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Melanie was not going to give in. Her brain to mouth filter was fully engaged. Not a word was going to pass her lips until she was good and ready. The woman in front of her squirmed in her seat as Melanie continued to study her. Her face was locked in a forced nonchalance that wasn’t convincing. Her stare was anywhere but at Melanie. It kept moving around the room, appearing to stop every now and again to take it all in. A group of bottomless drinkers were getting rowdy in the corner and as they all shouted an enthusiastic cheers, the turquoise terror flinched in her seat and for a second the neutrality dropped and in its place a frown and that felt more real to Melanie.
When Melanie found out from Councillor Houghton that this person had been forced into coming today, she’d spent her time researching and planning. This table and the seating choice was no accident. Just a quiet enough corner that they could hear each other, but Melanie was facing the flower wall, making sure her guest could see the whole place, see how they were thriving, how business was booming.
The seat next to her was pulled back and Melanie turned and greeted Louisa with a smile.
There was a moment before Louisa sat down where she looked down her nose at the person opposite, but then she sat back slowly, crossing her legs.
Melanie took a moment to soak in how she felt. She wasn’t a confrontational kind of person by nature. But in the moment she had the control. There was nothing more the person in front of them could do. Nothing she hadn’t already done. But now it was their turn.
‘Shall I do introductions?’ Melanie began. ‘I know you already know us. You’ve been paying very close attention from what I understand. But let’s be polite. I’m Melanie, this is Louisa and we are the co-owners of Lulu. The M.E.N. has recently reported that we’re, what was it, Louisa?’
‘Not to be missed. That people need to reserve their spot now because there’s a two-month waiting list.’
‘Oh two months is it now? That’s amazing,’ Melanie said. Indicating the woman before them, she said, ‘Louisa, this is Sabrina. She works in, well erm Sabrina is an aspiring beautician? It’s the lack of the property preventing her from making it big, right?’ Sabrina continued to not say anything but her jaw was tight and her face turned to the side, the petulance strong.
‘Anyway, Sabrina has joined us today because Councillor Houghton asked her to pop in and apologise.’
Louisa brushed off imaginary lint from her knee as she waited for a response. Melanie clasped her hands and leaned forwards, eager to hear what would come next. Something behind Melanie must have caught Sabrina’s eye as she sat up straighter and looked around a little more.
‘I . . . I will apologise but come on, you can’t prove I did anything. I didn’t do anything.’ Melanie could just about make out that the bar seemed to have quietened further. Had someone turned off the background music?
‘We have a list of the things you’ve done. But these are just the ones we know about. Shall we start there?’ Louisa said, her tone one of rage hidden under layers of smooth slow moving silk. ‘You cancelled our orders of prosecco. You had several orders including our napkins redelivered elsewhere. You put a series of fake reviews all over our social media. You had the health inspector pay us a visit. They gave us a glowing review, did you know? Complimented us on having one of the cleanest and most well-organised kitchens they’d had the privilege of observing. You made up fake noise abatement orders. You emailed all suppliers to try and cancel our orders. They’re just the ones we know about.’
Sabrina scoffed. ‘Right. And you can prove all that, can you?’
Melanie thought of all the amazing women in her life. There were so many and each with their own power; Cleo’s control, Mya’s confidence, Polly’s sensitivity, Sophie’s creativity, Emily’s resilience, Louisa’s support and Paige’s strength. Melanie realised at that moment she was not on her own, not only that but that she had a power of her own. She would not be made upset by this person. She was not worth her anger, her sleepless nights. ‘Yes, most of it we can. We are more than happy to share what we have with the rest of the Neighbourhood Business Alliance to ensure that you never get a spot in our community.’
Sabrina’s face paled and her eyes widened. ‘As if I would want to be here anyway!’
‘Well, that works out for us all then, doesn’t it?’ Louisa said evenly.
Sabrina went to push her chair back but Melanie raised at the same time and leaned closer to speak.
‘Sabrina of Sabrina Mobile Beauty and Cosmetics. Your Facebook has over ten thousand likes, your Instagram has stalled out at eight thousand followers. Your reviews are mixed but you’ve, rightly so, put a lot of time and energy into your socials. We know first-hand how hard that is. But understand this, if you make any more bad decisions when it comes to Lulu, myself or any of my amazing team, we will make sure that when you do get a new premises, to share all of our proof, and our suspicions to your new neighbours, and your customers. On that basis, if I were you, I’d admit what you did, apologise and we can then shake hands and say no more about it.’
There was a shuffling sound behind them but Melanie didn’t look away from Sabrina. This was it. And once again she would wait. Sabrina was looking at something behind them, and chewing on her lip. The room was so quiet now, somehow she knew the customers were watching what was happening.
‘I’m sorry. For trying to sabo — for what’s happened.’ Sabrina grabbed her bag and dashed for the door. And from right behind there was an almighty cheer. Melanie and Louisa swung around. The entire team had gathered behind them. Dan the head chef, Cleo the general manager, Ari, Tempy, Trav, everyone from the kitchen and from front of house, all of them stood behind them. Even the customers were cheering. And the next thing she knew they were all hugging and jumping, people shouting ‘we did it’ and ‘best team ever’. The plan had been simple. As soon as Councillor Houghton got in touch, explaining that he’d demanded Sabrina rock up and apologise or else face a permanent ban they knew what they needed to do and had researched what they could.
Cleo moved through the group, phone in hand. ‘I got it, it’s all recorded!’
Melanie smiled so much her cheeks were sore, but she pulled Cleo into another hug.
‘Right, back to work!’ Louisa shouted across the room and then addressing their customers. ‘Thank you everyone for your patience and we apologise for the disruption to your service today. We hope you’ll accept a complimentary drink from us.’ The cheers continued as the staff dispersed. Melanie watched as each one of them walked with a slight bounce, a huge smile and a straightened spine. They really were the best team ever. She turned to Louisa. ‘Is that really the end of it?’ Could the sabotage really be over?
‘I reckon so. Do your shoulders feel lighter? Mine feel lighter. I feel like I’ve been carrying that around for weeks.’
‘Same.’ Well almost same. She definitely felt lighter for this, but there were other things that she could maybe put right and maybe forgive and ask for forgiveness for, so that she might continue to feel joy in her chest for hopefully a very long time. She quickly pulled Louisa into a hug. ‘We’re going to do this,’ she said in her ear.
‘We’re going to absolutely smash it.’ Louisa pulled back slightly. ‘Maybe we need to start looking for our second venue? Shall I add it to the list?’
‘Not just yet, hey?’
Chapter Forty
Melanie
She’d got all the food wrapped and ready to go. She’d made sure the party bags were ready — actually that had been fun and she’d kept a bouncy ball and some Play Doh to the side for herself — all they needed was to add slices of birthday cake at the end. Luckily, she hadn’t needed to worry about the cake as her mum had brought that. And the icing on the cake? Mum’s ‘you could have made different choices’ lecture she always gave Emily hadn’t emerged because Alfie had charmed his grandma and they were busy swapping party hats around, waiting for the rest of the guests to appear.
