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“I swear its not working,” Edwina sighed, tapping buttons on the computer then switching over to the tiny projector she had plugged into it.
“Let me try?” Penelope offered coming up beside her.
Pen often had to give presentations at work, and she was pretty good friends with the projector in the meeting room. Edwina stood up and held her hands out at the computer as if to say, ‘be my guest.’ Penelope slid into the seat and started tapping away, bringing up troubleshooters and trying all her old favourite problem-solving tricks but nothing seemed to work.
Next, she took the tiny remote for the projector itself and started playing around with settings with no luck. She restarted both the computer and the projector, disconnected the cables from both devices and reconnected but an adamant ‘no signal’ message persisted.
“It’s got to be the cable!” Eloise put in for the millionth time.
“But the cable connected the laptop to the TV no problem,” Penelope sighed.
“Then let’s just do this on the TV,” El groaned.
“But I really wanted the full cinema experience,” Edwina pouted. “Looks like that thing was fifty quid down the pan.”
Penelope was now looking intently at the little projector itself, wiggling the cable.
“The connection is loose!” she shouted in glee. The other two girls frowned at her. She grinned, holding up the device and explained, “The port on the projector isn’t very secure so its probably not recognising the cable.”
“So, movie night is a bust?” Edwina sighed.
“Of course not!” Pen said assuredly, “I’ll just call Jack.”
Edwina frowned, “Who’s Jack?”
But Penelope was already across the room scooping up her phone and typing into it furiously. Edwina turned to El and repeated the question. Eloise rolled her eyes.
“Penelope’s personal handyman,” Eloise sighed, all patience long since lost.
Within twenty minutes there was a knock on the door and Edwina bounded over to be greeted with a six-foot specimen with floppy brown hair and a mischievous grin. Most importantly he had a toolbox. Confused, she let him in and he joined Penelope in the living room who immediately started explaining the problem. Moments later he was disassembling the projector.
Edwina turned to Eloise who was watching the scene unfold with distaste and folded arms.
“Jack?” she said to her friend.
Eloise waved a dismissive hand and said, bored, “Don’t ask.”
Twenty minutes later, girl’s movie night was up and running again but with an extra body sharing Penelope’s seat and stealing her popcorn.
*
Kate paced the ballroom, heels clicking angrily and eyes fixed on the lopsided floral chandelier. She had her phone to her ear and was ranting at the poor employee on the other end. Edwina, the Bridgerton sisters, and Penelope all stood in a line staring at the impending disaster, holding various boxes of carefully curated decorations and table linens. Daphne was the exception, also on her phone, typing furiously and making various calls.
“I gave you one job,” Kate snapped, “I wanted an elegant, tasteful, balanced chandelier bouquet. You are a florist, how hard is one floral display? …Well, you can rest assured that I will not be paying the full balance. …Well, I’m sorry you feel that way, but the product provided is insufficient. …Oh, believe me, I’ll be sending photos to your superior to support my refusal to pay the total.”
She clicked her fingers twice at the others as she passed them and pointed at the chandelier. Hyacinth immediately put the basket she was carrying down and started taking extensive photos of the mess.
“How soon can your team return to correct the issue?” Kate continued. She paused in her pacing, propping a hand on her hip, listening intently. Her eyebrows rose, “And you think I’m unjustified in my refusal to pay? Trust that you have lost a customer in me and I hope you understand that includes Bridgerton Group and all its subsidiaries.” She scoffed a humourless laugh, “There’s no point backtracking now, the damage is done. I shall email your superior within the hour. Goodbye.”
She pressed end call with malice and dropped the other hand to her hip, looking up at the chandelier and shaking her head.
“The first gala Violet has let me lead the planning committee for and this disaster happens,” she muttered to herself, then, louder to the other girls, her tone sharp and authoritative, “Daphne, damage control progress report.”
The other woman held up a finger as she mm-hmm-ed down her own phone then thanked the other person and hung up. She sighed, “I can’t get anybody I trust down here at this late hour.”
