by Claire Frost
‘Bell, this is Louis. Louis, this is Bell, who’s the mastermind behind this whole thing.’
‘Well, I don’t know about that, but anyway, great to meet you, Louis. Wolf’s told me so much about you!’
‘I have, Daddy, I’ve told Bell Bell all about that goal you scored at the end of the season from the halfway line and she said you must be really good and I said that you are!’ He beamed proudly at his dad and Millie couldn’t help but smile as Louis bent down to give his son a high five.
‘Well, after that kind of introduction, I’m afraid it’s all going to be downhill from here,’ he laughed, leaning in to kiss Bell on both cheeks. ‘And this is Zoe.’
‘Lovely to meet you, Zoe,’ Bell said. ‘Now, are you ready to get this thing started?’
‘Yes!’ shouted Wolf. Louis ruffled his hair, then he and Zoe followed Bell through the back of the building, past the pool and back round towards the area where both the radio station stage and the ever-growing crowd of people was located. When everyone saw Louis approaching, they started cheering and inched as close to the stage as they could, although, thankfully, there was precious little pushing and shoving and they allowed Millie and Wolf to slide into the front so he could see what was happening.
The radio DJ faded out the song and boomed into his microphone, ‘Please welcome to the stage the head of the community centre fundraising committee, Bell Makepeace!’
Millie watched as her friend walked onto the stage, took a deep breath and smiled at the crowd in front of her. ‘Hi, everyone,’ she said, her voice shaking a little. As the crowd cheered, Millie saw Bell collect herself and when she spoke again, it was without a hint of wobble. ‘Thank you so much for coming along today. As most of you know, several areas of the community centre have seen better days and in order for them to be refurbished and for the pool and the whole centre to remain open, the council needs to spend fifty thousand pounds on the work.’ The crowd groaned in sympathy. ‘Thankfully, the council have pledged to put up half that money . . .’ There were cheers, as well as a few boos from people who clearly thought they should be stumping up the full amount, but Bell continued, ‘which is brilliant news. However, it means we, as a community, have to raise the remaining twenty-five thousand. Thanks to some seriously generous people locally, we’ve already managed to hit the five-thousand-pound mark, and we hope that, after today, we’re going to be much closer to our target, so please dig as deep as you can. All of our stalls and games are well priced, but of course if you would like to pay a little bit more, then that’s fine too!’ Bell smiled and the crowd cheered again. ‘We will also be holding a raffle, where you could win anything from a bottle of whisky to a spa stay for two.’ Everyone oohed appreciatively. ‘And of course, we also have our five-a-side football competition. If you haven’t got your team signed up already and paid your twenty-five pounds, then you’d best be quick as it all kicks off at midday. And on that note, I’d like to introduce you to today’s guest of honour. You may have seen him on Match of the Day and now he’s here to welcome you to our fundraising fair, please give a big round of applause to Louis Price!’
The crowd went nuts, and Millie couldn’t help but be swept up in all the cheering. Louis sauntered on to the stage with a ball in his hands, proceeded to send every football fan in front of him into a frenzy by doing a load of keepy-uppies, before kicking the ball into the crowd to huge cheers, and a little bit of scrambling over who got to catch the ball and take it home.
‘Good to see ya, everyone!’ he called, with his slight Brummie twang. ‘I’m so honoured that I was asked to stand in front of you all today and open this amazing event. My own little boy Wolfie comes swimming here and I know how much he loves it.’
‘I do, Daddy,’ Wolf shouted, and everyone laughed.
‘You see! And when Wolf thinks something is great, then I also tend to think it’s great, which is why I wanted to come here and meet you all today. So I’ll be playing football with you and also signing autographs and doing selfies if anyone’s interested?’ Everyone cheered again. ‘But only if you pay for the privilege!’ he grinned, and there was more whooping. But then he held up his hand for quiet and everyone was silent immediately. ‘I also wanted to put my money where my mouth is, which is why I’m contributing ten thousand pounds to the save our centre fund today.’
The crowd erupted and Millie’s mouth fell open. She caught Bell’s eye from the stage, who mouthed ‘What the actual f—’ at her, but all Millie could do was shrug and cheer along with everyone else.
Bell quickly stepped forward and tried to speak over the noise, which eventually quietened down.
