The Second Chance Shoe Shop

by Marcie Steele

  What had she ever done for Riley? Riley hadn’t even felt able to confide in her about Nicholas, because she felt too embarrassed. Friends should be able to tell each other anything.

  Shame washed over her. After being betrayed by Christine, she tried to put herself in Riley’s position. It had happened twice to Riley. Once when Nicholas lied to her, and then with Ethan’s ex-girlfriend making trouble because she wanted Ethan for herself.

  Ethan had been a fool too. He should have realised that Riley wasn’t capable of the things Clarissa accused her of. When she had sent that tweet with the photo of Clarissa attached to it, she had been at breaking point. And now that the competition and the shop were still in the news, Riley had become a target for every weirdo to have a go at. Hopefully they could do something about that now. Ethan had emailed her to say he would call in at the shop tomorrow.

  Sadie’s phone beeped with the arrival of a message. It was from Cooper, to say he was on his way. Her heart skipped a beat. They’d have to make small talk, as if everything was okay, unless she could get Esther to leave them alone for a few minutes. She didn’t feel that was fair. She always seemed to be pushing her out of the room.

  She replied to Cooper and then sent Riley a message too.

  Hope you’re feeling a little better. I just want to say I’m sorry. You’ve been such a good friend and I haven’t. I should have looked after you better. I hope I’ll be able to put that right in the future. X

  A message came back almost immediately.

  Don’t be silly. You’ve had a lot to deal with but you’ve always been there for me. No need to apologise. Thanks for calling this afternoon. Was good to see you and Dan. X

  There was a knock on the front door. Esther came thundering down the stairs.

  ‘Cooper!’ she cried, jumping into his outstretched arms. ‘I’ve been practising dancing. Mummy says I can go to Streetwise to learn with Serena!’

  Sadie smiled shyly at Cooper. At least there was no awkward silence with Esther at home.

  ‘That’s great!’ said Cooper, enthusiastically. ‘Do you want to show me some moves?’

  Esther shimmied down his body, onto the floor. ‘I’m practising,’ she huffed. ‘I’ll be down when I’m ready.’

  She tore upstairs again.

  And there was the awkward silence.

  Cooper held out a bottle of wine. ‘I had a feeling you’d need this. I bought your favourite.’

  ‘Thanks.’ She took it from him and went into the kitchen.

  ‘Have you had a good day?’ she asked, trying to fill the silence.

  ‘Yeah, not bad. You?’

  ‘Well, apart from me and Dan walking out halfway through the day, everything has been fine.’

  Cooper stared at her in disbelief before pulling out a chair. ‘Tell me.’

  ‘I will.’ Sadie sat down across from him. ‘But we might only have a few minutes until madam has finished her dance routine, so I want to stress how sorry I am about what happened. It was totally unforgivable of me to assume that it was you.’

  ‘It was quite a shock, I must admit,’ he said. ‘At first I kept thinking that I must have led you on. If I did, it wasn’t intentional.’

  Sadie felt her skin burn immediately. ‘Gawd, don’t remind me.’

  ‘Did I, though?’

  ‘No. I just jumped to conclusions. I mean, really jumped to them. I couldn’t think of anyone else it could be. You’re as close to me as Christine. It just didn’t enter my head that she would do anything like that.’

  ‘But I would?’

  ‘No!’ She shook her head vehemently. ‘I can’t even think why I thought it was you now. It was on the spur of the moment.’

  Cooper put up his hand. ‘Before you go on, I do have a confession. Because I haven’t been entirely honest with you.’

  Sadie paused. Oh no. What was he going to say now?

  ‘I―’ Cooper faltered, looking away for a moment.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘I’ve been dating Ash.’

  Sadie drew her head back and frowned. ‘Ash? But you always fool about as if you hate each other! I― oh! Is it serious?’

  He nodded. ‘I’d like to think so.’

  ‘How long have you been seeing each other?’

  ‘Nearly three months.’

  Sadie shook her head. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

  ‘You said you get upset seeing other people together. Plus Ash and I have been friends for so long. I’ve been wanting to tell you for a while.’

