Fun In The Sun by repgreece (read people like a book TXT) 📕

that,” Sal said, grabbing Nick by the arm and pulling him down to the dog’s level. “Say hello properly; he really likes you.”Sal petted the dog, showing Nick how it was done, and prompting him to also show the dog some affection.“I really don’t know why he would like me,” Nick said.“Dogs have great senses; he knows you are a really nice, kind person,” she replied.On hearing that, Nick felt all soft and tingly inside. He turned his head then to look at Sal, who was crouched next to him. Her hands stilled on the dog’s fir, and she too turned her head, sensing Nick’s eyes on her.Did she really think he was a ‘nice, kind person’? She was by far nicer and kinder than him. She was so pretty, and beautiful, and sweet, and loving, and so totally natural at being all of those things. Oh God, he suddenly realized again that this was the woman he loved, and, without warning, for one frightening moment, he was bursting to tell her… right there and then.Why was he looking at her like that? She was being drawn in by his eyes again and it felt so strange. What was he thinking? She could never read him when he was like that. She had no idea what was going through his head, and it made her nervous…unable to think of what to say or do in those moments. He looked kind of different too, which was having an odd effect on her. He was dressed all smart. Well okay, it was his usual airport uniform, but she must have forgotten what Nick looked like in smart trousers and a shirt. And his aftershave too seemed to be more noticeable, especially since they were crouching down so close together. She broke eye contact then, as her nervousness got the better of her, and focused on the dog instead. But his hands were there too in its fur, large and manly. Why was she overly assessing everything about Nick? She’d never done that before.“Hi Sal.”The interruption startled her and she jumped up, looking around herself, almost as if she’d been doing something wrong.“Oh hi,” she replied, unable to hide her lack of enthusiasm at seeing David, the ‘Locatour’ rep from her neighbouring booth. He was always hanging around Sal’s desk, bugging her, and getting in the way at the most inconvenient times.“You got a delay again?” David asked, watching as she moved back around the desk, closely followed by Stumpy. The dog nudged David’s leg as they moved past him, and he instinctively brushed his trouser leg off, a move that Sal noted with annoyance.She glared at him. “Yes David, thirty minutes.”“Ah, poor you,” he replied, oblivious of her dislike as he stroked her hand, which was now resting on the desk. She pulled it away.Who was this jerk? Nick didn’t remember him from last year. Nick made his presence felt by folding his arms across his chest and leaning back against the desk, taking up most of the space. This did little to put David off however.“I’m just going to the snack bar Sal, do you want anything?” he asked.Sal thought for a second. “Yes actually,” she said, with a bright, polite smile. David’s face lit up. “I’ll have a bottle of water… for Stumpy.”David’s smile faded.“You sure you don’t want anything else? Something to eat or drink…for you,” he stressed.“Err,” Sal pretended to think about it. “No,” she concluded.David left then, to Nick’s delight, looking decidedly deflated.“Who’s he?” Nick asked.“Oh just some Locatour rep,” she replied.“He’s a jerk. If he pesters you too much, let me know, and I’ll have a word with him.”Sal smiled and leant towards him across the desk. “Have you come to be my hero?”“Well, not exactly…but I would,” he replied with a decisive nod. “Actually, I’ve been offered some work,” he announced.“Work?” Sal answered with surprise.“Yes, you’re not going to believe this but Mike phoned me. He’s got a load of tourists interested in the quest and he wants me to organize things. That’s why I’m here now; there are five coming on the Gatwick flight,” Nick explained.“Oh, great, but what about working with me?” she frowned.He smiled. “Hey look, I’ve already spoken to Adam about it, and he said that if it doesn’t interfere with our work, then he’s okay with it; I’ll do both. And anyway, I want you to get involved with the quest too. It was our quest to begin with, remember.”Her face lit up. “Yes, I remember. Sounds good to me then.”“Excellent,” he grinned back.“Well, I’d better check on this flight,” Sal said, picking up her clip board and bag.“I’ll come with you,” Nick said. “My flight won’t be that long now until it lands…assuming that it isn’t delayed as well.”“Where are the guests staying then?” Sal asked, as they strolled towards the terminal building.“I’ve booked them into the same hotel as Mike for the time being, but I’ll have to find somewhere else when more people arrive,” he replied.“How are you getting them back?”