Chapter 32 #2
Much later, the rather grubby and somewhat battle-scarred company met around Leo’s dining table.
Jess was nursing a bandaged wrist from trying to carry too many boxes, Harry’s back was giving him gyp and Mab had torn her favourite dungarees during the struggle to squeeze the jacuzzi through the narrow doorway.
Even George was suffering, having been clawed by an angry Maurice, who had strongly objected to being shut away in the bedroom for the day.
‘Can we eat now, Mum?’ asked George hopefully.
A stack of takeaway foil containers were piled in the centre of the table, surrounded by brown paper bags of naan bread, plates, pickles, poppadoms and bottles of beer.
Edward was sitting next to Alex, with a pad and pen at his elbow.
Their new business partner was obviously ready for a full-scale board meeting, thought Mab, rubbing her tired eyes.
Edward leaned forward. ‘George, we’ve got a lot of things to discuss tonight, mate.’
‘Let’s eat first though,’ said Mab, feeling exhaustion about to swallow her whole, ‘we’ll think much better when we’ve got some food inside us.’
She was right. After copious amounts of curry, most of the party felt ready for anything.
The problems that had looked insurmountable earlier in the day now seemed merely troublesome.
Only Leo still looked jaded and pessimistic.
He and Jess cleared the table ready for action, and everyone waited for Edward to begin.
‘As far as I can see, the main issues we have are as follows,’ said Edward, looking around the table to check that he had everyone’s attention. He held up an efficient-looking list.
‘Let’s be positive first. These are the tasks that are already completed: the shop has been properly dried out now, the plumbing is fixed, the jacuzzi is installed, the big sofas are in place, Mab’s bought a great selection of lamps, the chocolate café’s all ready to go thanks to Jess’s hard work, and the books are on the shelves.
Harry and Nina have got the Victorian-themed crèche ready and Stan’s all set to run it, George has done a fantastic job getting the fish tank, the menus and the wall art set up, plus our superb dragonfly logo, Mab’s lovely dark blue curtains and cushion covers are making the shop look very sophisticated and Alex has painted the background for the new sign over the door. ’
They all sat up a bit straighter. Put like that, it sounded as if they were almost ready to open.
Leo nodded. ‘Yes, but the opening day’s set for three days from now. Are you saying that you seriously think we can make it? Face it, Edward – it’s not going to happen, is it?’
Everyone looked at Edward, and Alex leaned closer to him, passing Edward the next list. Mab felt the passion between them almost as strongly as if it was happening to her.
Edward seemed completely different now he had Alex.
Could anyone have such a drastic personality transplant so quickly?
Where was the crusty, often unapproachable man she’d known for so long?
More importantly, was the new improved Edward here to stay?
‘Well, I’m telling you that it’s just about doable,’ said Edward.
‘This is the minimum that needs to happen before we open. Obviously there would still be bits of tweaking to do later, but if the editor of the Chronicle is prepared to run their original feature on Friday, we could probably open our doors Saturday morning and have the launch party Saturday night.’
‘Go on then, let’s have the list.’ Leo was drumming his fingers on the table; Mab wanted to scream. All this tension was making her back ache. Edward gave Leo a look which had more than a touch of his old impatience in it.
‘Right, here goes. We’ve still got to knock a small piece of wall down between our two properties to provide an archway, make good the plaster, paint where necessary, re-oil the shop floor, get our kid to fit a shower in the jacuzzi room, kit it out with towels and toiletries and a couple of funky chairs, arrange the little tables around the shop with a selection of books that can be browsed, plan the launch party and do the shopping for it…
design a sign for the front of the shop when we’ve decided what our new name will be… shall I go on?’
‘New name?’ asked Leo. ‘What’s wrong with the old one?’
‘Think about it, mate – we can’t call the place “The Chocolate Cake Bookstore” if half the food has a healthy theme, can we?’
‘But that was the whole point of my shop – decadent indulgence. I don’t want to change the name!’
There was silence as everyone pondered on this new hitch.
George wandered over to them, Maurice slung casually around his shoulders like a scarf.
He was holding his dragonfly picture, newly finished, and Mab caught her breath at its delicate beauty.
George had decided, after a few attempts on canvas, to paint his dragonfly on an old mirror that he’d found in the storeroom.
The wings were translucent, hazy blue and silver, with a hint of turquoise.
The body of the dragonfly was a deep glossy navy, the exact same shade as the curtains and the crockery in the café.
The creature looked as if it had just settled on a willow branch, the fresh green of the leaves making a fantastic contrast to its wings.
‘Do you like my picture, Leo?’ asked George, holding it up proudly.
‘Wow, man, it’s absolutely amazing!’ Leo exclaimed.
He stood up to get a better look, and then held it up to show the others.
A murmur of impressed delight greeted the picture, and George smiled broadly.
Mab tried not to cry. She could see that Jess was struggling with a mixture of pride and happiness, and was also blinking back tears.
‘And you’ve used all your happy colours, love,’ said Jess.
‘Happy colours? What do you mean?’ asked Leo, peering more closely at George’s work.
‘George feels colours, don’t you?’ Jess said. ‘If he’s happy, he always paints in silver and blues and greens.’
‘Don’t try and kid us you don’t like it here in future, George. The dragonfly’s giving you away.’ Nina jumped up and kissed her grandson soundly on both cheeks before he had a chance to wriggle away.
‘Yuk,’ said George, ‘I’m not doing any more of these if you make such a fuss.’ But he grinned at his mother all the same, and glanced up at Leo to see if any more praise was forthcoming. Mab looked over to where Edward and Alex sat, both obviously moved by the picture’s intricate charm.
‘Shall we take George’s logo idea one step further?
’ she asked Edward. ‘The dragonfly is said to symbolise change, and we’re certainly making big changes around here.
We could display it with a notice about how the bookshop and café idea has changed as it’s gone along, and that now decadence has been allowed to exist alongside the healthy option? Or something like that?’
Leo got up and began to pace the floor. ‘We can put the new logo on the flyers and give them out in the marketplace, and put a little sandwich board with it on outside, and a noticeboard in the window that we can change daily. When we begin to lure them in, the customers will soon get the hang of what’s on offer, won’t they?
I vote for pulling out all the stops for Saturday. We can do it. I just know we can.’