Page 17 of A Secret Cornish Wish
‘Yes, I’m very lucky. St Felix Bay is very picturesque whatever the weather outside. I spend many happy hours up here looking out at that view. Now, I’ll just make us some tea and then we can have a look at the dresses.’
While Rose pops back downstairs to make tea, I wander out onto the balcony to take in the view.
Today, the sky is cornflower blue, broken by just a few white clouds floating calmly by. Seagulls ride the gusts of wind in front of me, and I can just see the beach below where holidaymakers sit protected from the breeze by colourful windbreaks, while dogs run around on the beach, chasing balls and knocking down sandcastles with their excitable tails.
‘Now then,’ I hear Rose say behind me, and I turn to see her putting down the tea tray on a little coffee table. ‘Milk, one sugar, right?’
‘Yes, please.’ I walk back through into the sitting room. ‘This is such a lovely house, Rose.’
‘I’m very lucky here. Being one of the last rows, we all have this incredible view of the bay. When I’m not in the shop, I spend as much time as I can out there.’
‘I would be painting that view if I lived here,’ I say without thinking. ‘In all weathers. Each picture would be so different from the last as the skies and the colours changed.’
Rose smiles and gestures for me to sit on the sofa. ‘I didn’t know you painted?’
‘I don’t very often. Mostly at school, really. I occasionally sketch, though, when I have time.’
‘I guess it’s a busy time for you right now preparing for your exams next year?’ Rose passes me a cup of tea.
‘Yes, we don’t get much free time – it all seems to be taken up with homework.’
‘It will be worth it when you’re done, though. Do you still want to go to art college?’
I’m impressed Rose remembers me telling her this during my interview for the shop.
‘I would like to. Whether I’m good enough is a different thing.’
‘Oh, I’m sure you are. And if you’re not, then it’s not meant to be. I’m a great believer in things happening when they’re supposed to.’
‘I don’t know what I’ll do if I can’t go.’ I take a sip of my tea. ‘I’m not really interested in much else.’
‘Life has a funny way of showing us what weactuallyneed, rather than what wethinkwe do,’ Rose says, nodding slowly.
I’m not sure what to say, so I sip again on my tea.
‘Now, shall we have a look at these dresses?’ Rose asks. ‘I’ll bring them through and if there’s any you like, you can try them on. I have a long mirror in my bedroom.’
‘Sure.’
Rose puts her tea down on the table and heads across the landing to her bedroom, returning with several dresses on hangers. She lays them over the back of the sofa and proceeds to lift them up one at a time.
I smile and nod, and say how pretty or lovely they all look. But even me, with my limited knowledge of fashion, can see the dresses all look like they’re from the 1950s, which, thinking about Rose’s age, they probably are. They all have fitted bodices, narrow waists and full skirts, some with several layers of net underneath.
‘This one,’ Rose says, holding up a white dress with black polka dots, ‘was made by a lovely lady who used to have a shop here in St Felix . . . ’ She thinks for a moment. ‘I think it was where the wool shop is now – you know, Wendy’s Wools?’
I nod.
‘That shop was owned by . . . oh, what was her name . . . Clara! Yes, that was it. She was a very talented seamstress who used to make all the latest fashions for us to wear. Not like it is now where you can easily go to a big department store to buy a dress, or one of those high-street boutiques you youngsters like.’
‘We could probably do with something like Clara’s shop now,’ I say, looking at the dress, which is probably the best Rose has shown me so far. ‘We have to get the bus to Truro to find anything remotely fashionable in one of those boutiques you’re talking about.’
‘Nothing in Penzance?’ Rose asks.
‘Not really – they have more shops than here in St Felix, but they don’t really sell anything that people my age would wear.’
‘That’s a shame. So, yes or no to this one?’ Rose holds up the dress again.
‘Maybe?’ I reply diplomatically. ‘I’ll certainly try it.’
