Page 80 of One Night in Edinburgh

‘Did I?’ A guilty look momentarily passes across her face. ‘Sorry, I meant would you take over leading the event? It would be such a help to me.’

My stomach swirling quickly evolves into full-on nausea.

‘Would Anna not be a better fit, Lizzie? She’s way more confident doing that stuff than I am.’

‘Which is precisely why you should do it. Steph, you’re one of the most talented and dedicated people I’ve ever worked with, and what I’ve seen from you over recent weeks has made my decision much easier.’

‘What decision?’

‘That’s another thing I wanted to speak to you about.’ Lizzie’s lips curl into a loaded smile. ‘I had a health scare recently, Steph.’ She waves away my reaction as my hand shoots to my mouth in concern. ‘I’m fine, but it put some things into perspective for me. I can’t keep going at this rate forever, so I need a successor. You told me you want to make a real difference to people’s lives, right?’

‘Um… yeah.’ My eyes narrow as I wonder where this is leading.

‘Then what better way to do that than leading the charity I built from the ground up?’

I blanch at this casually shared revelation. ‘You wantmeto be the future director of Edinburgh Youth Kickstart?’

‘Absolutely. It’s my baby and I need to leave it in safe hands. I see no safer hands than yours.’

‘You don’t mean right now, do you? Because as much as I’ve learned a lot from you, I’m miles away from being ready for a role like that.’

‘Don’t be silly, of course not.’ Lizzie chuckles. ‘I’ll need to train you up and share all my wisdom with you. And I’m not planning to step away altogether; I’ll just be taking a backseat to let you to take the place to the next level.’

‘Gosh, Lizzie, I’m honoured… and a little terrified.’

‘You have no reason to be terrified, Steph. I wouldn’t be saying any of this if I wasn’t one hundred per cent confident in my decision. You know me.’

‘I do. And I guess this is exactly what I’m looking for, but what about Anna?’

Lizzie fixes me with a look. ‘Steph, for once, will you please stop thinking of everyone else and put a little focus on yourself?’

‘Right, sure. Of course.’

‘Great, that’s sorted then.’ Lizzie pats me on the back encouragingly, then sweeps back out the side door in the direction of the kitchen.

‘What was that about?’ Anna seems to appear out of nowhere as I’m recovering from the multiple bombshells that Lizzie has dropped on me.

‘Oh… um… Lizzie has asked me to MC, and…’ I wince in anticipation of Anna’s reaction. ‘She’s also asked me to be her successor.’

I scrutinise Anna’s face, waiting for the hurt, but all that I find is a big broad smile.

‘Steph, that’s amazeballs.’ She launches herself on me with a huge hug.

‘Really?’ I gasp for breath as she crushes the air out of my lungs. ‘I thought you might be upset. You have as much reason to want that role.’

‘Are you kidding?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You think I’m patient or politically minded enough to take on a job like that? Nah, I prefer the virtual world. I can be your right-hand woman… your social-media guru. Plus, what an opportunity to stick two fingers up to your family. You don’t obsess over the meaningless materialistic shite. You fight the good fight and you’re going be a director because of it. Suck on that, Mr and Mrs A!’

‘How eloquently put. Maybe I should put you in charge of giving them the good news.’ I chuckle and then hug her again. ‘Seriously though, thank you. You’ve no idea how much your support means to me. I suppose I can’t imagine you meeting with MPs and drinking tea with our most influential donors.’

‘Yeah.’ She smirks. ‘Ten minutes of their narcissistic bullshit and we’d be hitting the headlines for the wrong reasons.’

I laugh at this colourful play on Anna’s lack of suitability for the job and we start setting up the auction table.

‘I’m not sure that’s an entirely fair representation, Anna, but I accept your point. Your tolerance levels are a little lower than average.’

---