Page 94 of Be More Lucy

Poppy’s voice brought Lucy back to the present. ‘Will Mark be there with what’s her name?’

‘Hannah. Yes.’

Lucy had practised being pleasant to Hannah in the bathroom mirror. She hadn’t quite mastered hiding the look of contempt in her eyes, but as Hannah didn’t seem to pay much attention to other women, she was unlikely to notice.

‘So you want to make Mark see what he’s missing.’

Lucy hadn’t thought of it like that, but perhaps subconsciously, that was what she was hoping would happen. ‘Possibly,’ she said.

Poppy started applying foils and chatting about her family.

Lucy’s phone buzzed. A text from Kizzy with another query from her new branding client.

‘You need a new job as well,’ said Poppy. ‘How many interruptions is that today? It must be at least five, and you’ve only been here ten minutes.’

Poppy had a point about the number of interruptions. After the success of their rebranding, Aaron from Swanky Grinders had recommended Lucy to a friend whose business distributed hand-fired clay tiles made in the foothills of the Andes. The new client was eager to get their marketing plan signed off as soon as possible. It wasn’t going to be an easy wind down to the Christmas holidays for Lucy, Flynn and Kizzy this year.

‘I can’t get a new job. That would mean selling my business and I’m not ready to let it go just yet. There’s no way I could work for anyone else again.’

‘I thought you sold your business a couple of years ago?’

‘That was my social media one. But now I’m building up a high-end marketing agency, I’m planning to keep it for a lot longer.’

‘You need more staff. A woman should be able to go to the hairdresser without being pestered by the office every 30 seconds.’

Lucy had been thinking about her business a lot lately. It tied her to Birmingham which hadn’t worried her before, but when she was with Mark it would have been a lot easier if she earned her living doing something that she could do anywhere. Not that that mattered now that he’d left her, but someone else might come into her life who wanted to put down roots away from Birmingham or go travelling for months. She might even like to go travelling for months herself. Eventually, she’d get to the point where she could afford to get another senior member of staff to run it on her behalf but, at this rate, she wouldn’t be in that position for years yet.

‘And what if you decide to have kids?’ Poppy continued. ‘You’re going to have to take time off then. What you need is a business coach.’

Someone who could give her a fresh point of view on where to take the business next. Not a bad idea. ‘Do you know anyone?’

‘Funny you should ask. One of my other regulars is a business coach. Petra. I don’t know how good she is, but she can afford to have a blow-dry every week so she can’t be doing that badly. I’ll get you her details when I’ve finished your foils.’

50

A week later, Lucy was sitting in her favourite coffee shop at a table at the back, working on her laptop. It was pouring with rain outside, but she felt warm and cosy thanks to the festive decorations, the warm glow from the vintage-style light bulbs, and the Christmas songs playing quietly in the background.

‘Have you been stood up again?’

Lucy recognised the voice. Josh. She looked up from her laptop. She was surprised she hadn’t bumped into him before. He must’ve been avoiding coming in here since they split up.

‘No. I’m waiting for a client.’

‘Charging for it now?’ He gave her a stupid grin.

‘Ha ha. Very funny. So you’re back on the market?’

‘I might be.’

‘I’m sure the single women of Birmingham can barely contain their excitement.’

‘If my date doesn’t arrive, could we get together again?’

Was he serious? ‘Why would you think I was that desperate?’

‘It wasn’t that bad, was it? We had some fun.’

She considered telling him to go forth and multiply, but then she spotted an attractive woman making her way between the tables to where Josh was standing. Probably his date. Lucy could have some fun with this.

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