Page 27 of Second Chances at the Board Game Café

‘May I?’ Kate said, gesturing at one of the empty chairs. ‘Every other table seems to be occupied by board gamers. Not my thing at all.’

‘Sure,’ said Taylor.

So board games weren’t Kate’s thing, yet she’d ordered a pinafore for her friend in a fabric printed to look like a Scrabble board. Taylor glanced over at the woman behind the counter. Emily, her name was. Was Emily the mystery friend? She ran a board game café. She wore pinafores – albeit dungaree pinafores. And she was about the right size.

It was on the tip of her tongue to ask, but then she remembered that Kate mightn’t know what had happened to the Scrabble dress. It might cause upset if she learned that the special gift she’d had made for her friend had ended up in the charity shop. Best to say nothing.

Kate sat down opposite Taylor. She was wearing a figure-hugging turquoise dress. She had French-manicured nails and her hair hung in a perfect sleek bob. Taylor had never managed that impeccably groomed look, even before she was a mum.

‘So the shirt,’ Kate said. ‘Did you make it?’

‘Well, kind of,’ said Taylor. ‘I upcycled it. It was a plain white shirt and I changed the collar, cuffs and button stand to make it more funky. Plain white isn’t really me.’

‘I knew it!’ said Kate triumphantly. ‘You’re the one behind those jeans? The ones in the Oxfam shop window.’

‘Oh, you mean Harry’s jeans.’

‘Harry’s jeans? No, a trendy guy from Leeds bought them apparently. If you mean Harry the trainspotter, I don’t think they’re really his style.’

Funny that Kate thought he looked like a trainspotter. Taylor had always thought an accountant – which had turned out to be accurate.

‘They were originally Harry’s jeans,’ she said, ‘and I was shortening them, only there was a mix-up and I shortened them too much, so I upcycled them.’

‘Well, you did a brilliant job. Everyone was talking about them and they were snapped up so quickly. Upcycling’s all the thing now on Insta. You could have an Etsy shop.’

Taylor sighed, remembering the conversation with Harry the previous day. ‘I’d love to. I could display stuff in my shop window too.’

Kate looked puzzled. ‘You have a shop now?’

‘Sort of. I moved into the old co-operative in Hebbleswick and it still has its big shopfront.’

‘That’s ideal,’ said Kate. Her eyes were bright with excitement. ‘You should do it.’

‘I don’t have time. Upcycling a few garments would be one thing, but it’s all the other stuff – sourcing the garments and the fabrics, for example. And if I was going to do it seriously, to make money, I’d have to do loads of marketing. Posting on Instagram. That kind of thing.’

‘I can help with that,’ said Kate. ‘It’s what I do.’

Taylor had no idea how much hiring a marketing expert would cost, but imagined it wouldn’t be cheap. ‘I couldn’t afford to pay you.’

‘I meant as a favour.’

‘That’s asking a lot. I mean, we barely know each other.’

‘It’d be fun,’ said Kate. ‘I’m taking a break from dating and have time on my hands.’

Taylor couldn’t imagine having time on her hands. And was dating really that time-consuming?

‘If things took off and I started making money, I’d pay you the going rate.’

Kate shook her head. ‘I will accept an upcycled garment from you in lieu of payment. Something fabulous, mind. A dress that will knock a guy’s socks off when I do go back to dating.’

Taylor hesitated. She was being stubborn – she knew that – but even if she made a fabulous dress that would knock a guy’s socks off, she felt that Kate would be doing a lot of work for free, and that didn’t sit right with her. Never borrow money, never accept favours, her father used to say. Don’t be beholden to anyone. He prided himself on his independence, and she’d always done the same. Even more so since John had left.

Kate seemed to sensed her reluctance. ‘I believe in this, Taylor. Most people buy a T-shirt from a cheap high street chain and then throw it away after a few wears when they’re sick of it. It disgusts me how much stuff ends up in landfill. I’m no green warrior by any means. I eat a lot of lentils, but only because they’re healthy. But upcycling is something we should all be doing. Not just you and me. Our whole community. Stop buying so much new stuff. Start buying upcycled.’

Kate paused and looked thoughtful for a moment. Taylor fancied she could almost see the marketing cogs in the woman’s brain whirring around.

‘How about this for an idea?’ Kate said, her voice full of triumph as if she were Archimedes himself, coming up with his theory of… well, whatever genius idea it was that Archimedes came up with. Max would probably know. ‘Let’s put on a fashion show of upcycled clothes.’