Page 78 of Second Chances at the Board Game Café

‘Children, this is exciting. Taylor – Ms Sweet – is a fashion designer.’

Taylor didn’t like to correct her and say that she was a sewist who did a bit of upcycling on the side.

‘Ms Sweet has designed lots of the clothes for the upcycling show that we’ve talked about,’ Mrs Woods was saying now. ‘Our class project is about sustainability this term, and we’ve been learning about upcycling. I’m sure some of the children are going to come along to watch the show.’

‘Wonderful.’ Taylor smiled nervously, hoping the show would still be worth watching now that her best garments would no longer be featured.

‘Thank you, Mrs Woods,’ said Jo. ‘We’ll let you get on.’

As they left the classroom, Taylor heard Mrs Woods saying, ‘Perhaps Max’s mum will come and talk to us about how she upcycles clothes. That’d be great, wouldn’t it?’

‘Happy?’ said Jo, scrutinising Taylor’s face.

‘Happy.’ Taylor nodded.

‘D’you want to look at the hall? So you can see where the show’s going to be?’

‘Yeah, I’d love that.’

Jo led the way again, back towards the entrance to the school, then turning left at reception through a double set of doors. The hall was bigger than Taylor had imagined, and had a large stage with theatrical curtains at the far end.

‘Perfect,’ she said.

‘Of course, you’ll have to imagine the catwalk,’ said Jo. ‘The hall is always in use for assemblies and indoor PE and school lunch, so we can’t set that up till after school on the day itself.’

‘Catwalk?’

‘Yes, we’re creating a T-shaped catwalk with staging blocks. We don’t have enough, but one of the local secondary schools is lending some. The models will step out from behind the curtains, and then strut their stuff all the way down the hall.’

‘There’ll be a catwalk?’

‘Yeah, is that okay, Taylor? I assumed Kate had checked all this with you.’

‘No, she didn’t, but it’s more than okay. It’s brilliant.’

Taylor couldn’t quite believe her ears. Her designs were going to feature on a catwalk. She imagined one of the models showing off the short, strapless party dress, which had once been an over-the-top silver evening gown. Next up, the dungarees with the flowerpot pocket and embroidered daisies, followed by the funky khaki skirt suit and the graffiti-sprayed jeans.

Only those clothes weren’t going to be seen at the fashion show, she remembered. They were stuck in the upstairs of the old co-operative building and she couldn’t get them out in time. And Kate’s lovely green dress was there too, awaiting its final fitting.

‘It’s such a shame.’ She didn’t mean to say that out loud. To her horror, she realised that her eyes were welling up again.

‘A shame?’

‘Oh, nothing. It’s a long story.’

Jo glanced at her watch. ‘Staffroom?’

Over another mug of Yorkshire tea, Taylor blurted out the whole story of how the bath had come through the kitchen ceiling and the agent said it wasn’t safe for her to go in and collect their things until a structural engineer had checked the place over.

‘And then this morning, Tarquin said that he can’t get anyone for another three weeks!’

Jo had very pale skin to begin with, but she went white now. ‘Tarquin?’

‘The estate agent,’ Taylor explained as Jo looked a little confused. ‘I rented the house through him. I said that I needed my stuff before then, and he said that we might be able to come to “an arrangement”.’ She held up her fingers to make inverted commas. ‘I dread to think what he meant. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t talking about money, and he certainly didn’t mean a lifetime of zip replacements.’

‘No, he didn’t.’ Jo’s tone was cold. ‘Tarquin. Sixteen points.’

It was Taylor’s turn to be confused. ‘Sixteen points?’