Kitty and Ken exchanged glances and Kitty gave her husband an encouraging nod.
‘OK, we’ll look into it,’ Ken said.
Willow smiled, pleased that she had done something good for the village and hopefully for Kitty and Ken too.
‘Well, I better go, I need to sort out my shop,’ Willow said.
‘I’ll give you a lift back,’ Andrew said.
‘Andrew, would you mind just holding on for a second?’ Kitty said.
‘That’s OK, I can walk, it’s not far,’ Willow said. ‘It was lovely meeting you.’
‘Pop by and see us again,’ Ken said. ‘There’s always cake here, Beryl makes sure of that.’
‘I will, thank you.’
She stepped outside and started walking down the driveway. The sun was high in a cloudless turquoise sky. Something positive had been achieved today. Now she just needed to create a visually stunning window display, so the tourists would flock into her shop in their droves.
She laughed to herself; that might be a bit too optimistic.
There was a roar behind her as the quad bike came tearing down the drive. Andrew stopped by her side and she climbed on, wrapping herself around him.
‘Everything OK?’ Willow asked.
Andrew nodded and grinned over his shoulder at her. ‘They think you’re magnificent.’
Willow laughed. ‘What?’
‘I’d have to agree,’ Andrew said, and then roared off down the drive.
Willow smiled at that and rested her cheek on his back. Maybe coming here was the right thing for her after all.
* * *
The next day was equally as hot as the day before with the weather showing no signs of change. Willow had the door of the shop open, letting in the warm summer air as she made her candles. The radio was on softly, playing some old tunes she could sing along to. As summer was well and truly here she wanted the candles she was making to reflect that, which would be especially useful when it came to keeping her website updated and fresh.
The night before, she had cut several large oranges in half, scooped out all the flesh and then baked the peel shells in the oven overnight, making her whole cottage smell of oranges which wasn’t a bad thing. She had also baked and dried orange slices, whole raspberries and strawberries cut in half too. The orange halves were now dried out and hard which meant they were unlikely to rot and go mouldy. She was going to use these as the candle holders.
Melting gently on the little camping stove was a large pot of parasoy wax. It consisted of paraffin wax and soy wax. Paraffin wax had a much better scent throw than the soy wax, but the latter was much nicer to work with, so over the years she had opted for a blend of the two.
As she danced over to the stove to take a peek, another truck trundled past. There had been a steady stream of vehicles coming and going all morning – the renovation work was clearly starting with a vengeance. She had spent a few hours painting a few of the empty shopfronts the day before, as she had run out of freshly painted houses to add her flowers to. With only fifteen days now until the open day, she felt a bit guilty for wanting to spend a few hours making some candles. But this was her business and her regular customers were always coming back to her website to look for new candles, so she didn’t want to leave it too long before she updated it. The most successful businesses were always fresh, always offering new things. And she promised herself she would squeeze in a few more hours of painting that afternoon, so she didn’t feel too bad.
The wax looked like it might be ready, so she slipped on her oven glove and lifted the metal jug out of the saucepan of boiling water. She gave it a stir to check the consistency and, when she was happy that it felt OK, she started adding the orange and yellow colouring and the tangy orange-scented oils, giving it another stir to ensure the colour and scent were distributed evenly throughout the wax. She decided to leave the wax time to cool slightly as it was always better to pour if it wasn’t really hot.
She turned her attention to the glass jars she was preparing for the clear gel wax. She loved working with this wax as she could get some beautiful effects, making candles that were almost too good to burn. She had already poured an inch of the blue parasoy wax in the bottom of the jars and the wick was sticking up out of that. As the wax was still cooling down and hardening, now was the perfect time to add the decorations. She sprinkled a bit of gold glitter for the sand in each of the jars and then glued some sea shells in different sizes and colours, pressing them gently into the wax so they were secure. She sprayed a clear glue over the top to set it all in place, then took the liquid gel wax off the stove and poured it on top of the shells in one jar slowly to try to decrease the amount of bubbles. She filled it almost to the top. She secured the wick between two bits of masking tape to make sure it was in the centre of the jar while the gel solidified and then she moved on to the next jar. The gel wax would harden almost completely clear but it had a shimmery quality that sparkled in the sunlight.
