Confident Women (Extract)

Chapter Three

“It’s nobody,” I insist, snatching my things back from her manicured fingernails and holding them in front of me like a shield.

Oh no. I’ve made it worse. Now she’s going to think I’m going on a date with somebody embarrassing, someone like the comedy-moustache-sporting Charlie from accounts.

She snaps her fingers. “It’s Ray, isn’t it? The new warehouse guy. I saw you two talking the other day but I never thought—”

“It’s not Ray.” I cut her off, inadvertently turning this into Scarlett’s idea of a fun guessing game.

“Marcus, then?”

“Marcus hasn’t worked here for months.”

“So? That doesn’t mean that you two aren’t hooking up.” She pulls a makeup compact out of her desk drawer and fluffs her long, dark hair as she looks in the mirror.

“Look, Scar, I’m not hooking up with anybody, okay?” 

“Oh I see.” She closes the compact and studies my face. “You haven’t asked this guy out yet, have you?”

“Scarlett.”

I’m saved by Helen striding into the office, swinging her newly highlighted blond locks behind her like she’s in a L’Oréal advert.

Scarlett and I both gawp at the rock dazzling us from her right hand.

“Hey ladies,” she greets us, straddling her desk chair so that she’s facing the two of us. She drums her fingers against the back of it, just in case we’ve managed to miss the bling.

“I thought you weren’t back until tomorrow,” says Scarlett.

“Thought I’d come back early.” She twists the glinting diamond ring around her slender finger.

I’m too stunned to say anything.

 “Did Raul buy it for you?” Scarlett nods towards Helen’s right hand. “That’s so romantic!”

“Raul?” Helen’s pencilled-in eyebrows are firmly raised. “I’ve known the guy maybe a month and you think he’d buy me a diamond like this?”

“You’re not seeing someone else, are you?” Scarlett claps a hand over her mouth, and I can see her eyes cataloguing the corridor through the glass door of the HR office as if Helen’s mystery man, and probably my secret date, are hiding out there.

Helen winks and holds her ringed finger up to the light. “Can’t a girl treat herself every once in a while?”

“Where did you get it?” I ask. “Where do you find a ring like that and just buy it yourself?”

“Well it’s not real. Imagine how much it would be worth if it was.”

“I want one!” Scarlett  uncaps her tube of lip gloss. 

“It’s one-of-a-kind.” Helen retracts her hand. “But they have plenty of affordable fakes at that second-hand jeweller in town.”

Scarlett wrinkles her freckled nose. “The one near the Oxfam?”

Helen is saying something else about jewellery, but I’m not listening.  

Charity shops are always looking for volunteers, aren’t they? And it is retail, isn’t it? 

Okay. Informing little old ladies what 99p cardigans are available isn’t in the same league as telling New Look’s customers what stilettos they’ve got in. 

But charity-shop retail work has got to be better than working in some places. Like…like a lingerie shop. I cringe imagining standing behind the counter in La Senza when your mother walks in, her husband in tow, and heads straight for the festive underwear section…

But it’s one step closer to fulfilling the points in the article. Isn’t volunteering supposed to make you feel all warm inside? Maybe that’s why Olivia Bright particularly mentions voluntary work. Maybe I really will turn into a cool, confident woman because of it.

I can do this. I’m going to be good at this.

I mean, better than I ever would be at fashion design or any of those silly ideas.

***

Nora sends us home early on Thursday, which gives me time to nip down to Oxfam before I catch my bus home.

The Leeds shop is a decent size, and not too far from the bus station. There’s a woman sitting behind the counter who looks much younger than the average charity shop face, her long black talons gripping a tatty Mills & Boon paperback.

She doesn’t smile as I approach.

“Excuse me?”

She flicks her dark eyes over me for the first time, a pinched expression on her face. I’ve obviously interrupted an erotic scene between a Greek billionaire and his virgin mistress.

“I was wondering if you had any voluntary vacancies going.”

The woman sighs as though my query is such a hassle to her and reaches under the desk for an application form. “Fill this in,” she says in a monotone voice.

I move to one side of the counter to fill in the forms, ignoring the  sound of the door opening behind me. I’ve just got to the part about my skills and experience when a voice behind me says, “Hello, Megan. I thought you said you were going straight for the bus.”

It’s Nora. My high-class, well-dressed boss, who definitely doesn’t buy her clothes from charity shops. So what is she doing in Oxfam, then?

“Nora!” I greet her enthusiastically. “I was just…uh…” A wave of panic surges through me as I realise that her eyes have already fallen on the papers in front of me.

What if she thinks this will affect my paying job? What if she says she’s setting me free to pursue a career in retail? And what if I discover it’s not really my dream at all? What will I do then? Confident women aren’t unemployed, are they?

I think again of the photos in the magazine. All those girls look like successful businesswomen who wear Jimmy Choo pumps and Chanel No. 5 perfume.

“Volunteering?”  Nora’s lips are a tight line. “Well, Megan, I’m sure you will be an asset to a place like this.”

I blink a few times. Is she really saying… Is that a compliment?

Swallowing, I manage to say, “Thank you.”

Nora nods once at me and then moves off to scan a rail of dull suit jackets.

Oh my God! She really does buy clothes from Oxfam. She might even get her underwear from Primark.

I turn back to the desk. The shop assistant is still reading her book like Nora and I aren’t here.

Does this mean Olivia Bright could be wrong? Nora is a woman who exudes confidence without being anything like the glossy-haired girls in magazine photographs. And she definitely isn’t the sort of person to listen to anyone’s advice.

But then it occurs to me that, if confident women like Nora shop at Oxfam, maybe working here really will be a good thing.

I’m grinning with excitement as I hand in my application form.

“Thanks.” The woman behind the counter finally drops her book. “Due to the high volume of applicants received, please assume you have been unsuccessful if you haven’t heard from us within two weeks.” She speaks as if reading from a cue card.

“What?” I stare blankly at her. “You mean I don’t automatically get the job? It’s a voluntary position for God’s sake!”

“We get rather a lot of applications from people seeking something to fill their CVs with,” she explains, picking her tatty Mills & Boon back up.

“Oh.” I step backwards. “I see.”

“We’ll give you a call if anything suitable arises,” she says as I head out of the shop.

Well, that didn’t exactly go to plan. Don’t they need more staff to cover the Christmas period? Do people even do their Christmas shopping in charity shops?

Oh dear. I haven’t got a clue. Maybe retail isn’t going to be my dream job after all.