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‘Can I take your silence to mean yes, or have I offended you? I’m so sorry. I wasn’t trying to imply that you need a makeover, in fact’ — Sophie put her hands on the bar and leaned forward — ‘your make-up is gorgeous. You’ll have to tell me what lipstick that is.’
Sophie sat herself back down on the barstool.
Melanie licked her lips and finally found her voice. ‘Oh my God, I’m such a huge fan, and you want to give me a makeover, and do it in my bar, and you want to know my lipstick!’
Sophie was still grinning. ‘It’ll be fun.’
Melanie quickly fanned her face. Best. Day. Ever.
‘Do you want to have a think about when we could do it? If you message me on Insta — no, wait, don’t do that. I might miss it, or my PA might bin it. Erm . . . Tell you what, here’s my personal mobile. Please do not give that to anyone. Text me your availability and we’ll get it booked in OK?’
Melanie took the card that Sophie had scribbled on. ‘Wow, thank you and yeah of course.’
‘The other reason I’m here is that I think your goals are great and I think everyone should have them. Unfortunately for me, for a little while I let my career ambition rule my life until there was no life to speak of, just work, work and more work. So unsolicited advice here, just try and hold on to those things you enjoy and the people you love.’
Melanie immediately thought of her sister Emily, her nephew Alfie and Louisa and knew that she would always have them, and she didn’t have time to wish for anything more.
‘Which brings me onto the final reason I’m here . . .’ Sophie paused and Melanie watched as Sophie spun her engagement ring around on her finger. ‘I erm . . . well, it’s about Paige.’
‘What about Paige? Is she OK?’ Melanie asked.
‘Yeah, well she’s grumpy but that’s, well that’s what I wanted to say. She’s lost something important to her, and it’s making her a bit tetchy. Well, tetchier, she’s always a bit tetchy.’ Sophie shook her head. ‘No, wait’ — she let out a laugh that sounded a little forced — ‘I didn’t mean that. She’s not always tetchy. In fact, most of the time she’s lovely.’
Melanie didn’t mean to, but she could feel her eyebrows raise at that one; she doubted even Paige’s own mother would use the word lovely.
‘Yeah no, that’s not quite right either. God, I’m making this worse. Look, Paige is good, OK? That’s all you need to know. She’s a good person, one of the best. I’ve known her for years and she’s one of the kindest, most selfless people I know. She’s also a huge supporter, of well, everyone. She’s good. She’s great. She’s one of the best. I’ve already said that. Sorry. It’s just that she can sometimes come across short. Or a little grumpy but that’s not really her.’
‘I’m sure her partner would agree with you but are you trying to sell her, or — I mean, what does it matter what I think about Paige?’ Melanie was genuinely confused by Sophie’s obvious nerves. To be fair, in Melanie’s mind, Paige took up a lot of head space, more than she should. Rightly or wrongly, she was there for at least a small part of every day. Like when she opened up the bar and she could see Barbarella down the road. And maybe occasionally when she looked at her phone and realised that at any point she could just text her and that filled her both with giddy butterflies and weighty gut daggers. But that was in her own head, so back to the original question, why would anyone else care what she thought about Paige?
‘Oh no, she doesn’t have a girlfriend at the moment. And well it doesn’t, I guess. I just . . .’ Sophie paused as her eyes ran over the room. It looked to Melanie like Sophie was searching the room for the right words. There was a neon sign in the fake foliage that said “freedom”, but as Sophie turned back round, that clearly wasn’t it.
Sophie sighed. ‘Forget I came here.’
Melanie’s disappointment was immediate.
’No, I don’t mean forget the whole thing. I mean forget about the Paige part. We’re still good for the rest, right?’
Melanie slowly nodded.
‘Great, so text me, yeah? Don’t forget.’ Sophie stood up and grabbed her bag and turned towards the door. ‘And we’ll see you tonight, right? Anytime from eight will be fab. See you later.’
And before Melanie could even protest, Sophie had run out the door.
Melanie opened her phone. She could always ask her mum to watch Alfie for her. If Melanie asked rather than her sister then it might be more likely. Or she could just not go. It’s not like she had the spare time. If she was looking after Alfie or more specifically being in the same house while he slept, then she could get more work done. Going to a bar to just drink and hang out, when was the last time she had done that? Could she do that? Did she want to do that? She really didn’t have the time. But the temptation was so great and it really had been so long.
Walking through the bar round the back, through the coats and bags, and then the boxes of neatly piled up prosecco, she finally made it into the tiny cramped storage room that doubled as the office as her mobile continued to ring. Maybe she wouldn’t pick up.
‘Hello Melanie, you all right?’
‘Hi Mum, I’m good. But listen, I need a favour.’
Her mum’s tone immediately dropped. ‘What is it?’
‘Can you watch Alfie tonight?’
Her mum groaned. But Melanie didn’t fall for it. She knew the groan was aimed at her sister rather than at her only grandson.
‘Is this you asking or your sister?’
