Chapter Twenty
Evie
Evie finished backstitching the seam of a gold flower girl dress. ‘There, what do you think?’ She held it up for Bonnie’s inspection.
‘I think the little girl will love it.’ Bonnie smiled at Evie’s handiwork. ‘I see you made a matching drawstring purse too.’
‘I thought she could keep a tissue in there, some lipstick if she’s allowed.’ She took the dress over to the rack to hang it with the two matching dresses for the older bridesmaids in the wedding party. ‘You know what little girls are like.’
‘We have a new commission already for the New Year,’ Bonnie announced. ‘The family saw our feature in the magazine.’
‘Well, I’m impressed.’ Evie took the pins from her pincushion wristband and dropped them into the tub on the table before screwing on the lid and returning it to the drawer in the sideboard.
‘Evie, I’d like you to take the lead when they come to see us in January.’
‘Sure, I’m happy to look after them.’
Bonnie stopped her before she could drop the strewn threads into the bin at the side of the room, the reel of thread into the drawer beside the pins. ‘No, I want you to manage this one. I want you to take it from discussion to design.’
‘Oh.’ Evie leant against the table. ‘I’m not sure I’m ready. I—’
‘Nonsense. You’re more than ready. I’ve seen the sketching you do after talking with brides and bridesmaids, and your vision for what they want is never far off. Sure, I’m the one who draws up the formal designs and patterns, but it’s nothing you’re not capable of. Relax.’ She smiled. ‘I’ll oversee it without interfering unless you’re completely off the mark.’
‘Thank you, Bonnie. You don’t know what this means to me.’
Bonnie put a hand on Evie’s shoulder. ‘I do and I’m happy to give you the chance to prove yourself. Granted, when Nicole brought you along the first day, I was doing her a very big favour, but that’s no longer the case. You’ve earned this with your natural ability, a talent that can’t be taught.’
Evie gulped at the high praise. ‘I won’t let you down.’ She brimmed with delight, barely able to think about the wait between now and mid-January when she could meet the bride and put her dreams onto paper and into fabric.
‘Right, time for a break.’ Bonnie pinned white tulle together around the mannequin she was using so it couldn’t slip off. ‘Coffee? I’m parched.’
‘Let me make them,’ Evie insisted, and as Bonnie went to get the post that had dropped through the letterbox onto the mat, Evie whistled her way through to the kitchen. She wanted to explain to Jack what it felt like to do a job you were so enraptured by that every day you appreciated being there. It wasn’t that every day was without stress or problems, but rather the hassles you faced were always worth it in the end. He needed a job where he felt that.
She took out two lilac and cream mugs and reached for the coffee pot.
‘What’s this?’ Bonnie asked from behind her.
Evie turned as she poured the second mug of coffee. ‘What’s what?’ When she saw the photographs Bonnie was holding in her hands, she yelped. She’d missed the cup entirely and instead poured the scalding hot liquid across her hand. Staring at the photograph on top, it was as though the naked Evie in that picture was laughing back at her: silly little Evie, thinking she could have a job, an apartment, make a fresh start. What a silly girl.
‘I think you’ve got some explaining to do, young lady.’ Bonnie dropped the photographs onto the table.
