As Candy continued to rummage Jenny came and sat on the bed next to Violetta and gave her a nudge. ‘What about you, Vi? I’m telling you it’s easy money and I’ll let you take over my website. It’s all set up so all you’d have to do is tweak it a bit and change the payment settings and you’d be good to go. I reckon you’d be ace, and I swear, you don’t even have to get down and dirty. It’s totally hands-off.’
Violetta could feel herself blushing, and was slightly taken aback that Jenny thought she’d be good at it. ‘It’s okay, I’ll pass. I don’t think it’s my thing and I wouldn’t have the bottle. Is it not dangerous, you know, meeting strange men in hotel rooms?’
‘No, not at all. They book through an agency and the guys are vetted then passed on to me. The locations are always classy, no seedy hotels or anything like that, which is why I charge a premium rate. It’s all psychological, the more they pay, the more subservient they feel, like I’m telling them what I expect and they have to obey.’
Violetta was more curious than convinced. ‘And youneverhave to do the deed?’
‘Never. It’s not about having sex with strangers, it’s about feeding their fantasy of being dominated and all I have to do is play a part, sometimes one I invent and other times what the client specifies and believe me, that’s an eye-opener. Have you ever seen a man in a nappy begging to have baby powder sprinkled on him? That’s why the better you get at it, the quicker it’s over, if you see what I mean.’ Jenny gave Violetta a cheeky wink then went over to the end wardrobe and flung open the door.
‘These are my alter egos… the many faces of Jenny or as I am professionally known, Alyssa. When I put one of these outfits on, I leave me behind and for an hour I become someone else, the scary lady who is more than happy to spank your arse or wrap you up in cling film and drip wax on your nipples. I really don’t care as long as the payment hits my bank account before I even go into the room.’ Closing the door Jenny started emptying her racks of shoes and chucking them on the bed as Violetta pondered.
‘Hey, don’t look so worried. I was only teasing but, if you fancy giving it a go let me know. I won’t be giving the ladies at the Sally Army a heart attack just yet so the gear is here if you need it. You never know, if it all goes tits-up down under, I might want it back when I come home.’
At this Candy piped up, her face a picture of outrage. ‘Don’t tell me you’re leaving it here. I live in fear of mum finding it and what about Dermot? He could wander in when you’re gone and if he sees that lot it might give him ideas. As much as I’d like to give him a slap now and then that’s taking it a bit far.’
In between fits of laughter, Jenny managed to speak. ‘Oh just bloody tell him if he finds it. I don’t care anymore if people know. I’ve done what I set out to do and earned the money for the trip and plenty more besides and I’m not ashamed of my job. I just can’t be doing with gossips or people getting the wrong end of the stick… excuse the pun. Right, I’m going to the offie to get some wine while you two sort that lot out. Back in a bit.’
Once she’d gone, Violetta and Candy continued to pick over and fold clothes, the subject of domination closed, for the time being. It was later that night, and over the following week as Violetta slogged away at her day job, her desk piled high with manila folders, that her mind kept wandering to the wardrobe of clothes and the promise of some extra money. Which was why when she got home on the Friday night she plucked up the courage to ring Jenny and after a short conversation they arranged to meet the following day. They had two weeks before she headed to Oz and in that time, she was going to teach Violetta everything she needed to know.
In the three years that followed, before Darcy was born, Violetta continued her day job at the solicitors where her brain almost froze over and on the side, unbeknown to anyone apart from Candy, she began another career and Mistress Dina was created. Dominatrix to men with more cash than sense. She took time off, for the obvious reasons when she became pregnant but it was an intervention by Candy and a nudge from fate that once again brought about another change in direction.
Fortunately for Violetta, just as her maternity leave was coming to an end, so did her legal career. When the owner of her law firm was caught dating a woman young enough to be his granddaughter, despite his years of experience he was unable to untangle himself from a messy, toxic divorce. Throwing in the towel, he then folded the practice and buggered off to Spain with his nubile young lover.
The news was music to Violetta’s ears because she’d already decided that being a solicitor wasn’t really her thing, in fact, she hated it. Seeing her unemployed status and redundancy payout as a bonus, Violetta decided it was time to try something new and as luck had it, Candy came up with a great idea.
They’d been friends since secondary school. Both were fiercely loyal to one another, gatekeepers of epic secrets that would make their parents’ hair curl, absolvers of their many failings, joyous in their occasional triumphs, and utterly avowed to the preservation of their friendship. That’s why going into partnership together was a no-brainer.
Candy’s dad was a baker and she was his apprentice and what she didn’t know about bread was nobody’s business. Her dad was ready to retire and hand over the reins to his daughter who had big ideas for the shop but needed a bit of a financial boost. Cue Violetta whose redundancy payout was sitting in the bank.
‘It’s the perfect solution. Quit writing wills and shuffling bits of paper, invest in the shop and help me revamp it. I want it to look like one of those gorgeous patisseries we saw in Paris selling artisan bread and speciality cakes.’ Candy was animated, full of ideas and enthusiasm.
‘And what the hell am I going to do? I can’t even make a sponge from a packet mix, you know that.’
‘You won’t have to. I’ll take care of the baking, you can run the café.’
‘What café?’
‘Seriously, how did you even manage to get your GCSEs, never mind go to uni? Keep up, gormless. We’ll save a tiny space for a Parisian-style café with those wooden, curvy-backed chairs and little tables, and some outside too. We can sell the cakes and savouries, fancy coffee and real hotchocolat, remember the film, with the witchy woman?’ Candy made a V with her fingers and jabbed towards Violetta who sent one back.
‘Anyhow, it won’t be a huge range of food, just what I make in the back while you run front of house. You’d be fab with the customers because you’re a people personandyou worked in the garden centre coffee shop for years. You’ll ace it. And that’s not even the best bit.’ Candy was firing out ideas like a machine gun.
‘Okay, go on, I’m intrigued.’
‘You can work part-time at the shop and be with Darcy whenever you need to. We’ll get someone else to cover the rest of the hours. And… it’s the perfect cover so you can focus on your other job, the one that you’re really good at. You could store all your equipment in the flat above the shop and not my spare room!’
As Violetta worked through the possibilities in her mind, the venture began to appeal more with every idea that pinged into her head and they had nothing to do with French tarts, well kind of, but not ones you could eat.
Her job at the solicitors had been a great cover but that was gone so, if she could work part-time at Candy’s shop, and maybe expand her repertoire by investing in some new equipment, her family would still be none the wiser. Her mum might be pissed off about wasting her degree, not to mention the fact she’d paid off her student loan but if that was the case Violetta would soon be able to pay her back.
Candy’s cheeks were flushed as she watched Violetta intently, twiddling fingers that were used to being busy, and were about to become even more so when she started making her fancy cakes.
One last question floated through her brain.Violetta Appleton, are you really going to do this?The answer was simple.I most certainly am!
Frantically clapping her hands, Violetta almost squealed her answer. ‘Okay, when can we start? Me and you, partners. It’s going to be brilliant.’
And it had been. For four years they had lived the dream. Yes, her mum had been dubious at first but once she’d listened to Violetta and Candy’s pitch and seen their business plan, she had to admit it was a sound proposition, expanding on an already successful business.
It had all worked out just as they’d planned and time rolled by. The new-look bakery was a success and Violetta’s secondary occupation remained a secret but things were about to change. The row of shops where the bakery stood was due to be demolished, part of a rejuvenation scheme. New premises were proving difficult to find. Then, out of the blue Candy made her big announcement. Actually it was more like dropping a nuclear bomb.
