Carmen couldn’t help it. ‘You have six children?’
‘Well … five and a bit.’
Carmen blinked. ‘Doesn’t your wife mind?’
‘Well, she isn’t my wife yet and it’s mostly her idea so … ’
Ramsay’s voice trailed off, but there was a twitch in the corner of his mouth as there always when he thought of Zoe.
‘Cor,’ said Carmen. ‘I hope you have a big house.’
Mr McCredie laughed.
‘Oh, there’s plenty of room up Ramsay’s way.’
‘So you have a huge house but not enough cash to pay for parking?’
‘It’s not the money!’ said Ramsay. ‘It’s the sport.’
‘What have you got for me?’ said Mr McCredie.
‘Hang on, you’re a sales rep?’ said Carmen.
They both nodded as if this were obvious. Carmen had assumed they were friends (which they were). Mrs Marsh treated all sales reps as if they were dangerous criminals.
Ramsay’s face lit up. ‘Wait till you see what I’ve got for you today!’
‘What? Don’t tell me: anUp on the Rooftops?’
‘You are joking, aren’t you? We’d all be in the Bahamas right now.’
Nonetheless he heaved the two heavy boxes up onto the old desk and, curious despite herself, Carmen inched closer.
‘Oh, this is Carmen,’ said young Mr McCredie finally. ‘She’s helping me out over the holidays.’
‘Nice to meet you,’ said Ramsay. ‘You have … ’
He indicated something, and Carmen, who had been rather cross with him not dealing with her as the person in charge of the shop, put her hand up to her head. Somehow she had managed to stick a red bow on the side of her neck.
‘Oh!’ she said, ripping it off crossly.
‘I thought it was a feature,’ said young Mr McCredie. ‘You know. Seasonal.’
‘A bow stuck on my neck? You thought this was part of my shop modernisation?’
‘Um … ’
As a distraction, Ramsay opened the box carefully. There were a lot of big old dusty hardbacks, which Mr McCredie looked at reverently before he gently handled each one.
‘What’s this?’ said Carmen, picking up one on ‘the Sublime in Landscape Architecture, 1759–1805’.
‘Illustrated plates,’ said Ramsay.
‘Ooh,’ said Mr McCredie.
‘No!’ said Carmen. ‘We don’t have a market for that.’
‘But it’s beautiful,’ said Ramsay, and Mr McCredie nodded his head emphatically.
