The Dinner Club by Helen Aitchison

Author:Helen Aitchison [Helen Aitchison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cahill Davis Publishing
Published: 2022-02-10T00:00:00+00:00

45

Pre-dinner Nerves

Eddie

It had been a productive day for Eddie at Hendersons—something he was grateful for as a distraction. He was ridiculously nervous for the first dinner club. He felt utterly stupid for feeling such a way. Eddie could stand in front of hundreds of people and present on behalf of the company with ease, but for some insane reason, the thought of this second meeting with three strangers sent him into a cold sweat. It didn’t help that Eddie feared he would have to confess all about Issy and then end up with a side portion of pity as his main course was served.

Martha had rung the interviewees from the latest round of recruitment. Eddie had made a strong case for the young girl, Cara. She showed promise and personality. He’d expressed his opinion to Danielle and Martha that he believed she was the right person for the role. Not that he’d had to convince the panel—both Danielle and Martha also felt she was the right candidate. There was something about her; something that resonated with Eddie.

Martha had fed back that Cara had accepted the job, that she’d been surprised but very grateful. Eddie was pleased and liked her humble response. He was certain she would fit into the team well, and Eddie always liked an injection of new ideas and visions to Hendersons.

The day flew by, with Eddie only managing to grab a quick sandwich at lunchtime, meaning he was hungry by the end of the day and looking forward to being fed.

Willow was spending the night at his parents’. She had packed her usual collection of bags, with things certain not to be needed.

“Bubs, what’s all this in these bags?” Eddie had said. He’d known not to say the word “rubbish”. He had recently got that wrong, leading to a sobbing fit from Willow for referring to her belongings as such.

“It’s stuff I need, Dad. I need to take it all to Momar’s and Grandpa’s,” she confidently replied.

Eddie peeked into the bag. The bag was indeed full of rubbish. Two pairs of tights, a jewellery box, some wellies, three teddies, Buzz and Woody, Princess Belle, a few dressing-up outfits. Another bag seemed to be almost full of underwear and nightwear.

“Willow, honey, you are only going for one night. You really don’t need all of this stuff.”

“I need it all,” she pleaded, looking up at him.

“I don’t think you do, bubs.”

“I can’t leave it. What if someone takes it?”

“Who’s going to take it? Willow, you can’t take your whole bedroom with you every time we leave the house.”

Willow burst out crying, grabbing Eddie’s leg, pleading to take her three bulging bags alongside her overnight bag.

Eddie took them. He couldn’t cope with another meltdown.

Eddie would have to address her incessant bag packing soon—it was moving on to bags for life now, which were slowly disappearing from the hallway cupboard.

Derek had advised the group to get to his house at 7 p.m. Eddie lived about a fifteen-minute drive from Derek. He would take his car this time, maybe just have one drink.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.