Chapter 25
Mab sat at the computer, clutching a hot water bottle to her stomach.
The stress of the postponed opening day was really starting to depress her now and she had still not managed to get hold of either of the Crabtrees on the phone to talk about the baby.
After days of avoiding their calls, the irony of having to chase them made her smile grimly, but the thought of actually going to find them and talk face to face was too much to bear right now.
At least while Leo was away she didn’t have to deal with her growing feelings for him, but missing him was almost as bad as trying not to love him.
The lack of emails from Den was a big relief, thought Mab.
She blushed whenever she thought about the shrubbery moment.
Den was a poor substitute for the real thing but Leo was way out of her reach.
Sophie had first claim on him, and Mab had vowed never to chase after a man again, even if he was free.
Since Leo’s departure, Mab had spent a sleepless night thinking over her situation, and had decided that she had two choices.
She could either leave the shop and flat, find another job and forget Leo, or she could put all thoughts of wanting him out of her head and get on with making the business a roaring success.
There was no contest really. If only they could get the go-ahead to open, thought Mab.
If she could get her teeth into the job properly, surely she’d be too busy to think about Leo?
She heard Jess and George come in, and stood up, glad of the company.
‘Hi, guys. How did you get on at the library?’ said Mab, going into the kitchen to put the kettle on. She slotted four crumpets into the toaster. George was always hungry these days.
‘It was wicked,’ said George, watching his mum dump a huge pile of books on the table. ‘We got loads of interesting stuff. School at home might be quite cool, if we still have break, and PE, and all the best bits. But I want the shop to open, and I can’t do numeracy properly without Leo.’
Mab came back into the room carrying a tray with a giant milkshake for George, the buttered crumpets and a little coffee pot and cup for Jess.
‘Are you still off coffee?’ asked Jess, looking dubiously at Mab’s mint tea. ‘That stuff smells foul. Mab, are you OK? Really?’
Mab looked down at her mug. She knew she was going to have to talk to Jess about the baby soon.
Jess had been unusually tactful since Nina had told her that Mab was pregnant, but Mab knew she was itching to ask for more details.
Jess must be assuming it was Pete’s baby.
Maybe she thought that the two of them had been having a last-ditch attempt to patch things up?
Mab decided to put off the moment for a bit longer.
‘No, not really, but I thought that now that I’ve lost some weight, I’d keep it off. If I have coffee, I have to eat a biscuit mountain to help it down but mint tea puts you off eating.’
‘Don’t start getting silly about this dieting lark, Mabel. You’ve always looked great, hasn’t she, Georgie?’
‘Well, she was a bit fat before…’
‘George!’
Mab laughed. ‘It’s OK, Jess, I won’t go over the top with losing weight, but it’s good to be able to wear some of the things that have been at the back of the cupboard for years.
I nearly threw these cut-offs away when I moved, but they fit me perfectly now even if it’s probably only for a few weeks, look. ’
Mab twirled, showing off her flat stomach in the denim shorts.
She was wearing a vest top with them, and a lot of silver chains around her neck.
Her hair was loose and curled over her shoulders and her feet were bare.
She had painted her toenails pearly pink again and she had an ankle bracelet that dangled one small charm. It was a dragonfly.
‘I like your anklet, in fact you look totally amazing, Mab,’ said Jess enviously.
‘I’m finding it hard to even find time to wash my hair at the moment, what with trying to sort out George’s education and everything.
At least George seems happier now.’ She looked down at him as he lay on his stomach on the floor, contentedly drawing.
‘Stand still, Mab,’ George said, ‘I’m doing your dragonfly.’
‘Are you? Why?’
‘It’s going to be our… you know… I can’t remember what you call it… when you put it on all your stuff…’
‘Symbol? Motif?’
‘No… begins with a T…’
‘Trademark?’ said Mab, interested. ‘I didn’t know we were having one. Shouldn’t we have something to do with chocolate though?’
‘No,’ said George, ‘I want that fly. It’s cool. I’m going to do some small ones and then one giant one for the walls. It’s going to have gold and blue wings, like the cups for the café,’ he said, helpfully. ‘I’ve got new paints, and the gold one’s wicked.’
‘Oh, OK then, George, sounds good. The dragonfly’s a symbol of change, or so I’ve read, so it fits in with our new lives. Everything’s changed for all of us lately.’
Jess smiled in agreement. ‘There’s one thing though, Mab. We called in at the newspaper office while we were out, just to let them know that we haven’t given up on the opening party, and that we still want the double-page spread they promised us.’
‘I thought you’d gone right off that paper after the letter they printed about us last week?’
‘Yes, I have, but we haven’t got much choice – everyone around here reads the Clayton Chronicle, so we need to keep well in with them. But the reporter guy, he said that when we finally do open we’ll need a really big gimmick to get us going, after all the rumours and problems.’
‘A gimmick? What sort of thing does he mean?’
Jess shrugged and rubbed her tired eyes.
Mab pondered for a moment. She still had her Big Idea.
She sat down at the table and flicked the computer back on.
Was it possible? Where could she get hold of some money, quickly?
Mab clicked away busily for a few moments as Jess subsided onto the floor, beginning to do some rudimentary stretching exercises to ease her aching shoulders. Finally, Mab stood up.
