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‘Sorry, sorry, we’re having some trouble with graffiti and it’s annoying a lot of voters. And so annoying me. But yes, I agree if we have someone local, that’s talented and would like the opportunity, we could offer excellent exposure.’
‘Exposure doesn’t pay the bills though, we still need to pay them,’ Paige added, sending her glare straight at Councillor Houghton, who appeared to handle it better than Melanie did.
‘Well of course. Let’s see if there’s anyone that meets the criteria first though yeah?’
‘How do we do that?’ Paulo from the tattoo shop asked. ‘I mean I might have some contacts, can call up some people maybe.’
‘What about if we each put posters in our windows, oh and flyers and tell our customers about it, get the word spread within the local community, put it on our socials?’ Melanie casually suggested.
‘That’s an excellent idea. If you could pull something together that would be great. I have a contact at a printer so just send me through your final design and I’ll sort the rest, OK? Great, thank you, Melanie. I knew you’d make a great asset to our community. So, moving on, is there any other urgent business?’
Melanie sat stunned for all of a second, before opening her to-do list and creating a new list heading, and adding a bullet point that just read, “design a flyer and poster”.
Did she have design experience? No, but she did know that Canva existed so that was a start. Did she have the time to do this? Also, no. Did she have someone that she could pass this off to? In a word, no. So, on the list it went, and Melanie would make the time, just like she always did.
Once she’d finished typing away she tuned back into the conversation; they were talking bins. The Neighbourhood Business Alliance always ended up talking about bins. Bins or parking.
She caught Paige’s eye again, expecting to see a glare but all she saw was confusion.
Yeah, you and me both.
Chapter Three
Paige
Paige left the coffee shop, her mood absolutely none the better. Listening to the usual complaints about the bins was as boring as it sounded, even if she did completely agree and every now and again spend a good fifteen minutes ranting to her cat Mr Higgins about them.
Walking into Barbarella, she saw Belle by the optics putting away some clean glasses, and India clearing some tables. There were a few other staff members scattered about, but it was quiet for now; it would pick up in an hour when the nine-to-fivers finished and needed a quick drink before going home or cracking on for a big night out. But seeing that she could excuse herself, Paige did exactly that and, with a wave, took herself straight through the bar, and up to her flat. It wouldn’t be fair to impose her mood on her team.
But Connie would be here soon, and Paige wouldn’t have to pretend with her that all was OK. Paige didn’t want people to worry, so while friends knew she was off, they didn’t know just how badly, and nor would they.
Grabbing the kettle and forcing the tap down with a little too much power, the water shot out and sprayed Paige’s T-shirt. She slammed the lid down and put the kettle on. Reaching for a mug it hit the counter with force. Paige winced, half expecting to have broken the thing. With a sigh she tried to sort herself out. This stropping about wasn’t a good look. Instead, Paige began making kissy noises for Mr Higgins. He clearly knew she was in a mood though, as he was nowhere to be seen. Figures. Placing her brew on the coffee table, Paige turned on her TV and sourced the only thing that would boost her serotonin. After a minute, Disney Plus was loaded.
She stuck on her favourite, Hercules, and sank back into the cushions, waiting for her very first crush to appear on screen. She’d emptied her mug of tea before the appearance, but there was Megara.
Mr Higgins jumped up on the sofa. ‘Oh, there you are. I thought you’d run off to find another family.’ Mr Higgins responded by strutting up to her, turning around and sticking his bum in the air and his tail in her face. ‘Yes, thanks for that.’
Eventually he settled on the sofa next to her and looked up at her.
‘What?’
Mr Higgins said nothing, obviously, but continued to stare.
‘I’m not feeding you yet.’
Still nothing.
She waited, sure that her cat, that she’d had since he was just a few weeks old, would look away. But he didn’t and the look he gave her sliced through Paige like only a cat’s look could.
‘Fine. Yes, I am in a bad mood again. No, I still don’t know what’s going on. How do people put up with this shit?’
Mr Higgins dropped his head and with it, his rather forceful gaze and rested his head on her lap, indicating in her mind that she should keep talking.
Reaching out to slowly stroke down his spine, she quietly admitted her pain. ‘I know I didn’t know everything. I wasn’t that good, but this is . . . Well, it’s scary.’ She continued the strokes as Mr Higgins purred his encouragement, whether to continue talking or stroking she wasn’t sure but she carried on with both, knowing that Mr Higgins would never tell her secrets to anyone. Well, he hadn’t to date. ‘Hell maybe I never really knew anything before. Maybe it was all non-verbal cues, unconscious vibe pick-ups. But then why did it stop? Where did my mojo go?’
Her head fell back to the sofa, just as her apartment door knocked from the bar side.
‘Like now, I should know who that is, or at least suspect.’
