‘I don’t know. It’s interesting what you say about the house being too big for you. I never felt like that about my place until Emma moved out to live with Killian. Now I feel like I’m rattling around on my own and it’s far too quiet.’
‘I did wonder about Emma,’ I said. ‘I haven’t seen her around for a while.’
‘They’ve bought an old barn and are doing the conversion themselves so, when she’s not working, she’s there. She was asking after you the other day and I realised I’d barely seen you. I’ve been helping them at the barn so I’ve not been around much. I wondered if you’d like to come over for a coffee at some point.’
‘That would be great. Any day except Wednesday works for me.’
A sudden gust of wind made us both shiver.
‘We’d better get out of this cold. I’ll find out when I’m needed at the barn over the next couple of weeks and give you a shout.’
Christian hopped back onto his bike and pedalled across the road to his house. Had he just asked me out? No! Of course not! He was a friendly neighbour offering a catch-up over a coffee. But we’d never done that and he had just admitted that he was rattling around in his house on his own which could suggest he was lonely. I shook my head, tutting to myself as I reached for the front door handle. Christian Wynterson was a handsome man and there was no way he’d ever be interested in me. Would he? As he wheeled his bike across his drive, he turned back and smiled and waved in my direction, causing the butterflies in my stomach to stir. I stared into the space he’d left, my brain racing. Was I attracted to Christian? Surely not! So why the butterflies? Closing the door behind me, I hugged myself and rubbed my arms to try and warm them up.
‘What do you think of Christian Wynterson?’ I asked Trevor as I released him from his cage. He shuffled along my forearm and looked up at me, as though waiting for me to continue. ‘Could you see us together?’
I glanced across the road towards Christian’s house and the butterflies stirred once more.
‘I don’t understand, Trevor. Why now?’ We’d had plenty of conversations before and I’d never reacted like that.
‘Pretty boy,’ he said, making me laugh.
‘Yes, he’s very handsome, but I’ve always thought that and it’s never affected me before.’
‘Come in!’ Trevor cawed. ‘Pretty boy, come in!’
‘Is that you giving me permission to let Christian into my life?’ I said, stroking Trevor’s plumage. I was joking but something about permission resonated with me. I gently placed Trevor in front of his mirror and wandered through to the dining room where my journal was open on the emotions section. Could that be the reason for the butterflies? That I’d given myself permission to feel love? The idea both thrilled and terrified me… but more of the former.
20
‘I have some news,’ Veronica said after we’d all arrived at Paulette’s house and gathered round the dining table with drinks. ‘Somegoodnews.’
‘We can have the shop?’ Milly asked.
‘We can. Ava and Graeme – her solicitor and former school friend – are now married so I arranged to meet them both. Ava couldn’t face going into another year battling with her sister so they agreed a price and, shortly before Christmas, Ava became the sole owner of the building. The plan was to reopen the gift shop but Ava’s mother’s about to start chemo so Ava’s putting things on hold to support her. They loved the idea of a pop-up shop and would be willing to start with a three-month lease and take it from there a month at a time.’
‘If it does well, we’d probably want to stay open for the Christmas trade,’ Paulette said. ‘Would Ava want to be back in before then?’
‘No. Her plans are on hold for at least a year so Christmas would be fine.’
Christmas? It seemed so far away but it would, of course, be the perfect time of year for sales. I could already picture my festive patchwork quilts, quilted advent calendars and placemats alongside pyrographySanta stop here!signs and crocheted Christmas decorations. Looking at the excited expressions around the table, I suspected I wasn’t the only one drifting into the season of festive crafts.
‘What if it did so brilliantly that you wanted a permanent shop?’ Saffy asked.
‘That might be jumping a little far ahead,’ Paulette said.
‘Perhaps,’ Veronica said, ‘but perhaps not. I think this idea of Saffy’s is wonderful and you never know. Some businesses fly and, with the right branding and marketing, there’s no reason why ours won’t be one of them.’
‘Can I show you something?’ Saffy asked, opening the laptop she’d had in front of her. ‘I know we haven’t talked about names yet so this is just for illustration, but I’ve been tinkering this week.’
She turned the laptop round, eliciting a collective gasp. Saffy had designed a logo and signage for a shop called Created With Love. The ‘T’ in ‘Created’ was formed from buttons, the ‘I’ in ‘With’ was a needle and the ‘L’ in ‘Love’ was made from mosaic letters. The three words were then captured within a heart, the outline of which was made from various crafting materials and equipment.
‘That’s stunning,’ I said, taking it in. ‘That must have taken you ages.’
Saffy shrugged. ‘Not really. I’ve always been quick at drawing.’
‘What do we think of Created With Love as a name?’ Veronica asked. ‘I personally think it’s lovely. Only three words but it says exactly what we do.’
Everyone agreed that Saffy had cracked the name and the logo. She insisted she was happy to ‘take notes’, but nobody had any suggestions. What she’d done was exceptional.
