Page 52 of It's Now or Never

‘Thanks for thinking of me, Polly,’ I said with a huge sense of freedom and relief, ‘but to be honest with you I couldn’t really commit to a job for that length of time right now.’

It was true. In the last couple of weeks life had become incredibly hectic. One afternoon a week I was running a kitchen garden course at the local arts centre. I was writing a monthly column for the community magazine, planning a series of one-day workshops for later on in the year, and my Insta posts were gaining traction and my followers increasing all the time.

‘Are you sure? I could probably negotiate an increase in the hourly rate if that might help your decision.’

I smiled into the telephone. There wasn’t enough money in this world to convince me to lose six weeks of my life to counting electrical components. Ball bearings had been bad enough.

‘Absolutely certain. In fact, it’s probably best if you take my details down for the moment. I can’t see that I’m going to be able to take on any more assignments in the near future.’

‘Okay, well thanks for letting me know,’ said the lovely Polly. ‘If things change, then do get in touch and I can put you back up on our system.’

Putting down the phone, I felt a small swell of affection for Polly and her team. She’d offered me a lifeline when I’d needed one and I’d always be grateful to her for that. If things ever got really bad and I was desperate to earn a bit of money then I knew Polly would do her utmost to help me out. While none of the temporary work I’d undertaken had offered me the stimulating challenge I’d been searching for, it had shown me what it was like to be working out in the big wide world. I wasn’t sure I liked it much. If anything it had only confirmed to me that working for myself, pursuing my own creative projects, was where I would be happiest.

I’d just flicked the kettle on when the front doorbell rang.

‘Matt! What a lovely surprise! Come in. I was just making a cup of coffee.’

We kept in touch through texts, but it was lovely to see hisgorgeous friendly face in the flesh. I led him through into the kitchen and he took a seat at the breakfast bar. He looked all around him, an amused expression on his face as he observed my makeshift office on the kitchen table which was home now to my laptop, my mobile phone, my camera, to-do lists and a selection of half-finished craft projects.

‘Well, it certainly looks as though you’re busy,’ he said, taking the mug I offered him.

‘Honestly, I’ve never been busier. I’ve got so many different things on the go, but I’m loving every single moment of it. I’m not earning mega bucks but it’s enough to pay the rent and to keep me stocked in Prosecco. That’s all I need in life, really.’ I laughed. ‘Of course, I miss Browns tremendously. It takes some getting used to, working on your own with only the radio for company.’

A sorry smile spread across Matt’s lips and I felt a pang of sadness for everything I’d left behind. I still couldn’t rid myself of the thought that I’d let him down by leaving.

‘Honestly, I do, Matt. I miss you and everyone else hugely, but I still think it was the right decision for me to move on.’ I took a sip from my coffee. ‘How are things at work? Is Emma settling in?’

‘Yep, all good. Emma’s doing well. She’s enthusiastic and keen to learn. I’m trying not to bombard her with too much information at once though. Of course, what I didn’t factor in is that she isn’t taking on a clearly defined role. It’s only now that you’ve left that I’ve realised just how much you took on at work, how much responsibility you had. It was a position that developed and evolved over a number of years and I can’t really expect someone else to come in and take on everything that you were doing straight away.’

‘No, I suppose that’s true. I guess it will take a little time, but it’s great that she’s so enthusiastic.’

‘Yes, well actually that was one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to see how you might feel about doing some freelance work for Browns. I’m thinking in particular about the sourcing of products for the kitchen and giftware departments. That was always your speciality, Jen. You seem to have a knack for knowing what’s going to be the big sellers for the coming seasons. As you know, I haven’t really got any interest in that side of the business and it’s something I can’t expect Emma to take on just at the moment. If you’re interested you’d be doing me a huge favour. You’d probably know better than me, but I’m thinking it would probably be about a day a fortnight?’

I nodded, intrigued about the suggestion.

‘That sounds about right.’ It was the side of my job that I’d loved the most. Scanning supplier websites and stores, searching out the prettiest and most practical items to fill the shelves. It was a role that would fit in perfectly with all my other projects too and would mean another income stream. I smiled, shaking my head, hardly believing that in such a short space of time everything could have fallen so perfectly into place.

‘Thanks for the offer, Matt, I’d love to take you up on that.’

‘Good. Well why don’t you come into the garden centre one day next week and we can draw up a plan, get the ball rolling. There was just one other thing.’

‘Yes,’ I asked, intrigued.

‘I wanted to float the idea of you coming in and running some weekly workshops, similar to those you do at the arts centre. Also we need to start stocking some of your famous chilli jam. Ever since your put up that story you’ve become quite the celebrity.’

‘Honestly, I could never have anticipated just how popular it would be. In fact, I still haven’t replied to all the comments. There were hundreds of them. I’ve just been so busy, but I really need to get round to doing that soon.’

‘Ah!’ Matt fell silent for a moment, suddenly looking uncomfortable as he looked from his clasped hands and then across at me. ‘Um, you do realise why that post was quite as successful as it was.’

‘I think so. I put it down to the fact that it was just a really positive, upbeat post, one of those projects that anyone can have a go at, that you can see through from the very beginning to the end. Growing your own chillies at home, making the jam, decorating the jars and labels. It’s a very satisfying thing to do and, of course, the finished product makes such a lovely little gift.’

‘Yes, well, I suppose there is that, but um… I’m not quite sure how to tell you this, Jen.’

‘What?’ It wasn’t like Matt to be bashful. ‘Matt, please tell me what you’re talking about.’

‘Did you have a proper look at the photo you posted up, Jen?’

‘Yes, of course, it was six pretty jars of chilli jam sitting on my bedroom window. I was quite pleased with that shot actually. I tried them on the kitchen window, in the garden, on the coffee table, but none of them quite worked and then I had a brainwave. Turns out the bedroom window was the perfect place. Who’d have thought?’

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