British English spelling and grammar.
At last! A proper ending?
***
Fun at the spa
"Guess what?"
The moment Lionel walked through the door, Emma leapt into his arms.
"You won?"
"Yes! Saleswoman of the year! Well, joint winner to be exact, Melanie got the same value of sales as me, so we share the holiday."
"Wow, congratulations! My clever girl! When do you go?"
"Thanks sweetheart. We go the first week in October, after the summer rush."
Over dinner, she opened a bottle of champagne and told Lionel all about it. There had been five top earners; the other three were men. But this year, the ladies had dominated the sales drive. Traditionally their company would add a sliding scale bonus in the September salary payment. £5,000 to the top dog, down to £1,000 to the fifth. Plus four days away at a spa hotel to the top performer. Last year Emma had won £1,000. But there had been some adjustment this year because of the dead heat. Emma and Melanie would get £4,500 each, but a three day stay instead of four.
"The hotel is in Brighton. It's got mud baths, facials, massage, make-up classes, everything."
"Doesn't sound like much fun if a bloke wins." said Lionel.
"Oh, it is. There's also gym, swimming and snooker. Did you know Sussex has loads of vineyards and breweries? There's optional wine and beer tours, with tasting. We don't have to pay for anything, except our drinks at the bar. Mel and I get separate suites, and the Friday off work. We travel down Thursday evening. Train paid for of course."
"You deserve it Mrs Phillips. You've worked hard for this."
"Thanks. I know I haven't had much time for you. But sales get quieter for the rest of the year, so I thought we might get away somewhere over Christmas and New Year. I'll have my fun at the spa hotel, so you can choose a place, my treat. We have a budget of about £4,500."
"You have deal Em. I fancy Costa Rica."
"Good choice. Just so you know. I'll call you when we get to Brighton but after that, we won't be in touch much; we won't be in our rooms much of the time. And we can't take mobile phones to saunas and massages and so on."
On Saturday, Emma and Melanie went shopping for their trip, giving up their usual night out. Lionel knew this meant they would make a day of it and decided on a pub lunch. He toyed with the idea of calling Steve, Melanie's husband, as he would be in the same boat. He was a nice enough guy and they'd socialised a few times as a foursome. But he was a bit boring and probably wouldn't come anyway. Lionel thought he was shy as he'd never attended any of their wives' company parties.
She was still excited when she got home, and more than a little drunk. She rushed up to the bathroom as soon as she arrived, needing a pee. Then came down and showed Lionel her purchases. He was a little surprised at the skimpy bikini.
"But I'll need it for swimming and the sauna and so on. I chose pink because you like me in pink. I'll wear it again on our Costa Rica holiday."
"Fair enough. And the cocktail dress?"
"The hotel has live music on Saturday night. I think it's to discourage their guests from wandering off for the evening. Mel and I could have a dance. Don't worry; we'll look out for each other. Then we can wear the dresses again at the next company function. No-one will have seen them."
"Makes sense." he agreed. "I hope we still have some money left over for our holiday!"
She punched his arm.
"Of course we do. This was on sale."
Later she dozed off in front of the tv. Lionel left the room when his phone rang, not wanting to wake her. It was Steve - another surprise.
"Hi Lionel, it's Steve McCartney. My Mel's come home drunk and gone to bed early - how about you?"
"Hi Steve, similar. Emma's nodded off on the sofa. I think they must have hit the wine bar pretty hard."
"Good. Fancy a pint up the Carpenter's Arms? You walk there and have a couple. I'll drive over and only have one."
"Sure, why not? But I get the feeling you have an agenda."
"I do. We need to talk."
"So, what's this all about, Steve?"
"When the girls went off mega-shopping, I guessed Mel wouldn't fancy cooking dinner tonight, so decided to fill up at lunchtime. I drove into town to try one of those famous steaks at the Red Lion."
('Shit!' thought Lionel. 'I wish I'd called him now.')
"How was it?"
"Fantastic. I can see why everyone's raving about them."
"You should have called me."
"Sorry. Anyway, I was waiting for my order, when I heard some guys talking at the next table. It sounded interesting so I filmed them, and recorded what they were saying."
"Didn't they object?"
"They didn't realise. I kept moving my thumb up and down the screen so they would think I was reading something."
***
"Well, I think that's sour grapes mate, because you only came third. You can't win it every year; be thankful you got three thousand."
"It's not that at all. My missus and I will get a nice Christmas break on three thousand. I'm pissed off because I think they dropped their knickers for some of those sales. Nearly every one of our customers is a middle-aged male. How can I compete when I have no tits or stockings?"
"That's only rumours. All successful women get gossip like that. Anyway, they're not even getting the full prize. Sharing a room, and only three days."
"No, they're still entitled to a suite each; they'll be taking their husbands."