Fitting In Read online

  Fitting In

  Amanda Radley

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  Contents

  1. Silver Arches

  2. A Spy or a Test

  3. The Robot

  4. Not Very Talkative

  5. Zero Nutritional Value

  6. Keep Up the Good Work

  7. Nico and the Pop-Up

  8. Where Next?

  9. A Problem Solved

  10. Inefficiencies

  11. Security and Discipline

  12. No Time for Lunch

  13. A Judgement Call

  14. Clap Them in Irons

  15. Setting Up Shop

  16. Prefer to Be Alone

  17. Book Loan Buddy

  18. Wake-Up Call

  19. Not Informed

  20. Bored

  21. Many Glasses

  22. Just a Loan

  23. The Party

  24. Don’t Want to Be Friends

  25. Interrupting Breakfast

  26. A Chat over Coffee

  27. Friday

  28. Welcome to Ore

  29. Angus the Adorable Dachshund

  30. A Warm Hug at the End of The Day

  31. Being Cagey

  32. Realisation

  33. A Surprise Invitation

  34. Time Optimist

  35. Baby Girl

  36. Baseless Optimism

  37. A Quiet Table

  38. An Exceptional Night

  39. An Olive Branch

  40. Consider It… Tracted

  41. Networking

  42. Centre Guidelines

  43. Small

  44. Different, Not Weird

  45. A Purpose

  46. A Busy Morning

  47. The Incident

  48. Not Angry

  49. Finally Talking

  50. You Were Right

  51. Four Minutes Late

  Epilogue

  Patreon

  Reviews

  About the Author

  Also by Amanda Radley

  Also by Amanda Radley

  Other Books by Amanda Radley

  1

  Silver Arches

  Heather Bailey sent the email and then let out a long, heartfelt sigh. It was only ten o’clock in the morning and already her workday was looking out of control.

  She stood up and looked out her office window. The Silver Arches Shopping Centre car park was filling up nicely; not bad for a weekday.

  “Knock, knock.”

  Heather turned to see Deputy Centre Director Ravi Patel standing in the doorway, smiling as he so often did. Ravi was the best second-in-command she could have hoped for; he was a dedicated, hard worker who got on with absolutely everyone. Heather often wondered how she’d manage without him, then quickly quashed the very notion of him ever leaving her side.

  “Good morning,” she greeted him.

  “Morning. The journalist is here.” He stepped into the office, taking a healthy bite out of a red apple he held in his hand.

  Heather felt her eyes widen in surprise. She’d forgotten all about the interview she had booked for that morning.

  Silver Arches was undergoing an unprecedented period of change, and she was expected to talk up what an exciting time it was. Even if, in her heart, she dreaded what was coming.

  “You’d forgotten,” Ravi said after swallowing the bite of fruit. He was grinning playfully, knowing full well how forgetful Heather could be.

  Heather gestured to her computer. “It would have popped up on there eventually.” She looked at her watch. “She’s early?”

  “Yes, fifteen minutes early,” Ravi agreed. “I hear journalists do that to rattle people.”

  He was still grinning, and Heather didn’t know if he was being serious or not.

  “Well, I don’t get rattled,” Heather said, picking up her phone and clipping it to the holder on her belt.

  “That’s the spirit. She’s by the customer services desk. I’ll be with accounts if you need me; our overlords at Intrex need more figures.”

  Heather rolled her eyes. “Don’t they always?”

  They exchanged a quick farewell and headed in opposite directions. Heather moved quickly through the staff-only areas of the shopping centre, passing delivery trolleys, maintenance teams, security officers, and retail staff. Behind the public areas, Silver Arches was a community and Heather was, in many ways, their leader.

  She’d come a long way since she started working in her uncle’s record store all those years ago. Retail was in her blood, and Heather loved the fast-paced environment.

  She exited through a large set of automatic double doors and prepared herself to be front-of-house ready. It was a theatre term, but there was a certain amount of drama in a large shopping mall such as Silver Arches.

  Several sets of doors led to the staff areas, backstage and away from the guests. It wasn’t unusual for employees to sag with exhaustion when returning from the centre and entering the relative calm of the staff area. Likewise, they stood a little taller when walking into Silver Arches, guest faces firmly in position.

  She walked up the corridor and turned into the main thoroughfare of the centre.

  Most of the stores were open or in the process of opening. Shoppers strolled around, many with a takeaway hot drink in hand, making their plans for the day.

  At the customer service desk, Heather could see a young woman in a smart suit, clutching a Dictaphone as she spoke to Margaret behind the desk.

