Page 67 of The Little Board Game Café

‘You’ll have to take some photos to show me. Speaking of which, have you seen the paper?’ Kate reached into her bag and pulled out a copy of the Essendale Gazette. And there, on the front, was a picture of Emily standing behind the counter brandishing a teapot. ‘And I’ve made you a playlist.’

‘A playlist?’

Kate picked up her phone and clicked a couple of times. ‘There. I’ve shared a Spotify playlist with you – songs for the launch. You can borrow my Bluetooth speakers. Don’t break them. And there’s something else. Won’t be a minute.’

She stood up, left the room for a few moments and returned with a parcel wrapped in brown paper which she plonked on the table. ‘Go ahead.’

Tentatively, Emily tore off the Sellotape. Inside was a pinafore dress, only fifties style with a full skirt and a cinched-in waist, not the dungaree type that she usually wore. She stood up and held it against her. It appeared to be exactly the right size – how had Kate managed that? – but the best thing was that the fabric it was made from was printed to look like a Scrabble board.

‘Thank you so, so much.’ Emily put the dress down on the table and went to embrace her friend.

‘Yeah, well.’ Kate batted her away. ‘I was sick of you rooting in my wardrobe, trying on my dresses and ripping the seams.’

‘Oh. I’d forgotten about that. Sorry. But it was just the one seam.’

‘Am I forgiven for not being able to be there?’

‘Of course you’re forgiven. And even without the front page, the playlist and the dress, you’d be forgiven. I know how important Freddie is to you, Kate. I get it. I do. I’ll cross my fingers for you on Saturday night. And you cross yours for me.’

Chapter Twenty-Four

Books by Emily’s Kate’s spare bedside: Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus; How to Not Die Alone (cheerful title – and Emily thought she was a pessimist); The Program. All left there by Kate and left unopened by Emily. That last book was, according to Kate, the bible when it came to dating.

As Emily opened the door to the café, the reality struck.

It was the day before the big launch event for her board game café and she had hardly any board games and she hadn’t planned the food.

No board games + no food = no board game café.

‘You look glum,’ said Mr B, when he and Marjory came in.

Marjory put her arm around her. ‘What’s up, Em?’

‘Where do I start? Kate can’t come tomorrow. Dad won’t come. I’ve not enough board games – the eBay orders haven’t arrived yet so I mightn’t even have those – and I’d completely forgotten that I’d need to serve food and drinks. I run a café and I forget about food and drinks. I’m going to cancel.’

Mr B slammed his hand down on the Cluedo table. ‘Cancel? After all this work?’

The three of them looked around café. At the huge board games canvases adorning the walls. At the shelves laden with Scrabble, Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit. At the three sets of Buckaroo!.

‘We can help with the food,’ said Mr B at the same time as Marjory said, ‘I thought Ludek was lending you the games.’

‘I didn’t ask him. Didn’t want to put him in an awkward position. He loves those games – you should see how well he looks after them.’

‘But if he loves you—’

‘He doesn’t love me, Marjory. He barely knows me. We fancy each other, that’s all.’

‘Did he like the pierogi?’ said Mr B.

‘I burnt the pierogi. He never even saw them. And I didn’t manage to make any of the desserts. We got a take-away instead.’

‘I see,’ said Mr B. He had the same disappointed look on his face that Emily’s dad used to have after every parents’ evening. He sighed. He looked at Marjory. He looked at the board games tables that they’d worked so hard to paint. ‘We can’t abandon things now,’ he said decisively. ‘We’ll go ahead with the games that we’ve got.’

Emily hadn’t realised this was his decision to make.

‘Everyone will think it’s a board game café with a crappy selection of games. And then no one will come back. I’ll end up with even less customers before.’

‘I’ll ring my sister in Leeds,’ said Marjory. ‘See if she can’t find a few more unusual games in the charity shops there.’