At the end of the day, the staff gathered their belongings. Martyn was first out, calling goodbye to the others.

‘Damn it!’ Holly and Ben both turned at Emily’s loud cursing as she came downstairs in her flat driving shoes, rifling in her handbag. She stomped over to her desk and dumped the bag on there.

‘What’s up?’ Ben asked.

‘I can’t find my car keys,’ she muttered. ‘But they’ve got to be in here somewhere.’

Josh passed on his way out of the shop and stopped to watch, mildly curious.

‘On overtime, Em? You’re usually first out the door,’ he teased.

‘Yeah, well, that was before my car keys decided to do a bloody disappearing act,’ she growled, both hands immersed in her vast cavern of a bag. ‘Sod this, I’ve got a nail appointment in fifteen minutes. Drastic measures are called for.’

She upended the bag onto her desk, and Holly watched as Ben and Josh both peered down at the mountainous heap of items that emerged.

‘Blimey!’ Josh said. ‘It’s true what they say, Ben. Everything in there but the kitchen sink.’

The two men sniggered, and then Josh’s face grew more serious. He scowled and peered closer at the tangle of tissues and mints and make-up.

‘Isn’t that…’ He cocked his head to one side and squinted, as if trying to make sense of something.

‘What is it?’ Emily snapped. ‘It’s keys I’m looking for.’

Her jaw dropped as she followed Josh’s pointing finger and looked down at her belongings.

‘Isn’t that one of the glass flowers from the broken vase?’ Ben said, incredulously. ‘Look, there’s another…’ Only then did he seem to realise the implication of his words and hastily clamped his mouth shut.

Holly pushed her chair back, stood up and walked over to Emily’s desk.

‘The chipped-off flowers,’ she breathed, stepping in closer. ‘What are they doing in your handbag, Emily?’

Emily opened her mouth but seemed unable to enunciate any words. She looked up wild-eyed at Holly, Josh and Ben, who stood around silently in a semicircle.

‘What’s this, an impromptu staff meeting?’ Mr Kellington called across in a jolly voice. ‘I say, can anyone join in?’

‘I think you need to take a look at this, boss,’ Josh said gravely. ‘Something’s come to light.’

‘I… I swear on my mother’s life, I don’t know how they got in there,’ Emily stammered, wringing her hands. ‘I mean, I’d hardly empty out my bag in front of everyone if I knew they were in there, now would I?’

‘But you didn’t do it in front of everyone! You emptied it out in a temper looking for your keys and we came to see,’ Holly reminded her.

It was only natural that she’d enjoy paying her colleague back for her earlier aggression… wasn’t it?

Mr Kellington didn’t speak.

With pincered fingers, he gingerly picked out a flower and studied it in his palm. He did the same twice more until there were three tiny pink glass flowers nestling there, shining prettily under the lights.

‘Most definitely the Lalique flowers,’ he said sadly.

Holly found herself shaking her head. Earlier, Emily had enjoyed humiliating her in front of everyone, and now here she was, fighting for her own life.

Fat tears began to roll down Emily’s cheeks, leaving pale tracks in the heavy blusher and powder. Holly couldn’t help staring. She’d never seen the ice queen sobbing before.

‘Someone’s set me up,’ she spluttered, suddenly a sad, soggy mess. ‘Someone has made it look like I damaged that vase. And I didn’t… I didn’t!’

‘Who?’ Josh said, unconvinced. ‘Who on earth would set you up?’

‘You were the one who noticed the damage,’ Holly added. ‘You brought it to Josh’s attention in the first place.’

Emily glared at her.

‘And I saw you stow your handbag in your locker this morning,’ Ben said. ‘So the flowers must’ve already been in there when you got to work at the start of the day.’

‘Sounds like the damage must have been done after I put the vase on display,’ Holly added.

Emily’s head snapped round, her face a mask of hatred. ‘I don’t know how you did this, but—’

‘That’s quite enough,’ Mr Kellington interrupted. ‘All this bickering is going to help precisely no one. Emily, Josh, I need you to come up to my office right away. Holly, Ben… have a good weekend.’

Holly walked out of the back of the store and into the fresh, bracing air.

‘I’d like to be a fly on the wall up there. What a palaver.’ Ben rolled his eyes.

‘I’m glad the truth is out, though,’ Holly said. ‘I was beginning to think everyone thought I’d done the damage.’

Ben had the grace to look a little shamefaced as he wished her a good weekend.

As she walked past the glass kiosk, she looked in to see the young lad who did the afternoon car park shift painstakingly copying details onto a sheet of paper by hand.

‘Night, miss,’ he called after her as she walked out onto the street.

Holly smiled. Her first week had certainly been eventful, and rather stressful at times, but all had ended well and she now felt pleasantly vindicated after enduring sly and sometimes accusing looks from some of the others.

It had been a long, long time since she’d looked forward to the weekend, but right now, that was how she felt.

This new world of hers was real. Her job was grounded in a normal environment.

That had not been her experience working for Geraldine and Brendan.