Quintus Braithwaite could feel the mood of the meeting turning against him. ‘I resent the implication that the project has been run in an unbusinesslike way. Phoebe’s Volunteer Rota was a work of pure genius.’
‘Yes.’ Arnold Bloom smiled, sensing he was getting the upper hand. ‘But it didn’t work, did it?’
‘So what are you suggesting that’s different?’
‘I am suggesting that the café still be run basically by volunteers, but that we employ a full-time professional manager for the business.’
‘You mean we pay someone?’ The Commodore sounded thunderstruck and he received a supportive groan from the sofa. ‘We can’t afford that!’
‘If most of the Action Committee’s funds – so generously donated by Kent Warboys – hadn’t been frittered away on French navy tablecloths and tunics and appalling paintings and a relaunch that failed to generate any publicity of any kind, we could easily have afforded to pay a professional manager for the last six weeks. And the place would have been run in a darned sight more efficient manner.’
‘But where,’ asked Quintus Braithwaite, ‘are you hoping to find this paragon of all managerial virtue?’
‘As a matter of fact,’ said Jude, ‘I know the perfect person for the job.’
TWENTY-THREE
By the end of the EGM, Arnold Bloom’s triumph was complete. He had got himself elected Chairman of the SPCS Action Committee, and suggested some names ‘from the local Fethering community’ who might be co-opted on. Most of them were current members of the Fethering Village Committee, of which he was of course also Chairman. He suggested a date for the next meeting – on the Wednesday of that week, two days on; Arnold Bloom wasn’t the kind of chairman to let the grass grow under his feet. He ordained that it – and all future meetings – should take place at All Saints Church Hall. It was agreed that Jude should sound out Sara Courtney to see if she was interested in taking the paid role of manager for Polly’s Community Café. If she were, she would be invited to the Wednesday meeting to be interviewed by the renewed SPCS Action Committee.
The Braithwaites had been eclipsed completely. No refreshments were offered to the committee members departing from Hiawatha that evening (and that wasn’t just because their hostess was immobilized on a sofa).
The following morning, the Tuesday, Jude received a call from Kent Warboys. ‘Very good to see you over New Year.’
‘My pleasure. Good to see you too.’
‘Couple of things … One – your famous dead body.’
‘Amos Green.’
‘Exactly. Just wondered if the police had been in touch again …? You know, following up and previous questions …?’
‘Nothing. Not a dicky bird.’
‘Ah. Right. Good. Which probably means they’ve closed the case. So it seems likely Amos Green’s death will join that massive list of “The Unexplained”.’
‘Looks that way, yes.’
‘Hm. Anyway … from a rather gloomy subject to a much happier one … Sara and I are engaged!’
‘Wonderful! That’s brilliant news!’
‘Certainly what we think. And we both want to thank you.’
‘I haven’t done anything.’
‘You have. You did a lot to help Sara when she was at her lowest … and then to explain things to me. We’re both very grateful to you.’
‘Well, thank you.’
‘But listen, the thing is … short notice and all that, but Sara and I are going to have a few drinks with some mates on Friday … you know, to celebrate the great event. Fethering Yacht Club, six p.m. I do hope you can come.’
‘Yes, I haven’t got anything else on that evening. I’d love to.’
‘And do bring Carole too, if you’d like to.’
Jude bit back the giggle. ‘Okay. I’ll check out whether she’s free.’
Needless to say, she wouldn’t mention why the invitation had been issued, but she felt fairly confident that Carole would agree to come along to the yacht club. Her neighbour’s inhibition about not having actually met her host and Sara as a waitress in Polly’s would definitely be overcome by her ingrained nosiness.
It also struck Jude as she walked home that, given her closeness to Kent Warboys, Sara Courtney too must believe Carole and Jude were a lesbian couple, or she would have put him right about the situation. Well, the two of them had gone on holiday to Turkey together the previous year. In West Sussex such action was tantamount to announcing your same-sex marriage in the Fethering Observer.
Jude was still giggling when she got back to Woodside Cottage.
The subject of her sexual orientation didn’t come up in the call she made to Sara shortly afterwards. After appropriate congratulations on the engagement, she said she was ringing to check out the woman’s interest in the potential paid job as manager, not of Polly’s Community Café, but of Polly’s Cake Shop.
Sara Courtney was extremely interested. In fact, she sounded really ecstatic about the possibility. She would definitely attend the committee meeting on the Wednesday and spend the interim preparing herself for the interview. She was determined to make the job her own.
‘And,’ asked Jude tentatively, ‘you feel confident you could cope with it?’
‘At the moment, Jude,’ came the sunny reply, ‘I could cope with anything.’
The subject of their lesbianism was not mentioned when Jude next spoke to Carole. But she did float the suggestion that her neighbour might be interested in organizing the Volunteer Rota for the revived Polly’s Cake Shop.
‘That’s a ridiculous idea,’ came the predictable response. ‘You know my views on Community Projects and volunteers.’
‘Yes, but the new set-up is going to be more professional.’
‘Oh?’
‘The café will have a paid manager.’
‘And who’s that going to be?’
‘Hasn’t been decided yet.’
‘Huh.’
‘And I was just thinking,’ said Jude at her most beguiling, ‘that you have all that experience of organizing things at the Home Office, so I’m sure it’s a job you could do.’
‘The question, Jude, is not whether I could do it, but more whether I would want to do it.’
‘Well, there’s no hurry for you to make a decision.’
‘Good.’
Jude knew from experience that this was the way things always had to be approached with her neighbour. An idea had to be proposed, agonized over and rejected a good few times before Carole would commit herself to anything.
But on this occasion, Jude could see that her interest had been engaged.
Compared to Quintus Braithwaite, Arnold Bloom was perhaps less charismatic as a Chairman (the title ‘Chair’ had quickly gone the way of ‘Polly’s Community Café’), but he was effective at working his way through an Agenda. And he was more than a match for Quintus in getting his own way.
The meeting was scheduled for seven-thirty in the All Saints Church Hall, and Sara Courtney was asked to appear at eight-fifteen for her grilling. She responded well to the questions put to her – in fact she was brilliantly charismatic. Her engagement to Kent Warboys had blown away all the cobwebs of doubt that had clouded her mind. Getting the managerial job would be icing on the cake.
Jude worried slightly about the time when Sara’s volatile mood changed again, but for the moment she could only applaud her protégée’s confidence.
After Sara had left the church hall, it was a matter of moments for the SPCS Action Committee to agree that she should be offered the job. As Treasurer, Alec Walters agreed to sort out and discuss with her the terms of her employment and get the appropriate contracts drawn up.