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Marie rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t pull that one with me, Zack. I’m not Mum. You’re going to look nice because this is an interview, but just turning up and saying the right things isn’t going to get you off the hook. Afterwards is when you get to prove whether or not you’re contrite and hard-working.’
She got yet another of Zack’s dazzling smiles. That was his trouble; he never took anything too seriously. She was going to have to keep a close watch on him if he came to work at the clinic.
‘All right. Half an hour to get washed and dressed and have a shave. Then we’re leaving.’
Getting Zack to the clinic was a bit like getting a recalcitrant six-year-old to school. But at least he straightened up a bit and smiled cheerfully when Alex came out of his office and greeted him.
Alex whisked Zack and Sofia into his office, shutting the door firmly behind them. It wouldn’t do to listen at the door, so Marie returned to her office and frowned at the wall, fiddling with a pink paper clip.
After an hour, she called down to Reception, asking Tina to give her a buzz as soon as Alex was free. Zack might be blissfully free from interview nerves, but Marie couldn’t help worrying about him.
* * *
Zack was a graceful, engaging youth, with a ready smile. He declared himself ready for all kinds of hard work, and was excited at the prospect of earning the opportunities that Alex and Sofia outlined. Yes, he wanted to study. And, yes, he wanted to take responsibility for all the jobs in the clinic that no one else wanted to do. He wanted to show that he could take on the outreach tasks that Sonya had outlined as well. But if he could manage to do all that, he’d be working for more hours than Marie had at his age, and that wasn’t really possible.
Despite himself, Alex liked the kid. He was charming and intelligent and he reminded him of Marie. And there was something in those heavy-lashed blue eyes that made Alex feel the boy might just have the same grit as his sister, if it were only possible to bring it out in him.
After they’d shown Zack around Alex left him in Sofia’s care. Then he returned to his office and waited.
He didn’t have to wait long. Marie appeared in the doorway, clearly trying to give the impression that she’d just happened to walk past on her way somewhere else. She put a large piece of card face down on his desk and sat down. They’d fallen into the habit of bringing things for each other’s offices—unusual stationery or pictures for the walls—and he turned the card over, wondering what she’d found this time.
‘Oh! That’s wonderful. Where shall I put it?’
His wall was filling up now, and he’d brought some pictures and vintage record covers from home to go with the various prints Marie had given him. This one was an old photograph she’d got from somewhere, which reeked of late nights and the blues, showing a drink propped on top of a piano and one of his favourite artists, shirtsleeves rolled up and eyes closed as he played.
‘You’re beginning to run out of space.’ Marie surveyed the wall.
‘Not for this one.’
It was clearly something Marie had gone out of her way to get, and an image that Alex hadn’t seen before. He took one of the framed pictures off its hook, and started to prise open the back of it, so he could replace it with the photograph and put it in pride of place.
Marie obviously wasn’t going to ask, so he told her anyway. ‘Zack seems...unrealistically enthusiastic.’
Marie laughed. ‘Yes, that’s him all over.’
‘Maybe an eight-hour day will slake his zeal a little.’
‘He’ll be here before nine o’clock tomorrow morning. I promise.’
Marie flashed him that intent look that he’d seen so many times before. When she took on the troubles of the world and tried to work her way through them. She usually succeeded, but Alex had seen the toll it had taken.
‘Will you do me a favour? Don’t go round to your mother’s every morning and chivvy him.’
‘He told you about that?’ Marie looked a little as if she’d been found out.
‘No, I guessed. You have enough to do here, without running around after Zack.’
Alex could see that this wasn’t reason enough for Marie and decided she needed a bit more persuasion.
‘I’ve told him that he’ll work eight hours, with an hour’s lunch break every day. If he’s late then he can work an extra hour in the evening, but he’s not to stay here after six o’clock. If he gets here after ten in the morning I’ll dock his pay.’
‘That’s very generous. He really should be here at nine every day.’
‘Flexible hours work for us. But he need
s to take responsibility for himself. I’m hoping your mother won’t decide to give him spending money for the weekend if he finds his pay has been docked at the end of the week.’
Marie shook her head. ‘No, she’ll do whatever you ask; she’s really grateful that you’re taking Zack on. I’ll mention it to her, though.’
