Authors: Elizabeth Oldfield
He glanced at the waiter who was listening, ears pricked, keen not to miss a word. ‘I’ll pay the bill and get the car.’
‘Don’t bother. I’m off.’
With head held high, I strode to the door, opened it and put up my umbrella. I walked out into the night and the pouring rain. As I walked I looked for a taxi, but there were no taxis in sight. Behind me, I heard Tom, and then what sounded like the waiter, calling for me to stop, to come back, to return. I ignored them. Walking quickly, I traversed a corner and strode on.
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
‘
I take it none
of you caught the morning show yesterday, the show we went on?’ Max said.
Three heads were shaken. Tina, Jenny and I had completed our Tuesday work-out in the conservatory and were recovering.
‘Why?’ Tina asked.
‘Because I was on again, doing an exercise display with the other girls. We were called in at real short notice, so there wasn’t time to tell you.’
‘But you don’t need to tell us how it went,’ I said. ‘A squillion viewers phoned in to say how they’d fallen head over heels in love with Pippa, Gerri and Dee, and the producer was ecstatic.’
‘Nope. They didn’t hit the spot at all. The producer was mega disappointed.’
I looked at Tina and Jenny, and grinned. They grinned back. Revenge is reputed to be sweet and this news was like honey on the tongue.
‘What was the matter?’ Tina enquired.
‘Before we exercised, Cheryl and Ray talked to me and the girls on air – just had a general confab – but it turned out the watching public were not smitten. Not smitten with the girls, that is. The main criticism was that they were too pleased with themselves, too full of themselves. Apparently the word ‘smart-arses’ was used.’
I raised a brow. ‘Surely not.’
‘But in addition to ripping the girls to tatters, most of the people who rang said how they’d much preferred you three. They thought you were better at the exercises and asked when could they see you again and, please, could you be interviewed.’
Jenny laughed. ‘Never!’
‘It’s true,’ Max said, and his forehead furrowed, as if he, too, found our popularity hard to fathom. ‘Seems ever since the Vintage Babes appeared –’
‘We’re being called that?’ Tina demanded.
He nodded. ‘It’s become a tag.’
She considered the notion for a moment or two, then she shrugged. ‘I suppose we have got a few miles on the clock.’
That’s a first, I thought. Tina accepting she’s getting older.
‘Ever since you three appeared,’ Max carried on, ‘the studios have been receiving phone calls, e-mails and letters requesting a repeat. And before I came out this morning, I had a call from the producer asking if you would consider doing regular work-outs on the show.’
‘This is the guy who felt younger women would be more to the minute?’ I enquired.
‘The same.’
‘Then I hope he said please.’
‘He did. You’d get paid,’ Max continued. ‘The amount to be agreed at a meeting with the producer, and transport would be provided, as before.’
Tina smiled delightedly. ‘Sounds fantastic.’
‘You were mentioned in some of the phone calls,’ he told her. ‘People remembered you from being on Joe’s show and remarked on how hip you look.’
She giggled. ‘Thanks to you.’
‘Regular work-outs means what?’ I queried.
‘Once a week initially and then, if the viewing figures are healthy, twice,’ Max said. ‘But it could be the start of something big. Gigs on other shows, interviews, a work-out video. And if the marketing guys latch on, it could result in –’
‘Vintage Babes birthday cakes and frilly knickers and mouse mats. Maybe even stair-lifts.’ I shook my head. ‘Sorry, not interested.’
‘But Carol –’ Tina began.
‘I already have a job which I very much enjoy and which demands my time and concentration, plus I’m not fussed about appearing on television again.’
‘Me, neither,’ Jenny said.
Tina looked bemused by our lack of enthusiasm. ‘But it’s a great chance.’
‘A once in a lifetime chance,’ Max declared.
‘A chance for what?’ I asked. ‘To become a D-list celeb? To be recognised in public and spoken to by complete strangers? To be featured in newspaper articles, extolling the virtues of exercising for those past their first flush? Doesn’t turn me on.’
‘Nor me,’ said Jenny.
Tina clasped her hands together, as if in supplication. ‘Please.’
I knew how much she longed to be in the limelight again and I knew how eager Max was to take advantage of this opportunity. And I felt like a heel. I had no wish to foul things up for them and yet…
‘No,’ Jenny said. ‘Sorry, but, apart from any possible modelling, I’m still hoping to find a secretarial job and, if I do, then going up to the television centre once or twice a week would be out of the question. Besides which, I have absolutely no desire to, maybe, become a celebrity, either.’
‘No?’ Tina was incredulous.
‘The fame game has no appeal. Carol and I don’t want to be killjoys, but we have our own lives and needs to consider. Surely you can see that?’
Tina pouted. ‘I guess,’ she replied, though she did not sound convinced.
‘Couldn’t you do the exercises on your own, without us two?’ I said, and turned to Max. ‘Tina is the glamour girl, the one who’s generated many of the phone calls, the one with TV know-how, so why don’t you suggest to the producer that you do the work-outs with her, just her?’
