Page 2 of Bad Influence
‘So why are we here, if you don’t really want my advice?’ I asked belligerently.
She ignored me. We both knew the whole thing was a ruse; a way to build our relationship. After the three months I had spent with Rob in New York, I had felt distant from Mum, as though we couldn’t just pick up where we left off anymore. An unspoken Sahara Desert appeared between us where she didn’t really understand my world and I feltestranged from hers. Plus, getting made redundant had hit my ego hard. The truth was, I felt like a failure. Even though I tried to tell myself I didn’t want to be a window dresser forever, so to see it as an opportunity, I was worried about the future and what I would do next. Plus, not having a steady income would affect Rob’s and my plans to buy a flat together. She had suggested the girlie trip to ‘cheer me up’, but it was having the opposite effect. Being with my decisive, high-achieving lawyer mother was making me feel even more inadequate. A partner in a prestigious law firm, with no plan to retire any time soon, Mum seemed so capable of anything she put her mind to.Sometimes it’s hard to believe I came from her womb.
I sucked in my cheeks as Mum squinted at her mobile phone.What could be more important than a whole floor of new season collections?
‘Is it a work thing?’ I probed.
‘It’s your father,’ she said, not looking up. A serious expression fell across her face. ‘I forgot to tell him to take the steak out of the freezer.’
I puffed out my cheeks and then slowly released the air inside. I thought about all the times when I was sixteen and I could be so frustrated, sodisgusted, by things my mum said that I would storm off in a huff. It was a shame I couldn’t get away with petulant behaviour anymore. Adulting is hard.
‘Okay, Mum.’
Things improved marginally once we found Ralph Lauren and a sale rail containing a dress almost identical to a navy-and-cream one she wore to the last family wedding.
When I reminded her of this fact, she muttered, ‘At least I already have a matching hat. Anyway, if not the wedding, maybe it will work for the hen do? I’m going to need something for that too. It’s quite Parisian, don’t you think?’
I bristled at the mention of the hen. ‘It’s quite plain, to be totally honest. But if you like it …’
There was something I needed to tell Mum today, but so far there hadn’t been a right moment; probably because there was no easy way of saying it.
She tried on the dress and the twelve was too big and the ten too tight. I breathed a sigh of relief – which was more than she could do in the ten – and then we both decided we needed some time out. And a cheese scone.
In the café, I snuck a look at my phone. I had been expecting something to come through from my boss at Selfridges, Joseph, about my redundancy package, but I found a very different email – one that was infinitely more welcome. And now that I had this email in my possession, I wasn’t going to let a failed shopping trip dampen my mood.
While Mum went to the loo, I phoned Rob.He’ll know how big this is.
‘Mandywho?’
My heart sank. Clearly, he hadn’t been looking at Instagram every five seconds for years, like me.
I googled a photo and sent it to him as a reminder.
‘Ohher,’ he conceded. ‘The one with the bunion. She’s epic, isn’t she? That’s great news, baby, it could be perfect timing! Shall I cook later? We’ll have to stop splashing out on takeaways. I’m near Sainsbury’s?’
I had a quick re-read of the email. It was short, but to the point:
Dear Miss Green,
Ms Mandy Sykes is looking for a UK-based personal stylist. We wondered if you would be interested in coming for an interview?Ms Sykes will be in London on 1 March and can see you at Corinthia London.Please let me know as soon as possible if you can meet with Ms Sykes and her team with regards to this position.
Best wishes,
Julie-Ann Morris
Agent to Ms Mandy Sykes
It took me a nanosecond to decide if I was interested. With no job, no takeaways for the foreseeable, and the renewal of my mobile phone plan coming up, this email could be the answer to my prayers. It was also, as of now, my only option. A pang of worry about money was lodged in my mind, like a heavy rain cloud. My life-savings would cover my share of our rent for the next few months but that was it. I hadn’t been expecting to be made redundant.
‘Efficiencies are being made across the company,’ Joseph had told my co-worker Shauna and me when he called us into a meeting yesterday morning.
‘The graffiti’s off?’ Shauna jumped the gun, assuming hewas referring to our proposal to involve the hottest street artists for the summer shop windows.
‘I don’t just mean the graffiti idea has been slammed – although it has.’ Joseph avoided eye contact with us. ‘I mean they have asked all managers to look at efficiencies in other areas too.’
We sat in silence for five seconds. I knew it was five because I counted as the second hand moved on the wall clock.
‘Are you trying to tell us we might be out of jobs?’ Shauna asked. I could always rely on her to be direct.
