Second Chance Summer

Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

So, this was what it was like to be dead.

Lily had to admit, she thought there’d be lights and a tunnel in the afterlife, not this syrupy darkness. Even the Almighty must be struggling with their energy bills.

‘Lily! Boss! Are you OK?’ The voice penetrating the darkness was not that of a supreme being unless they had a strong Brummie accent. Richie’s voice cut through the bizarre mixture of thoughts that had been swirling through Lily’s semi-conscious mind. Why was her PA using his panicked tone as if she very much wasn’t going to be OK?

She opened her eyes to find herself lying on the carpet in her office with her PA staring down at her. ‘W–what happened?’ she said, feeling very groggy.

‘I don’t know. You kind of just … crumpled.’

Crumpled? How was that possible? Lily didn’t crumple. She wasn’t a crumpler. Never had been. She was strong, resilient. She was the embodiment of the metal metaphor: Woman of Steel. That’s what a journo had dubbed her a few years ago and it had stuck.

Richie’s eyes seemed huge – wide with alarm behind his trademark red-framed glasses. ‘Are you OK, hun?’

‘Yes. I’m fine. I’m getting up.’

‘Don’t you dare move! I’m calling an ambulance.’ Richie rested a hand on her shoulder. ‘You might have hit your head. You probably did – you collapsed. Right in front of me.’

‘I don’t need an ambulance.’

Lily slowly sat up, wincing at the ache in one temple.

Richie was on his knees next to her, tutting. ‘Go easy, hun.’

‘Why do you keep calling me “hun”?’ she murmured. ‘You never call me that.’

‘Because you said you’d sack me after the first time I tried it.’

‘I was obviously joking.’

‘Were you?’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘It’s better than “bab”, which my nanna calls everyone.’

‘If you dare to call me “bab”, I really will sack you,’ Lily said, smiling as she spoke, even though it made her forehead throb.

He exhaled with relief. ‘Sounds like you’re feeling better.’

‘I am.’ Lily attempted another smile but it turned into a grimace. She’d either hit her head or she had the mother of all headaches. ‘Thanks for helping me. I don’t know what I’d do without you.’

‘I know what I’d do without you : have a much easier time and be able to see my boyfriend occasionally.’

‘I am very, very grateful,’ Lily said, before fixing him with pleading eyes. ‘Have you told anyone about – about this ?’ she asked.

‘Not yet,’ Richie said warily. ‘I’d have called the company first-aider but she’s gone home.’

‘Good! I don’t want anyone to know that I’m not … feeling one hundred percent.’

‘Lily, you’re not even ten percent. At least let me call étienne.’

‘No!’ Lily said, horrified at the thought of her brother-in-law, an A it was the biggest thing yet to have happened to her precious business, which had grown in ways she could never have imagined when she’d first started selling her own handmade jewellery and accessories from a market stall as a teenager.

Soon, her arty friends were asking her to sell their products too because they didn’t have the time, the confidence or the skills. Lily, however, loved talking to customers and helping her friends, and gained a small commission every time she sold an item.

Gradually, she’d realised that curating and selling other people’s pieces was where her real strength lay so she’d moved her business online and sales had exploded. Now she had a London office, a team of staff and scores of talented craftspeople under her Lily Loves banner.

The business had grown steadily, but she was faced with a dilemma.

The supermarket chain that was interested in featuring her branded gifts in their stores wanted thousands of items, from mugs and placemats to tea towels and trinket boxes. There was no way the individual craftspeople she worked with could meet the demand, which meant the supermarket would have to stock mass-produced items.

On the other hand, they were offering a lot of money to use the Lily Loves brand on the products, with the promise of much more if the venture took off. Who knew? If it was a success, Lily Loves might be stocked in other retailers, increasing profits and enabling her to invest in and help the artisans who’d originally inspired her to set up the company.

It would mean Lily Loves could expand and secure its future. However, it also meant she’d have to make compromises on what the brand stood for: high quality gifts, individually made with love.

Lily was torn in two over whether to accept the offer – and she didn’t have long to decide, as they wanted an answer soon. Whilst she deliberated, she was certain of one thing: the supermarket could not find out the CEO of Lily Loves was prone to fainting at inopportune moments. And after her recent TV fiasco, she couldn’t afford any more negative PR.

‘Here’s your snack!’

Though she could feel the stress pulsing through her veins, Lily forced a smile as Richie put the glass of water and a bowl of trail mix in front of her. He insisted on watching over her like a mother hen.

‘The colour’s coming back into your cheeks,’ he said with satisfaction a couple of minutes later, making Lily smile. She really did feel better. The earlier episode had only been a blip after all.

When he left the room to call his boyfriend and say he’d be late – again – Lily took her chance. She turned back to her desktop, determined to get a bit more work done before she finally went home.

‘Oh, God … not again …’

What she hadn’t admitted to Richie was that her memory of the minute or so before she’d fainted had been completely wiped out. She’d only recalled that something unpleasant had happened that had caused her to leap from her chair and shout out.

Now she knew exactly what it was. The social media site she’d been looking at was still open on her Windows tab and her name was fifth on the list of trending stories.

#LilyHarper

A news story about something completely unrelated had reignited an X thread about her. She’d thought it was old news and the harpies had moved on to trash someone else’s reputation, but no, there she was again. Trending. Public Enemy number one. ‘Ruthless bitch’ and ‘spiteful cow’ were among the least awful phrases used to describe her. Some of the abuse was unprintable, including threats and language that made her feel physically sick again.

And all because of a momentary lapse of judgement six months previously.

The vicious comments seemed to leap out at her, bringing nausea to her throat and sweat trickling down her back. She mustn’t look. If she fainted again, Richie would piggyback her to A their warmth, their life force, and through them, the memory of her late sister. étienne was right. Cara would have wanted her to stay well; to stay alive – for the twins.

Over their shoulders, she saw étienne and Richie looking at her. Her brother-in-law was tight-lipped. Richie was dabbing his eyes with a tissue.

‘I suppose a nice holiday would do me good,’ she said.

Richie jumped in. ‘Shall I book something?’

‘Yes,’ Lily said. ‘I think you ought to. Somewhere quiet and peaceful and restful, away from all of this for a couple of weeks.’

Richie was already on his way out of the office. ‘I’m on it now!’

‘Make sure it’s got decent WiFi though!’ Lily called after him.

The girls released her. Tania sat in Lily’s Herman Miller chair and started twirling round.

‘Can I play with your toy?’ Amelie said.

‘Of course,’ Lily said, smiling as her niece took the retro stress-relieving pendulum off the desk and started crashing the metal spheres into each other.

étienne gave her a peck on the cheek. ‘Well done,’ he said. ‘The first step is always the hardest.’

‘Well, I’m not as stubborn as I look,’ Lily said to a raised eyebrow from her brother-in-law. ‘Shall we get out of here? I could join you for pizza at your place?’

‘That sounds like a very good idea. You can watch Frozen again while I fall asleep.’

‘I can’t wait,’ Lily said, adding earnestly, ‘really. It will be wonderful to spend the whole evening with you all. It’s been too long …’

étienne touched her arm. ‘I know. Come on, let’s all go home.’

With a farewell to Richie, Lily shrugged on her suit jacket and, for the first time in months, left the office before it was dark. Today had been a wake-up call – one that she needed to heed for the sake of the company’s future.

A week or two of pampering at a nice spa resort would soon set her to rights and then, refreshed and revived, she could get straight back to the office. Even better, she might be able to carry on catching up with emails and keeping her potential new client in the loop in between massages and cocktails.

It was such a brilliant idea, she was amazed she hadn’t thought of it before.