Page 105 of The Wedding Dress Repair Shop
‘You’ve got it all worked out!’ I said. ‘I was afraid I’d have to do most of the running of the museum too, and I’ve had no experience of that kind of thing at all.’
‘Your expertise is better directed elsewhere, Garland, although, I think I mentioned, you may have to take any booked parties round the museum.’
‘I don’t mind that; I’m always happy to talk about costume.’
I let them peek into my workroom and explained I would leave the door ajar if I was working in there when the museum was open, so I’d be handy if they wanted me. Then we went on a tour of the rest of the museum, Derek making notes of any suggestions, like a strong lamp for the desk in the foyer, which would be in the darker area by the stairs.
‘And then I’ll need to stock up the big cupboard next to the toilet with cleaning materials, loo paper and paper towels,’ Derek said. ‘And I fancy one of those big floor polishing machines.’
‘If that floats your boat, you can have one!’ Honey told him.
‘We need a well-stocked first-aid cupboard in the staff room,’ said Kay. ‘Ella and I have both done basic first-aid courses.’
‘We’ll consult on that one,’ Derek promised, making another note and putting a big ring round it.
When we’d run out of ideas, we went through the passage to Pelican House, where Viv produced tea, coffee and some of her delicious madeleines.
‘So, we’re all fine with an opening day of October thefifteenth?’ Honey said, and of course we all agreed, which was just as well, seeing she’d already made her mind up to it!
‘We’ll have a training day when the till has arrived and everything is in place, but you’ll all have keys to the museum before that, because of setting up the shop and reception desk and, in Derek’s case, playing with the humidity controls and counting his rolls of loo paper.’
‘Like a squirrel counts nuts,’ he said with a grin.
By the time we parted, I think we were all feeling equally excited about the opening day, though in my case it was slightly tempered by the thought of all the painstaking work still to be done.
It was too late to start anything new before lunch, and anyway, itwasofficially my half-day, so I locked up and went back into the cottage, where I found Golightly fast asleep in his cardboard box in the utility room, snoring wheezily. Curled up there, he looked quite cute in a slightly moth-eaten kind of way …
*
I’d just finished washing up after lunch when Thom came round and said he was going to take Jester on a woodland walk and invited me to go with them.
‘It’s only a couple of miles away and you’ll get to see a bit more of the countryside.’
‘All right,’ I said, thinking a change of scene and some exercise sounded good, and soon we were heading out of Great Mumming in a new direction, with Jester panting excitedly in the rear seat.
We parked near a pub with the intriguing name of the Screaming Skull – apparently some local legend – before hiking up through some ancient and quite overgrown woodland,coming out into a flat, open area where there were the ruins of a small Roman bathhouse, the pool still filled with water and open to the skies.
Thom said you could pay to go in and swim in it, if you wanted to, and therewerelittle wooden changing huts.
‘I think I’ll give it a miss till next summer,’ I said with a shiver.
‘People swim in there all year round – it’s always warmer than you expect.’
‘I’ll take your word for it,’ I said, and we carried on up the path to the village of Halfhidden, where we had coffee and toasted teacakes at a teashop with an open Victorian glass veranda, before hiking back down again.
It had been a really nice, relaxing trip. While we hadn’t talked much, our silences had been amicable.
Pearl had texted me while we were having tea and, when I’d told her I was in Halfhidden with Thom, she invited us both to supper that evening, to be followed by a film.
‘I suspect Simon invited himself and we’re playing the role of double gooseberries,’ Thom said.
‘Probably, but I expect it will be fun – and another evening when I don’t have to strain my cooking repertoire!’
‘It’ll be fun as long as we don’t let Pearl choose the film, because she goes for the ones with sad endings and I’ve had enough of those.’
‘Me too. I’ll take a favourite romcom and subvert her,’ I said.
*
