Page 75 of The Little Shop on Silver Linings Street
Bertie groaned. Lawrence laughed. And Daisy nearly fainted.
Kit, on the other hand, stood with an expectant look on his face as he waited for Bea to comment. She looked just as shocked as Daisy was.
‘I know you can be absent-minded, dear, but you appear to have wrapped an empty box.’
Kit smiled. ‘Yes, I know it might seem that way, but it does, in fact, contain the perfect present that you asked for.’
Lawrence let out a frustrated sigh. ‘Oh, spare us the half-baked philosophy, please.’
Kit ignored him, looking at Bea instead. She was still staring into the box as if she imagined something would suddenly appear. ‘Perhaps you’d better explain,’ she said.
‘Three weeks ago, you challenged us to choose the perfect piece of jewellery for Daisy. And to also explain why our choice was the right one. You said that in the end that was the only criteria you would use to determine who wins.’ He broke off to look enquiringly at Bea, who nodded. ‘And so we all got into a fine old panic because none of us really knew Daisy all that well, myself included. But that was simple too, you said, we should just get to know her. I think we all know what came next.’
‘Get on with it,’ muttered Lawrence. ‘For goodness’ sake…’
Bea gave him a withering glare. ‘Do go on, Kit.’
‘And so, like Lawrence, and for a little while Bertie too, I wracked my brains trying to come up with something that Daisy would like. And I learned a lot about her. I learned that she likes to walk in the moonlight. And that she takes nothing from the world that she doesn’t give back in some other form. I learned that she can tell which creatures have crossed a snowy field, and that if she stands in still places she can feel a world most people can’t even conceive of. I learned that she is loyal with an integrity I thought was lost in the world, and I learned that even though she has few things, she still has everything she wants, and this makes her happy…’ He trailed off, lifting his eyes to Daisy’s. ‘But I also learned that although she has an incredible ability to choose jewellery for other people, it’s almost impossible to choose something for her because Daisy doesn’t really like jewellery. She doesn’t ever wear any, and so the perfect present is… none at all.’
There was stunned silence for several seconds as Daisy stood, her cheeks burning, conscious that every eye was on her.
Lawrence began a slow handclap. ‘Oh, bravo, Kit. I have to hand it to you, you could follow Mother onto the stage. You could at least have had the guts to say you couldn’t come up with anything. I’ve never heard such—’
‘Shut up, Lawrence.’ Bertie had taken a step towards him. ‘For once in your life, just shut up!’
But Daisy scarcely heard him. All she could hear were Kit’s words reverberating around her head. The warmth in his voice, the look in his eyes as he spoke them. And the way he described her, it sounded familiar somehow…
‘That took an incredible amount of courage, Kit,’ said Bea. ‘Especially when there is so much at stake.’
And Kit smiled again. ‘It’s not courageous when there is nothing at stake for me. I don’t want Buchanans, I never have. And I’m not the right person to run it. But I know someone who is.’
Lawrence looked like he was about to explode. ‘But she’s not even family!’
Daisy stared at him, trying to fathom his words. And then it hit her, just what Kit meant. Her eyes stretched wider. Had he just given up the business forher?
‘What was the point of the competition, if not to find the person most suited to run Buchanans?’ added Kit. ‘But not as it is now. Instead, how it needs to be if it’s ever going to survive. You know that, Mother, I know you do. Just as you know that Daisy is the only one who can read our customers like a book and have the integrity to sell them something that costs five pounds if that’s the right thing to do. We need to diversify and none of us have the ability to lead us through that. None of us apart from Daisy, that is.’
‘Oh, this is ridiculous,’ cut in Lawrence. ‘You can’t just go changing the rules of the competition because you’ve got some sad crush on the poor girl. Daisy was never in the running for this and neither should she be. There is a clear choice, Mother – my design, which fulfils the brief perfectly, or Kit’s nonentity.’
Daisy had been staring at the floor again, trying to work out how she felt, but now her head jerked up, anger flaring at Lawrence’s words. She was about to say something when Kit laughed.
‘You can make fun of me all you want, Lawrence, because I learned a long time ago that what’s important to you is just to win, to have, whatever the cost, even if you don’t really want something. And just like I worked that out, I also realised that there are some things I care about a very great deal. So where you’re concerned, I pick my battles very carefully. So, if you’re not prepared to accept that your design is a poor one, let me give you even more proof why Daisy should be at the helm.’
He crossed the room and collected another package from his jacket, handing it to Bea. ‘Open it,’ he said. ‘I think you’ll find it very enlightening.’
Daisy felt the colour drain from her face. How on earth had Kit got hold of that? ‘I can explain,’ she said quietly.
Kit was by her side in an instant, a hesitant hand held out in the space between them. ‘No,’ he said gently. ‘Let me. You have nothing to explain, Daisy, and nothing to hide. Not any more.’
Kit waited until Bea had opened the box and taken out the silver bookmark that Daisy had made and posted days ago. A bookmark on which she had embellished an intricate design of entwined leaves and flowers, leaving a gap at the top where she had cut out the shape of a heart. Suspended within it was the pendant which she had created to nestle against the breast of Nick Carr’s girlfriend.
Bea’s intake of breath was audible. And then she looked up, straight at Daisy. ‘You made this?’ she asked, quite rightly deducing its creator.
‘Yes, she did,’ said Kit firmly. ‘She made it for a customer who asked her to make him a present for his girlfriend and, with the aid of only the briefest of descriptions, Daisy made this. She had no idea it was really for me…’ He gave her the softest of smiles. ‘I even had to go to a friend’s house in Chester to pick it up so that she wouldn’t guess my identity.’
‘I don’t know what to say… except that it is utterly beautiful… unique. I’m sure I’ve never seen anything like it before.’ Bea held the bookmark closer, studying the detail, her eyes widening as she spotted the tiny clasp at the top of the heart. ‘This looks as if it comes away…?’
Daisy’s voice was no more than a whisper. ‘It does. The pendant is a separate piece to the bookmark, and I included the chain so that it can be worn. It should be in the box.’
