Chapter Thirty-Eight
Gavin was just inside the door, bouncing from foot to foot, when they arrived at the venue. ‘I’m scared we’ve forgotten something,’ he said, his gaze jumping from Erin to Adam, then Jack.
His nerves seemed to calm Erin. She took a steadying breath and put a hand on his arm. ‘We’ve got this. If something goes wrong, we’ll improvise. It’s all good.’
‘What if no one turns up? Maybe we priced it wrong. Will people pay twenty-five quid?’
Erin had been fighting the same thoughts herself.
They’d promoted the evening as much as they could in the time they had, putting flyers on all the tables in the café, and lots of other local businesses had agreed to have posters in their windows and spread the word.
Gavin had placed large adverts in the local press and had done his best to engage the people living on the estate, selling it as the opening event of the community space as well as a fundraiser for The Bookmark.
But there was no guarantee their efforts would come to anything.
‘The offer’s good,’ she said. ‘Where else are people going to see a jazz band made up of some of the greats, two spoken word performers, a comedy drag act, and finish the night with tunes from a top London DJ? Thanks for arranging that, by the way.’ Between her, Gavin, Joe, and Riley, they’d put together an impressive line-up of artists, all working for free.
Mercy was even bringing along Jakub from the library, in his guise as comedy poet and drag queen, Bridget Bard-Oh.
If this came off, Erin would owe a debt of gratitude to so many wonderful people.
Gavin’s shoulders dropped. ‘Yeah, you’re right, it’s gonna be good.’ He nodded a little manically. ‘It’ll be fine, won’t it?’
‘It will be magnificent,’ said Adam, striding ahead of them into the centre of the room.
Erin followed, her breath catching when she saw the enormous banner strung above the bar to the left with ‘Save The Bookmark’ in bright red letters.
She made herself pause for a moment to take it all in.
Even if tonight didn’t raise enough to save the café, she had tried.
She’d been brave and proactive in a way that she didn’t know she was capable of, and the new knowledge that she could find strength when she needed it made her feel like she could face whatever was coming her way.
A vision of her mother smiling and nodding appeared in her mind’s eye.
‘This one’s for you, Mum,’ she said, silently.
‘No, this one’s for you,’ whispered the voice of her mother, before her smiling image melted away.
Choked with emotion, Erin crossed to the raised performance area, where a drum kit and an enormous speaker were already in situ.
Joe and a few of his musician friends were seated to the right.
Erin blinked at the sight of Lulu, dressed in a sky-blue sequined gown, offering the contents of a flask around to the assembled group.
Her cheeks were fuller, and her skin brighter than it was at Joe’s birthday.
She looked ten years younger. ‘So good to see you, Lulu,’ Erin said, overjoyed to see this transformation. ‘You look amazing.’
Lulu stood and twirled, like a child in a ballet class. ‘Thank you. Thought I was on my last legs, but turns out it was just a bit of gastric bother. All sorted now. I’m a convert to healthy living. Better late than never.’ She chuckled, raising a glass of sludgy green liquid and taking a slug.
Joe took a sip of the green liquid in his glass and grimaced. ‘Jesus, if it means having to drink this concoction for the rest of my life, I think I’d rather be six feet under.’
A woman with close cropped white hair and bright eyes, who looked to be about Joe’s age tapped him on the knee.
‘Don’t say that. We’ve got too much to look forward to, you and me.
It’s good for you, drink up.’ She winked at Joe, who grinned like a schoolboy, knocked back the contents of the glass, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
He turned to where Erin was watching with interest. ‘Erin, meet Julia.’ He gestured towards Erin. ‘Julia, this is the daughter I never had. She’s my family, and I have an inkling you two will get along famously.’
Julia stood and took Erin into a warm embrace.
Erin was astonished to discover that being hugged by this stranger immediately felt right.
She had a comforting floral scent and a hold that was both soft and firm.
Julia pulled back and stared into Erin’s eyes, holding her gently by the hands.
