Page 100 of The Little Board Game Café

Emily had to tell her. She couldn’t let her rival sell the café that had been in her family for decades. Not when The Little Board Game Café was closing soon anyway.

‘Peggy, please don’t mention this to anyone – I haven’t told Annie yet that she’ll be out of a job – but you won’t have competition for much longer. I’m closing my business. The building’s being demolished.’

‘Oh, Emily. Come here.’

The A-board clattered onto the pavement as Peggy pulled Emily in for a hug. ‘I’m so sorry. I know how hard it is running a café and I bet you’ve poured your heart and soul into that place, haven’t you?’

‘I have. Mum and I always wanted to run a café. She was killed when I was sixteen and I used my inheritance to buy it. And I’ve lost that now. It’s worthless.’

‘Buy my place.’

‘I can’t afford it. I’ve got nothing left. And anyway, you needn’t sell now. Your customers will be back. Most of my games are borrowed, but you can have the ones that aren’t. Turn Sweet Delights into a board game café.’

‘Nice idea, but I don’t think so. I’ve rather set my heart on retiring to Spain. My daughter lives out there. I just need a buyer.’

‘I’m sure you’ll find one soon. Good luck, Peggy.’

‘And good luck to you too, Emily.’

*

The following morning, Annie arrived in an even more cheerful mood than she’d been in the previous day. She clearly didn’t read the planning notices on lamp-posts either, Emily thought. Thank goodness. She had to break the news before word got round.

‘Look what I found in Oxfam.’ Annie reached into a plastic bag and pulled out a pale-blue cushion decorated with an appliquéd cupcake. ‘For my new caravan. I’m moving in on Friday.’

‘That’s wonderful news.’

Emily looked at the cushion and decided. She wouldn’t let the landlord have his building back yet. The Little Board Game Café would stay open, until the last possible moment, to give Annie time to find another job so she could still rent her caravan. Emily would search the internet for her, write glowing references, whatever it took. Her mind was made up.

At least it was made up. Until her phone rang.

‘Hello, is that Em?’ said a familiar voice. A voice she hadn’t heard in a long time.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Richard Thorp had heard about the café. Apparently, news travelled fast along the Essendale and Hebbleswick business network’s grapevine.

‘It’s marvellous timing, Em,’ he said.

‘It doesn’t feel like it to me.’

‘No, no, that was tactless of me. Obviously, it’s sad for the café. I heard you were doing well. But we miss you here at Thorp’s and your replacement has just given in her notice. The job’s yours if you want it.’

She had enjoyed that job. She’d never have left if it hadn’t been for Peter. She wasn’t sure she’d enjoyed it as much as running a café though. Still, that wasn’t an option anymore.

‘Could you wait two months, Richard? I could join you then.’

‘No, I need someone sooner. By the end of the month ideally. To have a handover period with Sally.’

Emily wasn’t sure she needed a handover period for a job that she’d already spent several years doing. But Richard was insistent. Either she took the job now. Or she didn’t take the job at all.

*

Annie cried when Emily broke the news.

‘I really wanted that caravan,’ she said.

‘I feel terrible. How about I pay the rent on it? I’ve got a new job. Kate doesn’t charge me rent so I could pay yours. A kind of pay-it-forward thing. At least until you get another job.’