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‘Not good enough. Tell me about Lulu. Why now, why here?’ Paige hoped the desperation she felt to gather every little piece of Melanie wasn’t too obvious.
‘Because Louisa and I got our loan approved and we’d done our research. Of course, we would want to be here. Anyone would want to be.’
Something in Paige’s brain pinged, probably her mojo, asking her to pay attention.
‘Sure, but why now? Did you want to build experience in bars, did you not want your own place before this point?’
‘Well, I wanted to do it a few years ago. I was just building up my funds, writing my business plans, getting everything together. Louisa and I had been talking about it for years, ever since we worked our first bar together when we were students. But then . . . for various reasons it didn’t quite work.’
‘What reasons? Oh hang on.’ Paige’s phone was vibrating, and she cursed whoever it was, for interrupting them.
Mum.
Of course it was.
Just that one word was enough to make Paige pause. Maybe she should have changed the contact name to Fiona. Put some distance between them, but no it still said “Mum”, and besides, her mum was the pro at putting space between them not her.
It stopped buzzing and Paige put her phone in her back pocket. ‘Where were we? Oh yeah, what reasons?’
‘Nope, it’s my turn. What’s going on there?’
‘What do you mean?’ Paige asked, focusing intently on the people scurrying past the window.
‘You don’t have to tell me, but we’re friends, I hope. I saw that it was your mum ringing. Is there a reason you’re not answering it?’
‘We are friends, Melanie. No matter what else, we’re friends.’ Paige looked at Melanie, making sure she understood. There could be no confusion here. They absolutely were friends. Hopefully they could be more, but at the very least they were that. She waited until Melanie slowly nodded.
Paige continued, ‘It’s just my mum, she’s trying to get in touch with me about something and it’s really not noteworthy.’ Paige wasn’t sure why she didn’t share with Melanie. But she didn’t. It really was something or nothing. Either her mum would get bored and stop calling, or else at some point they’d have the same conversation they always did. It happened every three to five years. Her mum would want to get in touch to say hello and try and reconnect without any effort or apologies for leaving her with Gran. She’d keep up contact for a couple of months and disappear again. And every time Paige swore to herself that she wouldn’t fall for it. And this time she was adamant. But yeah, it wasn’t really anything that she needed to bother Melanie with.
‘OK,’ Melanie said with some reluctance. ‘Well, come on then, in that case tell me something about yourself that no one else knows.’
Grabbing the change of topic like it was the last seat on the tram, she ran with it. ‘I can do that. Here, see this.’ Paige shrugged off her jacket and lifted her T-shirt sleeve up. ‘See this gap here . . .’
Melanie nodded, her eyes studying all the ink on Paige’s bicep. ‘Well see that image on the wall over there. The black and white with the woman’s back? That’s going right here.’
‘That’s going to look great. But how come no one knows? It doesn’t feel all that secretive.’
‘I just get them done for me. If I have a really obvious one done the girls might ask me about it. But I think you’re the first person I’ve ever told about a tattoo before I got it.’
‘Hmm.’ Melanie didn’t add anything further to her sigh and Paige couldn’t quite translate it. Maybe that had been a rubbish thing to share. ‘I erm, would love to do more charity work. I’d like to be able to use my business more as a way of helping other people, maybe getting other businesses to do it too.’ Paige would swear to all that she didn’t blush. That it wasn’t in her ability to do so. Her cheeks were warm for some other reason.
Melanie smiled warmly, her eyes glowing, and Paige’s cheeks reddened further.
‘I don’t have any. Tattoos that is,’ Melanie said, clearly taking pity on her.
‘I know,’ Paige said knowing full well her grin was wide. It widened as she watched Melanie’s cheeks blush. ‘Or had you forgotten?’
‘I’d definitely not forgotten. That was . . .’
Melanie paused and Paige wanted to grab the words from her. ‘That was what?’ Paige prompted as she edged ever so slightly closer.
‘You know what it was, you were there.’
Paige knew that it was unforgettable, that it had rewired her brain, that she would give anything, everything to repeat it, not just once but over and again forever.
‘It was the hottest night of my life,’ Paige said, hoping Melanie would pick up her sincerity.
‘I doubt that. Had it been a while for you? Maybe you’ve forgotten.’ Melanie’s blush was visible even in the relative darkness.
