Page 52 of The Little Shop on Silver Linings Street
‘No.’ Bea laughed. ‘I should imagine it’s going to come as something of a shock… perhaps not so much to Kit, but…’
There was something about the way that Bea said his name that caught Daisy’s attention. She had always wondered why Kit was so quiet in comparison to the rest of the family, and why he was so unlike them. Daisy had assumed that he had inherited his traits from his father but now, hearing Bea, perhaps he was a chip off his mother’s block after all. And then something else occurred to her. Something that made her smile a little wickedly.
‘Lawrence is going to be astounded by your news,’ she said.
‘Yes, isn’t he?’ Bea’s eyes shone with amusement. ‘I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’m rather looking forward to seeing the expression on his face when he finds out. Lawrence has some very endearing qualities, but he’s such a snob. Sometimes I think I’d like to tell him about Monique too. Just for the fun of it. Oh, I’m so naughty.’
Daisy gave her a puzzled look. ‘Monique?’
‘Yes, although that’s not her real name of course.’
A little thrill of illicit pleasure ran through Daisy. ‘Then what is it?’
‘Sarah…’
‘No!’ Daisy burst out laughing.
‘She’s not from Paris either.’
Daisy groaned. ‘Go on…’
‘Sussex, a little village just outside of Kent.’
‘But that’s, that’s… Oh, God, that’s brilliant!’
‘It’s also incredibly astute. Personal shoppers can earn a considerable amount of money, particularly at somewhere like Harrods, so, as you might imagine, competition to become one is fierce. Most of them are self-employed and work to contract, so Sarah had to come up with a clever marketing trick that made her stand out from everyone else. And her trick was to become Monique, the oh so chic Parisienne.’
‘So really she’s no different from a shop window, or any other type of merchandising. It’s all about selling the aspiration.’
‘Exactly. But she’s also very, very good at what she does. And she never makes fun of people. She takes her role very seriously indeed.’
‘No wonder I liked her. But she’s still playing them at their own game.’
‘Of course, but the very best players know how to play so that everyone wins…’ Bea put her finger to her lips. ‘You mustn’t let on though. No one must ever find out. Which is why I won’t tell Lawrence – he’d probably think it an outrageous deceit and get her the sack.’
Daisy shook her head. ‘I wouldn’t dream of saying a word.’
‘No, I knew I could rely on you.’ She gave Daisy a searching look. ‘Oh, this competition is going to be such fun. Now when are you meeting Kit?’
Daisy’s head was spinning with all these new revelations. She had almost forgotten she was meeting Kit, and why…
‘On Monday night. We’re just having dinner. I did ask him if he wanted to go somewhere for the whole day, but he didn’t seem to want to.’ She would hate for her boss to think she wasn’t offering the same opportunity to each of the brothers. But Bea smiled.
‘No, I’m sure in Kit’s case dinner will be just fine.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘Heavens, is that the time, we must get on, man the defences and all that.’ She held out her hand for Daisy’s mug. ‘And I don’t know about you, but I need another of these before we open and then I’ll be ready for anything.’
She crossed the room and had just got to the door when she stopped and turned. ‘I’d also just like to say how grateful I am to you, Daisy, for everything. I know how much of a trial this has been for you but, I hope, at the end, you will see it’s been worthwhile.’
And with that Bea disappeared through to the kitchen, leaving Daisy staring at her back in wonderment. Any thoughts she had of asking her just what she meant soon disappeared, however, when she realised that unless she got a move on they wouldn’t get everything done in time before they opened. She hurried to the safe and began to get the day underway.
* * *
The morning passed in a blur, and it wasn’t until Bertie appeared to help out at lunchtime that she realised how quickly the time had gone, or indeed how ready she was for a break. Bea looked equally pleased to see him, but she wouldn’t hear of taking her break first and waved Daisy’s suggestion of it away. Daisy did wonder whether Bea might have wanted a little time to talk to Bertie on his own, but the shop was so busy with customers as she went through to the back room that she quickly dismissed the idea.
She opened up her lunchbox and pondered its contents. She was hungry but she really wasn’t sure she could eat. The world seemed to be spinning around her so fast that she couldn’t settle to anything. Christmas in the shop often did that to her, it was the adrenaline rush from being so busy. But this year was different. There were so many things to think about and this morning had only added to the list. She had anticipated spending her lunch break sketching out her ideas for Grace’s present, but now she wasn’t sure she would be able to do them justice.
She was about to get her sketchbook out anyway when she suddenly remembered that Grace’s was not the only necklace she had to make. She should have heard back from her other customer by now. She fished in her handbag for her phone so that she could check for a message, acknowledging that in all likelihood there would be nothing. His delay was probably just an excuse and she would never hear from him again.
Except that when she looked at her phone there was not one but two messages there. The first was from Kit.
