Swansea Girls by Catrin Collier

Author:Catrin Collier
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Accent Press
Published: 2012-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

John scanned the letter Rosie had put on his desk before scribbling his signature at the foot of the page. ‘That’s it for the day?’

‘Yes, Mr Griffiths.’

‘You can leave now.’

‘It’s only five o’clock.’

‘Have an hour on me. How are the wedding preparations going?’

‘Fine, I think, Mr Griffiths.’

‘You think,’ he reiterated, looking quizzically at her.

‘My mother’s taken it upon herself to see to every detail.’

‘Then all you have to worry about is looking beautiful on the day.’

‘That’s one way of looking at it, Mr Griffiths.’ She picked up the letters. ‘I’ll get Katie to put these in the post.’

‘How are you getting on with her?’

‘She’s keen, conscientious, works well; in fact, she typed this and, as you see, without a single mistake, unlike most of my letters.’

John set his pen on his desk, crossed his arms and looked up at his secretary. ‘I know you, Rosie, there’s a “but” coming.’

‘From a work point of view I can’t fault her, Mr Griffiths, but she is dreadfully nervous and absolutely petrified of making a mistake. She also tries to clear all the outstanding business at the end of every day, which you well know is impossible. I reassure her every chance I get, but at the rate she’s going she’ll be a worn-out wreck before her probationary period is up. She wouldn’t take a tea break at four o’clock because of the typing, and when I suggested she take one now she insisted she’d prefer to study our accounting systems.’

‘But all in all you think she’s up to the job.’

‘More than up to it, Mr Griffiths. You picked well.’

‘That’s what I’ve been waiting to hear.’ John glanced into the outer office as Rosie opened the door. Katie was sitting at Rosie’s desk, head bent over the invoice book. She did look tired and drawn but was it down to the stress of the job, as Rosie had suggested, or was it her father? Along with half the street he had heard Ernie banging on her brothers’ door in a drunken stupor late last night and when he had seen Roy coming home after night shift, Roy had let slip that Annie Clay wasn’t doing so well.

Making a mental note to offer Katie a lift home to see if he could help her in any way, he picked up the furniture catalogue he had been studying and flicked through the dining room suites. None looked as though they would last more than a couple of months of normal family wear and tear, unlike his grandmother’s suite, which he had packed away in the basement – but if customers wanted contemporary style before durability and craftsmanship, that’s what he would stock.

The telephone rang in the outer office. Hearing Katie answer it in a tone virtually indistinguishable from Rosie’s, he left his chair and moved restlessly to the window. Now that he’d begun to consider a life without Esme all he wanted from her was his freedom, but would she give him a divorce if

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