Chapter 33
By nightfall on Thursday night, Leo was beginning to doubt his sanity in attempting such a mammoth task.
He sat at the table with George, watching as their artist in residence finished the design for the flyer.
The local printer had agreed to get two hundred leaflets done for tomorrow lunchtime, which was cutting it a bit fine, but at least they could give some out on Friday afternoon, and a couple of Stan’s friends had agreed to spend Saturday wandering the town, pushing the colourful dragonfly-embossed flyers into unsuspecting hands.
Jess had been worrying about the fact that George’s homeschooling hadn’t yet got off the ground, but as far as Leo could see, the boy was learning much more from their frantic day-to-day life than he would experience at any school.
His confidence was growing daily, he was much less touchy (so long as he had Maurice for company and his tank of fish to take care of) and he had even started reading for fun, raiding the heap of sample books in the children’s section on a daily basis.
There would be time for formal lessons when the opening day had come and gone, but so far, Leo thought the new scheme was starting to work, even if it was too soon to tell if George had turned a corner permanently.
‘What are you doing lazing around on the floor? Haven’t you got any jobs to do?’ she teased, ducking out of the way as he tried to grab her ankle in protest.
‘Has the plumber finished?’ asked Leo hopefully.
‘Yep, all done. I’ve arranged the heaps of fluffy towels, and set out the bubbly stuff. Just need to try the jacuzzi out now.’
Leo had a sudden vision of Mab lying semi-naked in a tub of bubbles with her curls tied up in a bunch. He imagined the drops of water on her smooth shoulders and the film of perspiration on her upper lip, seeing the point where her breasts rose out of the foam…
‘Leo, are you listening? I’ve still got to put the last coat of paint on the walls around the new door through to Edward’s.
I know you shouldn’t paint new plaster, but we’ve got no choice this time.
That was an incredible stroke of luck, finding that it had been a doorway before, and had just been bricked up, wasn’t it? ’
Leo shook himself, glad he’d been lying on his stomach. ‘It sure was, but we shouldn’t really have been so surprised. When you stand in front of the two shops, you can see how alike they are. Even the black and white mosaic floor tiles around the doors are identical, now I come to look at them.’
‘I already noticed that,’ said George, scornfully.
Mab quelled him with a look, and continued, ‘I’ve just been talking to my gran on the phone, she grew up around here and she says the whole place used to be a really cool department store called Pepper’s, with other shops owned by the same family down the road too.
They all had different themes. Ours was haberdashery, material and clothes.
Then there was a hardware shop, and a kind of a DIY place too. ’
‘So we’re going back in time, merging our two ideas?’
‘That’s a nice way of putting it. Yes, I guess we are,’ said Mab, ‘but I haven’t got time to hang around here gossiping with you two. I need to check Edward’s place to see if everything’s ready there. Have you done the healthy menu yet, George?’
‘Yup,’ said George, ‘but I’m not sure if Alex might want me to help him with the dragonfly on the outside sign, so I’d better get to work too.’
‘I’ll come with you. I want to remind Alex that when he’s finished the sign, the van’s going to need altering again too. I can’t be driving round with no logo,’ said Leo.
Out in the street, Alex was balanced on a series of planks and trestles, looking up at his handiwork.
The wooden sign’s background was their trademark deep navy, and it stretched the whole length of the two shops.
Not wanting to waste a moment, Alex had rigged up a series of spotlights so that he could continue painting even as dusk fell.
Edward’s ‘Beattie’s Bakehouse’ lettering was now completely obliterated, and a delicate silver and turquoise dragonfly adorned each end of the shop front.
George sighed with pleasure. ‘The Chocolate Cake Bookstore sign looks even better with the dragonfly on it. It’s wicked, Alex.’
Leo, lost for words, slapped his brother on the back and made encouraging noises.
He’d been amazed when Edward had decided they should keep to the chocolate theme for the sign and just have a large sandwich board outside his half of the premises to indicate that savoury vegan and vegetarian options were also available.
It seemed as if deleting Beattie’s name from the shop title had lifted a weight from his shoulders.
Looking down, Leo caught sight of Edward approaching through the crowded marketplace, and noticed how Alex perked up, jumping down from his trestle to greet his lover.
‘How goes the work, men?’ shouted Edward, as he crossed the street.
He beamed at Alex as he reached the group on the pavement, and Leo felt a sharp pang of envy.
He still couldn’t understand why everyone was suddenly getting it together.
Nina and Harry were so loved up it was embarrassing to enter a room without first checking that they weren’t entwined in a corner and even Jess and Stan seemed to be hitting it off.
‘Going well, Ed,’ Leo answered, stretching up to his full height. Edward always made him feel small somehow. ‘I think we’re on target for the launch, if nothing else goes wrong.’
‘Famous last words,’ said Alex.