  “Here’s Miss Bailey now,” Margaret said as Heather approached.

  The journalist turned around and held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Jemma Graves from The Echo. Thank you so much for your time, Miss Bailey.”

  She shook Jemma’s hand. “Thank you for coming out to Silver Arches. And, please, call me Heather.”

  “Are you okay if I record?” Jemma gestured to the Dictaphone in her hand.

  “By all means.”

  Jemma pressed some buttons as they started walking. “Is that a slight accent I detect?”

  Heather chuckled. “It is, I’ve been trying to get rid of it for years. My father is from New York, but I’ve lived in the UK since I was six.”

  Jemma smiled. “My mum was born in Poland and can’t shake the accent at all.”

  “I love the blend of cultures, languages, and accents you hear in London,” Heather said. “I work with a very culturally diverse group of people, and it makes us all richer for it. Silver Arches has people from every corner of the world all under one roof, and we’re very much a family here.”

  “A family that’s about to change quite a lot,” Jemma expertly turned the conversation.

  “That’s true. It’s a very exciting time,” Heather said, hoping she sounded genuine.

  “The Arches Group has been reporting losses for the past three years despite owning some of the most successful shopping malls in the country. Why is that?” Jemma asked.

  “Retail has been a challenging market for a few years now, due to rising property prices and costs, lower footfall. The Arches Group has been performing on a par with many of its competitors, but we know we can do better. We’re in a fantastic situation to offer more to customers, and, with the help of Intrex, we are looking forward to making that a reality.”

  They walked along the upper floo
r of the centre, Heather’s keen eye checking the cleaning and maintenance teams’ work as they went. Thankfully, all of the silver handrails gleamed, and the glass partitions that looked down to the lower level sparkled. The marble floors and ornate lights were all spotless. It took a lot of work to keep the centre pristine, but Heather accepted nothing less.

  “Is this a takeover?” Jemma asked bluntly.

  “Not at all. Intrex is injecting substantial investment into Silver Arches, but The Arches Group will retain full control,” Heather explained.

  Both boards were keen to give the impression that the joint venture was merely two companies coming together to meet a common goal. Retail was changing, and staying ahead of that change meant investing serious amounts of cash. The Arches Group was out of money to future-proof itself from such large changes, but Intrex was an investment company with money and, supposedly, a plan.

  While The Arches Group would technically be in control of Silver Arches, it wasn’t lost on Heather that no investment company would throw a pile of cash at a project without wanting some say on how it was used.

  She’d been in business long enough to know that what she was told by the head office and what was true were often vastly different. The higher-ups could tell her that nothing would change, but logically she knew that was impossible.

  “So, the investment is limited to Silver Arches?” Jemma continued.

  “Exactly. The Arches Group owns and operates seven shopping centres in the UK and three in Europe. Silver Arches is the flagship, as I’m sure you know. Situated just outside of central London, we’re in an excellent location for locals and tourists. We have over two hundred thirty stores, a bowling alley, a sixteen-screen cinema, and over sixty places to eat. With free parking, you could literally spend the entire day here, and many people do.”

  “And with the Intrex investment? Is there any room for expansion if Silver Arches is already so big?” Jemma asked.

  “Well, I can’t talk about all of the exciting developments just yet,” Heather said. “You’ll have to wait and see, but there are big plans ahead. I can tell you that we’ll be expanding our parking, and we’re in talks with an exciting entertainment option.”

  “We did hear rumours about a virtual reality suite?” Jemma fished.

  Heather smiled and shook her head. “I’m afraid I can’t confirm or deny anything like that.”

  The truth was that nothing much had been decided. The Arches Group had thrown themselves into business with Intrex in a way that made Heather worry they were in imminent danger of bankruptcy.

  Of course, she kept those concerns to herself. No one needed to see the centre director worried. It was her job to ensure that Silver Arches was running smoothly, that every shopper had a fantastic visit, and that every store felt looked-after and well maintained.

  “I think I read that Silver Arches is the fifth-biggest shopping centre in the UK?” Jemma asked.

  “It is, although we actually have more footfall than the fourth-biggest, so there’s always a friendly debate about that,” Heather said good-naturedly.

  “Can we talk a little about you?” Jemma asked.

  Heather blinked. “Me?”

  It was supposed to be a piece about the new investment, demonstrating what a wonderful thing it was, and redirecting any concerns regarding the financial stability of Silver Arches.

  She hadn’t expected to talk about herself and didn’t particularly want to. She’d only agreed to give the interview because she knew she had little choice in the matter.

