The Importance of Being Emma (10 page)

I frowned. ‘Emancipation … Emancipation … No, not snappy enough.’

He leaned forward and said in a husky voice, ‘How about “Get ema-ncipated in the kitchen … with Harriet’s Secret Recipes”?’

I laughed. ‘D’you know, that’s not bad at all, it’ll definitely do until I find something better, which may not happen before the focus groups. So thank you, Philip.’ I picked up my handbag and got to my feet. ‘Well, I must be going, just need my camera, wherever that is.’

Harriet stood up too. ‘It’s upstairs, I’ll get it for you.’

She dashed out of the room. I went to follow her, but Philip blocked my path. His face was flushed and he was almost panting. ‘Emma, I’m only too happy to help Marketing out in any way I can, any way
at all
. And that strapline’ – he grinned, unpleasantly – ‘I’m sure it won’t take someone as clever as you very long to work out that it contains the name of my ideal woman – ’

‘
It’s glaringly obvious,’ I put in, with a pitying look, ‘even Harriet – ’ I stopped as she came back into the room with my camera. ‘Thank you, Harriet, why don’t you stay and help Philip print those extra hard copies we discussed?’

Philip stepped away from me with a scowl. ‘Unfortunately, I have to go out now. And anyway, you need to take Harriet back to Hartfield to get her car.’

‘
And the flowers,’ Harriet added. ‘I might have to borrow a vase thingy from you, Emma, there’s nothing like that at my house.’

I sighed. I felt like knocking their heads together, but on the other hand I was delighted at the way matters were progressing. ‘Come along then, Harriet. Thank you so much, Philip, see you tomorrow.’

‘
I hope so, Emma. ’Bye, Harriet.’

As I drove off, I checked the mirror and saw him standing at his front door, gazing wistfully after us.

‘
A very long but successful day,’ I said. ‘We’ve got our photos taken and printed off and we’ve even got a strapline. “Get emancipated in the kitchen … with Harriet’s Secret Recipes.” It’s growing on me.’ I paused. ‘While you were out of the room, Philip told me it contains the name of his ideal woman. He had the nerve to say it wouldn’t take me long to work it out. I mean, Harriet’s Secret Recipes – duh!’

Harriet said slowly, ‘But don’t you remember? When
he
said it, he made “emancipated” sound so-o-o like “Emma-ncipated”. So couldn’t he mean you?’

I burst out laughing. ‘Oh, Harriet, really! You’ll be saying next that he brought that huge bunch of flowers to give to
me
. You’re far too modest for your own good, you know.’

She giggled. ‘Oh, you’re right, silly me, I wish I was clever like you, Emma.’ She hesitated, then went on, ‘By the way, did I tell you I’m going out with Rob tonight? So I couldn’t have stayed at Philip’s anyway.’

It was an effort, but I said nothing. I made up my mind, though, to move things up a gear on the matchmaking front. Philip was obviously interested; I just had to get any notions about Robert Martin out of Harriet’s head and suggest to her that, in my humble opinion, Philip was far superior.

Harriet didn’t need to be clever; she had me to do all the brain work for her.

~~MARK~~

After Hartfield, I went to Abbey Mill Haulage to discuss the latest food transportation directive with Rob Martin. We sat drinking tea in his office, putting the European Union to rights and regretting that it was run by politicians rather than sensible people like us.

I liked Rob a lot. His bulk – he was built like the proverbial brick shithouse – and stern, craggy features put people off, but to me he was just a gentle giant.

When I mentioned I’d been at the photo shoot, his face lit up. ‘Harriet’s telling me all about it tonight. We’re going on our third date and I’m really looking forward to it.’ He gave me an anxious look. ‘How did she get on today?’

‘
She did as well as could be expected, given the limitations of the photographer.’

‘
That was Emma, wasn’t it? She’s been very friendly to Harriet, even invited her to Hartfield the other week. Surprised me, that did. Emma’s so posh, I wouldn’t have thought she’d bother with Harriet outside work. I hope it doesn’t give her the wrong idea, you know, that she could be like Emma Woodhouse.’

‘
No one could be like Emma Woodhouse,’ I said drily. I almost added, ‘She has the attention span of a gnat, so when she loses interest in Harriet, make sure you’re there to pick up the pieces.’

But I didn’t. Experience told me that the most innocent of remarks had a tendency to come back and bite you, even years later.

~~EMMA~~

It was certainly Harriet’s week for flowers. A couple of days after the photo shoot, she received another bouquet, this time at Highbury Foods. Marie from Reception brought it up to my office.

At first I thought it might be from Philip again. But it was inferior to his in every way: size, style, quality of wrapping paper and the flowers themselves. Harriet buried her face in them, breathing in their non-existent scent.

I couldn’t help staring. ‘Good grief, I’ve never seen blue carnations before.’

She looked up and grinned. ‘I bet it’s because I support Saffend United.’

‘
This came with them, Darren’s waiting downstairs for the answer.’ Marie held out a rather grubby-looking white envelope.

I resisted a strong temptation to snatch it out of her hand. ‘Darren?’

‘
Darren Griffiths, he’s a driver with Abbey Mill Haulage.’

I knew immediately who’d sent the flowers.

Harriet placed the bouquet carefully on her desk, opened the envelope and read the note inside, over and over again. Then she lifted shining eyes to mine. ‘They’re from Rob.’

As if I hadn’t worked that one out! I moved swiftly into action. ‘Marie, perhaps you could go and see if Darren wants a coffee or something, while Harriet thinks about her answer. We’ll call you when it’s ready.’

