F Is for Fiona

And she reached across and, very quickly and very quietly, kissed me on the cheek.

Philip was watching, I'm rather glad he didn't consider kissing me too! I could just see the badge - Kate had used a small image pasted from one of my photos. She had stuck it onto the badge and probably done the typing herself. I looked.

'Ms Fiona Fletcher. Store Manager.'

I glowed.

"I thought of putting manageress, Fiona, but that's not done these days is it? 'Manager' is generic now, I think."

As the manager I'd been the only member of staff allowed not to wear my badge. Basically, as the boss, nobody could tell me off for not wearing it! Sometimes I had, especially when dealing with visitors or with customers, but when I'd taken my jacket off in the summer, working in shirt-sleeves and so on, I'd never bothered to move my badge. But this one, this was different. Not just a badge, this was a statement. This time I actually wanted to wear it.

Philip was still looking at me, a little open-mouthed. Fiona noticed him and reached across to push his lower jaw up a little. And all the while, as we were chatting, customers came and went. And - nobody noticed!

"Right, Fiona. Do you want to sneak in the side door this morning?"

"No, Kate. I don't see why I should. But I'd like you to go up to the office first, please. I need to do this on my own."

She walked in ahead of me. I could almost sense, as I stood there just for a minute or so next to Philip, everyone looking towards her, wondering where I was. Luckily Philip had to deal with a customer, he was distracted for a while. He was probably glad - I could see he was somewhat embarrassed. I expected quite a bit of that during the day. However. Enough of this. It was time. Time to go in, to do my job, to show myself to my staff.

I turned and walked in through the big open double-doors, not consciously looking round but aware. The eyes I had sensed a short while ago would certainly be on me now. I steered myself, my usual routine, towards the Customer Services desk, my first port of call always. Jackie was there. She at least had spotted me. I smiled.