Etta was clearly torn. ‘I like painting but I also like the beach.’
‘Well, once we’ve got the walls painted I was going to paint some sweets onto the wall,’ Immy said. ‘So you could help me with that. You could sit in the back room with Zara and help design the pictures of your favourite sweets and then help me paint them on the walls if you want. Then maybe this afternoon, you could go to the beach with Max.’
‘Yes! I want to do that.’
‘Great, well we need to get some breakfast first.’
‘Shall we have pancakes for breakfast?’ Xander said, sweeping Etta’s hair into a ponytail.
‘Yes! I love pancakes.’
Xander looked at Immy.
‘I do too. I normally have lemon and sugar on mine, what do you have on yours?’ Immy asked Etta.
‘Chocolate chips and raspberries.’
‘Oh nice.’
‘I actually managed to get a pistachio nut butter yesterday,’ Xander said.
Immy smiled with love for him, it was such a small thing but so very thoughtful. ‘That does sound amazing, thank you. I’ll definitely have to try that.’
Xander lifted Etta and carried her out the room, heading for the kitchen so she could help him make pancakes.
Immy shook her head. This man was going to ruin her.
By lunchtime, all the walls of the shop had been painted a lovely lilac colour. The newly cleaned and primed ceiling had been painted white and the skirting boards were well underway. Immy had given up trying to stop Xander from closing his shop to help her – no matter how hard she insisted he stay in his own shop to make the most of the Easter trade, he turned up anyway. Logan, Max, Archer, Quinn and Alex were also there to lend a hand.
Etta and Zara had sat in the community room for a few hours, taking the designing of the sweets very seriously. When they’d come out brandishing all their artwork, Quinn, who was a very talented artist, had very carefully started outlining them on the walls, with a little bit of artistic licence to improve some of the designs here and there. Immy didn’t think the girls would notice. The girls and Immy were now busily painting their beloved sweets on the walls. It didn’t matter if Etta and Zara wasn’t as neat as Immy was with her painting, it added to the childlike charm of the shop. Plus they were having a whale of a time.
Immy was really pleased with the progress of the shop but she was still worried about the electrics. There had been no word from Belinda about the electrician and, as it was Wednesday, she’d emailed her thismorning to give her a gentle nudge. She was particularly conscious that the Easter weekend was fast approaching and with Good Friday and Easter Monday as bank holidays, no tradesmen would be working on those days. If the electrician didn’t come today or tomorrow then they wouldn’t come out until at least Tuesday. And if the electrics needed any work doing, then the chances of getting that done before Easter Sunday were pretty much zero, no matter how formidable Belinda was. Immy had been going to ask Belinda to get someone to do the flooring tomorrow but Logan had said he could probably do that, with a little help. He and Xander were going to buy the wooden planks this afternoon for the hardwood floor.
She stepped back to admire the paintings of the sweets.
‘Do you like it?’ Etta said, paint smeared across her face, clothes, arms and even her legs. Luckily Xander had dressed her in some old clothes today because Immy didn’t fancy his chances of getting them clean.
‘I love it, it looks wonderful. You’ve done a great job. My customers will love it too. Zara, I love your fizzy cola bottle.’
Her niece beamed with pride. ‘Do you like it? The sugary bits were quite hard to do.’
‘You’ve absolutely nailed it. And Etta, I love this fried egg, the yolk looks really shiny.’
‘Quinn said to add a bit of white to it to give it a shiny look.’
‘It looks great.’
Immy looked around the room. It looked so much brighter and cheerful than it had a few hours before. She just had to hope that the two coats of primer and sealer would be enough to block the smoke stains from coming through the new paint and ruining the girls’ beautiful paintings.
‘Shall I go and get some lunch for everyone?’ Immy asked.
There were murmurs of appreciation around the room and she took a quick sandwich order from everyone.
‘Can I come?’ Etta said.
‘Of course. Xander, Etta’s coming with me.’
‘OK,’ Xander said, as he painted around a tricky corner.