‘It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.
’ She looked around the space. ‘I can’t believe you’ve made all this happen in two weeks. You’re an impressive woman.’
‘I don’t know about that,’ said Erin, following her gaze.
People buzzed around the room, stacking glasses behind the bar, arranging red velvet-backed chairs around tables.
She imagined seeing the thronging space through someone else’s eyes, and had to admit, it did appear to be pretty impressive.
‘And I certainly didn’t do it all on my own. ’
‘You have a lot of willing helpers,’ said Julia.
‘For good reason, from what I can gather. I’ve been sitting here observing what’s going on for a while now, and I can see how much everyone is rooting for this fundraiser to work.
I get the impression that people want to pay you back for all the lovely things you’ve done for your friends and the community over the years. ’
Erin blushed. ‘That’s a lovely thing to say, thank you.’
Julia squeezed her hands gently before letting go. ‘I’d better let you get on. I get the feeling it’s going to be quite a night.’
She wasn’t wrong. By the time people began to arrive at seven, everything was set up and ready to go.
Erin felt every thump of the double bass at the base of her throat when the jazz band struck up ‘Fly Me to the Moon’.
Soon they upped the beat with ‘The Girl From Ipanema’, and Erin watched in nervous delight as the queue at the bar grew, and the chairs around the tables filled with people, toes tapping, eyes trained on the musicians.
Before long a couple of people got up to dance, and they were soon joined by others, until the floor was filled with swirling colour and a mass of moving limbs and smiling faces.
When the band took a break, Bridget Bard-Oh took over, making the audience roar at her risqué poetry set.
Riley was on next. A sizeable crowd had collected behind the tables and chairs.
Erin stood with Adam by a table at the back where Susan, her husband, and Bella and Sophia sat.
Next to them were Hafsa and Amir, along with Mercy, Joe, Lulu, and Julia.
Erin was too jittery with adrenaline to sit down herself.
Gavin sidled up beside her, whispering, ‘We’re nearly at capacity.
’ He did a little shimmy. ‘So we’ve reached our target before we even look at bar takings or the JustGiving page I set up.
Can’t believe it. It couldn’t be going better, could it? ’
Erin’s head felt light. They’d done it. They’d raised the money.
The café could stay open. She could hardly contain the elation building inside her, and was just about to answer him, when she heard her name called through the speakers.
She looked up at Riley, who was opening and closing her hand, gesturing her to join her at the front.
She shook her head, suddenly shy as heads turned to look at her.
‘Come on, Erin,’ said Riley. Erin felt a gentle push from behind and turned to see Jack mouthing for her to get up there. She swallowed hard, then made her way to the stage.
Riley took her hand as Erin squinted against the lights trained on the performance area, sweat trickling down her back.
‘I’d like to introduce the brains behind tonight’s event, before you lot are all too hammered to remember your own names, never mind anybody else’s,’ said Riley.
The audience laughed. ‘This is the one, the only, Erin McRae, owner of The Bookmark Café in Blackheath, friend to everyone, best boss ever, and the only woman who’s ever really been like a mum to me.
’ She raised Erin’s hand, and as the joy of Riley’s words soaked into her, Erin felt a brightness start at her core and radiate through her, until she was sure her skin was visibly glowing.
She squinted past the lights at the beaming faces of her friends, let her eyes find Adam, then Jack, and in that moment, her love-swollen heart told her that, with these people by her side, she could make it through anything.
‘One of the reasons we’re all here, as well as wetting the head of this amazing space, is to raise enough money to keep The Bookmark open for all the people who benefit from it,’ said Riley, still holding onto Erin’s hand.
‘Because it’s not just a business, or a café.
It’s so much more than that. It’s a library for people who want to lose themselves in a book, it’s a safe haven for anyone who needs peace and quiet.
It’s a warm and welcoming space for anyone who’s lonely or just fancies a bit of company.
It’s whatever you need it to be, and that’s because of this woman here. ’