Free Goodmans of Glassford Street by Margaret Thomson Davis Page A

I’m not sure what her idea is. She says she just wants to meet the inventor but it feels as if she’s going to be watching my every move.’
    ‘I’m sure it’ll be just as she says, darling. Why should she want to watch your every move? You’re one of her most successful employees. She’s never had any complaints about you, has she?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Well, then.’
    ‘It just doesn’t seem right.’
    Moira gave him a comforting kiss. ‘Try to relax, Sam. Just do your job the same as usual. And it’s only for a few days, after all.’
    He nodded. But he couldn’t relax. Who could, even if they had nothing to hide? Anybody would feel a bit tense and anxious with thoughts of the boss breathing down their neck from morning to night. Even just for a few days.
    He even worried about Viv not getting the message he’d left on her answering machine. Often landladies went away in the winter. The summer was the busy time in all the seaside hotels and B. & B.s. In the winter, there was never much – if any – trade and so most landladies and hotel owners took a winter holiday abroad.
    What if Viv had been away and didn’t get his message, and then saw him with Mrs Goodman? Bad enough to see him at all, but to see him with an attractive woman … But now he was being ridiculous. He knew it. Even if she’d been abroad, or away anywhere, Viv would still get the message. The first thing most people did on their return was play back their answering machine messages.
    She could still pester him, though, or do something to purposely cause trouble. He cursed the day he’d walked into her B. & B. From the moment he’d arrived at the reception desk, she was on to him. She gave him every ‘come on’ signal in the book. She even came out with corny things like, ‘It’s not often I get such a tall, dark and handsome man in here looking for a bed.’
    He had smiled. Otherwise he’d tried to ignore her unexpected behaviour. This wasn’t his normal reception in hotels. And anyway, he was tired after a long drive and just wanted a drink and to relax. He’d thought of Moira and the wonderfully relaxing atmosphere of their pretty little bungalow in respectable Bearsden. And he wished he was back there.
    But there was no wishing a woman like Viv away. He had been flattered by her eager attention, of course, and he had succumbed to her charms. Idiot that he had been. He might have known that a woman like that was bound to cause trouble. Well, no use berating himself now. He’d just have to get on with it as best he could. After all, maybe Viv would accept his words as final and make no trouble at all. He couldn’t convince himself and when it came to the actual day of the journey to South Castle-on-Sea, he was stiff with apprehension.
    Mrs Goodman noticed. ‘You’re unusually quiet, Mr Webster.’
    ‘Sorry, I’ve a lot on my mind at the moment.’
    ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’
    ‘No, it’s personal stuff. But thanks all the same. Now, where would you like to stop for coffee?’ He forced his voice to sound cheerful. ‘I know a nice place in Gretna. Is that too long to wait?’ He detailed a list of places he usually called at for coffee, lunch and afternoon tea.
    Eventually Abi interrupted him. ‘Mr Webster, you don’t need to make conversation all the way to South Castle-on-Sea. I’d prefer it if you just concentrated on your driving.’
    After that, he was thankfully silent, only exchanging a few pleasantries with her over coffee or a meal. The journey would have been fine if it hadn’t been for all his worries about Viv.
    Once in South Castle-on-Sea, he saw Abi safely to her room in the tall, many-storeyed hotel. It was very different from Viv’s place. Viv’s was called The Floral because of the ring of flowers surrounding it from early summer right through till autumn. Even in winter it had an attractive splash of colour with potted plants. It was small but had an excellent location on the most