This London Love (5 page)

Meg stood on the second stair up for a few moments as she watched Tanya disappear and then heard laughter coming from the kitchen once more. Meg clutched the bannister even tighter, exhaled and took the rest of the stairs one by one, feeling the reassuring soft carpet cushion the soles of her feet.

Even if she did like Kate and got as far as bringing her back here, how was that going to work out with Tanya forever parading around like some sort of social house mascot? Every time Meg walked in the door, there was Tanya, asking about her day, cooking her dinner, arranging her time. Often, it felt as if Meg still had one leg in the relationship, the other dangling over some precipice she was too scared to look over.

Meg pushed open the door to her room and collapsed on her unmade bed, the sheets tangling uncomfortably beneath her. Her eyes flicked around her room — the room that used to be their room, but was now hers alone. She should get new bedding — Tanya had done so straight away. Maybe change the lampshade, hang some new curtains. Plus, the walls could do with a lick of paint too, the pale blue they’d chosen three years ago now seeming to represent a cold prison of her own making.

Meg had to talk to Tanya again; the situation had to change. She couldn’t carry on like this and expect to move forward. Up until now, she’d been too lazy to push it, too scared to deal with the rest. Even her mum had stopped asking her when she was selling the house as often, with Meg having jumped down her throat about it one too many times.

And Meg knew nothing would ever happen with Kate. Of course it wouldn’t. The woman had just come into her shop to get some flowers for her uncle’s funeral; she hadn’t come in for a date. Besides, someone like her was bound to have a girlfriend.

They usually did.

7

The next day at work, Kate managed to have a meeting with her publisher and sort out a magazine shoot before her finger clicked onto the Fabulous Flowers website. Once there, she again admired the design and kicked herself for not telling Meg that. She’d planned to, but after Meg revealed herself to be a florist goddess, all rational thought had flown from Kate’s head.
Next time
.

Kate clicked on the About Us page and saw a photo of Meg and her mum, Olivia, grinning at the camera while holding some expensive-looking flowers. Apparently Olivia had opened the florist over 30 years ago and Meg had joined straight from school, learning the ropes on the job. Now that Olivia was nearing retirement, Meg was taking over the family business. No mention of Meg’s husband working at the business or her children, which kept a faint glimmer of hope alive in Kate’s chest.

However, she quickly brushed it away.
Florists are not known for being lesbians
.
Or was Kate guilty of the sort of stereotyping she would baulk at? After all, it takes all sorts as her mum was constantly pointing out to her. Maureen was still getting over the fact that “that nice BBC newsreader is a lesbian, too”. She always clicked her tongue when she said it.

Kate went back to the main page and opened up Meg’s email outlining the popular funeral packages. She was deep into her task, so didn’t hear Dawn creeping up behind her.

“Who’s the lucky lady?” Dawn leaned on Kate’s desk, as was her habit. She was sucking on a lollipop and slurping like a small child, which didn’t endear her to Kate.

“Nobody — it’s for my uncle’s funeral, remember?”

Dawn looked suitably chastised. “Right, sorry.” She paused. “Is this the place you went to yesterday?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And how are florists in the suburbs these days?”

“They’re okay,” Kate smiled.

Dawn eyed her suspiciously. “That was a devilish smirk from you Ms Carter — what happened at the florist?”

Kate leaned back in her chair and stretched. “Let’s just say, the flowers weren’t the only pretty thing in the shop.”

Dawn’s face lit up, but Kate held up her hand.

“And before you get excited, the florist is not a lesbian. I didn’t pick up
one
gay vibe from her. She was just a hot florist, that’s all.” Kate shrugged. “Clearly I should just steer clear of florists in future to avoid crushing disappointment.”

“But you are going to see her again?” Dawn’s face was still creased with excitement.