‘Louis, I don’t know what to say, other than thank you, that is so incredibly generous.’ The crowd began whooping again, but Bell continued speaking. ‘However, you lot, don’t think that means you get out of spending your cash that easily. We need to hit that target, so please get your wallets at the ready. Louis, would you do the honours?’
He stepped forward, and in his most pompous voice he boomed, ‘I now declare this fair officially OPEN!’
*
Several hours later, Millie was flagging and in desperate need of a drink. She nabbed two Pimm’s from Sheila and Sue, who were back manning their stall and informed her they’d made them extra-strong especially for her, as she looked like she needed it. Then she threaded her way through the streams of families, couples and huge groups of college kids – the uniform brigade had done a sterling job in getting their fellow students along. Finally she spied Bell, who was talking to a group of elderly folk sitting in the shade.
‘I’m sorry, would you mind if I borrowed Bell?’ She smiled at them, before bearing her friend off round the corner towards the swimming pool, which was currently almost deserted ahead of the pool party later. ‘I thought you might need this,’ she said, handing her the paper cup full of fruity, alcoholic drink.
‘God, thanks, this is exactly what I need,’ Bell cried, downing half of it in one go. ‘Do you think things are going okay?’
‘I think they’re going more than okay!’ Millie grinned. ‘Seriously, this is far more punters than I ever thought would come.’
‘Thank god they did, though!’ Bell said, tipping the rest of the Pimm’s into her mouth. ‘Where’s Wolf?’
‘He’s with Ben. There’s a group of about twenty kids happily playing with him and Graham over by the football.’
‘Aww, bless him.’
‘I know, it seems he has an alter ego as the Pied Piper!’
‘Ha, he’ll love that! I hope the tournament is good, I haven’t made it over there yet.’
‘Louis seemed to be in his element when I last checked,’ Millie laughed. ‘Between games he’s taking every opportunity to pose for selfies with anyone who’ll cough up. Though I don’t think Zoe’s too pleased with him!’
‘Oh, why not?’
‘Apparently, he promised her she could come on stage and open the fair with him, but he forgot so she was stuck backstage and barely got any time in front of the camera. I heard her moaning to someone that she might as well go home as there was no point her being here anymore.’
‘Oops! Oh well, I’m not sure anyone will miss her,’ Bell giggled. ‘Though can we just take a moment to talk about Louis’ donation? I mean, oh my god, I thought I was going to pass out right there on the stage when he said he was coughing up ten grand for the appeal!’
‘I know, I was as surprised as you! Though when I grabbed him earlier to say how grateful we were, he said his agent had mentioned it wouldn’t do him any harm to be seen to be so philanthropic, especially with the media there covering it all. He thinks it might be the clincher that gets him the transfer he’s been angling after all summer, so it wasn’t entirely altruistic!’
‘Well, whatever his reasons, it’s still £10k so I’m not complaining! God, everyone who’s here today seems to be being really generous. I saw Rita and Tony shaking buckets at people, except there were so many notes in there
, they weren’t making the rattle they should have been!’
‘Well, it just shows what we can do when the whole community comes together,’ Millie nodded. ‘Although, without you at the helm, this wouldn’t have happened at all, Bell, you know that.’ She nudged her friend. ‘Anyway, what’s going on with you and Ben then?’
But before Millie could force a reply out of her friend, they heard a shout.
‘Bell! Och, there you both are, we wondered where you’d got to,’ Laura cried, coming round the corner, followed by Suze and a girl with long, blonde hair whom Millie didn’t recognise.
‘Are you both downing Pimm’s back here without us?’ Suze scolded. ‘Lucky we brought refills, isn’t it,’ she added, handing out the cups she’d been precariously holding.
Bell rolled her eyes at her friend and leaned over to hug the blonde woman. ‘Oh, Els, you’re here too! You’ve met Laura, I see,’ she smiled. ‘And this is Millie. Mills, this is Suze’s girlfriend, sorry, fiancée, Ellie. Oh, I’m so glad you’ve all met each other at last!’
‘Els, you’ll know Millie from Insta – she’s @mi_bestlife?’ Suze added
‘Oh my god, your little boy is so cute!’ beamed Ellie. ‘That post about him painting was amazing. And I’m sorry to fangirl but I’m so jealous of your wardrobe!’
‘Sadly, I have to return most of it to the stores, but a girl can dream,’ Millie said, feeling for once that she should be honest about her pictures.
