by Cloche
‘They were!’ she exclaimed. ‘Right up until those other two girls he was having a bit on the side with popped up.’
Chapter 6
I felt the room give a lurch as my reality had its feet kicked out from under it.
‘Other two girls?’ I asked through gritted teeth.
‘Oh, you didn’t know?’ she asked.
‘No.’
‘They were all over the news yesterday,’ she said. ‘Apparently, your married beau got around and with the same story—that he and his wife were separated. One of the girls said she wished she could give you a hug for standing up for all of them. The other said she wished you’d hit him with something harder than cake.’
I glanced across the table to see Harrison watching me with sympathetic eyes. It pushed me out of my stupor and I glanced back at the woman, who was still talking.
‘They suspect there may be even more women in his personal queue. So, you can see you’re an inspiration,’ the woman said. ‘So how about a picture?’
She was a tall girl with a thick, black braid that hung forward over her shoulder. Her round face sported freckles, big brown eyes and an engaging grin. I liked her.
‘I don’t think—’ Harrison began but I cut him off.
‘Sure, I’d love to,’ I said. I decided right then and there I wasn’t going to let the shame of the past own me.
Sadly, I wasn’t as surprised as I should have been that there were others like me. If the word was now out that the rat bastard had lied to me, maybe I would even be able to show my face in the States again. Maybe.
Either way, it was time to pick my chin up and keep moving forward. What was the British saying? KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON. Yes, it was in reference to World War II and featured the crown of King George VI above the words. And yes, it was one of three propaganda posters, the only one that was never actually used during the war. Rather it was rediscovered fifty years later in Barter Books, a secondhand shop in Northern England. Still, it suited my mood at the present.
The girl handed her phone to Harrison, who shook his head, but snapped the picture as we stood with our arms draped over each other’s shoulders like we were long-lost pals.
‘Thanks,’ the girl said and hurried back to her table to show her friends.
Harrison stared at me, and I knew he was about to say it was just another example of my lack of control, but I forestalled him.
‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous,’ I said. ‘That story about me is over a week old, no one cares anymore. Obviously, there are new fish to fry.’
‘Then why did the girl want to have her picture with you?’
‘She probably had her heart ripped out by a married guy, too, and considers me a kindred spirit,’ I said.
‘Or she’s going to sell the photo to the tabloids and say you were a roaring good drunk,’ he said.
‘So suspicious,’ I said. ‘I’m not that bad a judge of character.’
‘Do you even hear yourself when you speak?’ he asked. Then he muttered, ‘“Not that bad a judge of character.” Ha! Probably thought the cheating toe rag was just misunderstood.’
‘I’m right here, you know.’
He huffed out a breath but stopped muttering. I finished my pie while he did the same with his fisherman’s pie just as the waitress came with the tab. I made to grab it, but he snagged it first.
‘It’s on me. Welcome to London,’ he said.
‘Thanks, Harry.’
I grinned when he rolled his eyes and grumbled, ‘Harrison.’
It was a quiet walk back to Mim’s Whims. Monday in the city was a bustling sort of day. Lots of pedestrians and cars, the frequent sounds of honking intermingled with occasional shouts.
Spring was longing to bust out in its full glory. I could see it in the box gardens that decorated a few of the buildings that we passed.
‘You never told me who Fiona is,’ I said.
‘That’s right, your fan interrupted, didn’t she?’
I ignored the sarcasm in his tone and gave him a pointed look.
‘Fine,’ he said. ‘Fiona Felton is a student who is currently apprenticing in the shop. She’s very quick. I’m sure she’ll be able to answer any questions that you have.’
‘I didn’t know Viv took on apprentices,’ I said. Again, I felt a twist of guilt that I hadn’t been here in three years and was seemingly so out of touch. How could I have gotten so consumed with my life that I didn’t even know the basics of Viv’s?
‘Fiona’s the first.’
As we approached the shop, I felt the weight of the meal and the pints, not to mention jet lag, relax me into a light stupor. It must have shown on my face, because Harrison took one look at me and relieved me of my keys.
