Claudia had no idea how long all this would take. What she did know was that she couldn’t afford to close for long.
By late afternoon, Claudia had taken photos, spoken to the insurance company and got permission to clear up, reassured Tanya that there was no need for her to rush over, had a visit from Ted the roofing contractor… and virtually had a nervous breakdown while she was at it.
So many people had stopped by to commiserate, especially those volunteering on beach clean-up duty. All were well-meaning, but each had their own tale of how the storm had affected them. It was understandable, but exhausting.
When Millie showed up on her way home from school, Claudia was on the verge of screaming.
The teen looked crestfallen at the damage, but instead of the usual platitudes, what popped out of her mouth was, ‘Ironic, don’t you think?’
‘What is?’
‘Healing Waves.’ Millie pointed to the shop’s sign, half-obscured by the tarpaulin, then jerked her thumb in the direction of the sea. ‘Not very healing, in this case.’
Claudia had to smile a little. ‘Nature can be cruel as well as kind, I suppose.’ The sight of Millie’s uniform reminded her to ask, ‘How were your first couple of days at school?’
Millie scuffed her feet on the ground. ‘Okay, I guess. Everyone stares at me.’
‘Bound to happen.’ Claudia tried to sound bright and breezy. ‘You’re a novelty. It’ll wear off.’
‘S’ppose.’ Millie tugged at her hair. ‘I’m not allowed to have purple. They’re giving me till Monday to sort it out.’
Claudia felt sad at that. The purple streaks in Millie’s hair seemed a part of her, somehow. But rules were rules, she supposed. ‘What will you do about it?’
‘I usually do it myself, but it drives Dad mad ’cause I make a mess of the bathroom and stain the shower curtain.’
Claudia opened her mouth to offer to help, then closed it again. Jason Craig had made himself quite clear.
‘I’m sure he’ll understand, since it’s school rules,’ she said instead. ‘But you might need an expert to cover the purple.’
‘What’s the place by the harbour like?’
‘A little old-fashioned, maybe.’ Claudia sent a silent apology to Jenny for that. ‘But you’d be in safe hands.’
Millie refocused her attention on the shop. ‘When can you reopen?’
‘There’s a lot to do. A few days, at least.’
‘Shame about that horrible cover thingy.’
‘Can’t be helped. It’ll be there till the roofer can get to me.’
Millie studied it. ‘Your window display’s a mess, so why not let the cover hang down properly rather than being half-tucked up like that, then paint something on it? It might make people smile instead of just feeling sorry for you.’
The wisdom of youth. Claudia eyed her cautiously. ‘Do you have an idea? Do you want to have a go?’
‘Can I?’ Millie’s shoulders sagged. ‘But I might make a mess of it.’
‘It can’t look any worse, Millie! And if it covers the window, it could be like I’m waiting to do a grand reveal.’ Like the new shop. Two can play at that game. She eyed Millie’s hopeful face. ‘It’ll only be there a few days, so it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. When could you do it?’
‘Now?’
Ah. Claudia realised she should have thought this through. Jason had made it plain he didn’t want his daughter hanging around Healing Waves… but Claudia had told him she wouldn’t turn her away. She wasn’t sure where she stood with an endeavour like this.
‘Won’t your dad expect you home?’
‘He’s got a late meeting.’
‘No homework?’
‘Only a stupid maths sheet. And it doesn’t have to be in tomorrow.’
Claudia hesitated. It was good to see Millie looking enthusiastic about something, and it might take her mind off school. Surely Jason couldn’t object to her cheering his daughter up?
‘Okay. But only if you text your dad to let him know you’re here. Do it now. Then let’s see what supplies I’ve got.’
Claudia ducked under the outside metal staircase, opened the cupboard there, took a torch from a shelf and flashed it around. ‘Two different blues from when I did my flat,’ she reported to the teen waiting at her shoulder. ‘A deeper blue gloss from the door. And white from the ceiling.’
