‘Stop,’ she yelled, ‘while we’ve still got our home in one piece.Calm down, George, Leo was joking.This is absolutely brilliant, but who… why…?’
There was silence as Leo and Alex remembered their earlier suspicions.Should they shop their big brother?What was more important, family solidarity, or truth?Mab took pity on them.
‘I can answer one of those questions, Jess, and maybe the other one.It was Sophie who wrote the email to the council.And the threatening phone call?I’m pretty sure that was her too, disguising her voice.’
‘Sophie?’said Alex and Leo in unison.
‘Yes, while you were up in Newcastle this time, I found some notes that she made, half torn up in the bin.She’d certainly done her research.I think she must have meant to throw them away properly but then forgot about it.I was having a big clean-up, or I’d never have known.’
‘You’re kidding?The bitch!’said Jess.
George sniggered happily.‘Mum swore, she said “bitch”.She did, didn’t she, Leo?We heard you, Mum, you said “bitch”.’
‘Shut up, George, there are times when you’re allowed to swear.’
‘Are there?When are the times, Mum?Can you make me a list of them and then I’ll know and I won’t get in trouble.Is it just stuff like “bitch”, or could I say f…’
‘George!I don’t mean there’s really a time… oh, just leave it, will you?’Jess sat down, exhausted.Mab carried on as if nothing had happened.
‘It’s true, anyway.Sophie must have done all her digging around when we thought she was looking for a chimney sweep.She wrote down all the relevant details for the council’s complaints procedures.And it’s not just that, she also sent those emails to the suppliers, cancelling the orders, there were notes about that too, with their email addresses and details of the books and the catering supplies we were waiting for,’ Mab added, glancing at Leo.He wondered if this should hurt, even if he and Sophie were no longer an item?On reflection, he decided he was angry rather than grief-stricken.Alex sighed, and put a comforting hand on Leo’s shoulder.
‘Oh, well, Leo, at least we weren’t dropped in the…’ he looked at George and continued, ‘erm, dirt by one of the family, although actually, Miss Sophie will be one of us soon enough.Dad, what do you think about all this.You understand Den better than anyone.Do you reckon Den knows what Sophie did?’
‘No.He can’t do.Our Denis might have been a bit of a lad in his time, but he surely wouldn’t arrange to get hitched to someone who’d betrayed his family, would he?’Harry suddenly sounded unsure of his ground, and Leo could tell that convincing Dad to hand over his beloved business to Den was now going to be even harder.
Leo looked across at Mab, noticing that her eyes were full of tears.She seemed to be sending out waves of sympathy to him across the room.His heart thumped uncomfortably.He longed to scoop her up and hold her, tell her he didn’t care what Sophie did now.It was all the same to Leo if Sophie departed for the South Pole, never to be seen again.He smiled at Mab in what he hoped was a reassuring way.
‘Don’t worry, Mab, Sophie’s history now, as far as we’re all concerned.She’d never want to visit the shop in the future, if shewaswelcome, and even Sophie wouldn’t be so crass as to ask us to her wedding.We’ll probably never see her again.’
‘But you still haven’t told us why Sophie would do those things, Mab.She was engaged to Leo, for goodness’ sake, and she was ruining his livelihood by spoiling the shop’s prospects.’
‘Yes, but I think Sophie thought that if the shop idea was dropped, Leo would give up and go back to Newcastle.I don’t suppose Den had offered her the penthouse flat at that point.’
‘No, he was too busy chatting you up,’ said Leo, bitterly, causing Mab to flush uncomfortably.He mentally kicked himself; there was no need for that, even if the thought of Mab and Den flirting did want to make him knock their silly heads together.
‘Well, he’s certainly made up for it now,’ Mab snapped back, turning and leaving the flat, slamming the stairs door behind her.They heard her running down the stairs, and Leo got up to follow, but then the footsteps stopped, and came back up more slowly.Mab opened the door, looking sheepish.
‘I forgot I was still wearing my pyjamas,’ she said.
After this, Alex declared a sanity break.Everyone was to go away for twenty minutes, either to get dressed, have a think, or to lie down in a darkened room for a while.Leo went into the kitchen and put the kettle on and then left the flat to fetch some newly baked croissants and sticky buns from the bakers across the square.He had a feeling that sustenance would be needed.
When the company reassembled, everyone looked much less stressed.Mab had put on leggings and a long shirt.Her outfit was finished off with stars and stripes baseball boots.With her hair in two thick plaits, Leo thought she looked both workmanlike and cute.He wondered what would happen if he just followed his natural inclinations and put his arms around her, burying his nose in the sweet curve of her neck and kissing his way down until… Leo caught Mab watching him, and sat down suddenly, busying himself with the coffee pot.Nina had been summoned by Harry and was now sitting at the table.She smiled to herself and winked at Jess who was bringing in fresh supplies of breakfast.Leo sighed.He felt as if his whole life was on display here.If they weren’t all discussing his non-relationship with Sophie, they were watching his almost-relationship with Mab.Downstairs, George was busy feeding the fish and had told Leo that he was planning to finish his large dragonfly picture ready for the shop opening.At least someone was uncomplicatedly happy.
Sitting around the table, Leo began to organise a plan of campaign.A new list headed ‘Countdown to opening day’ was in front of him, already liberally sprinkled with buttery flakes of pastry.As Leo cleared his throat to begin, Stan bounded through the door.
‘Hi, guys.Is there any food left?I’m starving.’
Leo pushed the newly loaded plate of pastries towards Stan.‘There you go, mate, dig in.OK, let’s get started.Mab’s been in touch with the hot tub firm and done a really good deal with them.The first thing on the list is to clear the back room ready for action.Stan, do you think Kev will help us if we pay him for a day’s labouring, cash in hand?And have we booked his mate the plumber for definite yet?’
‘That’s where I’ve been.The plumber’s on standby and Kev’s always ready to earn some cash,’ said Stan.
‘Right, so the next thing to sort is the party.Jess?’
‘All the basics are here, Leo, I just need to get the fresh bits and bobs, we’re keeping the food simple.Tiny snacks, but lots of them.Little crackers with cream cheese and smoked salmon, miniscule quiches, salami and olive twists, baby Yorkshire puddings with a sliver of rare beef on horseradish sauce, that sort of thing.’
‘Sounds wonderful.’Leo’s mouth watered, and he ate the rest of his pastry, suddenly ravenous.He noticed that Mab wasn’t eating much.This diet was getting silly now.Looking over at Nina and Harry, who were sitting so close to each other that they looked joined at the hip, Leo said hopefully, ‘Could you two finish off putting the new books on the shelves shortly, Dad?I’ll help as soon as I’ve been down to the newspaper office to get the article off the ground, and to tell them about the jacuzzi competition.’
‘No problem, son.The toys are all ready for the crèche now, stashed away in the big cupboard downstairs, so we can put that part together when Stan’s finished on the phone.’
