‘Who?’
‘Never mind.’
The café interior is now almost unrecognisable. Beige walls are now red, our grey floors now black-and-white checks with silver tables in the centre and dark red leather booths lining the walls.
‘I can’t quite believe we’ve done it,’ Vic whispers to me as she waves at the owner of next door’s juice bar. ‘This place is now officially a blast.’
I nod, beaming from ear to ear. It couldn’t have gone better; everyone came, everything works, and my hair is surprisingly on point. Even a normally stoic-faced Tracey is grinning as she runs the kitchen. We’ve hired additional staff to help out tonight and I like being on this side of the counter. Maybe one day we’ll expand, anything is possible.
‘Nora, there’s someone I want you to meet.’
My current state of bliss dips for a moment when I see Faith gesture to a man in an expensive brown suit with a neat, salt-and-pepper beard to join us. Is this the man she wanted to set me up with? Oh God, he looks at least twenty years older than me.
‘Larry Wilde, this is my sister, Nora.’
He holds out his hand while I try to place his name. It’s very familiar.
‘Lovely to meet you,’ I say, ‘Thanks so much for coming.’
He flashes me the most expensive smile I’ve ever seen on anyone over sixty. ‘Pleasure,’ he replies in a soft American accent. ‘And I believe I should thank you for coming to our Scottish retreat. Faith says you had a ball.’
It takes me a second but suddenly it clicks. Larry Wilde. CEO of Holistically Yours. What the hell is he doing here?
‘I did!’ I reply. ‘It was quite the week. In a roundabout way, it inspired all of this. A fresh start so to speak.’
He looks around and nods. ‘My wife always tells me, when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. She’s usually right.’
‘Is your wife here?’ I ask, looking around.
‘Anna? No, she’s running a retreat in Montreal right now.’
I nearly choke on my Buck’s Fizz. ‘Anna? You’re married to Anna? The Anna who ranmyretreat?’
‘The very one.’ There’s a glint in Larry’s eye that tells me he knows just how lucky he is. ‘I’m here to do some business with my go-to girl. Seems we’ll be making UK bootcamps a twice-yearly feature.’
Faith says something about exciting opportunities while I’m still stunned that Anna is married to the spiritual Kenny Rodgers. I was certain she’d be married to some kaftan wearing thirty-something with a man bun.
‘Now if you’ll excuse me,’ Larry says, motioning to the buffet area, ‘I have my eye on that mac and cheese. Pleasure to meet you. Nora.’
‘Well, that was unexpected,’ I say to Faith as we watch him make a beeline for the comfort food. ‘He’s not at all what I expected. His wife, Anna, can’t be much older than me!’
She nods. ‘He’s quite the silver fox, isn’t he? And richer than sin. Well done, Anna.’
‘Indeed,’ I reply. ‘For a second there I thought—’
‘That he was your blind date?’ Faith laughs. ‘Hardly. Besides, even if he wasn’t married, he’s one of my biggest clients. Conflict of interest. I don’t need you breaking his heart and ruining my perfectly lucrative business relationship.’
‘Faith, when have I ever broken someone’s heart?’
She smiles. ‘Oh, I dunno. I get the feeling that somewhere, out there, there’s a man who’s considerably heartbroken that you’re no longer in his life.’
‘Sweet of you to say,’ I reply as Vic frantically waves over to me for help, ‘but highly unlikely. Need to dash!’
Jean and Mary are the first to leave, Mary clutching a small doggy bag of beef rib bones that Tracey had left over, for her Great Dane. Seems like I’m not the only one with a soft spot for these women.
‘I must say, I was a little apprehensive about this new look,’ Jean proclaims. ‘I was very fond of our old meeting place, you know.’
‘Me too,’ I reply, helping her with her coat. ‘But I think it’s all worked out, wouldn’t you agree?’
