Hold on though. Joanne said Tarquin was effectively running the firm anyway, so what did it matter to John if Tarquin was officially appointed to the role of CEO or not?
I didn’t know the answer but a trip to Orion Print’s office would allow me to ask some questions. Nodding to myself, I said, ‘Mindy, let’s go to Aylesford.’
Missing Cat
Mindy parked her car in the exact same spot mine had inhabited last night. I felt like I had crammed a lot into the last twenty-four hours. Getting out of her car, I started calling for my cat.
‘Amber. Amber are you here?’
Mindy asked with a frown. ‘Why would Amber be here? You live miles away.’
Oh. How was I going to explain this? Quickly thinking up a lie, I said, ‘I thought I saw her, is all. It must have been another ragdoll cat though.’
Mindy raised her eyebrows but said nothing, probably thinking her aunt was going a little loopy.
Unlike last night, I walked around to the front of the building and went in through the customer entrance.
An exuberant young man bounced away from a display he was tidying to greet us both. ‘Hello. Welcome to Orion Print. My name is Graham Mailer, I’m one of the sales reps. Is there something specific we can help you with today?’
I shook his hand, noting the man’s dainty grip. ‘I’m Felicity Philips. This is my niece, Mindy.’
Mindy got a polite nod from the employee who then cast his eyes down to look at Buster.
Buster’s tongue snuck out to give his nose a lick before slithering noisily back into his mouth again.
‘Wow, a bulldog. I don’t remember the last time I saw one of these. He’s so cute.’
‘Cute?’ sneered Buster. ‘I am darkness and vengeance. I am what you fear in the shadows.’ He lunged forward before I could stop him and tried to bite the man’s foot.
Dancing back to stay out of reach, the man gave a nervous laugh to cover up the unmanly squeal of fright Mindy and I both heard. ‘He’s a little feisty.’
I was about to explain that I got all my printing done here and was a very minor co-owner. I didn’t need to though because Tamara appeared.
‘Oh, hi, Felicity,’ she smiled at me as she came through from the office I was in last night. ‘It’s so good of you to come to me.’
A little lost for words but guessing she believed I was here to pick up where we left off yesterday, I said, ‘Of course. My clients get the best treatment, even if they are the daughters of my friends. We all want your big day to be as special as it can be. I just popped in to rearrange a few things with you.’
Mindy shot me a confused look. ‘I thought we were …’
Shutting her up as quickly as I could, I said, ‘That’s why we came, Mindy. Tamara is going to be one of our fabulous brides.’
Still looking confused, Mindy said, ‘Okay,’ and gave Tamara the professional smile I’d been teaching her.
‘We never did get to discuss the dress yesterday, did we,’ I gave her my most excited eyes. If there is one thing I know for absolute certain: every bride on the planet wants her wedding dress to be amazing. If you can sell a client on the dress, the rest of it is easy.
Tamara’s eyes were alight with excitement.
I took my tablet from my bag and handed it to Mindy. I wanted her to feel useful even if this was a task I could easily do for myself.
‘When do you want to visit the dress shops and when can we schedule a proper discussion about your dress?’ The salesrep, seeing that he need play no part in our conversation, drifted back to the display he’d been working on when we arrived. ‘I have several shops at my disposal, all of which will give you a private appointment. We’ll need to schedule in half a day for each one we plan to visit, which is why we have the meeting to discuss your desires first. That way we can narrow it down and hopefully find what you want more quickly. We are pushed for time, after all.’
‘Why the hurry?’ asked Mindy. ‘You don’t look like you’re up the duff.’
I closed my eyes in abject horror just as Tamara gave my assistant a surprised expression.
‘I’m not,’ the bride-to-be choked out, ‘thank you very much.’
Pinching the bridge of my nose between thumb and forefinger, I swivelled on my heels to face Mindy. I found myself wishing it were twenty years ago when I carried a clipboard and bits of paper. I could have whacked her over the head with it and not felt too bad.
‘Mindy, we do not question our clients about their motivations. Ever,’ I added. ‘We most certainly do not ask them if they are up the duff.’ I was growling by the end of the sentence.
Mindy at least had the sense to look embarrassed. ‘Sorry?’ she tried. I bugged my eyes out and flicked them in the direction of our bride to be. ‘Sorry,’ Mindy addressed her apology to Tamara this time.
Tamara accepted it with a nod. ‘If you must know, my dad has been really ill. I begged Tarquin to bring the date forward so dad might still be well enough to walk
