. Rosie said that . . .’
‘I never want to hear thatperson’sname in my presence again,’ Phoebe said grandly. ‘I’m going to do an inventory and stock check, if that’s quite all right with you, Sophy.Coco and I will be in the basement if anyone needs us, though that seems very unlikely.’