‘George, I need your help. Bring your pad and pencils, we’re going down to the shop. I need you to draw a plan for me. Oh, hang on, I just need to check my emails first, I’ve sent a few submissions off to agents lately and there might be a reply by now.’
Mab sat down again and began to scroll through the various uninteresting messages, without much hope.
The living room window was open, letting in the warm summer breeze.
A dustbin lorry trundled along the street and market traders bustled around not far from the shop door.
It was very peaceful, but when Mab gasped loudly, both Jess and George, startled, turned their heads to look at her.
‘Oh, no, Mab, not more problems?’ said Jess, coming to look over her shoulder.
‘What? No, not problems. Not at all.’
Mab started to cry silently, tears trickling down her cheeks.
Jess put her arms around her friend, deeply alarmed.
She looked down at the email that Mab had just opened, and could just see the words ‘winning’ and ‘prize’ in bold.
Mab indicated that she should check out the whole thing properly before getting up again to find the tissue box. Jess read the words aloud.
Dear Ms Millington
We are delighted to inform you that your three-chapter extract, from the novel entitled Last Weekend, has been selected as the winning entry for our Brand-New Author Award.
As I’m sure you will remember, the first prize is ￡15,000 and the chance to meet with a top agent and pitch your idea.
The agent in question, Cameron James, has already seen your work, and is very impressed.
He will be contacting you personally in the next few days to arrange a meeting.
In the meantime, please find enclosed a cheque for ￡15,000, with our warmest congratulations,
Yours sincerely
Camilla Brown
Administrative assistant for Writers’ Showcase, Leamington Spa
‘Mab, this is amazing! After all this time, this is your chance…’ Jess was so excited she could hardly speak, and Mab gazed back at her, dumbfounded.
‘I entered this competition towards the end of last year, and I’d almost forgotten about it.
Angelica made me do it. She nagged and nagged until I sent it off.
I can’t believe it, Jess. Thank goodness I remembered to arrange for my post to be forwarded.
I nearly didn’t bother. Now I might get published at last, and even better, now I’ve got some money I can try out my Big Idea.
I need to ring Leo, as soon as possible.
’ Mab’s heart lurched at the thought of speaking to Leo again, and she had to take several deep breaths to calm herself.
‘So what is the Big Idea? I texted Leo to tell him you were cooking something up, but I’d expected you to have told me a bit more about it by now.’
‘Don’t be cross, Jess. It’s just that there was no point in talking about my idea before because I thought it was too expensive… but now… anything’s possible. That is, if Leo agrees.’
‘Mab, just tell me what you’re talking about, please.’
‘The jacuzzi. We ditched the plans for it because we didn’t have enough cash, but I always thought that was one of Leo’s better schemes.
How amazing would it be to come into a bookshop, feeling all tired and jaded, and to spend half an hour in the hot tub, listening to an audio book and unwinding?
Each day the jacuzzi room would feature a different author’s books and a different sort of chocolate to taste.
And then you’d have a huge mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles, and maybe a piece of flapjack or a clotted cream scone.
And then, you’d definitely be in the mood to spend some serious money on books. ’
Jess’s smile grew broader as she imagined this wonderful scene.
‘But wouldn’t it be a bit cramped in the tub? They’re not very big, you know.’
‘Six people can fit in the ones I’ve been looking at.
You’d have to book your place the day before.
You’d need to do that anyway because of having your swimsuit with you.
We don’t want naked bodies everywhere, fun though it might be.
We could provide the big, fluffy towels, and a shower for afterwards with posh shower gel and shampoo and suchlike. ’
‘Mab, this is all going to cost well over ￡15,000, surely?’
‘No, honestly, I’ve costed it carefully. If Stan’s friend Kev could plumb in a couple of showers for us, and we take advantage of the sales that are happening everywhere, we could do it. Luxury items like hot tubs aren’t selling too well at the moment, apparently.’
‘But where would we put it?’
‘In the little back room, where we’d originally planned to have it.
That was what I was going to ask George to map out for me, so that I could make a proper scale drawing to show Leo.
That room’s full of everything that we don’t know what to do with, but if we have a skip, or get Stan and Kev to help again, we can soon clear it.
And don’t you see, Jess? This will be our USP. ’
‘Our what?’
‘Our Unique Selling Point. We can run a competition in the Chronicle for free places in the jacuzzi. It’ll be fantastic publicity. And Edward Crabtree will have to admit we’re not trying to take his trade. We’ll be different from any other shop in Clayton-on-the-Bream.’
Jess began to laugh. She took Mab’s hands and spun her around in a crazy dance, then stopped as suddenly as she had started.
‘Hang on, Mab. This is all very well, but you’ve forgotten one vital thing. We still don’t know if or when we’ll be able to open the shop. Are you honestly prepared to sink all your hard-earned winnings into something that might never happen? And ￡15,000 will never be enough. It’d be madness.’
‘Madness or not, if Leo agrees, I’m doing it.
This is my chance to really be part of the business, and if that agent takes me on, I can write and work in the shop too, if…
Oh, Jess, I’m so, so hoping Cameron James likes the rest of the book.
I’m sure I can extend my overdraft a bit to bump up the ￡15,000 and we can get the rest somehow.
Right, I’m going to ring Leo. And then there’s something else I need to talk to you about. ’