As soon as Marie had gone, I said casually to Harriet, ‘Any particular reason for the flowers?’

‘
You can read his note if you like, it’s so-o-o sweet.’

The note was on cheap paper and the handwriting rather immature, but I could tell he’d given it a lot of thought; there wasn’t a single spelling mistake or crossing out.

Harriet bobbed up and down on her chair. ‘Don’t you think it’s a good letter, Emma?’

‘
Ye-e-es, I do,’ I said slowly. ‘Surprisingly good, someone must have helped him write it. I’ve never really spoken to the man, but I wouldn’t have thought him capable of this. On the other hand, there
are
men who can hardly string two words together, but express themselves quite nicely on paper.’ I handed the note back to her.

‘
What do you think I should do?’ I was pleased to hear a hint of doubt in her voice.

I picked up the proposal she’d been typing for me. ‘Do? Oh, Harriet, you ask the strangest questions. Let him know as soon as possible, as he says.’

‘
But what shall I say? And shall I do it over the phone?’

‘
I would write, since Darren’s loitering around downstairs anyway. And be absolutely clear, give him no room to misunderstand you. You know, “really honoured … sorry to disappoint … no future in the relationship”. That sort of thing.’ I went quickly through into my room.

She came after me and stood at the door round-eyed. ‘You mean – say
no
?’

‘
What else? I thought you were just asking me the best way to say it.’

She chewed her lip.

‘
So you were going to say yes?’ I hoped I sounded suitably incredulous.

‘
I – I don’t know. What would you do if you were me?’

‘
Harriet, I can’t tell you whether you should have a dirty weekend in Amsterdam or not, that’s entirely up to you.’

‘
I didn’t know he was so keen, you know, love and all that.’ Harriet unfolded the note and gazed vacantly at it. I waited for her to speak, but she didn’t.

After a few moments, I said briskly, ‘What I
can
say, from my considerable experience of men, is that if I don’t feel I can say yes to something immediately, then it’s just not meant to be. But I don’t want to influence you, Harriet, it wouldn’t be fair.’

‘
Yeah, I know, it’s up to me. And I really like him.’

‘
I really like lots of people, but I wouldn’t sleep with the vast majority of them.’

She reflected on this. ‘It’s a big decision, innit, to go away with someone for the weekend? I mean, we got a bit carried away on Tuesday night but we were interrupted. And maybe that was a sign, you know? Maybe it wasn’t meant to be. It’s not as if I fancied him right from the start, is it? I think maybe it’s safer to say no?’

‘
I can’t possibly give you advice. If you can honestly say Robert Martin appeals to you more than anyone else … ’ I shrugged, then went on, in a more animated tone, ‘But isn’t it weird getting bouquets from two different men in the same week? I thought Philip’s was very elegant, but then red roses are my particular favourite. I once studied the Victorian meanings of flowers and, of course, red roses signify sincere and passionate love.’

‘
What about blue carnations?’

‘
Harriet, blue is not a natural colour for a carnation, so they can’t have any meaning at all. Come along, you need to reply to this note, can’t keep Darren waiting for ever.’

She stared out of the window, twisting the note over and over in her hands until it resembled a corkscrew. I waited again for her to speak, but this time I was more hopeful.

Then she sighed. ‘I know you won’t give me advice, but I think I’ve made up my mind. I think – I think I’ll say no. To everything – going out with him as well as the weekend in Amsterdam.’ She looked imploringly at me. ‘Am I doing the right thing?’

I went up to her and hugged her. ‘Of course you are. I didn’t dare say this while you were still making up your mind, but I’ve been quite depressed about your relationship with Robert Martin. He and I – well, we obviously have such different values, and values are what make people and organisations tick. I was starting to think you weren’t suited to being at Highbury Foods after all.’ I paused. ‘As you know, we don’t want a temp for ever, we were going to advertise the permanent post soon. But why waste money advertising? You’ve just put yourself in the frame for the job. Harriet Smith, PA to the Marketing Director and the Managing Director, imagine that!’

She jumped up and skipped round my room, a broad smile on her face. ‘Ooh, I’d love to work here all the time, temping’s so-o-o hard, all that new stuff to learn every time I go anywhere.’

‘
I’ll have to see what Dad thinks, but there shouldn’t be a problem.’ I pulled out a chair for her at my table. ‘Now sit here and reply to that note. Here’s a pen and some paper – Conqueror Vellum, of course, only the best for Highbury Foods.’ I sat down at my PC to check my email.

After a few minutes, I noticed that she’d unscrewed the note and was staring at it. I coughed to attract her attention. ‘Shall I ask Darren to bring a tent and camp overnight? It looks as though it’ll take you that long to answer a few lines.’

She looked up; to my horror, her eyes were full of tears. ‘This is really, really hard,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t want to hurt his feelings. And what will his mum say?’

‘
It’s always difficult to tell someone the truth, especially if they’ve got an inflated opinion of themselves.’

‘
But he’s not like that at all, he’s very shy. That’s why it’s so hard to know what to say.’

So I did the letter for her. At least, I dictated, she wrote; which was how it should be, since she was my PA.

Of course, I didn’t make it too obvious that I was telling her what to say. I made suggestions, trotted out little phrases that I told her could be very effective in these situations. When we’d finished and sealed the letter inside a matching envelope, I summoned Marie to give it to Darren. I wasn’t going to let Harriet take it, in case she had second thoughts.