‘Well, whether you get to keep it or not, I so need to borrow you as my own personal shopper at some point. as you have the best style,’ Ellie enthused.
‘Any time,’ Millie grinned. ‘But maybe you can all help me – I’ve been trying to get out of Bell all day what went on last night with her and Ben, but she’s refusing to tell me.’
‘What?!’ Suze spun round to face Bell. ‘You finally got a shag and you haven’t told me?’
‘Suze! I didn’t get a shag, as you so delicately put it,’ Bell replied, her cheeks colouring cutely. ‘It’s early days, but, yeah, Ben is lovely.’
Millie cheered and Suze whooped. ‘And last night?’ Laura asked, raising an eyebrow. ‘And don’t give us all that innocent virgin shite.’
‘We, erm, kissed and then it was a bit late to go all the way home so I, erm, stayed at Ben’s. But I didn’t sleep with him!’ Bell protested. ‘Well, we slept in the same bed, but not in that way.’
‘I’m sure nothing at all happened while you lay naked under the duvet together,’ cackled Suze.
Feeling guilty for having started the conversation in the first place, Millie glanced at her flustered friend and smiled. ‘Okay, well, suffice it to say that we’re all super-happy for you, Bell. Before you guys came over, I was just saying to Bell that none of today would have happened without her and that she should be so proud of what she’s achieved.’
‘Seconded!’ said Suze immediately.
‘Thirded!’ Laura instantly replied.
‘Fourthed, if that’s even a thing?’ Ellie laughed.
‘Today it is,’ Millie grinned. ‘Cheers, everyone – to Bell.’
‘To Bell!’ they all chorused, except Bell herself, who went even redder, but then said, ‘Well, I couldn’t have done it without this group of amazing women.’ and hugged them all hard.
Chapter Twenty-six
Bell
‘Did you know you’re going to be forty in exactly thirty seconds’ time?’ Cosette asked, picking up her watch from the table next to Bell’s bed where they were both sprawled in their pyjamas.
‘Ah, but I’ve no idea what time I was actually born, and Janet and John sure as hell can’t remember, so that means I can stay thirty-nine for pretty much all of the next twenty-four hours, right?’
‘Wrong,’ Cosette replied happily. ‘If I have to be forty-something then you do too, I’m afraid, sister dearest. Okay, three, two, one, happy birthday!’ She threw her arms round Bell and kissed her forcefully on the cheek. ‘Here’s to another forty.’
‘Christ, can you imagine what we’re going to be like when we’re in our eighties? I hope we’ll drink as much champagne as I have already these past few weeks, and I’m not even forty yet.’
‘I’m sorry to say you are definitely forty now, so you can stop pretending you weren’t listening when I said it was after midnight. But I’m sure we’ll still be drinking all the champagne by the time we hit our eighties. God, what if I’m still married to Rich then?’
‘What?! You’re hardly going to divorce Rich when you’re seventy-nine and find a toyboy within months and marry them on your eightieth birthday, are you?’
‘I might, you don’t know. Anyway, we really do need to go to sleep if you’re not going to wake up on your fortieth birthday with massive bags under your eyes.’
‘Well, according to you, it is already my fortieth birthday and I haven’t got bags at the moment. Oh wait . . .’
‘Bell! You have not got bags under your eyes at the moment, but you might have a black eye if I have to punch you in the night. So shut up and go to sleep.’
*
In the two months since the fair, Bell had allowed herself some time off work to recover. At the time, she hadn’t quite realised how much organising the entire event had taken out of her. But once the adrenaline of the weekend had disappeared, she’d come down with a summer cold and Suze had given her a lecture about looking after herself (‘Don’t make me stage another intervention, Bellster!’ she’d warned).
Bell had spent a blissful week painting her bedroom, enjoying the new queen-sized bed she’d decided to treat herself to and lounging on the beautiful yet comfortable sofa she’d bought for the living room. It now felt completely like her home, not her and Colin’s house, and she couldn’t have been happier stacking the dishwasher exactly how she wanted to. She still hated changing the duvet cover, obviously, though as Ben had spent a fair amount of time at her house recently, she’d roped him in to help a few times.
