A Pocketful of Dreams

Chapter Six

'Collins, nice to see you in the office for a change.'

Dan ignored the spiteful tone in his colleague's voice as he sat down at his desk. 'Actually, Ed, I have what's called "a life outside work". Not that it's any of your business. And you do realize it's a Sunday, don't you?'

'Like I care about your so-called life,' Ed snorted, lolling backwards in his leather chair. Dan hoped it would tip over and dump the supercilious idiot into the office ficus behind him.

Ed swung upright and looked out the window at the creamy, dreaming spires of the city. 'You know, I had cocktails with Appleby at the Randolph Hotel last night. He was quite impressed when I picked up the bill.'

'Good for you,' Dan murmured, signing off on the contract he'd been contacted about so urgently, before checking his email. 'However, I'm on top of things with the Appleby deal, so I couldn't care less who you spend your Saturday night with.'

'Are you sure about that?' Ed sniggered and pretended to aim and shoot at a couple of pigeons on the window ledge outside.

Dan eyed the man over the top of his computer monitor. 'This week I've had two dates with a beautiful young woman, and you spent your Saturday having whisky and cigars with George Appleby,' he said ponderingly. 'It's hard to tell who's winning at life. And I find it quite amusing how you like to think you're heading up the deal, when the truth is that you don't actually do a damn thing.'

Ed stared at him. 'That's an utter lie! You better shut up, Collins, or I'll—' His diatribe stopped abruptly when one of the weekend secretaries walked into the office. 'Hi there, Veronica. Is that a new skirt? You look incredible today.'

'Er, thanks,' Veronica said, her expression suggesting that she'd just detected a bad smell. She turned to Dan and handed him a thick folder. 'Here are the Appleby sales figures you've been waiting for.'

'Thanks, Vee. I need these for my meeting with Bruno tomorrow.'

Ed's eyes narrowed. 'What meeting?'

'Try checking your email once in a while. I sent you a memo about it on Wednesday.'

Ed glanced at Veronica, his face reddening. He clicked his mouse a few times, then announced, 'It's not here. You're really not on top of things are you, Collins?' He sat back and winked at Veronica.

The secretary exchanged a mutual eye-roll with Dan and then left.

Dan opened the folder Veronica had given to him and settled back in his chair to read the contents. Bruno still needed convincing about the contract, and with time running out, Dan had no option but to shower him with all the positive things that having an Appleby store at the Olde Oxford arcade would bring.

About an hour later, Dan sat back to rest his eyes. He'd typed up a four-page projection summary, all ready to go for his meeting with Bruno – but an unsettling feeling had entered Dan's mind. He wasn't sure what the problem was exactly, but it buzzed on the brink of his consciousness like an irritating housefly.

He folded his arms and stared unseeingly out of the window, cycling back through all the figures. The entire Appleby Company retail chain was doing well. Footloose, the shoe shop that was slated to move into the Olde Oxford arcade, was top of the profit list. Bake or Cake, the pastry-shop chain, and Baby Mine, the children's clothing stores, weren't far behind. But number four on the list was Salutations, the Appleby gift-shop chain. It had only been trading for seven months, and seeing as the other three chains had been established for over ten years, Salutations was doing incredibly well.

'Ed, have you got a second?'

Dan was loath to have any kind of conversation with the man, let alone start one himself, but he needed to calm the suspicions that had started to rise in his mind.

'What is it?'

Ed dragged his eyes away from his monitor. A Solitaire game was reflected brightly in the glass of a picture on the wall behind him, so he was clearly hard at work racking up his weekend overtime without making any kind of effort whatsoever.

'Have you ever been to a Salutations store?' Dan asked.

'What's that?'

'Appleby's chain of gift shops. Have you ever been in one?'

'Oh yeah, I think there's one in Windsor. Why?'

'What sort of gift shop is it?'

'I dunno. Normal. It sells cards and wrapping paper and stuff.'

Dan felt cool relief roll over him. So it was more of a card shop than a gift shop. For a moment he'd had visions of Annie's Pocketful of Dreams being put under threat of competition, but his worries were gone. He shook his head – it was silly to have jumped to conclusions, because Appleby didn't even want the unit for Salutations.

Dan emailed the summary to himself, printed a copy, and then switched off his computer. His mind really was working overtime.

Still, he supposed it wouldn't hurt to make sure that Annie's business was doing okay – just in case. 

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