Page 6 of The House on Waterfall Hill

She pulled her phone out of her pyjama pocket to show him some pictures of them and he couldn’t help smiling at how cute they were. ‘These are wonderful and I can see they’d be really popular.’

‘You really like them?’

‘Yes, they’re sweet, whimsical, magical. Do you sell a lot of these? Is this your job?’

‘They’re popular when I do craft shows but no, I don’t make a living from them. They’re just something fun for me to make on evenings or weekends. No, employment-wise, I’ve had too many jobs to count, nothing particularly fun or fulfilling. I worked in a bank, a hotel, a plastics factory, sold double glazing, worked in a bingo hall. Nothing glamorous but it’s paid the bills. I recently was made redundant from the marketing department of a company that sells and rents coffee vending machines.’

She looked at him as if expecting him to laugh at that but there wasn’t anything funny about someone working hard for a living. He had got ridiculously lucky to be able to spend his days doing what he loved. He wondered if he could do that for her.

‘What’s the dream?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Your dream job, what would you want to do more than anything?’

‘Oh, that’s not showy or glamorous either. Some people’s dreams are big, life-changing dreams but mine are quite small really.’

‘Go on.’

She finished her toast. ‘I spent a lot of time here as a child and, as much as I adored Lovegrove Bay, it was this place that meant the most to me. Watching people create their masterpieces brought me so much joy. It motivated me to make my own art: paintings, clay, jewellery making. I was never very good at it but I enjoyed the process. I don’t know if you know but mygrandad started Waterfall House so he could teach therapeutic art workshops to help people with brain injuries. I found that so inspiring.’

Luke nodded. ‘My mum was one of his students. She’d had a stroke too and she came over from Ireland to spend four weeks here doing one of his art workshops. It helped her so much, she came back a changed woman, she was so much happier and more confident.’

‘Oh, I didn’t realise.’

‘Your grandad touched a lot of people.’

She smiled at that. ‘So is that why you’re here?’

‘Yes, sort of. She came here for five different workshops, over a year or so. On the second one, she met a man called George and fell completely head over heels in love. She came home and signed up for a third workshop a few months later, which George was on as well. It was so good to see her smiling again, she had never been truly happy since my dad died. By the end of the fourth workshop she’d decided to move to England to be with George. She came home, sold the house and moved to Lovegrove Bay. Shortly after that she married him. I’d moved to London shortly before with work so when she moved here I visited her and my new stepfather often and I just fell in love with Lovegrove Bay. It’s such a lovely, quiet, friendly community and the views are pretty spectacular. When she died, a few months after George, I still visited often. This place captured my mum’s heart and imagination and almost all of her art was inspired by the town or the wonky tree. I think being here allowed me to feel closer to her. Eventually Imade the move down here more permanent. And when the opportunity came up for me to be an artist here I leapt at it. I’ve been here four years now and moved in here six months ago.’

‘I love that you’re now living in the same place that brought your mum so much joy and inspiration.’

‘Yeah, I do too. I will be sorry to leave it in many ways. But sorry, you were telling me about your dream job.’

‘Oh yes, well the art therapy is linked to that in a way. I never really understood the importance of art in physical recovery until I was older, although I could see how much the clients enjoyed it. A friend of mine, Tabitha, had serious brain trauma in a car accident and she says building things with Lego or making things with clay was basically her saviour during her recovery. She did a ton of research into it, I think that side of things helped her cope too. And I did too so I could find out the best way to help her. Art can help with manual dexterity and fine motor skills which are so important after an accident. But it also helps with neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s incredible ability to rewire itself where there is damage. After an accident, some people lose the ability to dress themselves or walk or talk or feed themselves because the part of their brain that takes care of those jobs has been damaged. Neuroplasticity means the brain can find another path around the damage to be able to do normal things like talk and walk or hold a mug of tea. And being creative can help unlock that. It’s also important for people’s mental health, toboost their confidence and help to express their emotions. That’s why something as simple as adult colouring books were so popular a few years ago. We need that creative outlet.’

She picked up a crumb and popped it in her mouth. ‘When I was little I wanted others to have that joy I’d seen from the artists here too, that feel-good feeling of making something. I used my pocket money to buy craft things like ribbons, buttons, quilling paper, paints, small canvases and sold them to my classmates at a small profit. When I was older I did the same sort of thing at craft fairs. I’d have a stand selling all the things you’d need to do different crafts, I’d sell kits for embroidery including the pattern and all the embroidery threads and buttons you’d need to complete it, mosaic kits, sock animal kits, plus lots of other crafty paraphernalia. But although the stall and kits were very popular, mostly I would only just about break even after paying for my table at the craft fair, so I gave up. But that’s the dream, that one day I’ll have my own shop selling craft paraphernalia to help spread that joy.’

An idea started bubbling in Luke’s mind. ‘You could do that here.’

‘I don’t think I know the first thing about running a business, not sure why my nan trusted me with saving the place. I have no idea what I’m going to do. There obviously needs to be some big changes.’

He frowned. ‘What do you mean? Why does it need to change?’

She stared at him in surprise. ‘Because it’s notmaking any money. Nan said there hasn’t been a single sale since Christmas. For anyone.’

‘Oh crap, I didn’t realise.’

‘She hasn’t spoken to you about this?’

‘No.’

‘But you must have noticed that you haven’t sold anything?’

‘I sell a lot of my sculptures online and I get commissions, so honestly I hadn’t really paid any attention to the fact that none of those sales had come from here.’

‘What about the others? Have you spoken to them?’

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