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‘Nothing that can’t be delayed for an hour or two,’ she replies with a smile. ‘Do you want to hear the second idea?’
‘Go for it. Is it as good as the first?’
‘That’s up to you to decide. So, I was looking around the café the last time I was in. There’s no doubt it looks so much better now than it did when we first saw it, but something is still missing.’
‘What?’
‘Pictures. There’s not a single picture on any of the walls. So, what I thought was, why not ask Bronwyn to put some of her pictures up? You could even let her offer them for sale and take a commission.’
I’m less keen on this idea. Not because I don’t think it’s good, but because I suspect Katie and Bronwyn are trying to do a number on me.
‘Have you already spoken to Bronwyn about this?’ I ask.
‘God, no! I mean, it may not be something she wants to do anyway. The stuff that she has in the gallery wouldn’t be suitable for here at all, but she’s so talented and versatile that I reckon she could come up with pictures that would look really good in the café, and they’d certainly be more interesting than the usual generic posters. What do you think?’
‘I guess we could ask her and see what she says,’ I offer cautiously.
‘Great, I’ll text her now,’ Katie replies enthusiastically, pulling her phone out of her jeans pocket.
I don’t know whether to believe her or not when she says Bronwyn doesn’t know anything about it, but I definitely feel slightly manipulated. I can’t deny that it’s a good idea, though, and some pictures on the walls would be nice, so I put my irritation to one side. Katie and Bronwyn are best friends, after all, so it’s only natural that Katie would push her forwards.
Bronwyn’s reply pings back moments after Katie sends the text.
‘She says thank you. She’s going to give it some thought and maybe do a couple of rough sketches this evening. If she comes up with anything, she’ll bring it in to show you tomorrow, so you can decide if it’s suitable.’
‘That seems awfully quick,’ I say. ‘Are you sure this is definitely the first time you’ve ever spoken to her about it?’
‘Yes. Scout’s honour!’
‘I don’t think that works if you weren’t a scout.’
‘Oh, shut up. I promise you this isn’t something we’ve cooked up behind your back, okay? It was my idea, but there’s no way I’d talk to her about it without consulting you. What if she’d been really keen, but you’d hated it? Much better for her to be in the dark, and then she would never have needed to know if you didn’t like it.’
As usual, she’s thought this through properly. I ought to have known.
‘She sketches really fast,’ Katie continues. ‘It’s pretty awesome to watch, actually. Once she’s happy with the sketch then she sets to work with whatever medium she’s decided on, and that takes much longer. So, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if she managed two or even three sketches before she goes to bed.’
* * *
Sure enough, Bronwyn bounces in as usual the following morning clutching an enormous sketch book under her arm. Katie’s still fast asleep in the flat, so it’s just Bronwyn, Matt, and me in the kitchen before we open up. Bronwyn makes the coffees as usual and brings them in.
‘I know you’re both busy now, but I’ve drawn out a couple of ideas that we can look at later, either when we get a quiet moment, or when we close up,’ she tells me.
‘It’s Saturday, Bronwyn. You know as well as I do that we won’t get a quiet moment! Let’s have a quick look now, before the hordes descend.’
‘Okay. The style I’m thinking of is sort of halfway between Jack Vettriano and Beryl Cook. Does that make sense?’
‘I’ve heard of Jack Vettriano, but I don’t know anything about Beryl Cook,’ I tell her.
‘Okay. Think of colour schemes similar to Jack Vettriano, but without the dark undercurrents that his work sometimes has. Beryl Cook was famous for painting people enjoying themselves, so I guess that’s where I’m going with this, does that make sense?’
She opens the sketch book near the end, and the first sketch depicts a couple sitting outside a café. She’s wearing a knee-length dress and sipping from an espresso cup. He’s reclining in his chair and smoking a cigarette. Their calves are touching under the table. Even though it’s only a sketch, I can already see the colours in my mind. The second is a beach scene, and this time, the couple are eating ice creams. She’s drawn it so that they’re each holding the other’s ice cream cone and effectively feeding each other. They each have a blob of ice cream on their noses, and you’re left wondering whether the blobs are accidental or not.
‘These are brilliant, Bronwyn!’ I exclaim.
‘Well, they’re just quick mock-ups,’ she replies. ‘I wanted to know if I was on the right lines or not.’
‘I’d say you were bang on. What would you want to sell them for?’