Once that was done, she moved back to the orange candles. She carefully glued the metal disk at the bottom of the wick inside the orange halves and then, checking the orange wax was cool enough, she poured it into the oranges. The smell was wonderful.
Next on her list was to make some candles that looked like glasses of Pimm’s, champagne and other cocktails.
Willow scooped out some more gel wax and put it in the jug for melting. She opened up a box of champagne glasses and placed them on the table.
‘Bit early in the day for drinking, isn’t it?’
She looked up to see a paint-splattered Andrew leaning against the door frame.
She smiled, her heart leaping a little at the sight of him. OK, a lot.
‘Ah, my old granddad used to say, “It’s over the yardarm somewhere in the world.” Although he died from liver failure in the end so probably not the best person to take drinking advice from.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Andrew said, moving into the shop.
‘Oh, it was a very long time ago, I think I was only seven or eight. I didn’t really know him that well, he just turned up at the odd family gathering and got drunk in the corner. Me and my brother used to find it hilarious.’
‘Ah, you have a brother too. Older or younger?’
‘Older.’
‘Same. Older brothers are the worst, aren’t they?’ Andrew said.
Willow smiled as she thought of hers. Luke had teased her mercilessly growing up, used her as target practice when he had joined a fencing club, stole her toys, drew willies on her My Little Ponies, arranged her Care Bears into rude sexual positions and thrashed her in every single board game, card game or computer game they had ever played together. But he had also beaten up Richard Blake after he had deliberately trashed a model bridge that Willow had spent months making for a science project. He had walked her home from school every night instead of hanging around with his friends, he had cooked her dinner before Brownies every Monday when her mum had to work late. He had persuaded his best friend, David, to go on a date with her when she had confided in her brother she had a crush on him. He had held her tight when she had found her pet rabbit dead one morning. They had become very close as they grew older; it was just a shame he now lived in Australia and she rarely got to see him.
‘I think I got one of the good ones,’ Willow said.
‘Lucky you,’ Andrew said.
‘Do you not get on with your brother?’
‘Oh, I suppose me and Jacob get on much better now than we used to. I think he’s a bit of an arse sometimes. He’ll be here in a few days so you can judge for yourself. We used to fight endlessly when we were growing up, I’m sure I still have the bruises to prove it.’
‘You’re not supposed to get on with your older brother when you’re young. There’s kind of a rule against it,’ Willow said.
‘Ah, that’s OK then.’
‘Any other brothers or sisters?’
‘A younger sister, Lottie,’ Andrew said. ‘She has a little g
irl called Poppy who’s also deaf, although a lot more than I am. She barely speaks right now, but we all communicate with her using sign language.’
‘Is Poppy the little girl in the photo in your bedroom?’
‘Yes she is.’
‘She looks very happy.’
He paused as if he expected her to say something else. ‘She is. She’s a very happy, bubbly little girl. Very bright too. Her world is almost completely silent but she doesn’t know any different so it certainly doesn’t get her down.’
‘Kids are resilient creatures, far more so than adults. You’ve given her the tools to communicate, albeit in a slightly different way, but that’s all she needs. Well that and a ton of pink sparkly toys.’
He stared at her for a moment. ‘You know, when I tell people my niece is deaf, their first reaction, every single time, is to say, “I’m sorry.” Like it’s some terrible affliction or disease and they feel sorry for me and my family for having to put up with this curse. And you’ve picked up on the one thing that hearing people miss. Is she happy? That’s the single most important thing for a child, surely. She is healthy in every way and as long as she’s happy then we’re happy.’
‘Sounds like you have that balance exactly right.’
