No Place in the Sun Read Free Page A

uncontrollably.
    Tom put a protective arm around his shoulders. He figured that one of Andy’s boyfriends had gone straight, and he could understand how that could upset the poor fellow. ‘Never mind, lots more fishes in the sea and all that.’
    Andrew’s sobbing got worse; Tom found it hard to understand the words that escaped between the sobs. ‘No, no, not that, uncle bloody Maurice, he met a young bitch, getting married. Selling the place and going to Spain.’ He slumped over the table with his head in his hands.
    Walter put three cups of coffee on the table. ‘Looks like we’re going to be out of a job, son. Seems like the old lad found himself a new woman and he’s selling out to a British outfit.’
    ‘No way, he isn’t, is he?’ Tom looked at Andrew for confirmation of what he was hearing.
    Andrew took a couple of swallows of the coffee and seemed to calm himself. His voice steadied.
    ‘He asked me to come round this morning for breakfast and he told me everything, I knew he’d been seeing the woman from the golf club but I thought he was just fond of a bit of company.’
    Tom was starting to get the picture. ‘Old Milton has a woman?’
    Andrew nodded and sniffled again. ‘He’ll have a closing down sale starting tomorrow, he’s already sold the store and the warehouse and they are going to retire to Marbella and play bloody golf.’ He started to sob. ‘She put him up to this, bloody bitch, I know she did, he was happy working in the business.’
    The enormity of what was happening began to sink in, Tom looked at Walter. ‘So we’re on the fucking road so. Just what I need with a car loan and the fucking bills I have.’
    Walter shrugged his shoulders. ‘I have a mortgage and a wife and child; I need this like a hole in the head, but I’m not going to panic about it. You and I will always get other jobs, son; anyone who can sell as well as us can sell ourselves to another employer. We’re the best, Tom. We’ll be ok. I feel sorry for our friend here though, he has lost a lot more than a poxy job.’
    Tom stopped and thought, it was true, poor Andrew had just seen his inheritance disappear over the hill to the Costa del Sol. There wasn’t much future for him; he had only survived up to now because of his uncle’s patronage. Being the boss’s nephew could have its downside.
    He put an arm around Andrew’s shoulder. ‘Cheer up Andy’ he said, with as much conviction as he could muster,‘there’s always work for good men.’
    Andrew’s sniffling continued long after they had moved out to the shop and opened the shutters to start another week. They would have to sell a few kettles today; the usually chirpy Andrew was in no state to stand behind the smalls counter for a while.
    The day started well, they each collared a couple of good sales with very little effort, then things quietened down and they drifted over to the couch in the television viewing area.
    Walter turned down the sound on the sports channel. ‘So, what do you think? Should we walk away and get other jobs right now, or hang on to the bitter end?’
    Tom sighed. ‘I don’t know, in one way I feel like getting out of here now, but then again there could be an easy bundle of commission here with the closing-down sale, and we must be due redundancy or something. He must have got millions for this place, so it’s not like he’s short or anything.’
    ‘I reckon there’ll be damn all redundancy. I think it’s only paid on the basic, not the commission, and you can be sure that Milton won’t kill himself that way. I mean, he has no reason to be generous or anything, he won’t need us again and why should he give us anything over and above what he has to?’
    Tom hadn’t thought of it that way, but as usual Walter was right. Milton would try to get out of this whole deal with as much money as possible, same as always, and there was no point in having big expectations. The old bastard hadn’t even bothered to tell them