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‘We’ll see you later at Paige’s,’ Sophie called out.
‘I’ll need to wipe down the sofa,’ Paige mumbled.
Melanie smiled again as she carried on with her work.
Paige sat down, but could feel eyes on her. She looked up and sure enough, Polly, Sophie and Mya were all grinning at her.
‘What?’ Paige asked.
‘It’s going to be a good night!’ Sophie nodded.
Mya winked at Paige. ‘Put the good knickers on.’
‘Does she even have any of those?’ Sophie asked.
‘Do we need to go shopping?’ Polly asked.
‘No. Absolutely not,’ Paige said.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Melanie
As the brunches drew to a close, Melanie found herself sat at a table with Louisa, mimosas in hand, toasting their health report. In fact, Melanie was so delighted with the turnabout in events that she’d almost forgotten about the sabotage.
Almost.
And it was sabotage. The other suppliers had all confirmed cancellations had been requested over the phone. They’d managed to put a stop to those and establish new processes to prevent it from happening again but enough was enough.
Talking it through with Louisa they both agreed this was targeted and they needed to get to the bottom of it. Which was great, but Melanie didn’t know where to begin.
Louisa sighed and relaxed back in her chair. ‘I hadn’t realised how stressed I’d been about the health report.’
‘I know what you mean.’
‘That kitchen is one of the most spotless and organised I’ve ever seen. But even so, it was scary, wasn’t it?’
Melanie nodded her head.
‘What we need,’ Louisa continued, ‘is to spend some time figuring out who the evil mastermind is.’
Melanie nodded absently. When the hell were they supposed to fit that in? ‘Let’s get the art thing out of the way and then perhaps we’ll have time to look into it,’ she suggested.
Louisa straightened. ‘Yeah but what other damage could be done by then?’
Melanie sighed and knew Louisa was right. The celebratory mood from the health report, now soured. One step forward and two steps back every single time, and they were running out of energy trying to constantly jump the random hurdles. Did every new business go through this? She wasn’t certain, but knew who she could ask.
Melanie still wanted to believe all their bad luck was just that, bad luck. If not then some sort of outside malevolence would be preferable — anything but an employee. As she thought about their staff betraying them like this, she felt sick to the very pit of her stomach. Unfortunately, she’d had that sensation before, and her heart had only just healed. She wasn’t sure she could take a hit like that again.
Melanie paused her thoughts. Healed? No longer mending?
Despite the chaos and the uncertainty surrounding the business and the mural, and there was a hell of a lot of uncertainty, and pressure, and stress, her heart was definitely on the mend. She thought of all the people in her life that strengthened her heart every day — Alfie, Emily, Louisa, Sophie, Polly and even Mya, and yes, Paige. She could in fact, feel very strongly about Paige. If she had the time. If she could afford the focus a new relationship took. She could already picture it, and it was a little scary how easy it was to imagine.
* * *
Melanie was back in the flat that made her feel settled and calm. She wondered if it was the place, the layout or the person, or maybe a combination of all three that made her feel that way. Round the table there was in-depth discussion regarding what food they were going to eat. Melanie nearly suggested Greek but that was purely because she couldn’t help but remember what had happened the last time. As if her mind or perhaps her body could be read, Paige looked up from her phone and smiled at her. Though her eyes said something much more sinful.
Putting a halt to that, Melanie remembered that she needed Paige’s help. While the rest of the group argued about the merits of gyoza over pizza, Melanie leaned towards Paige.
