‘All the maps will be destroyed too,’ Immy said. ‘They took a while to arrive when I ordered them from the printers.’
‘Well, do you have the original file saved on your computer?’
‘Yes, but it was printed on glossy coloured paper.’
‘You email me the map and I’ll make sure we have enough copies printed for the big day. Xander, I presume we can still rely on you for the chocolate eggs?’
‘Yes, I have that in hand.’
‘As for the hunt, I think we can still run it in some capacity even if the shop isn’t ready,’ Immy said.
‘The shop will be ready,’ Belinda said.
‘We only have a week.’
‘Providing the building inspector says it’s safe to return to, it will be ready, I’ll make sure of that. We have been advertising the Easter egg hunt for the last six weeks and we’ve had hundreds of people saying they are coming, not just locals, plus there’ll be tourists here for the Easter holidays. The sweet shop is the focal point forthe hunt. All the posters say to go there to collect the maps and clues. The Easter egg hunt is important for the tourism of the town – people will go to the shops, pubs, café and restaurants after completing the hunt – but it also raises thousands of pounds for charity every year. It has to go ahead. The shop will be ready, you mark my words.’
‘Well if it isn’t I’m sure we could set up a table out the front,’ Immy tried. A week wasn’t anywhere near enough to fix the shop. Belinda might be a force to be reckoned with but even she couldn’t work miracles.
‘Or we can run it from my shop,’ Xander offered.
‘You leave it with me, I’ll be in touch,’ Belinda said, simply not taking defeat as any kind of answer.
With that she swept from the room, still tapping away furiously on her tablet.
Immy turned to Xander in shock. ‘We can’t get the shop finished in a week.’
‘I don’t know. Once Belinda puts her mind to something, there’s no stopping her.’
CHAPTER FIVE
Immy closed down Xander’s laptop and yawned. She just could not shake this weariness today. As Xander pointed out, she’d had a hell of a night the evening before, her body going through a complete emotional rollercoaster, so it was no wonder she felt so tired today.
Xander had popped out to the shops and she had spent some time trying to order everything she would need for the Easter egg hunt again. New cardboard bunny ears, all the Easter sweets. She’d emailed over the map and clues to Belinda so she could get it printed out. There was so much to organise which had already been meticulously planned weeks or months before but had sadly now gone up in smoke, quite literally. And then there was the shop itself. Even if they got the go-ahead to start clearing it out and rebuilding and redecorating, the chances of getting all of that done by the weekend were very remote. She hated the thought that the Easteregg hunt wouldn’t be able to go ahead. She’d also had to email all the community groups to let them know that for the foreseeable future they wouldn’t be able to hold their weekly meetings in her shop too. She felt like she was letting a lot of people down, even though none of it was her fault.
Her thoughts turned to Xander, again, because she couldn’t stop thinking about him. Was she really going to spend another night in his bed, cuddled up with him, but then insist they were just friends during the day? He was being really sweet and attentive right now and she knew she could fall for him very easily. Was she cutting her nose off to spite her face by refusing to take it any further with him? They got on well, had unbelievable chemistry and were having a baby together. Didn’t she owe it to herself to give them another chance?
Suddenly the doorbell rang and Immy climbed off the sofa and went to the intercom to see who it was. She could see Lizzie and Diya outside, waving almost manically at the camera. She pressed the buzzer to let them up before thinking about it. Would Xander be mad that she’d invited people into his home, even if they weren’t exactly strangers. It was too late now because she could hear them coming up the stairs.
She opened the door to let them in.
‘Hello my love, we are so sorry to hear about your shop,’ Lizzie said, giving Immy a hug.
‘If there’s anything we can do please let us know,’ Diya said, hugging her too.
‘Thank you and I’m sorry that you won’t be able to hold your Knit ’n’ Natter group for a few weeks at least – or months if the insurance company has anything to do with it.’
‘Oh, don’t you worry about that,’ Diya said. ‘We can meet at each other’s houses instead. We’ll miss your coffee and cake of course but we can make do in the meantime. We know you had so many wonderful quirky decorations around the shop, all those sweet-based knick-knacks that you’d collected over the years, and I know those aren’t the worst things to lose, but we were talking about how we could help once you’re back on your feet. We’ve decided we’re going to knit you some decorations to hang up in your shop. Mandy is going to knit you an oversized fizzy cola bottle, I’m going to crochet one of those jelly fried eggs you get in the pick ’n’ mix. Mary has volunteered to knit a fizzy snake and Stephen is going to knit one of those white chocolate buttons with sprinkles on it.’
‘A jazzie,’ Immy said.
‘Yes, that’s it. I think Maz is going to knit a large jelly strawberry too. At least then once the shop is painted, you’ll have some decorations to hang in your shop. Temporarily of course. We know you’ll want to start collecting all those lovely sweet-themed ornaments again.’
‘That’s a lovely idea, thank you so much,’ Immy said, touched that they would go to so much trouble for her.
Lizzie waved it away. ‘No problem at all, you’vealways been so kind to us and the other community groups letting us use your room. There is a definite shortage of space round here to do these things. Is there much damage to the shop?’
‘It’s hard to tell at this stage. We can’t go in to check the damage until a building inspector can assess the shop and the structure of the building to make sure it’s safe. From what I can see, most of the damage is at the back of the shop, near the till. The door to the spare room where you have your meetings was closed so with any luck that would have been protected somewhat.’