“Hm,” Kate said folding her arms and staring up at the bouquet. “Well, I suppose if you want something done right…” She looked at the line of women and ordered, “Penelope, call Jack, tell him to bring a ladder. Everyone else with me. Hyacinth, I want those photos in under five. Let’s go.”
She clapped her hands and the women jumped into action, Hyacinth tapping her screen rapidly, the others lifting their boxes and baskets again. Edwina however, cocked her head, watching as Penelope walked off with her phone to her ear.
She turned to Francesca and asked, “Am I the only one who didn’t know about Jack?”
Frannie shrugged and followed her sisters. Edwina shook her head and trotted along after them. Soon the ballroom was a hive of activity as the ladies arranged and organised checked every detail. In the centre a tall ladder had been placed, Penelope at the bottom of it, holding the base and handing up tools as the man on it fixed the wonky chandelier.
*
“Shit!” Geniveve swore as the group clambered out of the car, and they all stared at the very deflated tire.
“Does anybody know how to change one?” Sophie asked looking from one girl to the other.
Edwina shook her head, “Kate’s always done it.”
“I know the theory,” Gen admitted, “But usually I can coerce a man into doing it for me, so I don’t ruin my outfit.”
Sophie looked around but all the other cars on the road were simply flying past them, parked haphazardly in the layby, “Shame there’s none around to ask…”
“Pen? Any ideas?” Edwina asked, turning to the redhead.
She looked up from her phone, “Oh, Jack’s already on his way.”
The group let out a collective sigh of relief and clambered back into their car to wait on Penelope’s knight in shining overalls. As Edwina slid into the backseat beside Penelope again, she narrowed her eyes at the way her friend was grinning down at her phone.
*
“Does Eddie really need a custom playhouse?” Edwina asked as she watched her brother-in-law wrestle with the expensive flat pack building. The child in question was darting about the large garden, getting in his father’s way and handing Anthony tools he definitely didn’t need.
“Of course,” Kate said, shooting her little sister her trademark withering glare. “I just wish Anthony had agreed to have it built on delivery.”
“Why didn’t he?” Edwina asked, sipping her chai and wincing as Anthony accidentally let go of the part he’d been holding up as he leant down to get the next piece so he could attach them together.
“Some misguided desire to have a father-son bonding moment,” Kate sighed, “Build the playhouse together, build core memories.”
“Except, if you don’t mind me saying so, he doesn’t have a DIY bone in his body,” Edwina said. At that very moment Anthony comically hit his thumb with the hammer like something straight out of a sitcom.
“Try telling him that,” Kate snorted, exasperated, “When I tried, I got a rant about Bridgerton men being able to do anything that they set their mind to.”
He came over then, Edmund at his side, and holding his thumb but clearly trying to pretend that it didn’t hurt as he said, “I think us men are due a tea break.”
“My love,” Kate said as kindly as she could muster when it regarded her frustrating husband, “If you don’t want a professional to do it, do you not think it would be nice to ask your brothers for help? Make it a big family event? We could invite everyone over, do a barbeque.”
He snorted, “Yeah, because my brothers will be so kind and obliging and not at all mocking.” Then he thought about it for a moment and then said, “Unless you were to invite Penelope?”
Kate grinned and patted her husband on the chest, “That’s the spirit, my love.”
As they moved inside as a group for tea and snacks, Edwina felt bewildered as her five-year-old nephew danced around them chanting, “Uncle Jack, Uncle Jack.”
*
“Merry Christmas!” All nine Bridgerton adults, assorted spouses and partners chorused in unison, clinking glasses. Everyone started pulling crackers and donning paper crowns, reading bad jokes aloud and trading cheap prizes. The chatter was loud, and cutlery was clattering against plates as everyone dug into their Christmas lunch. The children rattled off excitedly to any adult that listened about all the presents Father Christmas had brought them and all their plans for those toys.
Then, cutting through the noise, a phone began to ring. Some of the chatter died down, looking around for the source.
Colin slid his phone out of his pocket, barely glanced at the caller ID and answered, “Pen?”
Everyone went quiet to allow him to hear what their friend was calling for. They could vaguely hear shouting on the other end and Penelope talking at rapid speed.
