Hilary laughed. ‘I’ll phone Sue, all right, for all the good it will do. Give your mother my love and have a good weekend with her.’
‘I will. Bye, ducks.’ And then he was gone, like a whirling dervish, coat flaps flying open behind him, scarf blowing in the wind as he crossed Illuminations’ car park to his shining new pride and joy. He waved as he drove past and she waved back before turning to the paperwork on her untidy desk.
Hilary sighed at the mess of papers that needed her attention. She was not an organized person, not like Jonathan whose desk in his home office was immaculate. Everything filed neatly and colour-coded. It was time he came and did one of her office tidies. He did it every six months or so and would stand over her until every item on her desk was cleared and order ruled once more, until a lack of time and organization would start the whole process off again. Hilary had a secretary who was so busy with Illuminations business she didn’t have time to keep her boss’s desk as tidy as each of them would have liked.
Perhaps Hilary could come in for an hour on Sunday and put manners on the place, she decided, pulling out the file for Horizon House to remind herself of the lighting layout. She was studying it intently when her direct line rang. Her husband’s number flashed up.
‘Hi, sorry, I’m only getting a chance to ring you now. We had the managers over from Dubai and Moscow for a meeting and then I took them to lunch and you know yourself,’ he sighed. ‘How did Mam get on?’
‘She’s got an appointment in two weeks because of being on the steroids and antibiotics; they really muck up her blood.’ Hilary was not in the mood to hear about Niall’s busy day. She had enough work of her own to deal with.
‘Rats!’ he groaned. ‘I won’t be here. I have that trip to Canada to visit the concessions in Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax and Winnipeg, remember? That’s a nuisance. Can we reschedule for when I’m back?’
‘No!’ she said irritably. ‘That’s not an option with warfarin. And I have a client consult that morning so Sue’s going to have to do it. I’ve been asking and asking you to get in touch with her about your mother’s appointments and you haven’t and I’m sick of it,’ she snapped.
‘Keep your hair on, I’ll ring her when I get a chance,’ he growled.
‘You’ve been saying that for ages, Niall. If you don’t ring her I will,’ she warned.
‘I hear you,’ he retorted. ‘I’ll call her today. Anything else strange or startling?’ he said, changing the subject.
‘No, don’t forget Sophie’s friends are coming to stay on a sleepover tomorrow so I have to do a shop later. Are you coming home or going straight to the gig tonight?’
‘I’ll shower and change here and go from work; no point in getting stuck in the rush hour twice. So don’t worry about dinner for me.’
‘I wasn’t,’ she said drily. ‘I was going to order a Chinese – I haven’t time to cook.’
‘OK, look, I have to go. I’ll try not to wake you up when I get home.’
‘OK, bye,’ Hilary said unenthusiastically and hung up.
Don’t worry about dinner for me. Niall was a hoot, she scowled. Did he really think she was sitting in her office worrying about what to give him for his dinner? Friday night was Chinese night. The only cooked meal he’d be getting this weekend was on Sunday, unless he cooked it himself. Sophie wanted to order in pizza for her friends so Millie and she and Niall could have pizza too. Hilary was planning to cook two joints of roast on Sunday so she could do a dinner for Gran H and her own parents as well, with enough for a dinner for them on Monday. She’d stock up on a few Butler’s Pantry meals for her freezer the next time she was passing one of their branches. That would give her a bit of leeway even if it was expensive.
Niall had better ring his sister, Hilary scowled, or Ms Susan Hammond Kelly would be getting an irate phone call from her and she didn’t care whose feelings would be hurt.
Niall scrolled down through his phone until he got to his sister’s number. He sighed deeply, tapping his pen impatiently against his desk as he waited for Sue to answer. He was exasperated having to make the call. He knew his sister of old, knew that she would make excuses about being ‘up to her eyes’, saying she couldn’t take days off ‘at
