Page 55 of The House on Waterfall Hill
‘They might be a bit lacking in pirate outfits by now, people hire them out weeks or months in advance, but I’m sure they can find you something suitable.’
‘Have you already hired out yours?’
‘I have my own, in fact a lot of people do, so you might still be able to get one from the costume shop.’
‘I love that you have your own. My sexy Captain Blackbeard,’ she said, looping her arms round his neck.
Just then she heard a cough coming from the door that led to the café. She looked up to see a woman standing there and quickly let go of Luke.
‘Hello?’
‘Hi, sorry to disturb you. I was just next-door having coffee and cake and I thought I’d have a nose around. Is this a gift shop?’
‘Yes it is,’ Flick said. ‘We’re not strictly open right now, but—’
‘But we’re doing a preview event today and over the weekend,’ Luke said.
‘That’s right,’ Flick said. ‘So feel free to have a look around.’
‘We have craft kits down here, everything you would need to have a go at pretty much any arts or craft that you can think of,’ Luke gestured around the room. ‘Upstairs we have the regular gifts like scarves and mugs and chocolate.’
‘Great, thank you.’
‘Take your time and give us a shout if you need anything.’
The woman moved off and Luke gave Flick an excited thumbs up. ‘Your first customer.’
‘Hello, are you open?’ came another voice from the door. Flick looked over to see a couple standing at the door.
‘Yes, please do come in and have a look,’ Flick said excitedly. She turned to Luke. ‘You better get back to your own studio, just in case you have any customers in there.’
He nodded, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and hurried from the room. She watched the people walk around the room, picking up the craft kits and clearly thinking about the possibilities they could create themselves. It was exciting to think she might be starting someone off on a new hobby or passion for art today and she couldn’t help smiling about that.
Luke had just finished displaying his sculptures around the shop. He hadn’t had enough time to do as many as he’d have liked but there were enough to showcase his work.
He looked up to see Flick wandering in with a big smile on her face. She walked up and slid her arms around him, giving him a big hug.
‘Hey, how did it go at your impromptu preview event?’ Luke asked, stroking her back.
She looked up at him and smiled. ‘It was great. I wasn’t expecting so many people but I’ve easily had forty people come in and have a look around. And people were buying things, a lot bought the standard gifts and that’s fine, I feel happy that I chose stuff that appeals to people. But the majority of people were buying arts and craft kits, the mosaic ones especially were popular, as were the little wood-whittling kits. It made me so happy to think of people going home and making the time to be crafty and that I helped them to do it. Doing arts and crafts is such a positive thing, forso many reasons. So many people say they don’t have the time or the skill so selling little kits with all the instructions and materials they need might give them the inspiration to make time and learn a new skill. And a few people bought the kits as gifts for other people. What a lovely gift to pass on to someone else.’
He smiled at her excitement and enthusiasm. ‘I’m so pleased. We even had people coming in here. I sold three smaller sculptures and someone has asked for a commission for a medium-sized piece.’
‘That’s great, I knew once we got people through the door then sales would increase, especially if we offered smaller, cheaper items alongside the bigger stuff. Honestly, I’m so happy, I really think this is going to be a success and it’s all thanks to you.’
‘Oh no, I can’t take any of the credit, this is all you, your passion, your enthusiasm, your determination for it to succeed.’
‘And your donation. We couldn’t have done it without you. None of this would have been possible without financial help.’ Flick fished in her pocket and pulled out an envelope which she handed to him.
‘What’s this?’
‘Twenty-five percent of what I made today.’
‘Oh hell no.’
‘Yes, I promised to pay you back and I will.’
‘No, you earned this. And we have a deal with Polly that she doesn’t pay us anything for two months so she can use the money to order stock and get the business going. The same thing stands for you.’
