Kam, on the other hand, most definitely had a sense of humour; it was written all over his face, lighting up his eyes and even expressed in the very way he walked. It might be a shockingly bad sense of humour, but that was alright with Pippa. She had one of those too. He was the complete opposite of James in every way. If Kam had been given the job, she could see herself giggling all term.
His round face and laughing eyes were right there in her head making her smile with the possibilities of the two of them spending time together as she turned into the staff car park. And ta-daa, right there in exactly the same spot as it had been before, was the car she had sent to her father’s garage. Perfect!
Chapter Seven
Kam sat at the little table in the middle of the classroom. Like all foundation stage or early-years settings, it was vibrant, alive with colour and there was a really good feeling in this classroom, the aura of a happy productive school. He was so chuffed to be here. He had heard getting any kind of job in a Cornish school was next to impossible, a bit of a dead-man’s-shoes game, and this temporary position was a gift that meant he could be back on track, or at least a few steps closer, to achieving his five-year plan.
Plus, it might go some way to getting his family off his back. Having said that it may still be a while before his father forgave him.
And now he was sitting here raring to go and with a huge pot of coffee in front of him. Kam was very much a coffee man, although he was guilty of lying to his mum and swearing he only ever drank decaff. It was one of her things. His poor dad never heard the end of it and was driven to desperate measures daily. He rather hoped the women he would be working with shared his coffee love. Miss Winter, he had met for his interview, and he knew he would enjoy working alongside her, but the class teaching assistant had been out when they had shown him around, something to do with the Easter celebrations.
This took his mind back to the meeting in the car park with the Easter Bunny. She had been fab. He liked her, a lot. So much so that he hoped that she wouldn’t turn out to be the classroom assistant he was assigned. He wanted to make a good impression here, and having your foot in the door within a school was key. Like most jobs, word of mouth was fundamental and he wanted to do his absolute best in Penmenna so that when it came time to move on, Rosy Winter would put in a good word for him. Good words were how one got permanent positions. Permanent positions were his only way to achieve his goals and the best chance of getting his family to see that his decisions had been good ones.
And one did not get good words by mixing business with pleasure. If the Easter Bunny was the teaching assistant, then that could cause more than a few ripples in his smooth professional life. The fact that she resembled the blonde bombshells of old and laughed at his jokes meant he had developed a minor crush in the first thirty seconds of meeting her. That was not conducive to professional workplace relations.
He poured himself another cup of coffee and was somewhat self-indulgently sniffing it as he did so when he heard the classroom door open.
‘Oh wow, that smells amazing.’ Blonde bombshell entered the room and Kam could feel a huge grin spreading across his face in reaction to her presence. Was it possible for one’s heart to sink and to race at the same time? Plus, if anything was amazing, it was she.
She walked towards him, her curves fully highlighted in some kind of jumper that was a dress and reminded him of Mad Men and all things sixties. Damn, he needed to stop grinning. Had he not just told himself this would be a bad idea? Maybe this was just coincidence. Maybe she worked in another part of the school and had just come in here for supplies or something?
She pulled out the chair and plonked a Tupperware container remarkably similar to the ones his mother carted around everywhere, on the table in front of them.
‘Is one of these mugs for me? I do hope so. I’m known to kill for proper coffee and that wouldn’t be great before term even started.’ She pulled one of the mugs towards her, then the cafetière and poured herself some coffee, pausing to inhale it before taking her first sip.
‘Oh, this is incredible. I was hoping it was you who got the job. We’re going to work well together, I just have a feeling. But this, well, this’ – she inhaled again – ‘this confirms it. You, Mr Choudhury, have just made my morning. Mmm.’
The pleasure she was taking in the coffee was something he understood but it was not making him feel very teacherly. Those bright red lips on the curve of the cup, the way she inhaled deep and drank with such feeling was a little bit too sensual for the workplace first thing in the morning. Damn.
After she had drunk about half a cup in one go, she cradled the mug in her hands and gestured towards the container.
‘Help yourself, my mother has some kind of baking addiction and these were left on my doorstep this morning. They’re pretty good, oatmeal and raisin and in the shape of pencils. You’ll have to excuse that; it’s her thing.’
‘Oh, I can excuse that if they taste as good as they look. I have a mum that does that too.’
‘Makes pencil biscuits and leaves them on your doorstep?’
‘Not quite, but almost. She is incapable of leaving the house without an identical container filled with all sorts of treats which she doles out to anyone who crosses her path. She even used to bring them in at parents evening. Can you imagine how embarrassing that was? “Mrs Choudhury, Kam is very charming and particularly bright but does have a tendency to get easily distracted… ooh I know, here have some barfi, it’s mango… Quite Mrs Choudhury, but the thing is… yes, I know, here have some Gulab Jamun, careful though they are very sticky…” Honestly, I swear, the teachers worked out that all they had to do to get free treats was invite her in and imply I wasn’t perfect.’
‘That’s hilarious. Are you not perfect then?’
‘Well, I am now, obviously, but no one is perfect in their adolescence.’
‘Isn’t that the truth!’
‘Everyone tells me how lucky I am to have such an amazing cook as a mother, but honestly, I swear the whole community constantly hovers in the hope she’ll drag them in and feed them. You should see how busy the house gets at Diwali.’
‘Oh, tell me about it. Mine feels the need to feed the whole village at every possible festivity. Halloween and Christmas are completely out of hand!’
‘Hello you two, nice to see you.’ Miss Winter, the headteacher, suddenly appeared at the table, reminding Kam quite forcefully that he was here to work, not merely to drink coffee and eat biscuits. Although, how Miss Winter had entered the classroom without either of them noticing seemed a bit of a mystery. ‘I see you’ve met each other already.’
‘Yup, we met on the interview day. Kam, isn’t it?’ Pippa smiled over the brim of her cup at him.
‘Yup, Kam Choudhury. Pleasure to meet you more formally.’
‘Well, seeing as we’re being formal, my surname’s Parkin. Pippa Parkin, so have a giggle now and get it over with. All of us, my brother and sister were given forenames beginning with P. My parents thought it was hilarious to be alliterative. Us, less so.’
‘It’s a very nice name.’ He smiled at her, willing himself to be bold and make eye contact as he spoke. After all, this was going to be a professional relationship so he wouldn’t mess it up like he did normally with any woman he was attracted too. Kam cursed his shyness usually, but he guessed here it would work in his favour and stop him blurring those professional lines.