  ‘So no one knows?’

  Cooper shook his head. ‘What do you think?’

  Sadie’s chin almost hit the floor. ‘It’s fantastic news if you’re both happy! Why wouldn’t you tell anyone?’

  ‘We wanted to be certain first,’ Cooper shrugged.

  Sadie reached for his hand. ‘I’m so pleased for you both.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?’

  ‘Well, with you being in love with me, it might be awkward when we get together for Sunday lunch . . .’

  They grinned at each other. Once again, Sadie had been shown that her friends would stick by her through anything. All of a sudden, she didn’t feel so lonely.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Dan and Sadie hadn’t expected a welcome when they arrived at work the next morning. But neither of them were expecting Suzanne not to be there.

  Dan was waiting for Sadie outside the shop as she crossed the High Street.

  ‘I didn’t want to go in on my own,’ he told her. ‘And I thought Suzanne would be here, didn’t you?’

  Sadie nodded. ‘Do you think she’s closed the shop for good? Maybe she thinks we’d given up on it when we walked out yesterday.’

  ‘I hope not.’

  ‘Perhaps we should open up as usual? That might prove how sorry we are.’

  ‘I’m not sorry!’

  ‘Maybe not, but we shouldn’t have walked out yesterday. Suzanne might be a cow, but she was struggling and we just left her.’

  Dan looked remorseful. ‘I suppose. And we can’t get Riley back to a shop that’s closed. What time did Ethan say he was calling in?’

  ‘He said it would be early, before he started work. I expect he’ll be here soon.’

  ‘Right, then.’ Dan took out his keys. ‘Let’s get this show on the road.’

  A few minutes before they were due to open, Ethan banged on the shutter. Dan went to let him in.

  ‘Is Suzanne here?’ Ethan asked, stepping in cautiously.

  ‘Not yet,’ Sadie replied, deciding not to say any more just then. ‘We might only have a few minutes. Did you have a think about what I said in my email?’

  Ethan nodded.

  ‘Are you able to help in any way?’

  ‘You should, because you’re the one who has done the most damage,’ Dan said.

  ‘It’s not all my fault,’ Ethan snapped.

  ‘But it is the fault of that stupid ex of yours. Riley is so thoughtful, always putting everyone else first. She loved Chandler’s and is amazing at her job. She―’

  ‘Lets everyone walk all over her.’

  Dan froze. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘You’re supposed to be her friends,’ said Ethan, his hands shooting into his trouser pockets. ‘Yet all I’ve ever heard Riley talk about is keeping Chandler’s going. You two have just gone along with whatever she’s tried. Grabbing on to her apron strings as if you can’t think for yourselves.’

  ‘No, we haven’t!’ said Dan.

  ‘If anyone has let Riley down,’ Ethan continued, ‘it’s you two, for taking her for granted and putting her under too much pressure.’

  ‘Will you two stop pointing the finger!’ Sadie cried. ‘Because I think we’re as guilty as each other.’ She sat down on a leather cube and looked up at them both. ‘Riley has been my rock since Ross died, but I haven’t been there for her.’

  ‘You’ve been grieving,’ said Dan. ‘Everyone tak
es different amounts of time to get over grief. You can’t blame yourself for that.’ He sat down too, and sighed loudly. ‘If we hadn’t done the flash mob, then none of this would have happened.’

  ‘The competition has been successful because of that,’ said Sadie.

  ‘I can’t believe how cruel people can be online, though.’

  ‘But none of that was true,’ said Ethan. ‘I’ve been trying to tell Riley that I can see past it all, but she won’t listen to me.’

  ‘That’s because you took your time in believing her,’ said Dan. ‘She’s crushed because of you!’

  ‘Okay, okay!’ Sadie held up her hands for silence. ‘Now that we’ve established we’re all a little bit to blame, maybe we should concentrate on seeing if we can put it right. Without Riley, this shop will be nothing anyway – if there still is a shop after we walked out yesterday.’

  Ethan stood wide-eyed. ‘You walked out?’

