Goodmans of Glassford Street Read Online Free PDF Page B

lady’s advances, but only very occasionally. He loved his wife and was proud of his two daughters, who had recently started university. It could be lonely, however, being away from home so much, and he was often tempted.
    Viv was a sexy lady devoid of any inhibitions. Sometimes he was almost shocked by her. At the same time he enjoyed himself. That situation was becoming a worry, though. He had never made a secret of being married, but now Viv was trying to persuade him to leave his wife and make South Castle his base. He reminded her that he’d been honest from the start and he’d made it clear that not only was he happily married, but he was employed by Goodmans of Glassford Street, an old-established Glasgow firm. At first, Viv said that they were only having a bit of fun. She was lonely, she said, and he was far from home and must be lonely too.
    Now she had turned serious. Really serious. He tried to extricate himself from the situation but it only made things worse. Viv was a very determined woman. If she wanted something, she went after it, and there could be no doubt that she wanted him. He definitely could not go back to her B. & B. next time he visited South Castle. Yet it was necessary that he did visit South Castle on a regular basis to see his toy supplier. He began looking around the back streets for another place to stay. Somewhere he could hide away from Viv. It was annoying that he was forced to skulk around and it was difficult to be inconspicuous because he was six foot four. Difficult in any place, in any circumstances. He remembered a previous occasion when he had a lady on his arm and he spotted Miss Porter, a buyer in Ladies’ Underwear, across the road. Fortunately she didn’t see him. Very fortunately, because she knew his wife.
    Eventually, he found a place and made a booking in advance for his next visit to South Castle. He usually texted Viv beforehand to tell her on what date and at what time he would be coming, but this time he certainly would not do that. He was especially attentive and loving to his wife, taking her a present from South Castle and telling her truthfully that he was very glad indeed to get back to Glasgow, and to her. She was so appreciative and so loving in return, it made him feel even more guilty. Moira was a good woman, and had always trusted him completely.
    ‘Never again,’ he vowed to himself. But of course, he’d promised himself that before. It was true what Viv said. There were times when he was lonely so far away from home or in some of the bleak and cheerless B. & B.s he’d stayed in. But it was his job and Goodmans was an excellent firm to work for. Mrs Goodman had also given Betty, his daughter who was a student at Glasgow University, a summer and weekend job in Books and Stationery. His other daughter, Alice, was at Edinburgh University and she worked in an Edinburgh supermarket in her spare time in order to make money for clothes and so on. Alice often said she wished she’d got a place at Glasgow University so that she too could have worked in Goodmans. Goodmans paid their staff exceptionally well.
    He didn’t know what would happen if Mrs Goodman retired, though. He supposed his job would be safe enough, but other staff members were worried about what would happen to them. Still, Mrs Goodman looked as if she had quite a few working years in her yet. She had a sense of humour, too.
    ‘I’m having a senior moment,’ she’d said to him recently. ‘What the hell’s your name again?’
    ‘Webster, but no need to worry,’ he’d assured her, ‘I’m beginning to get these moments myself.’
    Nobody could put anything past Mrs Goodman, though. She was nearly as good as Miss Eden at ferreting out anything wrong in any of the departments. If there was any neglect, laziness, inefficiency or dishonesty, she was on to it right away. (He suspected she wouldn’t think much of adultery either.)
    Not only were the wages excellent, but she was very good at