“No, Pen, calm down,” he said, “Don’t worry, I’m sure we can get it working again. Yeah, don’t worry. No, your Christmas isn’t going to be ruined. Of course it won’t. Put your mum on.” A beat passed and then screeching sounded down the other end, “Hi Mrs Featherington, I know, Penelope’s told me everything already. No, no you don’t need to call anyone, I’m sure I can get it working. Yes. No, it’s fine, I’m happy to. No, I swear it would be my pleasure, it won’t ruin my Christmas, not at all, I’m more concerned about your family having a happy Christmas. Yeah. Of course, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
He hung up and looked sheepishly up the table to his mum.
“The Featherington’s oven has packed in, and their Christmas lunch isn’t ready yet…”
“Go, go,” she urged, “If you can’t get it working tell the Featherington’s they’re welcome to come over, there’s plenty here, more than enough for them as well as us.”
He smiled at everyone and said, “If you’ll excuse me then.”
Then he slid out of his seat, ruffled the hair of several nieces and nephews as he passed and left the room. The front door banged a few minutes later. Everyone looked at each other knowingly, eyebrows raised and smirks across their faces, slowly lifting their cutlery and their glasses again.
“Oh, for goodness sakes!” Edwina burst, dropping her hands to the table and making the crockery rattle, “Will someone please explain the Jack thing to me!”
*
“Penelope?” Edwina called, letting herself into the flat.
“Kitchen!”
She walked through and stopped short in the doorway. Penelope was sat on the kitchen table, legs dangling, swirling a glass of wine and chatting to the man sitting on her kitchen floor, fiddling with the plumbing under the sink.
“Pen,” Edwina greeted, “Colin.”
He looked up to meet her gaze, gave an acknowledging nod and a friendly grin before turning his attention back to the sink.
“What’s going on?” Edwina asked, accepting the glass of wine that Penelope had just poured her.
“The sink wasn’t draining properly so Jack said he’d take a look at it.”
“Blockage,” Colin mumbled through the spanner he was holding between his teeth.
“So hey,” Edwina said casually, hopping up onto the table beside Pen, “How long have you called Colin ‘Jack’ when you ask him to do a favour for you?”
“Since we were teenagers,” Penelope laughed, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Because he can literally do anything I ask of him. He truly is a jack-of-all-trades.”
“Right,” Edwina nodded, taking a sip of her wine, “And…how come he doesn’t do odd jobs for everyone else?”
Penelope frowned at her and then then laughed like she’d said the funniest joke, “Of course he does! Everyone asks Jack for help!”
Edwina stared her friend down for a solid minute before she concluded that Penelope was deadly serious.
“Pen, you do realise that everybody else asks you when they need Colin to do something for them?” Edwina chuckled.
Penelope took a long sip of her wine, thinking hard. Finally, looking at the man in question as he continued to fiddle with the sink, she said, “Huh.”
“Watch this,” Edwina grinned, “Hey, Jack?”
“Hmm?” Colin said, sitting up.
“I’m going to Ikea next week to buy a new desk. Since you’re pretty handy, is there any chance you would have time to help me build it?”
He scratched his head, “Next week? I’m pretty busy, I’ve got a lot of deadlines…”
“Oh no worries,” Edwina nodded, and looked at Pen, “We’ll just have to go ourselves.”
His eyes flitted over to Penelope, “Are you going too Pen?”
She looked questioningly at Edwina who used her eyes to urge her to agree, “Yeah, I was going to have a look.”
He scratched his head, “Well, maybe, Edwina…what day did you say?”
“We haven’t decided yet.”
“Ah…okay,” he nodded, “Well, Pen can let me know and I’ll see what I can do.”
Then he went back to the sink. Edwina raised an eyebrow at Penelope, whose mouth was slightly agape. Edwina held her glass out to the other woman.
“You’ve got a superpower Penny girl,” Edwina told her, wisely, “Don’t squander it.”
Penelope, eyes and mouth still wide, clinked Edwina’s glass in agreement as her mind started to whirl remembering all the times over the last ten years in which she’d called on Colin as Jack and the fact he’d always instantly been available and wondering what on earth that it possibly meant if he was only doing that for her.