AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Paige shook her head. ‘No, but you can put one sticker on that one. And then we can keep looking, yeah?’ Alfie struggled with his sticker and Paige waited patiently by his side. Melanie was itching to get over there and peel it off for him. ‘I did it myself,’ he finally said. Paige nodded seriously, and Alfie placed his sticker down.
It took twenty minutes, and surprisingly it had been Connie and Alfie who had taken the longest to decide which artwork deserved the last sticker.
And finally they were done, and Alfie ran up to Melanie as she scooped him up to give him a big cuddle.
‘I did it. Was I a good jug?’
Melanie grinned. ‘Amazing. Can you help me see which one got the most stickers?’
Alfie nodded as she put him down. ‘I hope it was the green one.’
They went around each one, Alfie shouting out to the room the number of stickers on each.
‘So, Alfie which one got the most stickers?’
‘The green one got six.’
‘That’s right, the one with the most stickers is . . .’ Melanie held up the artwork to everyone and looked to see the name on the back. ‘Selena and co.’
Connie thankfully started the clap that saw the bar break out into full applause. Melanie looked around unsure if Selena had been watching or not. ‘Selena if you are here, come and say hello, and if not, then I’ll guess I’ll see you over email.’
The press took a few more pictures and asked the judges to gather around the winning entry before they took off.
‘Alfie my dear, you were an amazing judge and you have such great taste — it must run in the family.’ Connie caught Melanie’s eye, as she tried and failed not to squirm. ‘Alfie, what’s your favourite food?’ Connie asked. ‘Mine is spaghetti bolognaise.’ There was a sly smile on Connie’s face.
‘Oh that’s mine too.’
‘Great, I have some cooking upstairs. Let’s go and eat. Come on, that’s you as well, Melanie. And don’t worry, Paige will join us in a minute once she’s reset the bar.’
Melanie was helplessly pushed along by Connie towards Paige’s apartment. ‘You don’t need to. I mean we weren’t expecting you to . . .’ And the other question, when did Alfie tell you what his favourite meal was? Or was that just a guess?
‘Not at all, there’s plenty and I had a feeling our young man here would be building up an appetite with all that hard work he did downstairs. Besides, who doesn’t love spag bol hey? I might even have a chocolate brownie with your name on it, if you eat all your food.’ Connie grinned at Melanie, a look in her eyes that suggested she knew full well that was Melanie’s favourite too.
It had been a long day in a strange week, and Melanie was more than a little bit moved that someone was cooking for them both.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Paige
Paige had known the judging was going to go well, and she hoped the press reported on it favourably. And yes, that was maybe a ‘known’ in a ‘mojo’ sort of way — please let it be back! — but she couldn’t and wouldn’t say for certain, worried it would be scared away again. One thing she definitely didn’t ‘know’, but would soon find out about, was her gran’s involvement with Councillor Houghton. Paige couldn’t help but wonder if he was the one the mushroom risotto had been for.
Paige had cleared the artwork away, safely stowing it away for pick-up and had straightened out the bar, just as the after-work crowd began coming in. She went upstairs to her flat. Or should she say home? Because that was the feeling when she saw Connie dishing out spag bol and Melanie and Alfie both sat on the bench at the table. This was so different to how the flat had felt before, not that Paige had noticed that there was anything missing. She’d always liked her quiet, her solitude, and actually if she had this twenty-four seven then she probably would miss her peace. But the smells, the chat and the laughter were all things she hadn’t realised she’d been missing, and so she sat down ready to join them.
‘You did good today, Alf. You gonna come work for me when you get older?’ Paige asked.
‘Auntie M, I made a pint,’ Alfie said, a huge grin on his face.
Ah yeah, probably not great to let a four-year-old serve behind the bar, but he had asked and Paige found she couldn’t say no. Melanie raised an eyebrow in clear disapproval and Paige felt the responding smile tug at her lips.
‘Can I have some food now, please?’ Alf asked with a big smile at Connie. Charmer.
‘Of course, sweetheart. Here you go — but be careful, it’s still hot.’
The garlic bread was passed around, and everyone tucked in.
‘I imagine you guys still have lots of work to do now that you’ve a winner? Who is Selena and co. anyway?’ Connie asked.
‘Yeah, it was one thing organising the judging, which you were all great with, by the way. But now we really need to get a wriggle on,’ Melanie said before she frowned, and then Paige knew what would be next. And there it was, the glasses pushed up. Melanie was anxious. It was still on the lower end of Melanie’s anxiety scale, and only when it was combined with the skirt straightening and legs crossing were they really in trouble.
