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‘You don’t happen to have a make-up bag here, do you?’ she asked Fleur as casually as possible.
‘Always,’ said Fleur with a wink, pulling out a hefty tote from beneath the front desk.
Minnie rationalised that she wasn’t going to any particular effort; she just wanted to look normal. She would have put on a dab of mascara if she’d planned to meet anyone other than her colleagues today. She didn’t want Leila to see her putting on make-up, though; Leila would read something into it. Unfortunately, this whole covert borrowing and putting on of make-up caused such a distraction that another batch of pies came out of the oven overbaked.
‘See, easily done,’ said Bev triumphantly, as Minnie pulled a tray of dark brown pies from the shelf.
‘They’re fine, I like them like this,’ said Minnie, though she knew these pies wouldn’t pass her usually stringent quality control. Alan had already taken one box of deliveries off on the bike and trailer, and soon Quinn would be here. They didn’t have the manpower or the time to be fussy today.
Leila walked through from the store cupboard with more flat-packed cardboard boxes and a stack of aluminium pie cases.
‘Look at all this packaging,’ Bev sighed, ‘how much of it do you think gets recycled?’
‘Bev, give me a break, we’re feeding the elderly and isolated, we can’t be expected to save the planet too,’ said Leila, dumping all the packaging on the central steel countertop.
‘You know my granddaughter Betty, she’s four, she said to me last week, “Gran, what are you doing to save the planet from snowball warming?” ’
Minnie and Leila laughed.
‘I couldn’t think of anything, isn’t that terrible?’ Bev chewed her bottom lip as she carefully transferred pies from the cooling rack into cases.
‘Bev, I think you’ve got enough to worry about with your forgetfulness, I wouldn’t be getting stressed about global warming too,’ said Leila.
‘She’s got eco-anxiety, it’s all the rage right now, all the celebs have got it,’ said Fleur, poking her head around the doorway from reception. ‘My friend had it so badly she stopped showering and shopping for like a month, and just lived in the dark with no TV; well, she had the basic channels, no Netflix or Amazon. Then she invented this new biodegradable packaging that’s made of seaweed or mushrooms or some hemp shit, and now she’s like a millionaire and has a private jet, but she’s almost totally carbon-neutral so it’s fine.’
‘Is this the same friend who invented armbands?’ Minnie asked, sceptically.
‘No,’ said Fleur pointedly, ‘armbands were invented like ages ago, Minnie.’ Fleur made a huffing sound and flounced back through to reception.
‘I can’t keep up with all her famous movie director and inventor friends,’ Minnie whispered, and Leila giggled.
‘He’s here!’ Fleur called in a singsong voice from reception.
Minnie handed the box she was folding to Bev, pulled off her grease-stained apron and hairnet, and hurried out to meet him. Standing in their pokey reception, Quinn looked even taller than she remembered. He was dressed in jeans and a soft camel-coloured jumper with a blue Barbour jacket slung over one shoulder. He stood with his weight backwards, one leg bent, surveying the space around him like a king surveying a newly conquered land. Minnie could see Fleur was desperately trying to catch her eye, so she purposely avoided looking in her direction.
‘Hi,’ said Minnie.
‘Hi,’ said Quinn with a slow grin.
‘You really didn’t need to do this. I don’t expect people I hardly know to loan me their car at a moment’s notice just because I phone them by accident,’ Minnie said, fluffing her flattened hair out from behind her ears.
‘Was it an accident though?’ Quinn asked, slowly leaning forwards, one eyebrow raised. Minnie opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. ‘I’m joking. Besides, I wasn’t doing anything,’ Quinn broke the silence, ‘nor was my car.’
Fleur giggled, a stupid schoolgirlish giggle. Quinn gave her an indulgent smile, his eyes sparkling with approval. So predictable – she was probably just his type.
‘This is Fleur, by the way.’
Minnie gave a half-hearted wave in Fleur’s direction. Fleur jumped up to sit on the reception desk, swinging her legs childishly in front of her.
‘Have you ever had your aura read, Quinn? You know you have a really strong energy around you,’ said Fleur.
‘I haven’t,’ he said.
‘Maybe I should and come see where you’ve parked?’ Minnie suggested, before Fleur could monopolise the man with her wanton quackery.
‘So how was the rest of your birthday?’ Quinn asked as they walked down the street away from the kitchen.
‘Oh, um, great,’ Minnie said, giving him a tight smile.
