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Melanie shrugged, her cheeks now flush with embarrassment, but her gaze intently staring at Paige, wanting to see her reaction for the next part.
‘We all worked really hard on it,’ Paige said.
‘Any way, I have some contacts as you know. And well, not to blow my own trumpet, but Sophie Bowman Cosmetics along with Universal Sound Studios and The Suits have heard about the work you’ve been doing and have all donated, generously. £500,000 will be given directly to the Selena Dante Art Therapy programme to continue the amazing work they do.’ Melanie grinned as she watched Paige’s mouth drop open in shock.
‘You did what now?’ Paige asked.
Sophie grinned at Paige and then back to the camera. ‘That’s not all. A further £350,000 will be given to the new Voluntary Committee arm of the Neighbourhood Business Association that has recently been set up by Paige here, with the aim of matching up local businesses and charities.’
‘I have?’ Paige asked.
‘I’m going to edit your reaction out there,’ Sophie said.
‘Yeah, but what?’ Paige looked blindsided.
‘Well . . .’ Melanie started. ‘You mentioned to me how you wanted to work more closely with local charities, that you were starting to pull some ideas together. I bumped into Councillor Houghton to sound him out about it and I may have mentioned it to Sophie when we were prepping for this. But the money . . . I swear I had no idea about the money.’
‘Well I told the girls,’ Sophie said simply. As if it really was that simple.
‘And what? You magic’d up how much?’
‘£350,000. Technically Universal Sound Studios is actually payment from a very famous musician who wished to remain anonymous and who coincidentally is flying Polly out to LA right now so they can, and I quote, “hang out”. Then a chunk from my business, and a chunk from Mya’s. See, no big deal, it’s a tax thing for most of us. But you’ll be able to help loads of people with that, right?’
‘There’s going to be lots to do setting up an official organisation, Paige, and I’ve already started on a to-do list,’ Melanie said. ‘Although obviously I had to keep this one separate so you couldn’t see what we were planning. It’ll need updating now that there’s a budget. I wonder if I should get a new app for finances . . . ?’
‘I . . . really?’ Paige was clearly having a hard time comprehending what was happening.
Melanie stood up and pulled Paige up too. ‘I know you can do anything you want. And if this isn’t what you want then we’ll just pretend like it never happened. I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about it, but I wanted it to be a surprise.’
‘Well, this is going to keep me busy,’ Paige said, before pulling Melanie into her arms.
‘Not too much with the hugging, please, I haven’t finished her face yet,’ Sophie said.
Melanie reluctantly pulled away from Paige, and Sophie jumped up to give Paige a huge hug. ‘You’re amazing, now go use your scary grumpy ass powers for good.’
‘Oh my reading!’ Paige shook her head. ‘Connie said that I needed to aim my help in the right direction, she knew all along.’
‘Duh,’ Sophie said. ‘She always knows.’
They let go and Sophie sat back down. ‘You stop that right now. You can’t be crying, we don’t have time to fix it. Sit now!’
Melanie did as she was told, but not before checking Paige was really OK with it first. Her heart all but melted; Paige was beaming. Her eyes glowed with excitement.
‘So, if you would like to donate, I’ll add a link to the notes. But I’ve no doubt that myself, Mya, Polly, Marcus, Bailey, Smithy, Paige and Melanie will all be on here talking more as the charity grows and develops. Now as for Melanie, I’m going to have to redo the bit under her eyes because she was crying.’
* * *
Paige
Canapes were handed around, non-alcoholic drinks were shared, as they all stood before the wall, temporarily covered in a huge sheet. Paige was really excited to see it.
‘Why has the wall got a big curtain?’ Alf asked as he held on to both Paige’s hand and Melanie’s.
‘You’ll see in a minute,’ Paige said.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, erm, folks, members of our community, and guests. I am Councillor Patrick Houghton, Chair of the Neighbourhood Business Alliance, and proud sponsor of this art mural.’ Councillor Houghton paused and a smattering of applause broke out.
‘Did he make it sound like he personally paid for this?’ Melanie whispered.