  ‘It’s a long story,’ said Sadie. ‘But it made us realise that we can’t let the shop close because of a few thoughtless people – including us. That’s why we need to put a plan together.’

  ‘To save the shop?’ asked Ethan.

  ‘No. To get Riley back here.’

  ‘Do you think Suzanne will go for that?’

  ‘She might bow down to pressure if we can prove that Riley is popular.’ Sadie frowned. ‘No one knows she’s lost her job over what’s happened. We could play on what she did out of the goodness of her heart – for her friends as well as to save the shop.’

  ‘We could get Frank to speak out too,’ added Dan, ‘and some of the students that have been helping him.’

  Sadie nodded. ‘You have to agree, since all this started, Riley’s followers online have increased a lot. So even if a few idiots have tried to spoil things for her, she’s got lots of people behind her. It’s these we need to tap into.’ She looked up at Ethan. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘I think that’s a great idea.’ Ethan ran a hand over his chin. ‘But I might have something else I can offer too. Riley has been a stalwart of the High Street for years. Maybe we could build something around that.’

  ‘You mean think of a good hashtag?’ asked Dan. ‘On social media?’

  Ethan sat down. ‘Not exactly . . .’

  Sadie was going through her list when Dan nudged her.

  ‘Heads up.’ He nodded at the door.

  Sadie looked up to see Suzanne coming into the shop. ‘Morning,’ she said in her brightest voice, even though she was unsure what reaction she would get.

  ‘I came to collect some of my things.’ Suzanne walked towards the till. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see the shop open. I was going to leave it closed until I found new staff.’ Her laugh was self-deprecating. ‘I couldn’t run it by myself, that’s been perfectly obvious this week.’

  ‘We weren’t sure if we would have jobs this morning, but we both decided to turn up anyway.’ Sadie paused. ‘Suzanne, we both love Chandler’s and we don’t want to see it close. We’re also both sorry for walking out on you yesterday. Things have been very stressful for us all over the past few weeks.’

  ‘You don’t know the half of it.’ Suzanne’s shoulders drooped. ‘If I’m honest, I don’t know what to do. I’m not sure I have the heart to keep it open, even if I did find a new manager. I might just call it a day – have a big sale and then close.’

  ‘No!’ Sadie and Dan spoke in unison.

  ‘But what about the competition?’ said Sadie. ‘People will go mad if you don’t announce a winner. The closing date is this Friday. Surely you can wait until then to make your mind up?’

  ‘I suppose I could.’ Suzanne pointed at the notepad on the counter, with a list of names on it. ‘Is that what you’re doing now?’

  ‘Yes.’ Sadie turned it for her to see. ‘Have you seen some of the photos online? We can show you, if you like. Some entries are photos of people wearing their best shoes on a special day, at their wedding for instance. Some people have slung them over their shoulder. Some have just lifted their foot in the air and snapped away.’

  ‘One woman lined some of her shoes against a wall,’ said Dan. ‘There’s even one woman who couldn’t decide which shoes she liked best and so has taken a photo of her entire shoe closet!’ He smiled at Suzanne shyly. ‘Would you like to pick a winner?’

  ‘I suppose I’ll have to, now that Riley isn’t here to finish what she’s started.’

  Dan nudged Sadie, although she had been going to speak anyway.

  ‘Speaking of which, we think she should be here to announce the winner.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Suzanne snapped. ‘She’s caused enough damage. If I choose the competition winner and give out the prize, Chandler’s might not be a laughing stock any more.’

  ‘It isn’t a laughing stock,’ cried Dan.

  ‘It’s too late. You know I’ve advertised for a new manager. If I can get someone to run the shop, Chandler’s will stay open. If not, it will close in a month’s time.’

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  It had been a few days since Riley had been fired, but she desperately wanted to see the competition through to the end. Online she was still the bright and bubbly Riley Flynn, manager of Chandler’s Shoe Shop and a judge in a competition. Offline she was miserable, weepy Riley Flynn, with a broken heart and no job.

