Girls Best Friend: Part 6

‘There you are Millie, for a moment there I thought you had got lost!’ said Anne. 
‘Sorry Anne, the box is pretty heavy, and I didn't want to end up like you when I’m old…with a bad back and all.’ Millie didn't intend to be mean but considering she was doing Anne a favour the woman could at least give her some slack. She sat at her desk and started to go through her emails, it was then that she saw one from Mr.Rob and her heart almost stopped beating, she felt tiny palpitations in her chest and all at once felt like everyone in the office was looking at her. She clicked on it to open…

Dear Millie,
I hate to drag you into this but from the map on your desk and the instructions I found in your drawer, you already seem to be getting involved, and the thing is…I need your help…..

Millie’s last day at work hadn’t gone as planned. Firstly, she had got stuck in the stationery cupboard again and discovered things she would rather have not known. Then the email from Mr Rob was a total surprise and had the combined effect of reassuring her of her abilities and filling her with utter terror at what might happen if she didn’t succeed. Her visions of sashaying out of the office with nothing more than a backward wave to Denise from marketing never came to fruition. She had been total encompassed in what she was doing that she hadn’t seen everyone leave. Being alone in the office gave her flashbacks to earlier in the week; she scooped up all her stuff, deleted the files on her computer, and left as soon as she could with no backwards glances.

Stepping into her flat with her head full of everything she still needed to do before she caught the Eurostar, the emptiness of her flat without Elvis hit her slap bang in the face; tears filled her eyes and tumbled gently down her cheeks. Millie felt so guilty. If she had just accepted that there was nothing wrong with the quiet life, if she had just accepted that she had a better life than some, if she had just accepted that…if she had just let someone else go to the stationery cupboard…she flung herself onto the sofa and cried into the throw cushion. 

A few minutes passed with Millie gently sobbing and then she sat herself up, wiped her face and told herself, ‘Millie Ann Banloach, you can do this…Elvis needs you…you need him…Mr Rob has given you an idiots guide to international diamond retrieval and rescue…it couldn’t be any simpler…let’s get organised.’

It was 11am on Saturday when Millie arrived at St Pancras station in London to catch the Eurostar to Paris, France.  She hadn’t been to St Pancras since before the refurbishment and from the outside it was a building of awe-inspiring proportions. She stood outside looking up at the building, occasionally shuffling out of the way of passers-by, her head craned to see the top as she wondered what people thought when this building was first built in the 1860’s and if any of them were about to step into the unknown. Maybe someone stood in this very spot and looked up at the building before they embarked on a journey from which their lives would be changed irrevocably. The urge to run home, to leave her bags standing abandoned outside the station, was overwhelming.

Millie decided to wait a little longer whilst her insides finished battling it out. Which choice would win? She let her mind drift and was brought back to reality by a voice, a deep, velvety voice that vibrated in her ears and gave her chills, it was enough to wake the sleeping butterflies in her stomach and she turned to see the most beautiful man she had ever seen. As she stood there in awe, it occurred to Millie that he had asked her a question, but she couldn’t focus on anything other than trying not to stare.

‘Erm….hello…Miss? Are you sure you don’t need a hand with your bags?’ he asked.

Wow, thought Millie, how well-mannered…then she remembered that she was a feminist and not supposed to be impressed by being treated like a weak girl however heavy they might be. She also suspected that this man was very used to girls swooning in his vicinity. It made her feel like a teenager again. She tried to shrug it off, lent down to pick up her bags, looked at him straight in the eye and said…

‘I’m a strong independent woman not a weak dependent housewife…I can manage and it would do you well to respect women in future!’ and she yanked her case, her handbag, her last minute bits, and the baileys that she had to have just in case and attempted to storm off up the slope to enter the station. The beautiful man raised one eyebrow quixotically and Millie noticed a bemused smirk forming on those soft pillowy lips and raised an eyebrow back at him. It took all of one step up the slope for the handle on the carrier bag, containing Millie’s Baileys, to break and for the bottle to smash dramatically on the floor whilst simultaneously covering her luggage with a creamy stain. Millie thought she heard a snigger from the man but was too busy turning a beetroot red to look.

‘Are you sure I can’t help you?’ he said and was met with Millie’s glare. She wasn’t annoyed with him but rather by the fact that she had been looking forward to drinking that and now she would have nothing to drown her sorrows in.

‘I mean, can you help me? I am but a disrespectful although strong man in need of some way to advertise my overwhelming manliness, such as carrying luggage. Would you be able to let me carry yours? Please?’ the man said, this time not even attempting to hide the smile.

Millie wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of thinking that he was funny and just shrugged and mumbled ‘’spose’ which was met with twinkly eyes and a ‘you’re too kind m’lady!’

As she entered into the station and looked up at the buildings architecture she let out a ‘wow’ which broke up the awkward silence between them.

‘It really is something, hey?’ he said.

‘It really is. I haven’t been here for a long while.’

‘I’m Justin by the way…’ he said holding out a hand.

‘Oh! Like Bieber?’ she said, and instantly regretted being snarky, she was giving feminists a bad name.

‘I prefer to think I’m more of a Timberlake’ and he smiled at her.

Millie’s knees gave way a little and she tried to turn it into an I’m-stomping-a-bit-to-keep-warm kind of thing and hoped that she had pulled it off. He stood there looking at her, and she started to feel a little self-conscious, she looked back at him and took in his features all at once.

As Millie looked at him she thought he seemed less jaw-droppingly beautiful than he did a few minutes ago and she wondered if his voice had some kind of pied piper effect on her, his eyes were still twinkly but no more than anyone else’s, his lips pillowy but his mouth was quite small, his nose was just a nose and rather nondescript, yet the combination fit well together. He smiled at her again and in that one second his face changed and the butterflies were back. The smile really lit up his face, every line and crinkle appearing together, and most importantly one of Millie’s known weaknesses…dimples! She smiled back at him and he let out a single Ha!

‘I’ll try again shall I? I’m Justin, more Timberlake than Bieber and you are?’ Millie realised that he must have been staring at her waiting for a response and she felt the teenage petulance raising its head again but forced it back down.

‘I’m Millie’ she said, ‘thank you for your help….I should be ok now’ she smiled at him.

‘It’s nice to meet you Millie’ he smiled back, ‘I actually have to go now as my train to Paris is boarding…maybe…here, I should be back in London in a few weeks. Maybe we could go for a drink sometime?’ and he handed her his business card.

‘Oh, sure…yes…thanks…I mean…sure…yes, I’m going to Paris on the next train…erm…have a safe trip’ and she looked at him and smiled.

As Justin walked away from her towards the boarding gate he needed Millie was grinning. No-one had ever given her their card before. It was all rather exciting and for a moment she felt like she was in a movie. She felt smug as she thought about their brief meeting. Then she felt a bit embarrassed and within seconds she felt like an idiot. Justin must be crazy she thought, there must be something wrong with him, why would he want to go for a drink with me? She looked down at his business card.

Justin Held

Private Investigator

Specialising in retrieval of stolen goods (e.g. diamonds, people, dogs)

Also available for carpet fitting, plumbing emergencies & removals.