Page 56 of The House on Waterfall Hill

‘No, this isn’t right.’

‘It’s my money and I can spend it however I want. I want this to work and the café and the gift shop are a huge important part of that. Use the money to buy new stock or treat yourself to a sexy pirate costume for Saturday.’

She smiled and hugged him. ‘Thank you.’

‘You’re very welcome.’

‘I will pay you back.’

‘I know.’

‘I just feel so happy right now. This is a new start for me, living here, working in my own gift shop. I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life when I came down here and now I feel like I’ve found where I belong.’

Luke smiled and kissed her forehead. He was happy he could do that for her but he couldn’t help feeling desperately sad that in a few weeks she might be embracing this new start without him.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Flick watched the wonky tree as it was finally hauled back into its rightful place the next day. It had taken a while to get the ropes in the right place for the JCB to pull it back to an upright position. Several men from the town had helped with ropes and chains around different parts of the tree. They had to be careful so as not to break any branches in the process and there had been more supporting cables attached and bolted into the ground. Once they were done pouring concrete around the roots, the tree wouldn’t be going anywhere.

Flick smirked that Ethel was doing a Facebook live to all the tree’s followers showing the progress and just how their money was being spent. The tree had a lot more followers than the studios, although Audrey had barely posted on any kind of social media, something Flick was determined would change once they were open.

Several of the tree’s followers were busily tidyingup the garden and painting the outside of the house and it already looked a million times better than it did before.

As it was going to be a while until they were completely finished with the tree and the concrete was dry enough to get near it and decorate it, Flick decided to go down to the town and see about getting a pirate costume for the festival the next day.

The sun was shining brightly as she walked down the hill towards the harbour and beach and lots of people were sitting on benches or on the grass eating ice creams. There was a large English setter puppy running around inside a fountain, splashing about, smile on his face, clearly having the time of his life as its stressed-out owner was trying to catch it. Children were chasing each other with water pistols, there was even a yoga class taking place on the village green.

All the brightly coloured houses and shops were decorated for the pirate festival, some with hundreds of parrots, some with skeletons, some just with pirate flags. The town looked great.

She opened the door to the costume shop and stepped inside. This place was huge, there were rails and rails stuffed with every costume imaginable. Every superhero, every character from all the popular films and TV shows, every animal you could think of. She could go as an astronaut, Superman, an elephant or a block of cheese if she wanted. But the one thing she couldn’t see was any pirate costumes.

A man came hurrying out of the back, carrying whatlooked like Cleopatra’s famous black wig. ‘Oh hello, can I help you?’

‘Yes, I was looking for something to wear to pirate day?’

‘Oh no, we are fresh out of pirate gear. All those were reserved weeks ago. I tell people every year to book ahead, and every year I get people turn up the day before hoping to get a pirate costume only to be disappointed.’

‘Yeah, Luke said that might be the case. I only arrived here a week ago so I didn’t know about the pirate festival.’

‘Not to worry, we’ll find you something suitable,’ the man said, putting the wig down carefully on a mannequin’s head that was sitting near the till. ‘How about a zombie? Lots of people go as ghost pirates so a zombie wouldn’t be too far removed from that.’

‘Mmm, that wasn’t really what I was looking for.’

‘Right, OK, although beggars can’t be choosers.’

‘No, maybe I can have a look around to see if anything inspires me.’

‘Knock yourself out,’ the man said, disappearing out the back.

Flick started walking around, flicking through the different outfits to see if anything was remotely suitable. She could go as a witch or an elf or a goblin, a policewoman, a fire fighter, a pilot… The possibilities were endless but none of them seemed appropriate.

Then suddenly she saw it. She pulled it out andlooked at it and couldn’t help but smile. Luke was going to love this.

Flick walked back out to the wonky tree after stowing her costume safely in her bedroom. The tree looked great back in its rightful spot.

Rose had already set her painted stones into the concrete, depicting images of leaves and flowers intermingled with stones painted with various arts and crafts. It was the perfect symbol of Wonky Tree Studios.

Luke was already carving patterns and pictures in the tree when Flick arrived and Katherine was adding tiny squares of glass and tile into the cracks, making it look like there was a forgotten mosaic peeping out from inside the tree. Alex, Quinn, Ethel and Aidan were already hanging decorations onto the tree’s branches in various mediums. Aidan’s had clay leaves and flowers, Ethel had embroidered hers, Alex had made hers out of paper and put them inside plastic baubles, while Quinn was attaching little monsters made from cutlery to the branches with cable ties.

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