  She’d decided that she was going to go into Hedworth the next day. She’d text Sadie in the morning, ask her to let her know when Suzanne wasn’t in the shop, and then she’d gather the rest of her belongings. There wasn’t much that she had left behind, but she also wanted to take one last look around the place where she had been so happy. Then she would walk out with her head held high.

  She would find another job, even if she had to temp and work her way up from the bottom. Taking part in the flash mob had given her the confidence she needed to realise she could do so much more if she wanted to.

  As well as a new job, she would find a new Ethan. It had been a week since she’d seen him, spoken to him, or had any kind of communication with him. Still, her heart ached for him, her arms wanted to drape themselves around him.

  Really, she didn’t want to find any new things. She was happy with the old things. Or rather, she had been until recently. Even Sadie and Dan had been quieter since they’d gone back to Chandler’s. Riley was glad, in a way. They had got their priorities straight, and maybe they thought it would be awkward for her to hear about the shop now.

  ‘Riley Flynn, will you listen to yourself,’ she scolded, out loud. ‘You’re not about to give up that easily.’

  She was dozing on the settee when the buzzer to the door woke her. She glanced at the clock. It was 10:15 p.m. Riley frowned. It was late for anyone to be calling unless it was bad news. She rushed across to the intercom.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Riley, it’s Suzanne. I . . . could I talk to you?’

  Riley stood still for a moment, shocked. Then she buzzed Suzanne into the building.

  ‘I’m on the first floor, flat 4,’ Riley said into the intercom.

  Checking her face to see that she didn’t look too much of a mess, she quickly changed out of her pyjamas and into a pair of skinny jeans and an oversized jumper. A brush through her hair would have to suffice, as a knock came at her door.

  Suzanne stood there, looking every bit as nervous as Riley felt.

  Riley made a sweeping gesture to beckon her in. ‘Would you like a coffee?’

  ‘No thanks.’ Suzanne shook her head. ‘I won’t be staying long. But thank you for taking the time to talk to me.’

  Riley pointed to the settee as she sunk into the armchair, drawing her feet up at her side. Unsure what this was all about, she waited for Suzanne to speak.

  ‘Beautiful place you have here,’ Suzanne said, looking around the room. ‘It looks like a lovely place to live.’

  ‘It is.’ Riley’s tone was snippy. She wanted to know what Suzanne had called for, and wished she’d stop acting
all nicey-nicey. ‘Is there something that you want?’ she asked.

  ‘I think it’s best if I come clean straight away.’ Suzanne swallowed, wringing her hands as they rested in her lap. ‘I’m sorry for being so angry with you all the time. I thought I was acting for the best, and I now realise I wasn’t. But, as you said on that tweet, there are two sides to every story.’

  Riley didn’t understand what Suzanne was referring to.

  ‘You had every right to be angry that Max was taking money from the till.’ Suzanne glanced at Riley fleetingly before her head dipped again. ‘I hadn’t realised until it was too late. I’m broke. Max has gambled everything away, our credit cards are up to their limits and I have no favours to call in.

  ‘Soon after Dad died, I made Max a joint partner in the business. I thought he wanted to make a success of the shop and then maybe we’d buy a few more around Hedworth. I didn’t know that he had a gambling addiction. Before he left, he told me that he’d only stayed married to me for so long because he wanted the money when Dad died. I gave him thousands, only now realising he had lost his job and had no income.’

  ‘I thought he was away, working in Italy?’ said Riley.

  Suzanne shook her head. ‘I threw him out.’

  ‘Oh!’ Riley decided that Suzanne did have some balls after all.

  ‘Max bled me dry. That’s why I was so desperate for the shop to do well. I needed it for an income. I don’t have anything else. And I couldn’t let my father down. He worked so hard to keep Chandler’s going over the years and here I was, coming along and making a hash of everything and running the shop into the ground. You were the one who was keeping it going, Riley, and I wanted it to be me. I . . . I was jealous of your rapport with people, your business knowledge. You knew how to run the shop better than I ever would. And never has that been clearer than when I sacked you.’

  Riley cringed. It had been the lowest moment of her life.