to discuss with Miss Thomas.’
Cait inwardly froze. They were telling that man to go . . . she didn’t even know his name yet she felt he was the only ally she had. She didn’t feel she could do whatever she had to without knowing he was nearby, lending her strength. ‘Whatever is said in this office will be common knowledge when you go and report it back to the rest of the workforce so it’s of no consequence if he stays,’ she announced, inwardly quaking. Then, desperate to get this over with before she lost her nerve, and reminding herself of Glen’s words of advice to be careful of how she addressed the men, she took a deep breath and in a pleasant and sincere tone said, ‘I’m . . . I’m sorry . . . very sorry for the way I’ve been acting. I admit I wasn’t thinking straight to believe I had what it takes to run this company. I was just trying to help my mother out while she’s away, that’s all. I’m sure you can all appreciate that.’
She paused for a moment to draw breath before she continued. ‘All the new rules I’ve put in place, well, you can forget them. And the men I sacked are reinstated. I’ll do my best to find someone else to run this place as a matter of urgency, so if you’d just bear with me until then . . .’
The men all looked astonished, her apology and her behaviour the last things they’d been expecting.
Alf Bisson, a militant at heart, was not as happy as the other three that a strike had been averted. In all the years he had been union rep for this company, he’d only had what he perceived as petty problems to deal with and had been looking forward at long last to showing the workers that he was more than a match for the hierarchy. He was annoyed that this young woman had thwarted him. Another chance like this to show his mettle might never come his way again, considering that this company in all its history had never had a strike. Reluctantly he said, ‘Well . . . er . . . right you are then, Miss Thomas. We’ll take this back to the staff and get their vote on it.’
As soon as they had departed, Cait let out a huge sigh of relief and said to Glen, ‘Did I do all right?’
He smiled at her. ‘More than all right, Miss Thomas. You should give yourself a pat on the back. That couldn’t have been easy for you.’
‘No, it wasn’t, but at least now my mother isn’t going to return from holiday and find her business in ruins. How much do I owe you?’
He frowned. ‘Owe me?’
‘For helping me?’
‘But I don’t need paying. I was only too glad you did let me help you or I dread to think what the consequences might have been.’
She looked most surprised. ‘Oh! If ever I’ve got anyone to do anything for me before, I’ve always had to make sure it was worth it to them.’ Then she remembered all the things he had said to her so bluntly and her bottom lip began to tremble, tears to prick her eyes. ‘You said some horrible things to me.’
She was obviously very upset by his remarks, but if she was expecting him to apologise for what he had said to her then she would wait a long time. ‘What I told you were some home truths, Miss Thomas. I couldn’t see any other way to get you to take notice than to be brutally honest. And a bit more advice . . . If you carry on the way you are, turning people away from you with your manner towards them, then you’re going to end up a lonely old woman. Unless, of course, that’s what you want for yourself, so you purposely treat people with disdain, to stop them getting close to you for some reason?’
Cait was stupefied. No, she certainly didn’t want to end up alone. But she was only taking her lead from her mother and she wasn’t a lonely old woman. She frowned, confused. Something struck her. The man had just said that by acting the way she was towards people, she was in fact pushing them away. She hadn’t realised that; had always assumed she should speak to people like that because her mother did. But was it just her mother’s way