He unlocked the door and pulled it open. Then he handed me my keys and said, ‘Lock up behind me and go get some sleep. I’ll pop in on you tomorrow.’
I nodded and patted his arm as I passed him. He closed the door after me. With a yawn, I turned the key in the lock and headed toward the stairs. Even my toxic pink bedroom was appealing in that it had a bed, and I was sure I could sleep for a month.
Out of the corner of my eye, I felt Mim’s wardrobe bird watching me.
‘Good night,’ I called, half expecting him to caw in response.
* * *
When I opened my eyes, it was to find another pair of eyes staring back at me just inches from my face.
‘Ah!’ I yelled and scrambled back across my bed while the person staring jumped back and yelled as well.
‘Who the hell are you?’ I shrieked.
‘Fee, er, Fiona Felton,’ she gasped. She put her hand on her chest. ‘Oy, I think my heart stopped, yeah?’
‘Your heart stopped?’ I asked. ‘What are you doing in my room?’
‘Harrison called me this morning and told me to check on you,’ she said. ‘When you didn’t show up, I figured I’d better see if you were all right. You know, make sure you hadn’t done anything drastic.’
‘Drastic?’ I pushed the covers off and sat up. ‘Why would I do anything like that?’
She pursed her lips as if keeping herself from saying anything else.
‘Oh, I get it, because my life is in the toilet,’ I said. I rolled to my feet and faced her. She shrugged, which I took as assent. ‘My life isn’t that bad.’
Again, she said nothing. Smart girl.
‘Have you heard from Viv?’ I asked.
‘Just a message telling me to help you out while she’s gone,’ she said.
‘No indication of when she’d be back?’ I asked.
Fee shook her head. I got a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach again. I just couldn’t accept, even as eccentric as Viv was, that it was okay that she was missing. I reached over to the nightstand and checked my cell phone. There was nothing from Viv or my Aunt Grace. I would have to call my mother later and see if she could get some answers.
‘Is that the time?’ I asked.
Fee nodded. ‘That’s why I came to check on you.’
It was almost noon. I had slept for almost eighteen hours.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘No wonder you thought the worst.’
Fee gave me a weak smile, and I realized that she was nervous and no wonder. I could only imagine the bed head I must be sporting. Not to mention with Viv gone, she was being put in the position of getting the foreigner, me, who as co-owner was also technically her boss, up to speed. Poor thing.
At a guess, I’d put her age at twenty, maybe twenty-one. She had dark skin and dark eyes and her hair was a chin-length bob of corkscrew curls, some of which were a vivid shade of hot pink and one of which kept popping forward to hang over her right eye no matter how many times she shoved it back. She also had a nose ring and wore a spectacular amount of gold eye shadow.
‘Tell you what,’ I said, trying to put her at ease, ‘I’ll just grab a quick shower and meet you down in the shop.’
‘Want me to make a pot of tea?’ she asked.
/> ‘That’d be nice,’ I said.
Fee bounced from the room with entirely too much enthusiasm, and I dug through my suitcase until I found my jersey tunic top in a nice olive green and a pair of black leggings. I’d been too tired to hang up my clothes yesterday and they had the suitcase wrinkles to show for it.
I decided I was too hungry to deal with it now and left the suitcase lid propped open in a lame attempt to air out my meager wardrobe. An overhaul would have to be done later. I took a quick shower and dressed, pulling on a pair of knee-high black boots to complete the outfit. I had no patience with my hair, so I twisted it into a topknot and put on just enough makeup to keep from scaring the customers away. Fifteen minutes from the time Fiona had awoken me, I headed downstairs.
I entered the shop to find Fee sitting with a customer in one of the blue sitting areas. I could tell from the tight expression on Fee’s face that whatever was happening was not going well.
‘No, no, I don’t want that,’ the older woman was saying. ‘This is for my son’s wedding. It has to make a statement but not be ostentatious. Where is Vivian, anyway? I thought I’d be speaking with her. Really, is it so much to ask for some knowledgeable service?’
Chapter 7
‘May I help?’ I asked.
Fee looked at me as if I’d just thrown her a life preserver.
