Mr Right for the Night Read Online Free PDF Page B

like a book.
    ‘Great.’
    Mark gave her a puzzled look. This wasn’t the answer he usually got. And he wasn’t going to be satisfied with a monosyllabic answer.
    ‘Who is he?’
    ‘That’s for me to know and you to find out.’
    ‘You’re very annoying. I will find out, you know.’
    ‘Oh I know.’
    ‘Is he . . . he’s not famous or anything?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Thank God for that.’ A pause. ‘Was he at UCD?’
    ‘Actually . . . yes, kind of.’ He’s there now .
    ‘I’d probably know him then, wouldn’t I?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘I give up.’
    ‘So how’s your love life?’
    ‘I’m still going out with Sally.’
    ‘Still?’ Anna knitted her eyebrows. ‘Last time I spoke to you it was Elourda.’
    ‘Oh yeah, it didn’t work out between Ellie and myself.’
    ‘You mean you dumped her?’
    ‘You know I’ve no intention of answering that.’
    ‘So Sally is girlfriend of the month. Let me guess, what does she look like . . . tall, blonde, busty, vacant-looking?’
    ‘Don’t be nasty, I wouldn’t be nasty about your man.’
    ‘You should meet him.’
    ‘Where does he live?’
    ‘With me.’
    ‘What!’ Mark nearly crashed the car.
    ‘He lives in the flat downstairs.’
    ‘You mean he’s one of the students?’
    ‘Yep.’
    ‘Cradlesnatcher.’
    ‘See, I knew you’d be nasty.’
    He stopped the car outside Lolta’s. She got out and smiled, ‘Thanks for the lift, Mark. See you soon.’
    ‘Sure and good luck with the student.’
    ‘Yeah and good luck with silly Sally.’
    ‘She’s not silly.’
    ‘What is she – a nail technician?’
    ‘A doctor.’
    Anna closed the passenger door firmly, waved brightly and walked away quickly. Shit, she really put her foot in that one. She hated Mark to outsmart her. And she hated him to be going out with someone intelligent. The bimbos she didn’t mind – she could ridicule them privately and know that Mark would soon get bored. But a female doctor? Now she didn’t like the sound of that. Doctors were very serious about everything.
     
    As a department manager the trouble with a day off was that you’d twice the workload the following day. Because no one else could do your work for you. Elaine only knew about footwear. Conor only knew about household and Maggie only knew about children’s wear. That’s the way things worked in Lolta’s. Nobody knew anything about anything. Except June. And she knew too much.
    June was a funny creature. Not funny as in ha! ha! But as in weird. And sad really when you thought about it. Because although June had donated her whole life to Lolta’s would she ever get thanked for it? Never. And neither would Elaine. And that was the truth. Manager or not, you were still another number on the payroll and the day you left that number would promptly be deleted from the computer. Fact.
    Anna had entered the retail business after stints at working in shops and bars all across Europe. People often questioned her choice of career – the long hours and constant dealings with the public. But Anna could not even imagine working in, say, an office with people constantly breathing down her neck all day. At least in Lolta’s she was given a good bit of responsibility and no two days were ever the same. One day she’d have her own store and run it the way she wanted to. But there was no point leaving Lolta’s until she had as much experience as possible. Her main issue with Lolta’s was her dislike of the clothes; the head buyers there had a penchant for poor quality clothing that would soon be found in heaps in fields all around Ireland whenever the travelling community decided to move on.
    ‘Anna!’ A piercing shriek broke her thoughts. June was looking for sales of the hideous flowery skirts brought in yesterday.
    ‘We haven’t sold any,’ Anna explained. ‘It’s too early. People aren’t going to buy that stuff in January.’ Or any time unless they’re colour blind .
    ‘I suggest you stick one in the window