Page 60 of The Little Board Game Café

He had a shed, it turned out, and his two neighbours also had sheds. And in those sheds were lots of tins of leftover paint. Between them, he reckoned, they had most of the colours Emily needed. She would just have to buy a can or two of the base colour and the varnish.

‘Of course, we’ll have to sand the chairs before we start any painting,’ said Mr B.

‘The chairs?’

‘The chairs have to match the tables, do they not? And you could probably do with re-covering the seat pads. They’re very scruffy.’

This was going to take days.

*

Emily came home early on Wednesday. Who’d have thought that sanding could be so tiring?

She hadn’t had a single text from Ludek since he’d seen her with Peter, but she needed to tell him that the board games group couldn’t meet at the café for the next two Fridays at least.

She drafted a message with words to that effect and explained that The Lancashire Hotpot was becoming a board game café, hoping he’d be impressed. She told him there’d be a launch event and said she’d keep tickets for him and the members of the games group. She ended the text with, Hope you’ll all come, then added two kisses then deleted them again. She’d just pressed Send when Kate appeared.

‘No Freddie tonight?’

‘I told him I’m busy.’

‘Why? What are you up to?’

‘Making a plan with you. We need to decide when the launch party’s going to be.’

‘Event,’ Emily said. ‘Rather than party. Calling it a party makes it sound like there’d be alcohol and I don’t have an alcohol licence.’

‘If you gave it away rather than selling it, you wouldn’t need a licence.’

‘I can’t afford to.’

‘Or do bring your own bottle?’

‘I’ll just do soft drinks. Ludek’s board games group all prefer to keep a clear head when they’re playing games. That’s why they like playing in the café rather than the pub.’

‘Ludek’s board games group? They’re coming?’

‘Obviously.’

‘But the launch is about attracting attention. Drawing new customers in. The board games group come to the café anyway.’

‘Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.’

‘You’ve got room for how many?’

‘Twenty people. Twenty-four at a push.’

‘You need prominent people from the community, Em. The chair of the parish council. The local journalist. Prominent business people. Like Peter.’

‘Peter?’

‘He’s the biggest business owner around here.’

Emily sighed. ‘And he was supportive. In the end. Taking me to that art gallery place to give me some inspiration. I suppose I’ll have to invite him. But with him and all the board gamers, and Dad – I’m really hoping I can lure him out of Thornholme – and you obviously… Well, there won’t be room for many more people. I can’t not invite my regular customers either.’

Kate shook her head.

‘But there aren’t many of them,’ Emily said quickly. ‘Just Marjory and Mr B and Mrs Scott and Mrs Sinclair.’