Page 11 of The Little Board Game Café

‘I’ll come once,’ she said. ‘I’m not promising to come every week.’

‘Perfect. I’ll get more drinks in.’

She watched Kate’s back heading for the bar. What on earth had she let herself in for?

Chapter Five

Books by Emily’s bedside: A Beginner’s Guide to Starting Your Own Business; Surviving Unemployment; Running for Dummies. Kate had insisted on lending her that last one.

On Thursday, Peter stayed late at the office, so Emily found herself alone. She should probably have phoned home, but her dad was a worrier and she didn’t want to tell him yet about losing her job. Instead, she made some toast and sat on one of the bar stools in her fiancé’s state-of-the-art kitchen, googling cafés for sale on her phone.

Hebbleswick, a slightly bigger town than Essendale and just three miles away, had four cafés, but none of them appeared to be for sale. She broadened the search out to Brighouse (even pricier) and Halifax (cheaper but not by much), and then to the whole of West Yorkshire, but it was the same story everywhere: very few places available and those that were vacant were prohibitively expensive.

Nico’s was the only affordable option, but was there a reason it was so cheap? Location, Emily decided. It was a little bit out of the centre. In all the time she’d lived in Essendale, she hadn’t even known it was there.

She could find empty premises and start from scratch, she thought suddenly, but a few Google searches later, she realised that wouldn’t be as easy as it sounded; you needed planning permission for a change of use.

She flicked back to the estate agent’s website and looked at the advert for Nico’s again. It was a gloomy little place, but did it have potential?

Damn. It had gone half past. She was supposed to be in the park for the running club in only thirty-five minutes.

She didn’t have proper running clothes, so pulled on leggings and a longish t-shirt and hoped they’d do. She didn’t have the right shoes either; her old trainers would have to suffice.

She had to run to make it on time – only the last forty metres or so, but it left her struggling for breath. This didn’t bode well for the evening ahead. Kate was already there. Her friend must have been shopping, judging from the brand-new running clothes and pristine white shoes. Everyone else was wearing the proper gear too, and some were already limbering up and stretching as if they knew what they were doing.

‘I thought this was for beginners?’ Emily hissed to Kate, nodding in the direction of a woman doing lunges on the edge of the group.

‘It is.’

A woman with a clipboard approached them. ‘Names?’

‘I’m Kate. This is Emily.’

‘I don’t seem to have your form back, Emily,’ she said. ‘I have yours, Kate.’

‘Form?’

‘Yes, medical form. It’s important that everyone declares any medical conditions so we know they’re fit to start running. Insurance and all that. Did you get it?’

Emily hadn’t even realised she was supposed to fill in a form.

‘I emailed it to you,’ said Kate.

Emily shrugged.

‘Never mind,’ said the woman, reaching into her rucksack. ‘I always bring paper copies. There’s always one person who doesn’t send it back.’

She handed Emily a pen and a sheet of paper as if it was an enormous effort and inconvenience.

‘Not very friendly, is she?’ Emily said to Kate, when the woman with the clipboard had moved on to ‘greet’ the latest arrivals.

‘Never mind her. There are men.’

Sure enough, there were two reasonably good-looking men, one dark-haired, one slightly greying, but they were already surrounded by four very slim women, who looked like they were born in Lycra.

‘Looks like those other women have beaten us to it, Kate.’

‘Us? Does that mean you’re looking?’