Thanks largely to Louis’ generosity, after the fair they’d hit the twenty thousand pounds mark. Although they still had a little way to go to hit their target, the council had agreed to guarantee the community centre’s future while they slowly (and somewhat painfully) raised the rest of the money through coffee mornings and other smaller events. In fact, once the local press had run the story, the council had had to publicly say they wouldn’t dream of selling the site to developers or risk a huge backlash.
The building work was scheduled to start in the next few weeks, but before then, Bell had the small matter of her birthday party to enjoy there. She’d been intent on organising it all herself, but the combined powers of Cosette, Millie, Suze, Ellie and Laura had finally persuaded her to leave it to them. Individually, they’d all offered to organise it for her, but it wasn’t until they’d started a WhatsApp group and bombarded her with messages telling her they were now in control, that she’d actually agreed they could all do it between them.
Now, as she allowed Oli and Sophie loose in her kitchen to make her breakfast with only a small helping hand from their mum, she was actually glad she’d relinquished responsibility for the party.
And it wasn’t as if work had calmed down after the fair, either. In fact, it seemed to have ramped up even more in the last few weeks. She’d taken the test shots for Style It Out’s new lookbook as Marian had asked, and while she knew they weren’t perfect, even Bell herself was pretty pleased with some of the results. Ade had already been a brilliant mentor and she hoped she’d be able to call on him as she continued to hone her skills. She was excited to start working with the professionals the Art Department had booked. Though she knew she’d have to try hard not to let her imposter syndrome get in the way.
‘If Marian thinks you can do it, you can do it,’ Suze had declared, so Bell was attempting to be grown up and confident about the whole thing.
Suze, too, had exciting times ahead. Her wedding to Ellie was in just over three months, but the pair had somehow managed to p
ull together an amazing-sounding venue, caterer and band in the space of weeks. Bell was due to go dress-shopping with Suze the following weekend, although her friend had refused to go to the usual bridal boutiques, and instead they were taking a trip down to London to trawl Bond Street and Liberty in search of a chic yet unique dress, according to Suze. Bell was just glad it was her friend’s credit card, not her own. Her bridesmaid dress was being made by one of Suze’s friends, with the cornflower-blue dress Millie had lent her for the fair as the inspiration. She was in awe of the way Suze seemed to have everything under control, as well as be at the top of her game at work and be house hunting with Els at weekends – it made Bell tired just thinking about it.
‘Will Wolf be at your party this evening?’ Sophie asked Bell when she’d got bored with whisking the pancake mix and handed it to Cosette to finish. ‘I know he’s only a kid, but he’s really cute and he’s brilliant at Lego.’
‘You’re only a kid yourself, missie!’ Bell laughed, tickling her niece then pulling her in for a hug. ‘But you’re right, he is very good at Lego, and I’m sure you can finish building his spaceship with him later. He might be bringing his friend Alfie with him, too, who also loves playing Lego, so you’ll be in good company.’
‘Not another boy!’ Sophie huffed.
‘Well, he is a boy, yes, but you like Wolf, don’t you, so you might like Alfie too. And my friend Laura’s daughter Daisy will be there as well, so it won’t all be boys, don’t worry. Ooh, are you going to help Mummy flip a pancake? She’s really not that good at it, you know.’
‘Ha ha, she’s really not, look, Aunty Belly!’ yelled Oli, as Cosette inexpertly tossed a pancake onto the floor.
Once they were all munching happily on pancakes topped with fruit, maple syrup and chocolate spread, Cosette turned to Bell. ‘So Millie’s bringing her new man and his son this evening, then?’
‘Well, officially, Wolf is bringing Alfie, and therefore Rob needs to come along, too,’ Bell smirked. ‘But Mills and Rob have been getting pretty close in the last few weeks from what I can gather – not that I’ve been allowed to meet him as yet! He’s being a sweetie and taking the kids home early this evening so she can let her hair down properly, always supposing this party is a letting-your-hair-down kinda night . . .’ She eyed her sister hopefully, but was met with a very clear zipped-lips sign, which her niece and nephew then delighted in copying. She rolled her eyes before continuing, ‘Of course, she’s taking it really slowly, and she’d never do anything to jeopardise Wolf’s happiness and security, especially as he’s settled into his new school so well and made such good friends with Alfie. But I have high hopes that “Rillie”, as I’m calling them, are the real deal. Not that she has much time to think about a relationship now she’s a super-influencer.’