Claudia passed the cans out to Millie, found a screwdriver to prise the lids off, then rummaged for brushes. While Millie ferried it all to the front, Claudia fetched a stepladder from the back of the shop. Clambering up, she looked at how the tarp was fixed.
‘I don’t want to take it down,’ she called to Millie. ‘I might never get it back up again!’
‘Just pull it so it hangs down. Then maybe you could hold it tight while I paint?’
‘Okay. But be careful on the stepladder. Your dad’ll kill me if you fall.’ Claudia eyed Millie’s brand-new school uniform. ‘And you can’t do it in that.’ When Millie scowled, she gave her a steely look. ‘Come with me.’
She led Millie up to her flat and went into the bedroom to hunt for something suitable. When she came back out with a pair of old jogging bottoms and a T-shirt, Millie was looking around with undisguised interest, idly stroking Pudding in his chair. ‘I love this place!’
‘Thank you. Here, put these on. The bottoms’ll be too big, but they have a drawstring. I’ll wait for you downstairs.’
Claudia tried not to laugh when Millie came back down. She was skinny and tall – what Claudia’s mother would call a string bean – and Claudia was not. But Millie was too keen to get started on her impromptu project to mind much.
Just as when they’d skimmed pebbles, Millie was transformed when she was concentrating. Focused, she studied the colours, then slowly but surely transformed the dull, grubby tarpaulin while Claudia held it taut or steadied the stepladder or passed her paints and brushes as requested.
When they eventually stood back to admire her handiwork, a cheerful mural stared back at them – a simple but effective design of two-tone waves tipped with white crests. White Ws were dotted above to look like seagulls in a stormy sky, which was where the grey of the tarpaulin came into its own.
At the bottom, Millie had printed in blue gloss:
HEALING WAVES
REOPENING SOON
‘It’s fantastic! Thank you.’ Spontaneously giving her a hug, Claudia quickly backed off in case it annoyed her, but Millie seemed pleased with the praise. ‘Come with me.’ Inside Healing Waves, she pointed at the laced crystals. ‘Pick any you like.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. Just a small token for a huge favour.’
Millie rotated the stand, undecided.
‘So how is school going?’ Claudia asked, her gut instinct kicking in.
Millie scowled. ‘People are either all over you or don’t want anything to do with you when you’re new.’ Her shoulders slumped.
Nodding understanding, Claudia fingered a wand-shaped, marbled crystal. ‘Do you like blue? How about this sodalite?’
Millie read the small, handwritten label attached to the lace. ‘Emotional balance. Self-acceptance. Self-esteem.’
‘It’s good for panic attacks,’ Claudia added. ‘And it can help with judgement, so it might help you work out who might be a good friend and who might not.’ Too late, she remembered Jason’s warning not to fill his daughter’s head with rubbish.
‘A crystal can do all that?’
Claudia could have laughed at the way Millie’s eyebrow arched in the same way her father’s did.
She tempered her response. ‘So they say. But if not, it’s a lovely colour. What have you got to lose?’
‘Thanks.’ Millie smiled. ‘I love my oracle cards, by the way.’
If you had any idea what trouble they caused me… Claudia forced a smile. ‘I’m glad.’
‘Dad saw them. He wasn’t keen, but I explained they’re not tarot cards and he seemed okay wit
h that.’
And again, if you had any idea…
At least Jason hadn’t had a go at his daughter and made her feel bad. That was one small point in his favour, Claudia supposed. It didn’t make her feel any better about the way he’d treated her, though.
Jason had caught the local headlines about storm damage in the village that morning, so he’d driven the long way to work, inland and along country roads through farmland. No point in getting snagged up. They’d had no damage at home, thank goodness, perhaps because the house was set back from the cliff and the gentle slope of trees below afforded a buffer.
There was a call out for volunteers to help clean up the beach. He would have liked to offer to lend a hand, but as this was his first week at a new job, it wasn’t an option.
Only one of his company’s projects, along the coast towards Penzance, had been affected, but that wasn’t one of his, for which he was grateful.
