‘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 theChronicleis 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.’
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.
The invitations for the launch party had mainly been emailed, and the response had been almost 100 per cent.All the other party arrangements were in place, the newspaper feature was scheduled for tomorrow and the fancy space-age till had been delivered just in the nick of time, to George’s delight.Even so, Leo felt that there was still far too much to do.He sat up as Mab entered the room, noting the shadows under her eyes.He knew that Mab hadn’t been sleeping much because he was having the same problem, and they continually bumped into each other in the kitchen as one or the other of them put the kettle on or made hot chocolate.They had an unspoken agreement not to talk about anything but the shop – it was as if neither of them was brave enough or ready to face their own fractured relationship.Mab smiled down at George, and prodded him with the toe of one battered sneaker.
‘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?’
