Page 14 of All Mine
Fox: By the way, Reggie won the dinosaur project. Got the class certificate for best talons.
Walker: Told you those acrylic nails would do the job.
Fox: Next project is to make a rocket. Anyone up for that? This games deadline is still kicking my arse.
Walker: Count me in.
Etienne: And me. And if he wins again, you owe us a beer.
Fox: Boys, I owe you much, much more than a beer.
Etienne pocketed his phone with a sigh. If only everything was as easily resolved.
Chapter Seven
Isabella
The morning briefing was almost finished. Isabella stood in the middle of the tradesmen on the restaurant floor– or what would be the restaurant floor in a matter of weeks. Carpenters stood alongside plumbers and decorators. Everyone held a mug of tea or coffee to warm their hands; autumn was getting chillier by the day.
The briefing had been Isabella’s idea after an altercation broke out in the early days of the renovation between a group of plumbers and decorators wanting to work the same wall at the same time. She’d managed to step in before any punches were thrown, but it showed her she needed to project manage better. Planning was vital; communication was key.
So, she called a site meeting with the main guys from each trade. Found out what they needed access to and when. Worked out how long each stage would take. Then came up with a project plan which everyone could work around.
The morning briefing had become a part of her day. She knew most of the traders’ names now. If not their real names, then the names they were called on site. And they all, without exception, called her Boss.
‘So, are we all clear for today then?’ she asked the group, making sure everyone was listening and was reassured with a responding number of grunts and nods.
Isabella exhaled, feeling a sense of calm. Since she’d been holding the morning briefing, there’d been no major problems. A few spats maybe, but there were a lot of people in a confined space and arguments were bound to happen. But at this point in the day, with a cuppa and a plate of biscuits she’d made for them, they were all in it together. And it felt great.
‘Right, let’s get on with it then.’ Her phone rang as everyone heaved themselves to their feet and left in different directions, carrying toolboxes and power cables.
‘Hi, Mamma.’ Isabella moved to the window, no longer boarded, to look out at the square while they spoke.
‘Ciao, darling,’ her mum, Natalia, said down the phone. ‘How’s it going?’
They spoke most days, even with the constant chat on the WhatsApp group. It was reassuring to know that her parents were there for her, even if they weren’t physically present. In fact, at this moment in time, they were currently backpacking in Thailand, with a vague plan of moving on to Cambodia ‘sometime soon’. Both in their mid fifties, they’d quit their day jobs, downsized the house and used everything they had to fund a gap year, which had now reached almost eighteen months and showed no signs of ending anytime soon. It was one thing they all agreed on, when Isabella told them of her plan to invest her life savings and divorce settlement in a restaurant. Do what makes you happy.
‘Any gossip?’ her mother asked now. Isabella grinned and rolled her eyes. She knew her mum was waiting for her to say she’d met someone new. Well, she’d have to wait at least another two months and– she glanced at the date on her watch– twelve days. Not that she was going to tell her that.
‘No gossip, Mamma,’ she said, but she couldn’t help her eyes flicking across the square.
‘Any news of Daniel?’ her mother asked then and the nice feeling in her tummy disappeared.
‘No,’ she said. ‘Why?’
‘Just checking.’ Isabella could practically hear her mother straighten her back the other end. ‘I don’t want him to come sniffing back when he realises what he lost.’
‘He won’t, Mamma. I’m sure of that.’
‘Be careful. You know how hurt you were.’
That was the understatement of the year. Or the decade maybe. She’d been heartbroken. Her long-term love had betrayed her. She’d never felt pain like it.
‘So, all on track for opening day?’ Mamma asked.
That certainly brought her back to the present. That date was imprinted in her brain. The same day as the end of her sex ban. When she would feel independent enough and successful enough in her own right to open herself up to a new relationship.
‘All on plan. Do you think you and Papà will make it?’ Isabella asked.
