Pear Shaped

Chapter Four

Bianca calls super early the next morning, before I’m even out of bed. She’s a nursery nurse and starts at some silly hour. I suppose kids are up way earlier than someone looking for a new outfit.

“Hey!” she shouts into the phone, sounding chirpier than I’d have thought possible at this time on a morning.

I sit up in bed, holding the phone further away from my ear. “Good morning,” I mumble.

“Dan called me last night.”

Oh God. Now he’ll have Bianca on his side. “I suppose he told you what he told me last night.”

“It’s great news, Chloe. I knew you two were perfect for each other!” Since it was Bianca who got me and Dan together, her ultimate goal is to send us down the aisle and take all the credit.

“Hang on, what exactly did he tell you?”

“You’re getting back together!” she gushes.

“Bianca, Dan cheated on me, remember? And now he’s moved in with his little floozy. Do you seriously think I’m going to take him back?”

“Well I thought you might give him a chance,” she says in that little girl voice of hers. “You don’t actually know that he cheated on you.” In Bianca’s world, everything is rainbows and butterflies.

I think about telling her what Derek said but she’d probably have some explanation for that too. “I’ve got to go, Bee. I’ll call you later.”

“Call Dan!” she yells as I hang up.

There is no way in hell that I’ll be calling Dan.

***

Suzy’s all smiles at work, which is worrying. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her smile properly before. Something must be going on.

That afternoon, when I’m busy dressing the shop window with this season’s tribal trend, which is also part of my job, I hear a customer asking Suzy why we don’t sell the ‘tummy tuck’ underwear anymore.

“Have you seen Chloe Mills, our personal shopper?” asks Suzy.

“Yes, I’ve seen her,” the customer, a woman with a youthful voice says, “and she gave me some good advice but it’s not the same as having the underwear that holds you all in.”

“Chloe is paid to make women look and feel better about their body. Are you saying she didn’t do that?”

“No but I…do you know anywhere else that stocks the same kind of underwear?”

“The recession has hit us hard. We can’t stock everything anymore and jobs are at stake. Especially people like Chloe. What she does just isn’t as important as what the rest of us do.”

I stop trying to force a beaded wedged heel onto the mannequin’s foot, listening for the customer’s reply. I can almost hear her backing away, having not got the desired response from Suzy. Suzy’s side of the conversation seemed entirely for my benefit.

What I do isn’t important? The cow! I do all the jobs she can’t be bothered to do.

I finish what I’m doing first, willing myself to calm down before I step out of the window display. That little bitch Suzy is nowhere to be seen, so I head for Mark’s office instead.

If I hadn’t scared him enough yesterday, my entrance today is sure to fix the idea firmly in his head that I’m obviously a complete nutter.

He stands up from his seat like a naughty school boy caught doing something he shouldn’t be. “Chloe,” he says slowly, “how can I help you?”

“Is it true what Suzy’s been saying? Are jobs under threat?”

Mark sinks back down into his office chair and stares at his computer screen as though all the answers are contained there. “As you know, we are feeling the effects of the recession.”

“Is my job under threat?”

Mark plays with his hands, lacing and unlacing his fingers. “We are thinking of merging your position with others in the department, yes.”

“What does that mean?”

“You may have to reapply for your job.”

It was alright for Mark bloody Edwards sitting in his office chair making all the decisions. What other position could they merge my job with? Not Suzy. Doesn’t she hate the customers enough already? And she passes half of her workload onto me anyway. But that would explain why she’s so keen to get rid of me.

“Is it Suzy?” I ask him directly. “Are you thinking of giving her my duties as well?”

“Suzy?” He blinks a few times. “No, we’re thinking of merging your job with a shop assistant role. Janine has already expressed an interest.”

Janine. Of course. Suzy’s airhead sidekick. As if she would be able to manage doing what I do. I doubt she even knows what all the different body shapes are. Going up against her for my own job wouldn’t be difficult. But it’s not Janine I’m worried about. It’s Suzy.