A Perfect Christmas (26 page)

Jumping up from the chair, she bolted to the door and ran out into the corridor.

Glen, feeling utterly helpless and deeply saddened that he had failed in his attempt to make Nerys’s daughter see reason, was about to descend the stairs when he heard a shout.

‘Mister . . . Mister . . .’

He turned his head to see a frantic Caitlyn Thomas beckoning him back. He stared at her. Did this mean she had after all taken on board what he’d said to her and was prepared to try and put a stop to the strike? Full of hope, he hurriedly retraced his steps.

She had disappeared back into the office by the time he got there. He followed her inside and looked at her expectantly. She was standing by the desk, wringing her hands. ‘Mister . . . Oh, please, my mother can’t come back and find I’ve been responsible for ruining her business. You must help me stop that happening. I’ll make it worth your while. Twenty pounds . . . thirty . . . whatever you decide. But you must help me.’

Glen was appalled that she felt she needed to bribe him to help her but, conscious that the delegation would be descending on them any minute, he asked, ‘You’re prepared to agree to the union’s demands then?’

She nodded her head vigorously. ‘Yes, you go and tell them that.’

Glen shook his head. ‘That’s for you to do, not me, Miss Thomas.’

Cait looked horrified at the thought but they had no time to debate the issue as there was a loud knock on the door. They both looked across at it. Glen then glanced at Cait’s fear-stricken face and said, ‘It’s up to you now. Just remember, though, that the men need to feel you’re sincere in what you say, so no high-handed attitude.’

She gulped as she turned back to face the door, hesitating for a moment before she called out, ‘Come in.’

She immediately felt intimidated by the four middle-aged men who entered the room to stand just inside the door, eyes fixed on her. She dearly hoped they could not see that she was shaking.

Harry Owens was among the delegation and noticed Glen who had moved to stand over by the window. He looked surprised. ‘What are you doing up here, man? You’re not working, I hope, in light of what’s going on?’

All four men were looking at him suspiciously. He thought it best not to divulge the true reason he was up here as they could see that as interfering with union business. He lied, ‘I was up here having a look at the radiators and left my tool box behind to attend the meeting. I was just collecting it.’

They all seemed happy with that explanation and it was the union representative, Alf Bisson, who told him in an authoritative tone, ‘Well, you can leave now as we’ve private union business to discuss with Miss Thomas.’

Cait inwardly froze. They were telling that man to go . . . she didn’t even know his name yet she felt he was the only ally she had. She didn’t feel she could do whatever she had to without knowing he was nearby, lending her strength. ‘Whatever is said in this office will be common knowledge when you go and report it back to the rest of the workforce so it’s of no consequence if he stays,’ she announced, inwardly quaking. Then, desperate to get this over with before she lost her nerve, and reminding herself of Glen’s words of advice to be careful of how she addressed the men, she took a deep breath and in a pleasant and sincere tone said, ‘I’m . . . I’m sorry . . . very sorry for the way I’ve been acting. I admit I wasn’t thinking straight to believe I had what it takes to run this company. I was just trying to help my mother out while she’s away, that’s all. I’m sure you can all appreciate that.’

She paused for a moment to draw breath before she continued. ‘All the new rules I’ve put in place, well, you can forget them. And the men I sacked are reinstated. I’ll do my best to find someone else to run this place as a matter of urgency, so if you’d just bear with me until then . . .’

The men all looked astonished, her apology and her behaviour the last things they’d been expecting.

Alf Bisson, a militant at heart, was not as happy as the other three that a strike had been averted. In all the years he had been union rep for this company, he’d only had what he perceived as petty problems to deal with and had been looking forward at long last to showing the workers that he was more than a match for the hierarchy. He was annoyed that this young woman had thwarted him. Another chance like this to show his mettle might never come his way again, considering that this company in all its history had never had a strike. Reluctantly he said, ‘Well . . . er . . . right you are then, Miss Thomas. We’ll take this back to the staff and get their vote on it.’