Kate rolled her eyes. “Were you listening to any of the words I just said?” she asked. “But the answer is, probably not. I just need to work out which flowers say ‘happy dying’ more than the others, give her a call and we’re done. And the hot florist can go back to her loving boyfriend who is undoubtedly waiting in the wings. A crying shame, though.”

Dawn patted Kate on the shoulder as she pushed herself up. “Perhaps she could be persuaded, you never know. Or perhaps you should just stick to more lesbian-friendly occupations. Truck drivers, gardeners, that sort of thing.”

Kate ignored her. “Did you want something? Other than to ridicule my life?”

Dawn looked thoughtful, then clicked her fingers together. “Yes — you free at 3pm for a meeting? We need to come up with some good ideas for cover features for the next few issues.”

Kate raised her eyebrows. “Forward planning — I’m impressed. You’re like a Duracell bunny today.”

Dawn winked. “That’s me. I gotta hop to a meeting, but 3pm?”

Kate nodded.

“Excellent. I thought down The Grapes?”

“Oh, one of
those
meetings…”

***

Dawn had summoned the whole team to the features meeting, which was usual every few months. Even though Kate was responsible for the look and feel of the magazine and Dawn responsible for what went in it, she agreed with Dawn on the fact that everyone should have a say in how the magazine evolved. Dawn was keen on teamwork and brain-storming to get the best possible ideas.

This particular afternoon was a team meeting in a pub, which Dawn liked to do periodically. Both Kate and Dawn knew that this was often where the magic happened, where their eureka moments occurred. Getting people out of their normal environment and into a more relaxed frame of mind was on old-fashioned trick, but one that worked well.

There were seven of them in total, which was still a big team compared to some magazines. They sat with their drinks at a round table, most with tablets or laptops in front of them, Dawn with her pen poised over a crisp, white notepad.

“So, cover features for the next few months. What have you got bubbling, Hannah?” Dawn asked.

Features editor Hannah tapped some keys on her laptop and looked up. She was an ambitious, perky 28 year old who seemed to go through dates at a rate of knots — men and women, Hannah did both. If there had been a week when Hannah hadn’t had a new date, it’d passed Kate by.

Hannah had offered to set Kate up on the dating app of the moment so that Kate could share her love of meeting new people and sleeping with them, but Kate hadn’t been so keen. For one thing, she wasn’t sure the pool of available London lesbians was quite as large as Hannah thought. Plus, Kate had a six year head-start on Hannah, so her pool was dwindling, and she certainly didn’t want their pools to mingle — that would be a step too far. Kate preferred to date the old-fashioned way — see someone in a bar, avoid talking to them, get drunk, end up in bed. It’d worked so far in her life. Up to a point.

Hannah trailed her conker-brown eyes around the group and pushed her glasses up her nose. Hannah always wore glasses when she was being uber-professional. “Right, next month I’ve finally snagged the Olympic gold medalist for the cover — can I have a whoop!?” She got the necessary response before she moved on.

“When’s the interview happening?” Dawn asked, chewing the top of her pen.

“Next week with luck — should hear back from the PR this week,” Hannah replied.

“Great. What else?”

Henry sat up in his chair. “Can I go with you on that?” He blushed slightly as all eyes turned to him.

“Aw, does Henry have a crush on the superstar?” production editor Casey said, twiddling her pen between her thumb and forefinger.

Henry pulled his face into a frown. “No, I just admire her.” Henry paused. “Plus, I think it would be good to send me out on more photoshoots. You said so,” he told Kate.

Kate grinned. “Funny you didn’t fancy going out with that running club last issue, yet an Olympic gold medalist and you’re all over it.”

Henry exhaled. “I’m just trying to be proactive!”

Dawn held up her hand. “Children, please. Speak to Kate and Hannah afterwards, okay?”

Henry nodded, slumped down in his chair and took a swig of his pint.

Hannah checked she had everyone’s attention, then continued. “After that, we’ve got a Christmas food special — how to eat right over the festive period — and I’m setting up interviews with key nutritionists and health experts.”

