“Courtney, is everything alright?” Colin asked, his gaze fixed on Courtney, while Lorraine scanned all the upset people milling around them.
“No, it’s not alright,” Courtney said, her voice a whisper. “I’ve… lost my job. The business had gone bust.”
“Oh!” Colin’s eyes widened in surprise and then a beat later, he was pulling her into a hug. “That’s terrible news.”
Courtney closed her eyes, grateful for the chance to blink back tears, while sinking into her uncle’s comforting embrace.
“I’m so sorry, Courtney,” Lorraine said, tucking an arm around her too. “Has this just happened?”
Stepping out of her uncle’s arms, Courtney nodded. “I had no idea until I turned up here. No one knew. There’s just a sign taped to the door, saying the place has ceased trading, and then while I was talking to Mary,”—she nodded to her colleague, who was already engrossed in an animated conversation with other people—“we all got a message on our phones from the company, telling us we’d been made redundant.”
Courtney held up her phone, as if it were a piece of evidence, and realised how badly her hands were shaking. While her uncle stepped closer to the shop doors and read the announcement taped on the glass, Lorraine turned to Courtney with concern in her eyes.
“You look as white as a sheet, love,” Lorraine said. “And you’re shaking like a leaf. I think we ought to get you sat down somewhere.”
Lorraine tucked her arm through Courtney’s as Colin returned, shaking his head in dismay after reading the sign on the door.
“Judging by the looks on everyone’s faces here, this has come completely out of the blue,” Colin said. “I feel terrible for everyone, and… Lorraine, where are you going?”
“I think we should get Courtney back to the car,” Lorraine replied. “She’s badly shaken, and little wonder after what she just found out. I’m worried her blood pressure might have dropped.”
Colin leapt into action, hurrying towards the car and opening the rear door. Lorraine almost whisked Courtney off her feet, shuffling her back inside.
“I’m fine. This just came as a complete shock, that’s all,” Courtney said, but she was grateful to sit down again, sinking into the back passenger seat. Her head was swirling and her knees felt like jelly.
“Just take a few deep breaths, love,” Lorraine said when she slipped into the other side of the back seat. “Nice and easy.”
Nodding, Courtney did as she was told. Lorraine took her hand in hers and squeezed it. Colin lingered beside the open rear door, hunkering down so they were level.
“Do you need to see a doctor?” he asked. “Your Aunt Lorraine is right—you look as white as a sheet. I’m worried about you.”
“I’m okay. I’m just reeling a bit from the news.” Steadier now, Courtney offered a smile to prove she was alright—well, mostly alright—and then glanced again at the text message she’d just read on her phone. “I can’t believe I lost my job. Just like that—it’s gone.”
“It’s not your fault,” Colin said. “And you didn’tloseyour job. It was taken from you. Businesses go bust all the time, unfortunately, and it’s the poor employees who pay the price. I’m sorry this has happened to you.”
“I thought the business was solid, but my colleague Mary says she’s had worries for a while. I had no idea. I don’t evenknow what happened! How can a business just gobustall of a sudden?”
It seemed ludicrous to her. What about the customer orders waiting to be fulfilled? What about the deposits people had paid for their new furniture? What about all the invoices for payment Courtney remembered processing just last week? Who would sort all that out now?
And what about the monthly salary she was due to get paid? It was almost the end of the month. Would she still get the money she was owed for the work she’d done?
“Oh, God,” Courtney said, as the awful pieces of the puzzle began to click into place. “Will we all still get paid at the end of the month?”
She was talking more to herself than anything, but found herself glancing up to her Uncle Colin for an answer. The dismayed expression on his face told her all she needed to know.
“As I understand it, when a business goes bust, anyone who’s owed money becomes a creditor, and that includes redundant employees,” Colin said. “If the business is in liquidation, then the administrators will use any available cash to pay creditors. But…”
When he trailed off, Courtney finished the thought for him.
“But if there was enough cash to pay everyone, the business probably wouldn’t have gone bust in the first place,” she said.
Colin nodded.
“So, I’ve lost my job and I might not get the monthly salary I’m owed, either?”
Colin frowned. “I don’t know for sure. I’m sure you’ll be entitled to some sort of redundancy pay, at least. But all of this has only just happened. Maybe you’ll get more news later today.”
Courtney gave a half-hearted nod. If she didn’t get paid this month, she couldn’t bear to think about what that would mean for her already disastrous finances.
