It was like pulling teeth. She wasn’t exactly hostile, but she was obviously not comfortable. There was a level of anxiety there, and Leo didn’t seem to be able to break down the barrier.
‘How did you end up in Little Melham, Mimi? Not an obvious place to choose, I wouldn’t have thought. You’re not from round here, are you?’
‘I’m from the south coast.’
‘Ooh, nice. I’ve been to Brighton, and Poole. There are some lovely spots down there.’
‘Yeah, well - it all depends on where you live and how much money you’ve got, I suppose.’
Leo looked keenly at Mimi, who was absent-mindedly chewing her thumb nail.
‘Are you okay? You seem a bit edgy today.’
Mimi pulled the nail away from her mouth and sat up straighter.
‘Blame it on the hormones. I’m okay. I’m fine. I don’t want to be rude, Leo, but is this a social call or did you have something on your mind? Only I need to go out again soon.’
Leo felt a twinge of guilt, although she wasn’t sure why. She had come here with the best of intentions.
‘There was no agenda at all, I promise you. Ellie asked me to bring your cardigan back. She’s been trying to reach Pat, but he hasn’t been answering his phone. And I just thought I’d see how you’re doing, and repeat my offer of the free life coaching session, if you’re interested. With the baby coming and everything it would be a great time to think about how you’d like your life to pan out.’
Leo knew immediately it was the wrong thing to say. Mimi’s eyes glinted like ice, but at that moment her mobile buzzed and she looked away, too soon to know whether it was the glint of tears or anger.
Mimi pressed a button on her phone, and her brow wrinkled in annoyance at whatever was on the screen.
‘If you need to answer that, it’s okay with me,’ Leo said.
‘I don’t.’
Leo wanted to try to recover the situation. In one of the few normal conversations she’d had with Ellie in the last couple of days, her sister had told her that Pat was spending a lot of time with Georgia - trying to make things right. Maybe Mimi knew, and that would account for her stress, particularly now that she was pregnant.
‘It’s funny, but I once thought the whole idea of life coaching was ridiculous. Like you, I worked in a bar. More of a nightclub I suppose, and it was in central London. The hours were long, the pay crap. You know how it is. But I was a stroppy cow, and got very lippy with the customers. One night, I chose the wrong guy - the brother of the boss. He somehow got the idea that I’d like his grubby hands sliding over my backside, and I informed him otherwise.’ Leo laughed at the memory. Mimi’s face was expressionless. ‘My boss was a woman, and a bit more sympathetic than a man might have been - but she told me I had “issues” that had to be sorted if I wanted to keep my job. There was apparently a better way of defusing difficult situations than a mouthful of verbal abuse. I was forced to go to a couple of counselling sessions which I thought were a joke, because all we did was examine the things that had made me the person that I am. But then I went to see a life coach and it changed everything. It doesn’t stop me being who I am, warts and all, but it helps me to deal with it and make my little foibles work for me rather than against me.’
Leo could see that her speech had fallen on deaf ears. Mimi had folded her arms, and her hands were clenched. Her mobile buzzed again, and she whisked it off the table, transfixed by the screen.
Mimi stood up abruptly, her phone clutched tightly in her hand.
‘Will you excuse me, Leo? I need the toilet.’
Without another glance at Leo, Mimi made her way out of the room and Leo heard her clattering up the wooden staircase.
This had not turned out the way she’d hoped at all.
She picked up the mugs from the table and stepped over the shopping bags to reach the sink. Her thoughts were miles away, wondering how difficult life might be for Mimi at the moment. Lost in thought, she turned to make her way back to the table.
‘Bugger,’ she muttered, as she kicked one of the