As soon as they had departed, Cait let out a huge sigh of relief and said to Glen, ‘Did I do all right?’

He smiled at her. ‘More than all right, Miss Thomas. You should give yourself a pat on the back. That couldn’t have been easy for you.’

‘No, it wasn’t, but at least now my mother isn’t going to return from holiday and find her business in ruins. How much do I owe you?’

He frowned. ‘Owe me?’

‘For helping me?’

‘But I don’t need paying. I was only too glad you did let me help you or I dread to think what the consequences might have been.’

She looked most surprised. ‘Oh! If ever I’ve got anyone to do anything for me before, I’ve always had to make sure it was worth it to them.’ Then she remembered all the things he had said to her so bluntly and her bottom lip began to tremble, tears to prick her eyes. ‘You said some horrible things to me.’

She was obviously very upset by his remarks, but if she was expecting him to apologise for what he had said to her then she would wait a long time. ‘What I told you were some home truths, Miss Thomas. I couldn’t see any other way to get you to take notice than to be brutally honest. And a bit more advice . . . If you carry on the way you are, turning people away from you with your manner towards them, then you’re going to end up a lonely old woman. Unless, of course, that’s what you want for yourself, so you purposely treat people with disdain, to stop them getting close to you for some reason?’

Cait was stupefied. No, she certainly didn’t want to end up alone. But she was only taking her lead from her mother and
she
wasn’t a lonely old woman. She frowned, confused. Something struck her. The man had just said that by acting the way she was towards people, she was in fact pushing them away. She hadn’t realised that; had always assumed she should speak to people like that because her mother did. But was it just her mother’s way of informing other people not to try and get close to her? Her life was complete the way it was and she didn’t need anyone else in it? Now Cait thought about it like this, it made sense as her mother never made any effort whatsoever to make friends or even acquaintances.

A vision of her parents rose before her then. They would sit side by side on the sofa, chatting and laughing together at their own private jokes, not sharing them with her, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was sitting in an armchair nearby. They lived in their own little world that no one else, except under exceptional circumstances, was allowed into. And that was the way they liked it. In the light of this realisation, Cait now knew that all her efforts to regain her mother’s affection and be allowed into their inner circle had been a total waste of time. There were two people only in that circle and no room for any more, not even her, no matter what she did. Maybe her parents had not planned to have her in the first place, she’d just been a mistake, and the mementoes in that box in the safe were not hers at all but her mother’s from when she was a baby.

And then a really awful thought struck her. Having seen the way her mother was with her father, and not having any other couples in her life to judge by, she had assumed that that was the way all women should behave to their men. So when she’d been asked out by a boy she liked the look of, she had always emulated her mother’s behaviour in every way. But suddenly she realised that just because her father was content to have a woman who devoted herself to him, did not mean to say that every man did. It was obvious to her now that Neil hadn’t.

A wave of great sadness overcame her then. Why couldn’t she have had parents who at least took the time to offer her some guidance in life, instead of leaving her to her own devices? Then maybe she wouldn’t be in such an awful mess now. And suddenly she didn’t care about putting the money she’d taken back into the safe, as what did it matter if her mother discovered she’d been snooping? What would she do to Cait? Throw her out, that’s what. Well, she’d already done that. And it wasn’t as if she would miss her parents’ loving arms around her and their support because you never missed what you’d never had, did you?

She didn’t realise that she was crying until Glen asked her, ‘Are you all right, Miss Thomas?’

Cait shook her head, tears rolling down her cheeks. ‘Not really,’ she uttered. ‘This is all so awful. I feel so . . . so . . .’ The floodgates opened then. Sobbing, she told him, ‘I lied to you. I haven’t got lots of friends. I haven’t got any. I don’t want to end up a lonely old woman. I want people to like me and want to be my friends but I don’t know what to do about it.’ She raised her head then and looked at him imploringly. ‘Help me, will you? Tell me what to do to make people like me.’

