Page 8 of Glow

Colin got up and walked over to the window. “Absolutely. You’re doing it again, you know.”

“Doing what?”

“Being so amazed that I’ve lived a whole life,” Colin replied.

Prin went over to him. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like that. I’m sorry. You’re wrong though. I totally respect everything you’ve been through to get here. Life isn’t for the weak.”

“Ignore me,” Colin said. “I suppose I’m a little upset that the class is over. It’s been a lifeline for me these last few weeks.”

Prin followed Colin’s gaze. He was watching some couples laughing and joking in the gardens.

“The same for me,” Prin replied.

This caught Colin’s attention and he prised his eyes away from outside and onto Prin. “I would have thought a handsome young man like you had a busy life.”

Prin shrugged. “Seems not.”

“I may not be much cop on the computer,” Colin replied. “But I’m a dab hand at listening.”

“Thank you, Colin. Maybe one day, eh?”

Colin patted him on the arm. “Well, you’re welcome here any time you like. It makes a change to share a bottle with someone.”

“Thank you. With wine this good, it will be my pleasure.”

THREE

SCOTT

The meeting room was stifling. Scott fanned himself with his hand. The air conditioning had broken down and it was another warm day.

“Jesus, it’s hot,” Scott said.

“Tell me about it,” Carla Jennings replied. “If it gets much worse, I’m sending everyone home to work.”

As the HR Director, Carla had the unenviable task of keeping everyone at Pleasure Seekers on the straight and narrow. She openly considered Scott her right-hand man. It could be a hindrance and a curse when she gave him the jobs she didn’t trust to anyone else.

“I’m not going home,” Sheila Sinclair piped up. “Martin’s having the loft boarded out. Honestly, don’t let your partner retire before you. He spends most of his time talking to the workmen, meaning the whole thing takes twice as long. And costs more.”

Sheila had a tendency to suck the joy out of every situation. She reported directly to Scott, which made for very depressing one-to-one meetings. He had every sympathy with Martin wanting to disappear into the loft.

“Why are you having it boarded out?” Scott asked. “Do we need to make a sign for Martin’s Man Cave?”

Sheila sighed. “Don’t encourage him. Apparently, it’s been his life dream to build a model railway. It’s the first I’ve heard of it. Still, if it shuts him up while my soap operas are on, he can do what he likes.”

Scott got up and wandered over to the window. The rest of the team watched him. The ice-cream van had parked up in its usual spot outside a warehouse that housed a massive soft play area for kids.

“I’ve got the perfect cool-down idea,” Scott said. “Ice creams are on me.”

Zain the recruitment manager and Alice the HR assistant cheered. Sheila looked concerned.

“I’ve got an exposed nerve in my upper left molar,” she said. “It would be the worst thing I could do right now.”

Scott swallowed down the hundred responses that formed in his mind and forced a smile on his face. “Perhaps I might tempt you to a glass of water, Sheila?”

Carla caught his eye. She knew how Sheila irritated him. Scott complained to her enough.

“So that’s four cones?” Carla asked. “Are you positive, Sheila?”