Page 74 of All Wrapped Up
‘I couldn’t resist these two,’ I said, holding them up. ‘They sound like perfect ber months reads to me.’
‘And me,’ Lizzie agreed. ‘By the way, thank you again for yesterday.’
‘It was my pleasure.’
‘I hope you’re not feeling too tired out today.’
‘I didn’t rush to get up this morning,’ I explained, ‘so I’m okay.’
My head was a bit fuzzy, but given how concerned she’d been the day before when I said my current life changes were full on, I kept that to myself.
‘The photos you posted on the festival pages look amazing,’ she praised, ‘and I’ve had great feedback about you on the forms I got everyone to fill out at the end of the sessions.’
‘Have you?’ I blushed. ‘I didn’t expect anyone would have paid enough attention to me to warrant a comment.’
‘Well, they did. You were friendly, helpful and had a great eye,’ Lizzie reeled off. ‘One woman also said you helped her put a palette together for her decoupage pumpkin that she never would have considered if you hadn’t suggested it.’
‘I know who that was.’ I smiled, feeling pleased to have helped and delighted that she genuinely liked the striking choices I had encouraged her to make. ‘And she was halfway there, really. Her selection just needed a little… tweaking to make it really sing.’
‘Well, sing it did and Pixie was a popular addition to the day, too.’
‘She was such a sweetheart, wasn’t she? I think she took to it better than I did!’
‘You were both brilliant,’ said Lizzie as we moved forward in the queue and Joanne suddenly appeared next to us.
‘So,’ she said, giving Lizzie a nudge. ‘Have you asked her yet?’
Lizzie looked at me and shook her head.
‘Asked me what?’ I frowned.
‘Oh no, sorry,’ Joanne winced.
‘Sorryagain,’ Lizzie tutted.
‘I’ve put my foot in it, haven’t I?’ Joanne sighed, sounding both fed up and frustrated. ‘I’m going to head off.’
Lizzie puffed out her cheeks as Joanne walked out of the library. I couldn’t help thinking that the spring in her step that I’d noticed when I first met her, was decidedly absent.
‘Is she all right?’ I frowned after her.
‘Always,’ Lizzie said with an accompanying eye roll, ‘and it’s exhausting. I’m fast approaching the point that I’m counting down the days until she leaves.’
I didn’t quite know how to respond to that. Obviously, Lizzie knew her assistant a hundred times better than I did, so perhaps my take on Joanne’s possible change of tone and body language was wrong.
‘She’s definitely leaving then?’
‘Yep.’
‘Well, I’m sure you’ll miss her when she’s gone.’
‘Perhaps,’ Lizzie dubiously said. ‘But I won’t miss her chatting to customers, when she’s supposed to be helping them. I can’t tell you the number of times things haven’t got finished in the past and customers have had to complete them at home.’
I could appreciate Lizzie’s frustration about that and I could imagine the customers weren’t always thrilled about it either, even if they had doubtless been willing to talk at the time.
‘In that case,’ I suggested, ‘if you have plans to replace her, you’ll have to specify absolutely no matchmaking or casual chatting on the job description. Maybe take on someone quieter and calmer.’
‘That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking,’ Lizzie then smiled. ‘You’re quiet and calm, aren’t you, Clemmie?’
