Page 39 of The Little Board Game Café

No wonder the café had been affordable. No wonder Mr Panagi had vanished off to Greece. Did he even have a sick mother?

Of course, she’d known it was on a side street and would get little passing trade, but she’d hoped the photos she had put on Instagram would have drawn people in. It was time to face facts: she had bought a failing café. And if she couldn’t turn things around – and quickly – she would be out of business when she’d barely started.

At five past five, she turned the open sign round to closed and headed back to Kate’s. Friday evening. She’d only spoken to one person all day – Mr B – and tired though she was, she couldn’t face another evening in front of the telly. She was single and in her early thirties, for heaven’s sake. She should be out enjoying herself on a Friday night. Kate would no doubt be spending the evening with Freddie yet again, so Emily made a decision: she would go to the board games group.

*

She could smell burnt omelette as soon as she opened the garden gate. That could only mean one thing: Kate was home.

Emily pushed open the kitchen door to find her best friend standing over the bin again, and made a mental note: she’d put the batteries back in that smoke alarm once Kate had gone out, and then stock the freezer with a few batches of frozen omelettes that Kate could zap in the microwave.

‘Freddie’s on a boys’ night out,’ said Kate, closing the lid of the bin with a slam. ‘Reckons he’s been neglecting his friends since he met me. So I thought you and I could spend the evening together. What do you fancy doing?’

Perfect timing. Kate could be her wingman for a change. ‘Actually, I was planning to go to the board games group.’

‘Board games group?’

‘Upstairs in the pub. It’s a weekly thing, apparently.’

‘Oh, come on, Em, we can do better than that.’

‘No, seriously. I want to go. Come with me.’

‘Not my thing. Remember when my dad made me join the chess club at school and I lost every week. The mere mention of board games triggers my PTSD.’

‘Oh, come on, Kate, it’ll be fun. I came to running club so you owe me.’

‘Running club,’ she said. Emily could practically see the cogs whirring in her friend’s brain. ‘I remember running club. You ended up face down on the pavement and were rescued by a rather handsome doctor. This sudden desire to play board games wouldn’t have anything to do with him, would it?’

*

‘Oh god,’ Kate said. ‘It’s like a meeting of Geeks Anonymous.’

‘Keep your voice down,’ said Emily.

They hovered in the doorway. The large room was almost empty, except for three tables, all occupied by men. They were all wearing such similar clothes, it almost looked like they were in uniform: dark t-shirts with dragons on; jeans; the kind of cheap reading glasses you buy in Poundland; several beards and a lot of eyebrows that needed plucking. They were all hunched over, intently focused on the games in front of them. The room was dark but each table was illuminated by at least two Anglepoise desk lamps, attached to the wall sockets by a series of extension leads. There was no sign of Ludek.

‘Come on,’ Emily hissed to Kate, who was holding back. ‘Okay, so they do look a bit geeky, but I bet they’re really lovely blokes. And besides, we’re here now. We might as well join in.’

‘It’s all Dungeons and Dragons.’ Kate wrinkled her nose. ‘Let’s go back downstairs and have a drink.’

‘You might enjoy it – we’re the only women here. How many times in life can you say that?’

‘Yeah, but I think there’s probably a very good reason why we’re the only women. I’ve never seen so many nerds and I went to Comic Con at the NEC with that accountant from Manchester.’

‘You never did tell me what went wrong with him.’

‘Like I said. We went to Comic Con at the NEC.’

‘Oh, Kate. He was great guy. Anyway, I’m staying. And I did come to the—’

‘Yeah, yeah, the running club. Okay, I’ll stay. But only cos you fancy Ludek.’

‘I don’t.’ Even to her own ears, her words didn’t sound that convincing.

‘Yeah, you do. He looks so like Greg.’

Emily decided to ignore this reference to the most shameful episode in her past. ‘Anyway, I like board games.’