Page 70 of The Wedding Dress Repair Shop
‘They’re very jolly, though,’ said Simon. ‘I have an indoor water feature I never intended installing, as well as a large carved wooden head of Buddha and a set of small Mexican pottery bowls, decorated with cactus plants.’
‘You have been warned,’ Thom said to me gravely. He was so close on the window seat that his arm brushed mine when he turned to speak to me and I felt a current run between us, like a sudden small electric shock … which was odd. Thom clearly hadn’t felt it, however, for he was now teasing Pearl.
‘In your own way, you are almost as bad as Ginny at making sales, Pearl. Once you start to browse her bookshelves, Garland, you’ve had it.’
‘Books really sell themselves,’ Pearl said, unruffled. ‘I might just show a customer whose tastes I know one or two books I think they’d be particularly interested in.’
‘I’m dying to see what you’ve got, especially among the Victorian novels in the back room,’ I said. ‘And there was a big glossy book in the window about Venetian masks that looked interesting … but I expect it’s expensive, so I’ll put off looking at that one, in the hope someone else buys it first and removes the temptation.’
‘I’ve still got it and it’sveryreasonably priced, really. Inexcellent condition, too,’ said Pearl enticingly. ‘Shall I put it to one side for you?’
‘No, don’t bother,’ I said hastily. ‘I’ll take a look at it when I come in, if it’s still there, but it’s not really my field.’
‘Here’s Honey and Viv,’ said Simon, half-turning, and I saw Honey’s tall, slim figure cutting a path through the crowded room, with Viv following in her wake.
They managed to squeeze on to the end of the next table and Derek, who was seated on the other side of Baz, handed them a couple of menus. Then he dealt the rest out between us, like a giant deck of cards.
‘We’d better decide what we want. Not that it’s difficult,’ he added to me. ‘There’s always a choice of two dishes, one with meat and the other fish or seafood.’
‘The great vegetarian and vegan wave hasn’t exactly hit the Sun in Splendour yet,’ said Baz. ‘The nearest they get to it is the vegetarian-friendly ploughman’s lunch, which they serve all day.’
‘The seafood ravioli sounds good to me,’ I said, scanning the menu. ‘I don’t eat a lot of meat now, and mostly chicken when I do, but I like to know it had a happy life first.’
Thom grinned at me. ‘We’ll have to find a local source where we can be sure the hens have a fun time.’
Viv leaned over and whispered something inaudible to Honey, who said, ‘Viv says the chicken we had last Monday was organic and free range.’
‘I often wonder what aninorganicchicken would look like,’ Derek mused.
‘Inedible, I should think,’ said Simon, grinning.
‘Ginny probably knows who has the happiest hens,’ Pearl suggested. ‘She’s supposed to be a vegan, but you often find her here, tucking into a ploughman’s, or in the teashop on the square, having a full cream tea after her shop shuts.’
‘Andshe drinks coffee with ordinary milk in it, so at best she’s a deluded vegetarian,’ pointed out Derek.
‘I’ll eat pretty much anything,’ Honey said. ‘Especially if Viv’s cooked it. She’s the best cook ever!’
Viv went pink to the roots of her soft brown hair, reminding me again of the portrait of Charlotte Brontë, with her intelligent, resolute but sweet expression, and she murmured something only Honey could hear.
We ordered our food, which, when it came, was excellent, as was the tiramisu and coffee that followed. We paid our dinner the compliment of eating mostly in appreciative silence, but over the coffee and amaretti biscuits, the talk was wide ranging and interesting.
I learned quite a bit about the history of the area and the local sights, some of which I’d already heard mentioned. I told them about the Rev. Jo-Jo’s suggestion that I go and look at her church in Jericho’s End one day.
‘It’s not reallyinJericho’s End, which is a tiny village up a narrow valley. The church is ancient and perched high up on a hill overlooking it,’ said Simon.
‘I go to St Gabriel’s for the Sunday morning service every week,’ Pearl said. ‘It has a lovely atmosphere and Jo-Jo’s sermons are often quite lively! Simon kindly drives me up there, though I’m sure church services aren’t really his thing.’
‘Oh, I don’t mind,’ he said amiably. ‘It’s very calming, somehow, and you never know – one day the goat might turn into a sheep.’
‘I haven’t noticed any sign of a halo forming yet,’ said Pearl, but she smiled at him.
Rosa-May
The journey was long, cold and uncomfortable, and I think I would have perished from hunger had it not been for the kindness of the countrywoman seated next to me, who shared her provisions.
But what joy it was when finally I fell into dear Sara’s arms! She looked even more forbidding than I recalled from my last sight of her, but I knew her kind heart and deep attachment to me.
I was allotted a small attic room next to Sara’s, but had little time to recover from the journey, for I learned that my interview with Mr Blake was to be the very next morning!