To his relief, his second day was better than his first – not that that would be hard. Only one short (he hoped) meeting to go, and then he could get back home to subtly – or not so subtly – interrogate Millie about school.
His phone buzzed as he made his way to the partners’ office. A text from Millie.
Hi. In case you get home before me, I’m at Healing Waves, helping Claudia after the storm. She said to text you.
Jason’s initial reaction was anger. Hadn’t he told the damned woman yesterday that he didn’t want his daughter there?
Then he remembered how awful he’d felt about that afterwards. Rereading Millie’s text, he registered that Claudia had insisted Millie text him. She wasn’t trying to hide it from him.
He allowed a smidgen of sympathy to come to the fore. It sounded like the storm had caused her problems, and he wouldn’t wish that on her.
As he seated himself at the conference table, he stifled a sigh. Millie should be hanging out with new friends after school, not loitering at unsuitable shops and being roped into sweeping up or whatever it was she was doing. He couldn’t say he was happy about his daughter being used as free labour. Then again, he couldn’t complain about her being public-spirited, could he? And he could hardly have a go at Claudia Bennett when he’d spent the past twenty-four hours feeling guilty about his previous outburst. Best to let it lie… this time, anyway.
Chapter Six
‘Very nice!’ Sarah said as she stood side by side with Evelyn the next morning, studying the newly decorated tarpaulin.
Claudia smiled. ‘Something had to be done. It was so dreary!’
‘It’s fun,’ Evelyn agreed.
Sarah frowned. ‘You know if Millie’s father finds out you let her go up a ladder, he’ll sue you from here to Sunday on health and safety?’
‘Only a stepladder,’ Claudia said, defensive. ‘That’s why we left the top part grey for the sky, see? And I made her change out of her school uniform.’ She sighed. ‘I can’t see why letting her paint an old tarpaulin should aggravate him, but who knows? Anyway, I’ve already weathered two storms this week – one from him and one from Mother Nature. If he wants to whip up another, I’ll be ready for him.’
‘He seems a nice enough bloke,’ Sarah mused. ‘Just over the top when it comes to his daughter.’
‘And the company she keeps,’ Claudia said. ‘And the establishments she frequents. And the purchases she makes.’ Time for a change of subject. ‘What’s with the rubbish bags in your doorway?’
‘Don’t you just love Porthsteren?’ Sarah declared as she untied a black plastic bin bag to show Claudia what was inside – a selection of second-hand books.
‘We got a couple of bags yesterday, too,’ Evelyn told her. ‘Word got around that we’ve lost our popular paperbacks, so people have had clear-outs at home.’ Her eyes welled with tears. ‘People are very kind when the chips are down, aren’t they?’
Claudia smiled. ‘Yes. We’re in a good community here.’
She thought about her old life, the ruthless nature of the work environment she’d been so caught up in; people treading on each other to clamber up their own career ladders. She didn’t miss it for one single moment.
‘When will you get your window replaced?’ she asked them.
‘Tomorrow,’ Sarah told her. ‘Hopefully, we can reopen the day after that, if we finish cleaning up. Have you got a schedule yet?’
‘The insurance company want to send an assessor out. They’ve accepted the storm damage – thank goodness I didn’t stint with a cheap policy! But they want to see the damaged goods and have me explain the costs involved. I guess some people exaggerate that kind of thing. They said I can clear up, though.’
‘Will they insist on using their choice of company for repairs?’
‘No. They want me back in business, otherwise they’ll have to cough up for more loss of earnings, but they’ll need to approve Ted’s quote.’
‘You’re lucky to get Ted at all,’ Evelyn pointed out. ‘He’s booked up at the best of times.’
‘He’s prioritising storm-affected businesses. He knows how important seasonal trade is.’
‘Like I said, don’t you just love Porthsteren?’ Sarah sighed. ‘Still, not much of a day off for our “Wednesday closing” this week, huh?’
They parted ways, and Claudia steeled herself to open her shop door. Despite it being as depressing as the day before, she had a sense of purpose now. The repairs would take their course. The insurance would take its course. Those were things she couldn’t influence. Best to concentrate on what she could do.