  “Yes, how long have you been centre director?” Jemma carried straight on, ignoring Heather’s hesitation.

  “Seven years,” Heather replied, wondering how to get the interview off herself and back to the brief.

  “And before that?” Jemma questioned.

  “I’ve been with The Arches Group for nineteen years,” Heather said with a wince. She wasn’t exactly old, but she felt it when saying the figure aloud. “I worked my way up from a temporary summer job helping with the operations team.”

  “And now you’re the boss,” Jemma added.

  “We’re a team,” Heather corrected gently.

  Jemma nodded in a way that suggested she knew Heather was the boss and was being modest.

  “Have you met Leo Flynn yet?” Jemma asked.

  “We’ve met a couple of times,” Heather answered, not wishing to be drawn into the matter if possible.

  Leo Flynn, owner of Intrex, was a larger-than-life character. While he was praised for building up an investment firm now worth billions from absolutely nothing, he was also known for being opinionated, harsh, and often ruthless in his business dealings.

  Heather had spent precisely one hour in the man’s company, split over two thirty-minute meetings, and she felt she had a very good idea of who Leo Flynn was. Profit came first; people came second. Not Heather’s way of doing business at all.

  However, she did have a grudging respect for the Irishman. He knew The Arches Group inside out and was fast learning everything there was to know about Silver Arches Centre itself. He did his research, he knew business, and he could identify a good opportunity when he saw one.

  Heather suspected that Leo had identified the bottom of the retail market; rents were as low as they could go following the exit of several large retailers from the marketplace over recent years.

  With the big names falling like flies, smaller and more agile companies were taking over. Companies that supported a bricks-and-mortar store through an online presence were becoming the norm.

  On top of that, many people were logging off from online shopping and heading back out to the shopping centres. The gloss had worn off of cheap bargains that often delivered less than they promised. People now wanted to see goods before they bought them.

  Leo had seemingly identified the perfect time to enter the crowded market and had bought a huge stake in one of its biggest companies.

  He clearly had big plans, but no one at Silver Arches was quite sure what they were yet. He played his cards close to his chest, and his brash personality meant that no one dared to question him about it.

  “Will he be heavily involved in the running of Silver Arches?” Jemma asked.

  “I expect we’ll be seeing him now and then,” Heather replied diplomatically.

  Again, nothing had been decided, and the head office didn’t seem to have a plan.

  She’d been informed by Leo Flynn himself that she would retain her position and that he was relying on her to do exactly what she had been doing for the past seven years. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t step in and upset the balance she’d created at any time he desired.

  It didn’t seem likely that Mr Flynn would be content to stand to one side; he surely had ideas and plans of his own. And with so much money tied up in Silver Arches, of course he would want to keep a close eye on things.

  It was the unknown quantity of what her future work life would look like that kept Heather awake at night.

  The board at The Arches Group had asked her to give the interview to settle any concerns that Intrex might be taking over or that rental costs might rise or that The Arches Group was in financial trouble. The problem was that Heather didn’t know any of those things.

  The future was looking extremely unsettled for everyone.

  2

  A Spy or a Test

  Yasmin held up her hand to stop Heather in her tracks. Heather paused by her PA’s desk and looked at her inquisitively, not speaking as she didn’t want to interrupt the phone call Yasmin was in the middle of.

  Yasmin scribbled something on a piece of paper and held it up for Heather to see.

  Her eyes widened at the notification that Leo Flynn was waiting for her in her office. Heather nodded and smiled at Yasmin, grateful for the warning.

  She sucked in a deep breath and walked into her office.

  Leo stood by the window, hands linked behind his back, seemingly surveying all he now owned.
<
br />   “Good morning, Mr Flynn,” Heather greeted him. “I didn’t realise we had a meeting today.”

  He turned around. “We didn’t. I was passing on the way to the airport. Damned convenient location here for popping in when I’m travelling.”

  The thought made Heather’s heart sink, but she tried to swallow the emotion. The sooner she got used to Leo and his presence, the sooner it would become normal and she’d feel more settled.

  She sat at her desk and picked up the post that had arrived and started to shuffle through it.

  Being a successful woman in business, she knew about subtle power games and she knew exactly how to play them. She wasn’t about to stand to attention at Leo Flynn’s presence, nor was she going to drop everything when he randomly appeared.

  She had work to do, and she fully intended to get on with her day. She suspected that Leo’s unexpected visit was at least partly designed to see how she would react.

  They didn’t know one another other well, and they were soon going to be working with each other a great deal, both placing considerable trust in one another. They needed to figure out the other as soon as possible.