Andrew smiled. ‘Apart from that she probably needs more pink sparkly toys?’
‘A girl can never have enough.’
He paused for a moment. ‘I want her to be proud of who she is. I want her to know she can do anything. Be who she wants to be. I don’t want her to ever think, “I can’t do this because I’m deaf.”’
‘It sounds to me like she has an amazing uncle who will make sure she knows that.’
He cleared his throat and frowned. ‘So, are you going to tell me what you were really doing with these champagne glasses?’
He was obviously changing the subject, as if suddenly regretting going down that line of conversation with her, but she decided to let it go.
‘I’m making cocktails,’ Willow said, innocently, as if that explained everything. ‘Would you like to watch?’
‘Do I get to try them after?’
Willow wrinkled up her nose. ‘You might not like these cocktails so much. Here, I’ll show you the champagne ones. Will you put a small blob of glue on the bottom of those wicks for me and stick them to the bottom of the glasses?’
Willow went to check on the gel wax, which seemed to be OK, so she lifted it off the heat. She turned to watch Andrew and saw how carefully and precisely he was doing his job. She waited patiently for him to finish his six glasses.
‘Is that OK?’ he asked.
‘That’s perfect. So I’m now going to add a few drops of this honey colour. We don’t want to lose the translucency of the gel wax, so we’ll only add a tiny amount. I’m also going to add a few drops of this champagne scent.’
Andrew watched her avidly as she did what she said and stirred it into the gel wax. She poured a little bit into a spare glass jar so she could see the colour. ‘What do you think, does it look like champagne?’
‘Sure,’ he said, doubtfully.
Willow laughed. ‘It will.’
She put a blob of glue on the bottom of the dried raspberries and pressed them into the bottom of the glass to cover up the metal disk of the wick. She gave the yellow-tinted gel wax another stir and then poured it as fast as she could into the champagne glasses. Whereas with the seaside-themed jars she had made a short while before, the fewer bubbles she had the better, but with these candles she wanted loads of bubbles in them to look like champagne.
‘Ah, now it looks like champagne,’ Andrew said as she secured the wicks in place in the centre of the glass.
‘Once this gel wax has cooled and set I’ll add another thin milky layer of gel wax on the top which will look like the froth.’
‘These are really clever.’
‘Even if they aren’t a valuable contribution to the village,’ Willow teased.
‘But they are. They’re something different which will help in the long run to attract visitors to the village. And you’re making a valuable contribution in other ways. Many ways in fact. The shops look great, I presume that was your doing?’
‘Oh yes. I don’t know what those shops will be so I didn’t do any writing. I just left the signs blank but at least that part of those shops is finished.’
‘Thank you. You never did tell me what your big idea was,’ Andrew said.
‘I haven’t seen you. You’re always rushing off to save the village.’
He laughed. ‘Maybe I need to start wearing my underpants on the outside.’
‘You’ll probably need a cape too, otherwise you’ll just look odd. But if you’re not too busy tonight, why don’t you come round for dinner and I’ll explain everything. It’s spaghetti bolognese, my speciality.’
He narrowed his eyes. ‘Are you trying to butter me up for something?’
‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ Willow said, feigning innocence.
Andrew smirked, clearly not buying any of this. ‘How does seven o’clock sound?’
‘It’s a date.’ Her heart leapt. ‘No, not a date, definitely not a date.’
‘It’s OK, I got it,’ Andrew said, smiling. ‘I’ll see you later.’
He gave her a wave and left the shop.
She frowned. It definitely wasn’t a date.
Ten
Willow had just finished unpacking her clothes in her bedroom that evening when there was a knock on the door. If that was Andrew he was a half hour early. She quickly went downstairs and answered the door to find Andrew standing there with bags of grocery shopping.
‘Delivery,’ he said, holding the bags up.
‘Oh no, I forgot that was coming today. I ordered this before I came here. Did the delivery van come all the way down here?’ Willow said, looking up towards the track.