Jason’s evening stroll took him down the hill and past the harbour. Millie was doing homework, and since he’d been stuck in interminable meetings all day, he needed to stretch his legs.
Avoiding the beach – a mess of seaweed and rubbish, still in the process of being cleaned up – he walked along the road to Healing Waves. He was under strict instruction from his daughter to admire her handiwork and report back.
Jason had mixed feelings about Millie’s mission of mercy. He was proud of her for being independent enough to volunteer without asking him first. He was also fed up that she’d volunteered without asking him first. He was pleased that she knew a local well enough to want to help. He wasn’t pleased that the local was a woman whose ethos he didn’t care for. He was still embarrassed about his over-the-top treatment of Claudia the other day. He was sorry she’d been affected by the storm, just as he would be sorry for any business in the same boat.
Yup. Mixed feelings.
He took in The Porthsteren Page Turner’s boarded-up window and winced. A pile of broken wood on the terrace suggested some outdoor furniture had taken a battering, but there was still plenty intact, presumably protected by the sturdy wall surrounding the terrace. The wind and rain must have gone right over it to hit the building.
His gaze turned to Healing Waves and the cheery tarpaulin covering the window and half the roof. It would make anyone smile, with its blue waves, a boat’s sail, and seagulls in the sky. He loved that his daughter had created it.
His smile dropped when Claudia came out of the store with an armful of wood. Damn. He’d assumed she would have finished for the day by now.
Wearing grubby cut-off jeans and an oversized shirt and with her hair gathered into an untidy knot on top of her head, curls escaping everywhere, she should have looked a mess, but she didn’t.
As she came nearer, adding her planks to the pile on the bookshop’s terrace, what she mostly looked, he realised, was exhausted. The animosity he’d felt towards her the other day melted away and sympathy kicked in.
‘Hi. I was sorry to hear about the damage,’ he said lamely.
‘Yeah, I bet you were.’ Before he could speak, she held up a hand. ‘Sorry. Uncalled for. I’m knackered.’
Jason pulled out one of the Page Turner’s benches that had survived, and Claudia landed heavily on it, her shoulders drooping.
‘Damaged shelving,’ she explained, pointing to the wood she’d thrown down.
‘How bad is it?’
She hesitated, as though unsure whether to have a conversation with him at all – hardly surprising, after the last one they’d had.
But she shrugged and said, ‘The window display was ruined. Some shelving. A lot of stock. One wall needs to dry out and be repainted. No electrical damage, thankfully, but the roof needs repairing – the wind took off some tiles, and some of the pointing was past its best. Hope the insurance company doesn’t realise how much past its best.’
‘If you have a good policy, the small print probably only states reasonable maintenance. You can’t legislate for a major storm like that. Besides, I presume you had the place surveyed when you bought it?’
‘Yes.’
Claudia looked comforted by his words, and that pleased him. A small repayment for his bad behaviour the other day, perhaps. He surprised himself by wishing he could do something about the shadows under her eyes so easily.
‘Anything I can do to help?’
She looked startled at the notion. ‘Thanks, but I’ve had it for the day.’
‘Have you taken a break?’
She thought about it. ‘A cuppa with Ted the roofer when he brought the quote. A salad sandwich that Libby brought over from the General Store.’ She smiled. ‘People are telepathic in Porthsteren. She guessed I hadn’t stopped for food.’
‘Then you need to eat now. I could take you for a pub meal?’
Good grief, Jason. Where the hell did that come from?
Claudia looked as shocked as he was. ‘Ah. That’s kind of you, but no thanks. I just need to get upstairs and take a shower.’ She made a face. ‘I would say I’d love a soak in a hot bath, but since my bathroom’s too small to contain one, a shower will have to do.’
Jason managed to refrain from inviting her to enjoy a hot bath back at his house. The poor woman so looked like she needed one, but he didn’t think either she or his daughter would take the invitation in the right spirit.
The Little Shop in Cornwall: A heartwarming and feel good beach read Page 7