“Can we get some celebs to talk about what they eat, too?” Kate asked.

Hannah nodded. “I’m working with a couple of PRs on that. Should hopefully have some news at some point soon.”

“Great,” Kate replied. “And if there’s a hot woman among them, we’re fighting for the photoshoot, Henry, got it?”

The whole table laughed.

“After that, we’ve got a New Year fitness special, how to shift those extra pounds, great healthy recipes and a free recipe booklet. Oh, and I forgot to say, we’ve got our calendar coming out next issue too.” Hannah sat back. “I’m also thinking about a lead feature on pregnancy and fitness, and maybe get a pregnant celeb to talk, too.”

“Great.” Dawn took a sip of her white wine and looked around the table. “We’ll talk about possible celeb cover stars another time. Anyone got anything pressing before we start on the sub-features?”

“Actually, I do.” Kate sat up in her chair.

Dawn turned to her.

“I know I sound like a stuck record, and honestly, I’m boring myself, but what about a feature on a lesbian running club? Lesbians don’t get enough coverage in a magazine devoted to women, and I think it would be an interesting angle. Plus, you’d snag a bunch more readers by covering it.” Kate sat back and looked around the table, where everyone but Dawn was wearing their positive faces.

Dawn sighed. “We can do a running club of the month feature in our regular section, but you know what Ben thinks about doing a cover feature on lesbian stuff. The advertisers don’t like it; he’s tried it before.”

Now it was Kate’s turn to sigh. “And that was years ago — things have changed, as I keep saying. Lesbians can get married now and lesbian families are everywhere — we need to start doing more positive promotion to make it more normal. And I really don’t think readers would have any objection.”

“I agree with Kate,” Hannah said. “We should have more lesbian coverage in the magazine — famous and otherwise. My mate goes to a running club called Dashing Dykes. Meets in north London — I could ask her?”

Henry spat out his lager. “Dashing Dykes?!”

Hannah reached out and cuffed him round the ear, while five other pairs of eyes challenged him.

Henry shut up swiftly.

Dawn drummed her fingers on the table. “Like I said,
I would
, but Ben doesn’t like it.” She turned to Kate. “But let me talk to him again — we haven’t brought it up in a while. I agree with you, but we’ve got to think about the advertisers and what they want too. It’s the way of the world, I’m afraid.”

“The world is stupid,” Hannah said. “We’re women too, you know.” She drank her bottle of Heineken and raised an eyebrow at Dawn.

Dawn held up both hands, then sat up straighter in her chair. “Look, I’m on your side. I just need to clear it with the powers that be, okay? But like you say, things have moved on. Let’s hope publishing has too.” Dawn stood up and looked around the table. “Now everyone can have a bitch about me while I go to the loo, then we can go for round two.”

8

Meg was just packing up at the florist after a particularly busy Wednesday — even after a lifetime in the business, customer habits still sometimes caught her off-guard. What started off as a run-of-the-mill day had quickly mushroomed into an all-out decimation of stock. An early morning dash to the flower market was needed tomorrow, which meant an equally early night. Still, she wasn’t complaining.

She was out the back of the shop when she heard a rat-a-tat-tat on the front door. She poked her head out, just about to tell whoever it was that she wasn’t open, but then she spotted her brother, Jamie. Who, like her, was also gay. There had never been a nature/nurture debate in her family.

Meg cracked a smile as she sauntered across the shop and unlocked the door. Her brother greeted her with a hug and a kiss, his newly grown designer stubble alien against her chin.

“I don’t know how women put up with this.” Meg pinched Jamie’s cheek.

“I don’t either, but the men love it.” Jamie followed Meg into the shop and leaned against the counter as she went out back.

“What are you here for, anyway?” Meg shouted, before reappearing with her black tote bag. “If you wanted Mum, she left about an hour ago. And I’m just off.”