The Factory Girls – Episode 41
Jonathan did, very much, but what would he tell Dana if she saw the message? He could say it was something of his brother’s, but that would be lying, and whilst he’d so far avoided telling her the extent of his involvement with the Manchester company, he hadn’t actually lied. He didn’t want to start now. He liked Dana, really liked her. He found himself thinking about her at all sorts of strange times. Wherever he went in the factory he was alert for her bright laugh or her witty comments. He hated the thought of not seeing her every day if the factory were to close. This relationship felt different from ones he’d had before not just because Dana herself was different from the sweet, earnest students he’d previously dated, but also because there seemed such a strong connection between them. He wouldn’t call it love, not yet, but he could definitely see how it might become that.“Soppy idiot,” he berated himself as he followed Carol into her office, but he had to admit he liked the feeling, all the same.* * * *“Let’s see this Facebook page, then,” Carol suggested once the office door shut.He could hardly refuse, so he logged on and pulled up the factory page. It was going crazy! They had over 5,000 “likes” and people were posting all sorts of supportive messages on the wall. You go, factory girls! Britain needs more like you! We built an empire on our factories don’t let them die out! All stirring stuff, Jonathan decided, but would it have any effect?“What do you think Xion will do?” he asked Carol.She shrugged.“I expect they’ve lived through worse in their time. But, if nothing else, it’s cheered everyone here up!”Carol was flicking around the screen, taking it all in.“I really ought to get up to date with all this social networking stuff,” she said now. “It just takes so much time. Still, I might have plenty of that soon! How do I get a page of my own, Jonathan?”Jonathan smiled.“It’s easy. Look, this is mine.”He flicked on to his homepage. There was a new message. Hey, mate, how about that football?Carol stared at it. “That says it’s from someone called Raj Sidani. Isn’t he the guy from Moonbright?”“Yeah,” Jonathan admitted. “He’s asked me to a match this Sunday, but . . .”“But you haven’t told Dana about moving to them?”“I’m not moving!” Jonathan snapped, slamming his hand down on the gaudy newspaper article and making Carol jump. He tried to calm himself. “Not necessarily. Cardill’s might not shut.”His boss just nodded. “You should talk to her, Jonathan,” she said quietly.“I know. I do know that, Carol, but there’s no rush, is there? Let’s see what happens when Xion get hit with this first.”It was cowardly, he knew, but, really, Dana was so happy. Why upset her if he didn’t need to?
