Chapter 22
22
I t had taken Cally quite a bit of time to make up her mind, but she had finally decided to officially take the job; it was just too good not to. After again spending way too much time weighing up the pros and cons, she’d decided that she would be crazy not to take it. Logan had told her that he didn’t really think she could go wrong and that the job would open up lots of doors. So she’d decided to go for her life.
With a spring in her step that she’d finally made a decision, she walked down the steep steps from her flat, strolled over the first floor of the deli building and down the next flight of stairs and just as she was heading for the back door, she bumped straight into Alice coming the other way.
‘Morning, our Cally, how are you?’ Alice asked.
‘Good, thanks. Everything is fine with me,’ Cally replied. ‘How are you?’
‘Yep, great. I’m looking forward to a week off.’
‘I bet.’
‘How was your time up in Scotland? How did the weather treat you?’
‘It was just right. I had a really nice time. Much better than I thought it was going to be. You live and learn.’
‘I’ve heard it’s nice. It’s been on my bucket list for a long time.’
‘Right. It wasn’t on mine, but I will definitely go back. It would be nice to see it at Christmas time.’
‘I reckon.’
Cally looked in the direction of the door, ‘Anyway, I must get going.’
‘Have a nice day.’
‘You, too. See you.’
A few minutes later, Cally smiled at the sound of the Shipping Forecast as she walked into the back of the chemist. She always knew when Birdie was around by whether or not its dulcet tones could be heard from the street.
On hearing Cally come in, Birdie put her head around the dispensary door. ‘Morning, our Cally. How are we? Keeping out of trouble, I hope.’
‘Good, thanks, very good.’
‘Ready for our important strategy meeting,’ Birdie joked with a wink.
‘Yes, I am,’
Birdie wiggled a little white box. ‘I have Lovely chocolates for us to indulge in.’
Cally chuckled. ‘Trying to bribe me, are you?’
‘Of course! I know how the world works. Bribery has performed wonders in my business.’ Birdie laughed. ‘Let’s get the kettle on.’
Cally stripped off her coat and made her way to the staff room kitchen. Birdie followed in behind her, shut the door and put the little box of chocolates on the table. After waiting for a pot of tea to brew, Cally sat down.
Birdie raised her eyebrows. ‘Let’s cut straight to the chase, shall we? What have you decided? Remember, no pressure at all – if you’d rather just keep things as they are here, that’s fine by me. If so I’ll start putting the feelers out.’
‘I’d love to take the job. Thanks for giving me some time to think about it. Sorry it took a while.’
‘Excellent!’ Birdie clapped her hands and pulled the chocolate box away. ‘I don’t need to bribe you, then, ha ha!’
Cally laughed. ‘You need to pay me in Lovely chocolate.’
‘Okay, what I’ll do is get the proper offer of employment sent and then we’ll get started as soon as possible. I can’t see any point in hanging around.’
‘Nope.’
‘Any questions?’
‘Will it be in at the deep end, or will there be training or what?’ Cally asked. ‘The email mentioned a few things…’
Birdie smiled. ‘Well, there’s the new system for you to have a look at, and the training modules can be done online if you want to do it that way. I thought you could start with that and see how you get on. To be honest, the more I’ve thought about it, the more I think it’s a bit suck it and see.’
‘Yes, right, okay.’
‘You’ve done so well here that it might be best for you to just go with that and run with it.’
Cally thought that might be the case. ‘Mmm.’
‘The main issue I have, as you know, is as I’ve taken on more shops, I’ve lost control of some of the day-to-day stuff. For a fact, I know that Peaceton isn’t running quite as smoothly as everywhere else. I just haven’t had time to get to the bottom of it, and it’s a mess.’
‘Maybe I should start there then.’
‘The pharmacist working there at the moment is managing everything because it’s quite a small store, but I think it needs some looking into. The storeroom needs sorting out just for starters…’
‘Okay. Well, it sounds as if that might be a good place to begin. I like a challenge.’ Cally laughed and sipped her tea.
Birdie popped a chocolate truffle in her mouth. ‘As long as you don’t mind being in the deep end a little bit.’
‘Of course not,’ Cally nodded, while inside feeling slightly nervous. How hard could it be, though? she thought to herself.
‘I’ll talk to the pharmacist there and brief her that you’re going to take over everything regarding the ordering and deliveries.’ Birdie opened her phone and made a note. She looked up with her eyebrows raised. ‘So, we get on with this as soon as possible, as we said, yes?’
‘Yes,’ Cally nodded.
‘Fabulous.’
‘Thank you, Birdie. I cannot believe how generous you’ve been.’
‘Nonsense! What about your other job? What are you going to do about that?’
‘I’ll phase that out,’ Cally said with a smile, feeling strange that she would at last be finished with the chatbot job. Unknowingly, it had been a big part of her life.
‘And Nina, working for A Lovely Organised Life. She’s going to miss you.’
‘She will. She’s already apprehended me for evening shifts and weekends if I can fit them in. We’ll see.’
‘I thought she might. She knows what she’s doing.’
‘She does. I’ll see how I go.’
Birdie pushed her chair back. ‘Right, well, welcome to the company! Here’s to the start of a new road, our Cally.’
Cally nodded. She couldn’t wait to see where the road took her. She hoped it was nice around the corner. There were a few surprises to come.