His heart went out to her then and he dearly wanted to go to her and put his arms around her, give her a comforting hug. But that wouldn’t be the right thing for him to do. She was, after all, the daughter of the owner of the business and he a mere worker. He felt very uncomfortable with this situation. It was one thing, putting a young woman right on her mishandling of the business, but quite another dealing with a distraught one who needed advice on how to change herself into a better person. Women were better at this sort of thing anyway. He vehemently wished Jan were here now as she’d know how to handle this. But she wasn’t and he couldn’t leave the distraught girl without offering her some sort of help.

Glen said, ‘It’s not easy changing the habits of a lifetime, but if you really want to then the best advice I can offer you is to remember always to treat people in the way you would wish to be treated yourself. Then you won’t go far wrong. Another thing is to take just a second or two to think before you speak, so that to the best of your knowledge what you are going to say isn’t going to offend or hurt someone, and also the manner in which you say it.’

Cait seemed to digest his words of wisdom for a moment before she flashed him a wan smile. ‘I’ll remember, I will.’ She could see a battle before her, though, constantly having to watch everything she said and did in order to become the better person she wanted to be. And how was she going to convince all those who knew the old Caitlyn and gave her a wide berth unless they had no choice that she wasn’t that selfish person any longer, and make them give her a chance to prove it to them? And how on earth was she going to look her parents in the eye now that she had had her eyes opened to the fact that they had no love for her, only for themselves?

She suddenly felt a desperate need to return home, pack her things and go somewhere far away, another town where no one knew her and where she could make a fresh start. She could take the rest of the money from the safe to set herself up with a home and she felt sure she wouldn’t have much trouble getting another job. But then to turn her back on the business, leaving the staff struggling to keep it going without any guidance, would not be trying to make herself a better person, would it?

She gave her wet eyes a wipe with the back of her hand, sniffed and then looked at Glen for several moments. It didn’t feel like it at the moment, considering what she was facing, but in the future she knew she would owe this man a debt of gratitude for the risk he had taken today in coming to tackle her. She looked at him quizzically for a moment as several things about him didn’t seem to sit right. ‘I can’t understand why someone like you is just working as an odd job man,’ she queried.

‘It’s as good a job as any.’

She eyed him searchingly. ‘You look and dress like an odd job man would . . . but . . . well . . . I can’t put my finger on it, but I can only say you seem to know more about the running of a business, and certainly how to handle the union men, than I’d have thought an odd job man would. You certainly dealt with this situation as if you’ve handled similar ones before. You speak well so I know you’ve come from a good background. I might only be young and inexperienced in the ways of business but I haven’t got so much cotton wool in my brain . . .’ she flashed a quick smile at him when she said that, to let him know she was making light of what he’d accused her of earlier ‘. . . that I don’t know when I’m in the company of someone who is better than they’re making out they are. How did someone like you end up being an odd job man? And what is your name, by the way?’

Glen stared at her blankly. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her the whole truth as that would run the risk of breaking a young girl’s heart by informing her that the kind loving person she doubtless considered her mother to be was in fact a con artist, and the lifestyle she herself was living was all based on the proceeds of trickery. It wasn’t fair that he lie to her either. He’d been very fortunate up to now that the people he had come across in the company either weren’t aware of its history or, if they were, hadn’t considered that the Glen Trainer who used to own the company and himself were the same man. He dearly hoped this situation would remain the same until he was ready to leave. He doubted Nerys would have told her daughter the truth of how she’d come to own Rose’s so felt he was on safe ground telling Caitlyn his name and the diluted version of how he came to be working here.

He walked across to the window, turned his back to it, then began speaking. ‘My name is Glen . . . Glen Trainer.’ He paused for a moment with bated breath to see whether the name meant anything to her, and inwardly sighed with relief when she made no comment. He continued, ‘I’ve not always been an odd job man. I used to run a company once, a business similar to this in fact . . .’

He was stopped in his tracks by a thud on the door, the sound made by the toe of a shoe hitting it.