‘Mrs. Abbingdon, this is Scarlett Parker,’ Fee said. ‘She is Vivian’s cousin and an equal proprietor in Mim’s Whims.’
‘A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Abbingdon,’ I said.
Mrs. Abbingdon gave me a dubious look and only took my hand with the tips of her fingers.
‘Would you care for some tea and biscuits, Mrs. Abbingdon?’ I asked.
‘I’m feeling a teeny bit peckish,’ she said.
‘Fee, could you—?’ I began, but Fee interrupted me.
‘Right away,’ Fee said. Her thick-heeled shoes almost left skid marks on the floor, so fast was her departure.
My offer of tea was twofold. First, I was starving and second, whenever I dealt with clients at the hotel, I always fed them. People were more at ease over food, plus, they felt you went the extra mile if you fed them, which made them infinitely more manageable.
‘You’re Vivian’s cousin?’ Mrs. Abbingdon asked.
‘Yes, our mothers were Mim’s daughters,’ I said. ‘I grew up in the States, but I spent all of my vacations here with Mim.’
‘So, you’re half British?’ Mrs. Abbingdon asked.
‘The good half,’ I joked with a wink.
Mrs. Abbingdon chortled and I knew we were going to get along just fine. While we waited for refreshments I told her stories about how Viv and I used to play in the shop while Mim greeted customers and designed her hats. I ruefully admitted that I had no talent at millinery but that Viv was a genius.
Mrs. Abbingdon patted my hand and assured me that I was probably more talented than I knew. I knew it wasn’t true, but I let her comfort me anyway.
Fee brought a tray loaded with tea and a plate of shortbread as well as cheese, crackers and a pile of grapes.
‘Nice job,’ I whispered to her.
‘I was about to say the same to you, yeah?’
Fee left the tray with me and disappeared into the back room again. Once Mrs. Abbingdon had noshed her way through two cups of tea, half a plate of cookies and a good portion of the cheese, I managed to direct her back to the topic of the hat.
She was going to be wearing a lilac suit with purple trim and we determined that her hat ought to match. I was certain that Viv could match the swatch Mrs. Abbingdon brought from her dressmaker and we determined that her best look would be a hat shape reminiscent of the one the Queen wore to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding.
By the time Mrs. Abbingdon left, the tea had grown cold and I was feeling the teensiest anxiety that I was taking on work of which Viv wouldn’t approve. I’d also felt my phone vibrating during our chat and it had about killed me not to check it. What if it was Viv? I suspected it would drive Mrs. Abbingdon away, however, so I waited.
As soon as the door closed after Mrs. Abbingdon, I checked my phone. It was my Aunt Grace who had called, and she left a message that essentially said it was no big deal that Viv had up and left before I arrived. Like Harrison, she seemed to think that was just how Viv was and I shouldn’t worry. Still, I couldn’t shake the bad feeling I had about it.
* * *
I hauled the tray back into the workroom, which housed a small kitchenette in the corner. I set the tray on the counter to be dealt with later and approached the workbench where Fee was embroidering a cluster of five-petal, pale blue forget-me-not blossoms onto a narrow dark green hatband.
‘That’s lovely,’ I said.
Fee glanced up from her work and grinned.
‘I have to ask,’ she said. ‘How did you manage to keep your patience with Mrs. Looksee?’
‘Mrs. Looksee? You mean Mrs. Abbingdon?’ I asked. ‘The patience part was easy. She’s like a chicken on a nest, she just needs to fuss a bit and then she’s fine. She’s really very sweet, but I did agree that Viv would make her a hat for her son’s wedding, lilac with a purple trim. Is this doable?’ Fee’s eyes went wide and she goggled at me as if I suddenly suggested we give away all of our hats for free.
‘Oh, no, I overcommitted, didn’t I?’ I asked. ‘Viv is going to kill me.’
‘No, no,’ Fee said. She kept staring at me as if in shock. ‘It’s just, well, in all the years Mrs. Looksee has been coming into the shop, she’s never actually bought anything. That’s why we call her Mrs. Looksee.’