‘No, it can’t come down this way. But not to worry, I just loaded it up on the trailer.’
‘I’m so sorry, I’ll make sure I’m there to meet the delivery driver next time.’
‘It’s no bother, just let me know in future so I can look out for it.’
‘Let me give you a hand unloading the trailer,’ Willow said.
‘It’s OK, there’s just two more bags,’ Andrew said, placing the ones he was holding just inside the door and turning back to the trailer to collect the rest. He came back a few moments later.
‘Are you off the clock now or do you still have work to do?’ Willow asked.
‘I’m never really off the clock but I’m not doing any more tonight.’ He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. ‘Why, what do you have planned?’
She laughed. ‘No need for the shifty eyes, I don’t plan on getting you back just yet for that stunt you pulled at the castle yesterday. Just the dinner is ready, it’s keeping warm in the oven and I could open a bottle of wine while we wait for the pasta to cook.’
In her mind, it even sounded like a date. Good job she hadn’t gone the whole hog and decided to light some candles too.
‘That does sound good.’ He closed the door and carried the bags through to the kitchen.
Willow followed him in with the rest of the bags. She picked up a packet of pasta shells and tipped some of it into the saucepan.
‘Whoa, what are you doing? Andrew asked in shock.
‘Putting the pasta on,’ Willow said in confusion.
‘You promised me spaghetti bolognese, that doesn’t look like spaghetti.’
Willow laughed. ‘I’m not really a fan of spaghetti, will pasta shells do instead?’
‘You can’t go around changing the rules like that. I think the trades description people would have something to say about pasta shells in spaghetti bolognese.’ Andrew shook his head in mock disappointment at her standards. ‘Next you’ll be telling me that you don’t actually put toad in toad in the hole.’
Willow laughed. ‘Wait, is that a euphemism?’
‘I hope not,’ Andrew protectively cupped his ma
nhood. ‘I could think of many names for it but toad isn’t one of them.’
‘Well,’ Willow quickly decided to change the subject, ‘I’ve never had toad before, although I did eat frogs’ legs in Paris once, so I guess that counts. Normally I use sausages in my toad in the hole.’
Andrew shook his head, sadly.
‘Glass of wine?’
‘Well, just the one, I am driving,’ he indicated the quad bike out the front, his mouth twitching in a smirk.
‘Yes, of course, you don’t want to be decapitating any of Dorothy’s gnomes on the way back. And obviously you don’t want to be caught by the police on that long drive home.’
‘No, I’m a respectable member of the community.’
She poured out two glasses and sat down at the table. He joined her.
‘So a successful meeting yesterday, and I see the crew have already arrived and been hard at work,’ Willow said, then she held up her glass. ‘Here’s to bringing Happiness back to its full glory.’
Andrew chinked her glass with his own. ‘Thanks to you.’
‘Oh no, I was just… driving the car, you’re the one that’s going to do all the heavy lifting and co-ordinating. It’s a big job and I’ve just made it bigger for you.’
‘You just got me a ton of help so thanks for that. Jack and his team are here for two weeks which will take us right up to the open day. They’ve got other jobs to do after that but they’ll come back and finish the rest off at the end of August. That will help massively in getting all the empty houses ready for potential owners, at least on the outside, and like you said, we are aiming to get at least five houses ready on the inside too. Our show houses. Oli and Tom are going to come along and help with making the place look pretty with flowers and plants. They’re going to make us a load of hanging baskets and pots ready for the big day so that’s good too. Hopefully people will be distracted by the flowers and not look too closely at some of the other issues.’
‘We just have to grab their attention, let them see the potential of the place. A little window dressing wouldn’t hurt,’ Willow said. ‘I’ll try to paint all the houses with flowers or butterflies around the doors too. Every little helps.’
The Little Village of Happiness: A gorgeous uplifting romantic comedy to escape with this summer Page 8