Pearl shrugged. ‘Well, it belongs to Mr Barstow.’
‘You’ll find another property,’ said Helena.
‘Not like this,’ said Issy, looking round at the immaculate storeroom, the tiny view of the cobbles in the street; her beautiful, perfect oven. ‘It won’t be like this.’
‘It might be better,’ said Helena. ‘Get somewhere bigger. You know you can do it. Maybe it’s time to expand. They’re queueing out the doors here now.’
Issy stuck out her bottom lip. ‘But I’m happy here. And it’s the principle of the thing.’
Helena snorted. ‘Well, it’s not like you ever listened to me when I told you what a shit Graeme is.’
‘I know,’ said Issy. ‘I know. Why do I never listen to you?’
‘I do not know.’
‘She doesn’t listen to me either,’ said Pearl. Helena lifted her chin meaningfully.
‘And I want to show him,’ said Issy. ‘I want to show him that you can’t just buy and sell people when it suits you. You can’t just tell people to up and leave. Oh,’ she said, ‘Lena. Are you sure you’re all right with us all living together for a while longer? This could take a bit of unravelling.’
‘Actually,’ said Helena, looking uncharacteristically nervous, ‘no, I think we really are going to have to move.’
‘Why?’
Helena seemed nervous and excited and full of anticipation, and she glanced up the stairwell for Ashok.
‘Well,’ she began, ‘it’s been a bit quicker than we’d have planned, but …’
Issy stared at her, completely confused. Pearl was delighted and guessed immediately.
‘A baby!’
Helena nodded, looking demure for the first time in her life. It was going to take some getting used to, she thought.
Issy summoned up every reserve of courage, every tiny brave part of her. She almost made it. Her lips almost made it into the smile she so wanted to give; that Helena so deserved. But at the very end, her strength deserted her. Her throat clogged up and her eyes stung.
‘Con—’ she stuttered. Then, suddenly, she was in floods of tears. She had nothing, and Helena had everything. It felt so hard, so unfair.
‘Oh Issy … what? I’m so sorry, I thought you’d be pleased,’ said Helena, dashing to her friend. ‘Oh darling. Sorry. We’ll need to find a new place, of course, but you won’t be on your own … It was an accident but we’re both delighted, but …’
‘Oh, dear Lena,’ said Issy, ‘you know, I am absolutely thrilled for you.’ And the girls hugged again.
‘Course you are,’ said Helena. ‘You’re going to be the best godmother ever. Teach it to bake.’
‘You’ll be able to deliver the baby yourselves!’ said Issy. ‘Oh God, someone get me a tissue.’
A mum appeared at the top of the stairs.
‘Um, shall we sing “Happy Birthday”?’
‘My baby!’ said Pearl. ‘I’m coming, I’m coming.’
As Issy emerged from the cellar to join in a rousing chorus for Louis, who beamed, then looked at his three candles and said, ‘Wan faive candles,’ and Pearl shone with pride at her little boy, only three and he knew how to count, she was surrounded by a sea of people, commiserating about the shop, offering support and threatening to write to planning, or host a sit-in, or boycott the estate agents. (Issy wasn’t sure how helpful that one would be.) It was overwhelming.
‘Thanks, everyone,’ Pearl said finally, addressing the room. ‘We will – well, we don’t know what we can do but we will try everything, I promise, to keep the café open. And now, let’s enjoy Louis’s party!’
And she turned up the music again and watched the children dance around, sticky oblivious faces filled with happiness, Louis at the centre of it all. She didn’t want this to go either. This wasn’t just a job. This was their lives now. She needed it.
It was utter torture for Issy to last until the final child had been sent home with a bouncing ball and an extra piece of cake in a bag; to politely wave goodbye to clients and friends and thank them for their concern; to collect the debris and clean up the mess; to pack away all of Caroline’s uneaten snacks for Berlioz. She scarcely knew how to endure it. But what had to come next was worse. Pearl saw her face.
‘Must you go now?’ she asked Issy. ‘Darling, it isn’t going to change if you pick your stuff up later.’
‘No,’ said Issy. She felt like she had a huge hole in her stomach, tangled up and cramped and filled with anxiety. ‘No. If I leave it at Graeme’s, I’ll just have it in front of me to dread. I’ll have to do it fast. Just get in. There’s hardly anything there anyway. He was always a bit tight with cupboard space. Needed a lot of room for his hair gel.’
‘That’s the spirit,’ said Pearl. They looked at Louis, who was happily exploring his presents on the floor.
‘You know,’ said Pearl, ‘I wouldn’t change a thing about my life, not a tiny little thing. But sometimes … well, I would say it is probably easier breaking up before. Rather than after. If you know what I mean.’
Issy nodded her head slowly.
‘But Pearl … I’m thirty-two. Thirty-two. What if that was my last chance to have a baby? If I have to go and work somewhere else now … how will I ever meet anyone? If I’m stuck in someone’s back kitchen, working for a chain … I can’t build it up again, Pearl. I can’t. This place took everything I have.’
‘Course you can,’ Pearl urged her. ‘You’ve done all the hard stuff. Made all the mistakes. The next one will be a breeze. And thirty-two is nothing these days. Of course you’ll meet someone. What about that handsome banking adviser? I reckon he’d be a far better fit for you.’
‘Austin?’ Issy’s face tightened suddenly. ‘That I can’t believe. I can’t believe he thought I was behind all this, that I’d sell out in five minutes. I thought he liked me.’
‘He does like you,’ said Pearl. ‘There you go. Of course you’ll meet someone. I know things seem a little bleak now …’
They looked at each other. Then, stupidly, they both started to laugh. Issy got a little hysterical, tears standing in her eyes.