Page 19 of A Second Chance in Seabury
‘David? Mr Eaves was in here?’ said Hannah in surprise.
‘Of course,’ Connie nodded. ‘He’s good friends with Ewan – that’s my other half. Anyway, he popped in to give us an update on Bernard.’
‘Is Bernard yours, then?’
‘Yes. I mean, no… not really.’ Connie paused, looking confused. ‘Sort of.’
‘Well, at least that clears it up,’ laughed Hannah, stooping down to stroke a ball of deep green wool. It was definitely going to have to come home with her!
‘Poor old Bernard was actually left tied to the front of the shop last week,’ said Connie.
‘What?’ Hannah raised her eyebrows, even as she grabbed a second ball of wool, this time in a rusty orange.
‘Yep, he was abandoned,’ said Connie. ‘There was a note pushed through the letterbox asking us to take care of him.’
‘But why would someone dump him on you?’ said Hannah. ‘You’re a wool shop! A very nice one and everything… but…’
‘Some people’s logic is… interesting,’ said Connie with a little shrug. ‘We sell wool… so I guess they drew some kind of line, joined the dots, added two and two and got ninety, and decided we’d be nice to a sheep?’
‘That’s so random!’ said Hannah.
‘Yeah, that’s one way of putting it,’ said Connie. ‘Thing is, we’ve already got a baby to wrangle. Between her and the shop, there’s not much time for poor old Bernard. Even if wedidwant a new woolly companion, we’re not exactly equipped to look after a sheep. We’re looking for a good home for him, but in the meantime, David offered to keep an eye on him.’
‘Just for the record, I don’t think next door’s garden’s equipped for looking after a sheep either,’ said Hannah, raising an amused eyebrow. ‘Wherever he ends up, I just hope the fence is better than the one between our houses!’
‘I’m really sorry,’ said Connie.
‘Don’t be daft,’ said Hannah. ‘It’s no one’s fault. He didn’t do any damage—at least not on my side of the fence. Besides, he was kind of cute, plus it broke the ice with next door… so that was an added bonus.’
‘David felt all kinds of guilty about disturbing you!’ said Connie with a chuckle. ‘Now then, I’m guessing you’re here for something to wear tonight?’
Hannah’s jaw dropped. ‘Are you magic?’
Connie snorted and shook her head. ‘Nah, not exactly. David mentioned you might be in at some point. He’s invited you to the hotel, right?’
Hannah nodded.
How was it that everyone in this town seemed to know what she was going to be up to before she did?
‘Lionel said you might be able to help me find something to wear?’ said Hannah, deciding that it was easier just to pretend she was in control of her own destiny… at least a little bit.
‘Ooh, yes, I’d love to!’ said Connie, her eyes lighting up. ‘Do you have anything in mind? Want to pair a nice jumper with something?’
Hannah shrugged, then shook her head. ‘I packed light. Too light, as it turns out. Scruffy jeans and tee shirts are as good as I’ve got, I’m afraid. I arrived ready to scrub, clean and sort through boxes. I wasn’t really expecting to have to dress up.
‘Don’t you worry,’ said Connie, already moving around the shop and snagging items from various rails. ‘I’ll bet you anything we’ll find the perfect dress in here for you somewhere.’ She paused for a long moment before adding one more to her armful. ‘What do you think of the colour?’ she said, angling it towards Hannah.
It was a rich, deep red. The colour of good wine.
‘That’s actually my favourite colour!’
‘That’s funny,’ said Connie, raising an eyebrow.
‘Why?’ said Hannah.
‘Well,’ said Connie, ‘when David was in here, he said he thought you might like this one.’
‘Wait… what?’ Hannah frowned at the dress. It had a draped cowl neck, and its fine stitches looked almost velvety under the lights.
