my teeth, I accepted. Moments later I resembled less the night of the walking dead and more the morning of the walking dead. Heavy powder caked my cheeks, a smear of maroon lipstick and a flick of thick kohl completed the look. I wasn’t sure if it was an improvement but at least I’d got the crusty sleep from my eyes and rubbed the creases from my face. My hair was another matter – in desperate need of some TLC I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d managed to visit a hairdresser, let alone had some home hair care. Wiry, dull and sticking up in tufts, it looked a mess.
‘’Ere, just try and pin it back.’ Kelli handed me some grips.
‘Thanks, Kel, I really appreciate this.’ I took them and smiled at her, hurriedly pulling strands of hair from my face and prising a hairgrip in.
‘No probs, boss. I, erm, didn’t mean what I said about you being a psycho control freak either.’ She scuffed her shoes on the floor.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ I said with a half-smile. The dinging of the bell caught us both.
‘Kel?’ Ben called out. ‘They didn’t have your half-fat, extra-tall, two-shot latte so I got you a normal filter coffee that’s apparently for someone called Heyli.’
Kelli left me to continue sorting myself out. ‘Right, fine, thanks.’
‘Is Georgia here? Why is her coat on the floor?’ I heard his trousers rustle as he bent down to pick up my jacket that I’d dropped in the hurry to make myself presentable.
‘Erm, well, er …’ Kelli mumbled.
‘I’m here!’ I walked out smiling, trying to look as fresh and well slept as I could. ‘Sorry, I must have knocked my jacket over as I nipped to the loo.’
‘Hey, morning,’ Ben said looking slightly bemused by the new look I was rocking on my face. ‘You … erm … look nice today. Here, they didn’t mess up on your order.’
‘Thanks.’ I blushed and quickly sat at my desk, acting as normal as I could. I gratefully took the steaming coffee from Ben, trying to ignore his furrowed brow that suggested he was trying to work out what was different about me. ‘So, you ready for our staff meeting?’
‘Yep.’ He pulled himself together and headed over to his desk.
Staff meetings were in all the business management books I’d been trying to read; OK, well, I’d downloaded the audio books onto my iPhone as they helped drown out the noise of rowdy school kids getting the same bus as me to town every morning. Apparently staff meetings were vital in ensuring that all tasks are evenly distributed, targeted and have measurable results, as well as checking in with your colleagues in a bid to strengthen team relations … or something like that. I never could concentrate on the droning voice on 1001 ways to improve your business when some spotty teen was playing Justin Bieber out of their tinny phone speakers.
When I’d suggested we hold weekly staff meetings both Kelli and Ben had tried not to laugh at me. With just the three of us working here, plus the occasional visit from Ben’s godmother and previous owner Trisha, they’d scoffed that we didn’t need them but I’d insisted. Mostly because I needed to make sure that every ball we were juggling wasn’t being dropped.
‘Kel? You ready?’ I called out.
‘Yeah.’ She grabbed a notepad, mostly full of her angst-ridden scribbles, and sat on the edge of the sofa, ignoring my pursed look when she flipped her feet onto one of the chenille cushions.
‘Great, so …’ I scanned my tired eyes down my to-do list, mentally reminding myself to add steam clean the floor and bring in a spare change of clothes that I could leave under my desk, in case I pulled an all-nighter again. Just in case. ‘We’ve got the visuals back for the summer campaign that I sent both of you. I didn’t have time for your feedback so signed it off but trust me it looks really good. Then coming up this week we’ve got the tour going to Iceland; Kelli, will you make sure that you email the tour guide with everyone’s passport details?’ She nodded. ‘Actually, I can just do that; it’ll only take two minutes. We also need to send the updated itinerary out. I’ve started that so may as well finish it,’ I said, crossing a line through it.
I ignored Ben’s quizzical look and continued to scan down my list.
‘OK, so next on the agenda is the Indian tour leaving in a couple of weeks. As you know this is proving to be one of our bestsellers and definitely where we need to be focusing our energy, so although the demand is there I really think we need to question our relationship with the visa company that we’ve been using.’
‘What’s wrong with them?’ Ben asked.
‘Well, nothing. I just think we could do a better job if it was all in-house. Apparently streamlining a business’s services only adds value.’ I ignored them both raising an eyebrow at me. ‘I’ll look into that –’
‘Georgia,’ Ben cut me off.
‘Yep?’ I looked up from my list.
‘Is there anything you want Kelli and me to do?’
‘Oh yep, sorry,’ I replied sheepishly. ‘Kel, if you could sort out getting a steam cleaner as these tiles need a good going over?’ She wouldn’t be able to mess that task up. ‘And, Ben, you’ve got enough to worry about with preparing for the Travel Trade Convention and getting the copy finalised for the website. You said you’d have the new “what’s happening” page live by last week … and well … it’s still not gone up.’
‘It was yesterday that you asked me to do that. Not last week,’ he said with a slight frown.
‘Oh really?’ God had it only been yesterday? ‘Well, either way it needs to be sorted, please.’
‘Consider it done,’ he replied with a wink that made my lady parts do a funny wiggle.
I cleared my throat, forcing myself back on track. ‘Thanks, and finally I was also thinking that we should look into each learning a new language? Take a class over lunch or something like that? It would really help with attracting new clients and in building relationships with foreign guides if we can speak their language.’
Looking expectantly at their faces I could tell my new idea had fallen on deaf ears.
‘I think that might be one for the future maybe?’ Ben said softly, trying not to laugh as Kelli yawned dramatically.
‘Yeah, maybe we can re-visit that soon, although I’ve read that Mandarin is the most widely spoken language in the world, so we really should be hitting that market. Oh and then last but not least, I’ve managed to get a meeting with Hostel Planners later this week to see if we could tie in some of our tours with them.’
‘You didn’t say.’ Ben’s deep brown eyes caught mine. A flash of confusion and hurt flickered across his face.
‘I only found out this morning, I-I mean last night,’ I stuttered.
‘You want me to come with you to that? You know your list is sounding pretty heavy – it might be best to share the load a little, Georgia?’ He tilted his head at me.
‘It’s all under control. Trust me.’ I smiled weakly, not wanting to look at Kelli who I could feel was giving me a look that said she knew things weren’t under control.
‘If you’re sure.’ Ben wasn’t letting this go.
‘Ben, I’m sure,’ I said, a little more forthrightly than I’d meant to. I softened my tone. ‘Sorry, I think you’ve got enough to look after with preparing for the convention. How’s your speech coming on? Do you want to practise it with us? Maybe you could send it over so I can check it before you go?’ I tried to say it as lightly as I could, hoping to sound like a caring colleague, not a control freak who needed to keep tabs on exactly what it was he would be saying.
‘It’s all under control.’ He grinned, tapping a finger to the side of his head.
‘But