He looked doubtful. ‘I could try him.’
‘I’d be happy to do whatever the producer wants, whenever he wants,’ Tina said eagerly. ‘And just the two of us could be successful, especially if we co-ordinated our outfits to create an image and got the look right.’
Max nodded. ‘We’d need to make it stylish.’
‘Why don’t we go for designer gear?’ she suggested. ‘Two or three outfits each?’
He frowned. ‘It’d cost.’
‘My treat,’ she told him.
Max smiled. ‘A kept man at last,’ he said, and slid me a wink.
‘Quick word,’ Jenny requested, as we walked out across the forecourt a few minutes later.
‘Sure,’ I replied, and when she unlocked her car, I climbed in beside her. ‘I was so relieved when you explained you weren’t happy to be roped in for the TV work-outs, either,’ I said, before she could speak. ‘I was feeling horribly guilty, a real wet blanket, but you came to the rescue. Thanks.’
She smiled. ‘It’s the new confident Jen at it again.’
‘Good for her. You never used to stick up for yourself, but now –’ I gave a mock shudder ‘– now you’re terrifying.’
‘Not quite terrifying, but I’ve been meek and mild for far too long and I’ve decided that, from now on, if I want something I go for it. That’s what I wanted to tell you about. Two things. First, at the weekend I informed Bruce that, in addition to any modelling, I was applying for secretarial posts and intended to get one soon, fingers crossed.’
‘His reaction?’
‘He started to chunter on about how I was being silly, how we didn’t need the money – the usual guff.’
‘You told him it was guff?’
‘I did. I also told him to shut up and listen, and then I explained that it wasn’t about what
we
needed, it was about what
I
needed. Me. Obedient Jennifer, who has spent the last thirty years ironing vests of various dimensions and who is desperate to do something new and different. It took for ever – he can be amazingly dense at times – but Bruce eventually recognised what I was talking about and agreed that if I wanted a job, I should have a job.’
‘Alleluia!’
She grinned. ‘Not that he had much choice, to be honest, because I really laid it on the line. And after he’d agreed to a working wife, I asked him about the other woman.’
‘You plucked up the courage?’ I said, surprised.
‘It was long overdue. I told him I’d seen him being kissed in Guildford and asked what was it all about. Bruce swore it was entirely innocent. He explained that the woman is a colleague from work and they’d had an early meeting with a client at the client’s office. The meeting had not gone well and afterwards the woman, her name’s Ruth, declared she needed a sit-down and a drink to recover.’
‘Hence the coffee bar.’
‘Right. Seems as soon as they’d sat down, she started to blame herself for mishandling the meeting. And she had mishandled it. Made a complete pig’s ear, so Bruce said. She’d quoted the wrong figures and then got shirty with the client when he’d questioned them. Shirty as in she more or less told him he was stupid. But as they drank their coffees, she really beat herself up. Talked about being inadequate, out of her depth, how her partner never stopped criticising her, and then became tearful. Noisily tearful.’
‘Bruce would’ve hated that.’
Jenny nodded. ‘He’s not good with displays of emotion, especially if they should happen in public. Seems he tried to reassure her and, in time, she wiped her eyes and calmed down. Much to his relief. But then, as they were leaving the coffee bar, she pulled his arm around her, declared undying gratitude for his empathy and concern and, as he was praying she wasn’t about to burst into tears again, the woman kissed him. Which I chanced to see. But after that she drew away and there’s been no physical contact since. Bruce has made certain he stays well out of touching distance.’
‘You believe this?’ I asked.
‘I do. I’m sure it’s the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’
‘Me, too.’
I was sure. I could imagine Bruce’s dismay, if not disgust, at having to deal with a volatile and sobbing woman. I could also imagine how he would be determined to keep her away from him, ever after.
‘I should’ve listened when you told me there’d be a simple explanation. Seems this Ruth is a touchy-feely type who’s made a grab and kissed other men at the office, on occasions when she’s told them her woes. She put the fear of God into them, too.’ Jenny laughed. ‘I told Bruce he should’ve been flattered.’
‘But did you tell him that when you thought he might have misbehaved, you’d considered misbehaving yourself?’
‘Yes.’
‘You did?’ I said, surprised.
‘I explained how upset I’d been at seeing him with Ruth and how I’d flirted with the man at the TV studios, but that it had been bravado.’
‘What did he say?’
‘That it was understandable, though I’m not sure he believed me. That I’d flirted, I mean.’
‘He should’ve seen you in action!’
She laughed. ‘I amazed myself. But I’m not the type to have an affair, Carol. I would never have rung the guy, never followed through. Honest.’
I nodded. ‘I know.’
’I was stupid,’ Jenny declared. ‘Stupid in thinking Bruce had another woman and stupid to flirt with that man.’
‘You’re not the only one. I’ve been stupid, too. Stupid about Tom.’