Page 77 of The Cosy Travelling Christmas Shop

A movement at the end of the aisle caught Seren’s eye and she saw Pamela heading purposefully towards her. ‘Oops, you’d better scarper. Pamela’s on the warpath.’

‘Seren, I need a word with you. In my office,’ Pamela snapped.

Nicole sent Seren a sympathetic look, while putting two fingers up to the woman behind her back.

Seren tried not to laugh. Nicole was so naughty – which was where Freya got it from. She gave her friend a little wave, then turned to follow Pamela’s retreating back. No doubt she was in for a telling off about yesterday. Seren would just have to bite her lip and let Pamela get it out of her system. After all, there was nothing her manager could do about it. Being snowed in and unable to get to work was hardly a sackable offence.

‘Take a seat,’ Pamela instructed, as she closed the door behind Seren, her expression grim.

Seren sat, unaccountably nervous.

‘I’ve had some disturbing news,’ Pamela began, then paused.

‘Oh?’ Seren noticed a smudge of mascara below the woman’s brow, and she looked at her mouth instead. Pamela’s lips were a thin line and her jaw was tense.

‘Contrary to popular belief, I’m a fair person. I wouldn’t ask anyone to do anything I’m not prepared to do myself. Which is why I refused the offer of HR to sit in on this meeting.’

‘HR?’ Seren floundered. ‘Why would they want to sit in on a meeting about me missing a day’s work because of bad weather?’

‘That’s not what this is about. This is a preliminary meeting to inform you that you are being suspended for gross misconduct. There will be a formal hearing to which you will be invited, and you can bring your union rep, or a friend, or a colleague if you wish. HR will be present at that, as will I.’

Seren’s mouth hung open as she tried to take it in, then she closed it, and swallowed nervously, her mouth dry, tears pricking her eyes. ‘What did I do?’

She honestly couldn’t think of any reason why she would be accused of gross misconduct. She hadn’t stolen anything, not threatened anyone, heck, she’d not even had bad words with anyone. She wasn’t under the influence of anything – paracetamol for a headache didn’t count – and neither had she refused to do anything asked of her, or breached health and safety regulations as far as she knew.

‘There are two reasons. One of them is the setting up of a competing business, and the other is bringing the organisation into serious disrepute. Do you, or do you not, operate a mobile gift van?’

‘A travelling gift shop. Yes.’

‘And do you deny telling one of our valued customers that “they” – meaning this supermarket – doesn’t sell anything as nice as the items you sell?’

‘Yes, but—’

‘Then I’m afraid I have no choice but to suspend you. Without pay. With it being only ten days to Christmas I highly doubt there will be a hearing until the new year. I’m sorry, Seren, but you leave me no choice. Please make sure you remove any personal items from your locker, and I’ll need your staff badge. HR will be in touch in due course. Do you have any questions?’

Seren’s mind was empty. She seemed to have lost the ability to think.

Mindlessly, she unpinned her badge and placed it on the table, then took the key fob which gave her access to the staff areas out of her pocket and put that on the table too. An image of a cop handing over his badge and his gun popped into her mind, and she felt like laughing.

She felt like crying, too, and if she opened her mouth to ask a question she didn’t know which sound might come out of it.

Without saying a word, she got numbly to her feet and walked to the door. Pausing to look over her shoulder as she put her hand on the handle, she felt she should say something in her defence, but she couldn’t. Because what Pamela had said was true – she had done what she’d been accused of and there was no point in denying it.

She kept her head down as she went into the mercifully empty staff room and cleared her locker. Leaving the key in it, she put on her coat, her scarf and her hat, then made her dazed way onto the shop floor and went outside, ignoring the curious glances of her co-workers. They’d find out what had happened soon enough.

Blinking back tears, she forced herself to put one foot in front of the other as she walked slowly home.

Too ashamed – no one in her family had ever been sacked before – she fleetingly considered phoning Daniel, but she was too upset to speak to him.

It was going to be bad enough telling her father when she got home.

She knew she should never have listened to him and Aunt Nelly. She should have insisted her father put the ice cream van up for sale the minute she’d got it home. But no, she’d become swept up in his enthusiasm and had done something she shouldn’t have done – she’d spent all her savings on having the blasted thing renovated. And she hadn’t even paid for the work Tobias had done yet!

She wanted to wail at her own stupidity, but she had to get home first before she broke down.

What an absolute fiasco – no savings, no job, and little prospect of getting another since the company was hardly likely to give her a glowing reference. They probably wouldn’t give her a reference at all.

There was only one good thing to come out of all this, one light in the darkness that her life had suddenly become, and that was Daniel. Because if her dad hadn’t bought the van, and if she hadn’t taken it to Tobias to be converted, then she never would have met Daniel.

Falling in love with himwasthe best thing to have ever happened to her.

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