Charlie felt terrible. ‘I’m so sorry Mr Fanton, I
think the order must’ve gone through twice, somehow.’ She remembered how Faye
had caused her computer to go blank while looking for her pen and Charlie had
resubmitted the order.
‘Twice? Look!’ he shrieked picking up the printouts
of her order and thrusting them into her hands. ‘That isn’t twice! What am I
supposed to do with that lot?’
Charlie looked through the pages. It was her scroll
on the bottom of the order. Oh God, she must have submitted it for the third
time by mistake! ‘I’m sorry,’ she repeated in a small voice, realising that
people in the canteen were taking great delight in witnessing her
dressing-down. ‘I’ll sort it, Mr Fanton,’ she added.
‘Sort it?’ He glowered, spittle gathered at the
corners of his mouth, and his jowls wobbled as he shook his head. ‘Are you
going to pay for it, too? Are you going to work wage-free while you sort out
the mess? Well, are you?’
Charlie felt close to tears. She was deeply troubled
over her personal involvement over Sally, and felt that any moment now she’d
collapse in a heap of convulsing sobs. She restrained herself.
‘For God’s sake girl, you are a hindrance to the
company.’
Charlie bit her lip. This is it, you’re going to be fired, she thought.
‘What’s going on?’ said a deep voice.
‘Ah, Ben,’ Mr Fanton turn away from Charlie.
‘Nothing I can’t handle. There’s been a mistake in the stationery order.’ He
turned as if to try and shield Ben from the stacks of boxes, not because he
wanted to protect Charlie from further wrath, but because he wanted to be the
one to dish it out. Ben side-stepped him and looked at the piles of packages
and boxes.
Charlie had been looking at her feet, feeling fully
chastened. She glanced up at Ben, with her bottom lip clenched between her teeth,
and expected to see shock followed by anger on his face. Instead, he pulled his
lips inside his mouth as if he were trying to stop himself from laughing.
Mr Fanton held the printouts of Charlie’s stationery
order towards him. ‘Charlie can’t seem to understand the difference between
single and double figures,’ he declared pompously.
Taking them, Ben glanced up and his gaze met with
Charlie’s. He didn’t look at all angry or annoyed, and Charlie felt stupidly
grateful. She had to stop herself from throwing her arms around his ankles and
kissing his shoes.
‘Hmm, someone’s been a bit over-enthusiastic,’ Ben
said, his mouth turning up at the corners as he read through them.
‘As I was saying to Charlie,’ Mr Fanton began,
‘she’s a hindrance to the company. It’s been one mistake after another.’
‘Really?’ Ben asked. ‘What other mistakes has she
made?’
‘Well, nothing major like this, but she just causes
disruption. She chats when she should be working—’
‘Excellent qualities in a reporter,’ Ben said. ‘It
helps to break the ice, and encourages the interviewee to talk.’
‘She isn’t a reporter,’ Mr Fanton pointed out.
‘After this I doubt she’ll ever get a newspaper to hire her again! Charlie,
I’ll have your P45 drawn up this afternoon. Don’t worry Ben, I’ll have this mess
sorted in no time.’
Ben was taking off his jacket and unbuttoning his
cuff buttons on his shirt. He rolled up his sleeves. He winked at Charlie, who
stood miserably between both men. ‘I’ll not hear of Charlie being dismissed
over a slight error.’
Charlie looked up, open-mouthed.
‘A slight error?’ Mr Fanton gave a small humourless
laugh.
‘That’s right,’ Ben said. ‘Arrange a dispatcher
would you? Er, you’d better make that several.’
Mr Fanton looked from Charlie and then to Ben. When
his shocked gaze fell back on Charlie she controlled herself from sticking out
her tongue, and instead permitted a smug smile to tease the corners of her
mouth – well, if a girl can’t be smug in situations like this, when can she be?
STOP PRESS!!!!!
The book is 99c/77p for the rest of the summer (from now and all through September). What a bargain!!!
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