Page 49 of Kate and Clara's Curious Cornish Craft Shop
I think back to those times a couple of years ago. For the first time in my life I had understood how a celebrity might feel when one of their fans got a bit too close for comfort. It wasn’t nice, in fact it was downright scary. Yet whereas a celebrity stalker will usually be someone the famous person doesn’t know, in my case this had been my ex-boyfriend calling my friends at all hours of the day and night, constantly contacting me over social media and standing outside my house every evening.
‘He just wouldn’t accept that we’d split up,’ I tell a concerned-looking Anita. ‘He pestered everyone who knew me and he’d hang around my house. The last straw was when he tried to meet Molly after school one day. He waited outside her school gates, for heaven’s sake! So it was then I had to get the police involved.’
‘Restraining order?’ Anita asks, sounding like she’s watched one too many American cop shows.
‘No, it didn’t get that far. They simply warned him off, and he seemed to listen then, but he still lived quite close to us and so did his family and friends. There were too many reminders and I always felt like we might bump into each other, so I made the decision to move away with Molly. I didn’t know at the time it would be quite so far away as here, but when the opportunity of the shop came up I took it. As you know it had always been my dream to have a shop selling my own designs.’
‘So, do you think this is him trying to get in touch again?’ Anita asks, gesturing to the flowers.
‘I don’t know. I hope not, not now. I hoped that part of my life was over with. I don’t want to go back and have to start dealing with him again.’ I’m on the verge of crying, so Anita puts a soothing arm around my shoulder.
‘I’m sure you won’t, my dear, and if he does turn up here, Sebastian and I will see him off for you. Sebastian can be quite fierce at times if he wants to be.’
‘Oh, I know!’ I say, blinking back my tears. ‘And I bet you can be too if pushed.’
‘Anita!’ Molly says, coming back into the shop again carrying a half-empty plate. ‘Your baking, it’s just too good! You could easily rival The Blue Canary if you wanted to open your own bakery.’
‘That’s kind of you, my dear,’ Anita says, dropping her arm from my shoulders, ‘but I prefer to keep my baking small and personal so only my friends and family can enjoy it.’
‘Then I for one am glad we’re a part of your family,’ Molly says, hugging her.
‘And so am I,’ I say, smiling at Anita over Molly’s shoulder. ‘Very glad indeed.’
Seventeen
‘Did you get another one?’ I ask breathlessly into my phone, as I stand in the corner of the basement of the shop trying to be as quiet as possible.
‘Sure did!’ Jack replies. ‘Does it look like Harbour Street to you?’
‘Mine looks like a shop, but I guess it could be in Harbour Street.’
‘When shall we compare them?’
‘I’m supposed to be going to see Lou later this afternoon, but I could pop in afterwards. Are you working today?’
‘I work every day. I don’t have quite as many staff as you!’
‘I have one more than you, that’s all. You’ll need to take on someone else!’
‘My son Ben is coming soon,’ Jack says, and I can hear the delight in his voice as he tells me. ‘Maybe I can take an odd day off then. He’s going to work in the shop in his summer holidays before he goes back to uni in October.’
‘That’s wonderful news,’ I tell him. ‘It will be good for you to spend some time together.’
‘I hope so. It’s the longest he’ll have stayed with me. I guess the lure of a summer by the sea has swayed him a fair bit. Anyway, back to these pictures – what time are you going to see Lou?’
‘Four thirty. I could probably be with you around five thirty depending on how it goes?’
‘Five thirty is fine. If you get here earlier Bronte can close up the shop. Then you can have me all to yourself.’
‘Great …’ I suddenly feel embarrassed at Jack’s choice of words.
‘Could you sound any less enthusiastic?’ Jack says lightly, and I know I’ve probably dented his pride.
‘Sorry, I wasn’t talking to you,’ I pretend. ‘I was talking to Sebastian. He popped his head around the door to ask me something about a product. Yes, Sebastian that’s fine,’ I say, taking my phone away from my mouth a little as though I’m talking to someone across the room. ‘Now, Jack, what were you saying?’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Jack says quickly. ‘You’re obviously busy. I’ll see you later then?’
‘Yes, see you later.’
