“I was told the hall was free when I made the booking,” said an irate female voice. “And I’ve got thirty four-year-olds and Cornwall’s premier Elsa impersonator about to turn up for a party.”
As Nova stepped into the office, she saw Sandy standing between Serge and a woman dressed as Olaf fromFrozen, complete with carrot nose.
“All right, please let’s stay calm,” Sandy said, fiddling with the worry beads round her wrist. “I’m sure there’s a simple explanation.”
“If the community center is going to cancel my slot without warning, then I’ll take my business elsewhere,” Serge said.
“I paid my deposit for the room, look!” The woman thrust her phone in Sandy’s face, almost knocking her glasses off. Sandy spotted Nova and scowled.
“Ah, there you are. Please can you check the bookings diary? There appears to be a mix-up.”
“Of course.” Nova opened the calendar on her computer and cringed when she saw that the regular yoga class had been taken out and a birthday party booked in for a two-hour slot.
Sandy spent the next ten minutes groveling to the group of middle-aged ladies who’d turned up for their yoga, and had to give them each a full refund and offer Serge a month of free room hire to stop him complaining to the council.
“How the hell did that happen?” Sandy demanded once they’d all left. “Serge is always in the diary, who put the party in instead?”
Nova swallowed as she saw her own name next to the woman’s details. “I’m sorry, I must have accidentally deleted Serge’s booking.”
Sandy didn’t say anything as she stalked back to her desk, and Nova felt her chest tighten.Try not to cause any more trouble, Sandy had said this morning, and just five hours later, Nova had already door-stepped a grieving woman and messed up an important booking.
Nova kept out of her boss’s way for the rest of the afternoon, dealing with the sugar-hyped four-year-olds from the party running wild round the community center while their parents ignored them and drank wine. Once the party had finished, the main hall looked like a bomb had hit it—the mother hadn’t cleaned up, despite Nova’s pleas—and so she fetched some black bin bags and began to sweep up the mountains of confetti, glitter and crushed Pom-Bears.
“Need a hand?” Lauren appeared in the doorway, brandishing a dustpan and brush.
“Thanks,” Nova said. “How are you? Today’s been so hectic, I’ve barely seen you.”
“Fine, thanks, although Sandy’s in another stinking mood: I offered her a cup of tea earlier and she bit my head off. I know she’s stressed about the budget, but she doesn’t have to be such a cow about it.”
“I think her mood is partly my fault.”
Lauren looked over at her. “Nova, you have to stop beating yourself up. I know leaving the office unlocked was an unfortunate mistake, but not everything that’s gone wrong since then is your fault.”
“No, this really was. I double-booked the main hall and Sandy had to deal with the fallout.”
“Oh, shit,” Lauren said. “That will explain all the shouting I heard earlier.”
“I just don’t know what’s wrong with me.” Nova slumped down in a chair. “I used to be really efficient, but at the moment I’m all over the place. I’ve caused nothing but trouble since I started here.”
“That’s not true. And look: you’ve moved to a new town hundreds of miles from home, you’ve got a new jobandyou’re getting married a week from tomorrow. Your life is a whirlwind, so it’s no wonder if you’ve let a few things slip.”
“Craig keeps calling me Ditsy Davies,” Nova said. “And his mum thinks I’m completely useless. I swear, she must have texted me about ten times to remind me I need to confirm the timings with our wedding photographer.” She held up her phone to show Lauren the stream of messages, many of them in caps lock.
Lauren gave a soft chuckle. “Don’t take that personally, Pamela is a complete control freak. Sam and I always joke that it’s remarkable she’s letting this wedding go ahead at all. In all the years we’ve known Craig, his mum has never thought anyone was good enough for her precious son.”
“Yeah, well I think she’s quickly changing her mind about me.” Nova sighed and shook her head. “Sorry, I shouldn’t moan to you; you’ve got your own problems to deal with, all thanks to me.”
“Don’t be silly, you can moan all you want.”
“Thanks. Honestly, if it weren’t for you and Craig, I think I’d have already run back to London with my tail between my legs.”
“I don’t think anyone would blame you if you did. I can’t imagine leaving my friends and family to move two hundred miles away, let alone living with Pamela Pritchard!”
“I didn’t mind moving; to be honest, after my dad died, I was glad of the change of scene.”
“Yeah, but give yourself credit too. The way you’ve uprooted your life for Craig is impressive.”
“And now this place might close and I won’t even have a job. Neither of us will.” Nova’s stomach lurched at the thought. “Do you think the council will really shut us down?”
