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It looked so professional, like a real business. Hazel beamed with pride. Her marketing skills would definitely be able to help her get the word out. Perhaps she could start a social media page? Molly had a pretty sophisticated website for her gallery, and she’d offered to put some of the jewellery up for sale. With a dedicated base of customers, Hazel was grateful for the exposure. A few people had started milling about, so she headed to the back of the stall and stood behind the tables that displayed her jewellery. Josie walked towards her, two coffee cups in her hand.

“Any sales yet?” Josie asked as she handed a cup to Hazel.

“No, people only just started coming in. I’m so nervous! I hope this goes well. Thank you for this,” Hazel said as she took a sip from her cup.

“You’ll do great. When is Sam stopping by?”

“Hopefully in the next fifteen minutes. He had to get his friend from the bus station this morning.”

“Ooh, fresh meat,” Josie replied with a laugh. Hazel chuckled. Josie seemed so much more at ease since they’d visited the police station. It was nice to see her friend loosen up, and Hazel loved Josie’s wicked sense of humour.

Hazel saw Noah out of the corner of her eye, approaching her stall. “Hello, Noah,” she called loudly.

“Hi Noah,” Josie said with a smile.

“Hazel, Josie,” Noah nodded at them.

“How are you?” Josie asked.

“I’m good, thanks.” Noah turned to Hazel. “Is this your stall?”

“Yep,” Hazel replied proudly.

“You make it all yourself?” Noah continued.

“Yes, she’s very good. You should see her in jewellery class!” Josie interjected. They’d been going to every class, and Hazel was becoming quite competent. Josie went purely to hang out with her friend. She’d accepted she was terrible at jewellery making.

“Impressive. I need a gift for my Gran. She’s about to turn eighty. Oh, and something for my mother, it’s her birthday soon too.”

“Let’s start with your Mum then. Do you know what her favourite colour is?” Hazel moved towards the necklaces.

“She loves pink.”

Hazel selected a rose gold chain. It had a small rose quartz pendant with two smaller pieces of selenite on either side. “How about this?”

“Yeah, she’d love that. Done. That was easy.” Noah chuckled.

“I can wrap it up,” Josie offered, taking the necklace from Hazel.

Hazel felt a burst of pride. Her first sale. It felt nicer than she had expected.

“And for Gran? Eighty is a big deal.” Hazel moved her hands above the display as if she were letting fate decide what she would land on. She picked up a pair of turquoise earrings and a matching bracelet.

“She’ll love that. Gran wears a lot of blue, so I think these will go down well.”

“Excellent!” Hazel passed the set to Josie as she grabbed a gift bag and a ‘thank you for purchasing from my small business’ card.

Josie pulled out a wrapped parcel she’d found by the tissue paper. “Hey Hazel, did you forget to put this one out?” Josie held the parcel up.

Hazel was placing Noah’s first item into the bag when she turned to Josie. “No, that’s actually for you, to say thanks for helping me with the logo.” Hazel smiled. “Open it.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Josie replied as she began to unwrap the parcel. She pulled the rose quartz choker out of the tissue paper and gasped. “Oh, Hazel. This is gorgeous. I love it.”

Hazel beamed as she turned to help Josie put the choker on.

Josie approached the small mirror Hazel had placed by the earring display and swooned over her new necklace. She turned to show Hazel and Noah. Hazel gave her a satisfied smile.

Noah watched Josie, something unreadable in his sapphire eyes. He turned back to Hazel and pulled his card out of his wallet. He tapped his card against Hazel’s phone. She’d found an app that allowed her phone to take payments, instead of having to buy a machine.