‘Never?’
‘According to Viv, never, not once,’ Fee said. ‘What sort of magic did you work on her?’
‘No magic,’ I said. ‘Just, you know.’
‘No, I don’t,’ Fee said. ‘But now I see what Viv meant.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘When Viv told me you were coming, I asked if you were a milliner, too, and she said no, but that you had other gifts,’ Fee said. She picked up the hatband and resumed stitching. ‘Now I see what she meant.’
I didn’t, but I didn’t say as much. I heard the bells on the door chime and the sound transported me back twenty years, and I remembered being a little girl, playing in the shop when a customer came in.
Mim had the same temperament as Viv. They were artists first and businesswomen second. I’d known Mim to get obsessed with a particular hat style or a color—there had been an infamous chartreuse stage—or if she’d found a vintage hat that she wanted to make over, it positively took over her brain.
We’d had cold tea and burnt dinner frequently when she was swept up by an obsession of the moment, but neither Viv nor I had minded. There was something spectacular and otherworldly about Mim when she’d been consumed by her creative fire. I’d always admired her devotion to her art. I had tried to follow in her footsteps like Viv, but I didn’t have any talent for millinery.
Unlike Mim and Viv, I was a people person. I enjoyed talking to people. Everyone had a backstory and they were almost always interesting, which is what drew me to the hospitality industry.
Thoughts of my ex flitted into my head and I felt my spirits tank. While I’d been helping Mrs. Abbingdon, I’d completely forgotten the rat bastard. I was tempted to see who these other two women were, the ones the girl at the pub had told me about, but I didn’t really want to know. It wouldn’t do me any good, and really, my self-esteem was already at an all-time low as it was.
Instead, I straightened my back and headed out into the shop to see who had arrived. I was suddenly very grateful that Viv had sent for me. It was a relief to have something to think about besides my personal life.
‘I’ll go see who that is,’ I said to Fee and strode toward the door.
I had just stepped into the doorway when I collided with a solid male shirtfront.
‘Oh, are you all right?’ Harrison asked. He grabbed me by the elbows and steadied me on my fe
et.
‘Sorry,’ I said. I glanced up at his concerned green gaze and smiled. ‘That was clumsy of me.’
‘Not at all,’ he said. ‘It was my fault. I should have called out a hello so you knew I was coming.’
‘Eh.’ I shrugged. I really had no idea what I meant or why I had a sudden feeling of awkward between us.
‘You look like you got some rest.’ He let go of my arms.
‘Practically slept the day away,’ I said.
‘Well, if that’s what it takes for you to sell to Mrs. Looksee then I say you should lie in every day,’ Fee said.
Harrison’s brows rose up on his forehead and he studied me with renewed interest. ‘You sold a hat to Mrs. Looksee?’
‘Mrs. Abbingdon,’ I corrected them both with a look. ‘She was very sweet. I think she just needed someone to listen to her.’
Harrison and Fee exchanged a look I couldn’t interpret, but I didn’t get the feeling they were mocking me, so I let it go.
‘So, have you heard from Viv?’ I asked him.
‘No, but I didn’t really expect to,’ he said. ‘I take it you haven’t either.’
‘No,’ I said.
‘Not to worry,’ Fee said. I saw her looking at me in understanding. ‘Viv’s an artist. She lives life her own way.’
‘Indeed,’ I agreed.
I remembered on my vacations spent with Mim and Viv that I always felt like the stabilizing force. I was the one who liked a schedule and liked to be on time. Viv and Mim were never on time and loathed to commit to any sort of itinerary. That was probably where I had first learned to work with challenging personalities.
It had obviously served me well. Right up until I had found myself hurling cake at the lying, cheating no-good rat bastard I’d been dating. I had to admit I hadn’t managed that one well at all.
‘Well, if all is right and tight here, then I will get back to the office,’ Harrison said. ‘Is there anything you need, Scarlett?’
‘Not that I can think of,’ I said. ‘I haven’t checked the state of Viv’s kitchen but I know there’s a Tesco right down the road, so I can stock up on whatever I need there.’