‘Why are they the last words? And what are they famous for?’ asked George.
‘Oh, it’s a long story. Climb up here, mate, and help me to finish the border of the sign. I thought I’d do tiny books all the way around the edge, what do you reckon?’
‘Cool! Gold ones?’
‘Maybe dark green and gold?’
Leo and Edward left the painters to their work and went into the shop.
Leo heard Edward catch his breath. He hadn’t been inside the bookshop all day, and Mab had been busy.
All the final touches were in place. Cushions glowed in sumptuous shades of deep blue, gold and green, throws were draped casually in folds of softness, and little tables stood at every seating area, with artfully arranged books waiting to be browsed.
The café’s display cabinets were already stocked with some of the less perishable chocolate items, carefully sealed.
Brownies, studded with chunks of dark chocolate, golden flapjacks, slabs of fruit cake oozing cherries and nuts, with a thick chocolate coating, and tiny pots of bitter chocolate dip ready for the thin Italian biscuits that Jess had created.
Jess herself was grinding coffee beans, the dark, rich scent of her new favourite brand mingling with the vanilla and cocoa scents in the air.
Edward sniffed rapturously. The overall effect was incredibly luxurious and sensual.
‘Jess, if I wasn’t otherwise inclined and I wasn’t a major fan of healthy eating, I would fall in love with you at this moment. The smell in here is stupendous,’ Edward said, going over to hug his former waitress. She grinned up at him.
‘I know, it beats all that wholefood stuff, doesn’t it? I bet your place doesn’t make people want to rush off and populate the planet?’
‘Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, love – my new roasted vegetable soup with garlic croutons could get anyone going. And the three-cheese pizza is out of this world. It’s so full of creamy goats’ cheese, fresh herbs and tiny new vegetables that it’s almost got an X rating.’
‘Ha! We’ll see where the punters decide to settle tomorrow night.’
‘It’s not a competition, Jess. We’re a team now,’ Edward said, sounding faintly nettled.
‘I know, I know. It’s just that I’m better!
’ She laughed. There were obviously still a few scores not settled between them.
Leo left them to their niggling and went for one final check around his pride and joy.
The jacuzzi was now stocked with the fluffiest towels and the most fragrant toiletries that Clayton-on-the-Bream could provide.
Leo had stuck faithfully to his dream of using only local products and had managed to forge some useful links with small businesses nearby.
The furniture in the jacuzzi room was hand woven in willow, grown on the banks of the lake and bought from a family firm that made an eclectic mixture of traditional and funky items.
Moving through to the garden, now lit with hundreds of white fairy lights and a few glass lanterns, Leo could smell mint, rosemary and thyme, and he knew that these were featuring strongly on Edward’s new menu.
The trailing plants were becoming established already, and the rustic benches, with their blue and green sprigged cushions, looked as if they had always been in this leafy little paradise.
Tubs of fragrant flowers stood in between the garden furniture, and each table was topped with a thick cream candle in a pottery bowl.
Leo sat down on the nearest bench, and leaned back on the cushions.
His eyelids drooped, and he was just entering that floating, light-headed phase that comes just before sleep, when a blood-curdling scream caused him to jump to his feet.
He crashed through the garden and into the café, looking around wildly.
It must have been Mab, but where was she?
Then he spotted Nina, on her knees at the entrance to the chocolate café and Mab standing next to her, hands over her mouth.
Leo could just see a pair of feet in battered leather slippers sticking out from behind the café counter.
Only one person owned such a disreputable pair of slippers.
‘Dad?’ Leo said, falling to the floor beside Nina. There was no response. Harry’s eyes were closed and his lips were blue.
‘Get an ambulance, Leo, I can’t tell if he’s breathing,’ said Nina. ‘Go on – do it now, for Christ’s sake!’
By this time the rest of the gang, summoned by Nina’s scream, were pushing into the small area, desperately trying to see what the problem was. Pushing through them, Leo reached the phone, and his chilly fingers managed to dial 999.
‘Just come now!’ he yelled, as the patient lady on the other end tried to guide him through the regulation questions. ‘I think he’s dead, I don’t know what to do.’
In seconds, Stan had cleared everyone out of the kitchen, and was performing very efficient-looking resuscitation, working with feverish intensity.
‘Harry’s going to be OK soon, isn’t he, Mum?’ asked George, as, along with a white-faced Alex, and Nina, who looked as if she was about to be sick, he was herded out of the way.
‘Stan’s doing his best, love,’ said Jess, turning away from the awful sight of Harry’s blank face.
She saw Mab wrap her arms around an unresponsive Alex, and did the same with her mum, trying to warm Nina’s frozen body, and to still the shaking that had now got a grip.
Minutes later, years in Leo’s mind, the scream of a siren heralded the next chapter of the nightmare.