“Mike suggested just putting them all in taxis for now,” Nick answered.As it turned out, Nick’s flight wasn’t delayed, and it ended up landing just after Sal’s delayed plane. Sal left Nick then to go and find the two other reps that were also working that evening for her, whilst Nick waited outside the arrivals door for his guests to come through, with their names at the ready. He’d asked Maria if she could print out the five surnames onto an A4 sheet of paper, which he’d attached to a clipboard so that it would be easier to find the correct people.As Nick stood in the arrivals hall, unbeknownst to him, a familiar face was lurking amongst the crowds of people, waiting and watching him.Soon, streams of people began pouring out of the arrivals door, firstly from Sal’s flight, and then from the Gatwick one. At first Nick was pleased with the people who approached him enthusiastically, asking about the quest and showing a lot of interest in the project. Even some other tourists were listening in, with curiosity, to the chatter between Nick and his guests. However, Nick soon became confused with the names on the list he had, as more and more people approached him. Maybe some random tourists had become confused and thought that he was their rep because there were far too many people there. He was trying his best to be polite and answer everyone’s questions, but soon he was simply being mowed down. What was worse was that the crowd around him was blocking the path of everyone else coming out of the arrivals door, causing great annoyance amoungst the other reps. How embarrassing!“Right everyone, can I please have your attention,” Nick suddenly shouted out. “All those people who have arrived here to do the quest, booked by Mike, can we please move out of the way of the other people arriving. If you’d like to move outside then I can talk to you there. Can we all gather by the seating area opposite the taxi rank please?” he said, ushering the huge crowd through the electric doors.The familiar face watched them go, chuckling to himself.Outside, the crowd just seemed to get bigger and bigger, and the people got chattier and chattier, and sometimes more agitated as the odd person began to complain. Things were getting out of hand; he had to do something. Clearly when Mike had said five were arriving, he didn’t mean five people, or even five couples, he meant five groups… and big groups too! But then how the hell did he expect Nick to find enough taxis for them all? If Mike had known there would be so many people, why didn’t he ask Nick about a coach? Not only that, but he hadn’t booked anywhere near enough hotel rooms!“Okay everyone, as I’m sure you can appreciate, there is only one of me, and many of you, so if I can ask you all to be a bit patient please. I’m going now to find your transport but it will be at least fifteen minutes, maybe more, until we will leave. If any of you would like to go and take a seat indoors and grab a drink or snack from the café, then please feel free to do so, and meet back here in fifteen minutes,” he suggested.There were a few mumbles of protest from the crowd then, but finally, most of the people dispersed and gave Nick some much needed thinking time to sort this whole mess out!“Nick, what on earth?” Sal said, tapping him on his shoulder.He turned, running a hand through his hair. “I know! Bloody Mike didn’t tell me this many people were arriving tonight!”“You’ll never get that many taxis,” she pointed out.“I know,” he sighed. “What the hell am I going to do, Sal?”“Oh crap. Err, well look, you’ll have to go see if you can find a free coach. Sometimes they wait around in between flights. Or they might have just finished. If you’re lucky, the company might agree to do a quick run for you, but you’ll have to offer them extra money. You’ll be okay there though, because the people were prepared to pay for taxis, so just work out how much you want to offer the coach company and then let the guests know how much they’ll have to pay. If they complain, just tell them something like it is better for them all to go together than wait around for taxis.”“Right,” Nick took a deep breath. He could do this. He went to move then, but stopped and turned to Sal. “Sal, I know that you’re busy and everything, but do you think you could just work out the money side of it, how much I should offer and how much, say, a thirty seater coach would coast them each? It’s just that…” He breathed in deeply again, and it looked to Sal like he was close to hyperventilating.“Don’t worry, I’ll work it out,” she said, with a supportive hand on his arm. “And I’ll calm down the crowd as much as I can when I’ve got any spare time. You just concentrate on finding that coach.”He breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks Sal…Oh hell, the hotel!” He exclaimed, suddenly realizing that finding the coach was only one of his major problems.“Oh yes, okay, leave it with me; you can’t do everything all at once. Just find a coach first that will be willing to get them to resort. I’ll ask around about the hotel,” she reassured him.Oh thank God.“Sal,” he said, grabbing her by both arms, “I could kiss you right now. In fact, I think I will,” he said, pulling her abruptly towards him and kissing her firmly, but swiftly, on the lips before running in the opposite direction towards the coach park to find the all-important coach.Sal lifted a hand to her mouth and giggled to herself, glancing around to see who had noticed. Nothing seemed to be amiss, apart from the fact that now she’d completely forgotten what she was supposed to be doing. Chapter 45

 

Sal returned to her desk and gave instructions to her reps, before