Page 14 of One Perfect Day in Lovely Bay
‘You’ll be out and about learning so many new skills.’
Cally blinked. ‘True. There is that side of it.’
‘What about the online business? That sounds exciting.'
‘There’s loads to do – improving the website; apparently, Birdie wants to offer online consultations and create educational content. From what she’s told me, there’s a long list of jobs.’
‘Sounds like there’s a lot of scope.’
Cally nodded. ‘There is, I suppose.’
‘Let's be honest, Cal – you've never been one to shy away from a challenge. You’re the person who has been working three jobs for ages and doing it well.’
Cally frowned and turned her palms upwards. ‘They’re all easy jobs, though.’
‘Pah! Said no one ever. Do you really think it’s easy to juggle all that? Only you could say that! I’ve heard it all now. It’s not easy to do three jobs, plus you get up at the crack of dawn for one of them.’
‘Hmm. Depends which way you look at it.’
‘Also, remember when you first came to Lovely? You didn't know a soul, had no idea what you were doing, and look at you now. When you try new opportunities, you open doors. Am I right, or am I right? I’m right. I mean, the Henry-Hicks thing alone.'
Cally laughed and batted her hand, but it was true – shehadcome a long way since her early days in Lovely Bay. She'd built a life, found a nice little community, and settled in in ways she couldn’t have imagined. She straightened in her chair and wrinkled her nose. 'You're right. I did do that. I didn’t know anyone when I came here to work that first shift, and now I live here, and not only that, but I love it.’
'You certainly did,' Eloise agreed.
‘Hmm.’
‘I reckon what you need to do is decide whether or not this is something youwantto do. Not just something you think you should do or something you're considering because Birdie offered it. But something youwant, if you see what I mean. You had enough of doing that in your old life and caring. Otherwise, you might as well continue what you’re doing anyway...’
Cally paused. ‘It might be really good for me in one way and in another way, it may stop me from going out in the world.’
‘It will all sort itself out.'
‘I guess so. I think I’ll just ponder on it. Birdie said she’s in no rush.’
‘Good idea. The universe will give you a sign. I’ve no doubt about that.’
What Cally nor Eloise knew was that the universe was already cooking up a few little bumps for our Cally. Just to keep her on her toes.
8
Cally had spent the morning deep-cleaning the flat. It had been well overdue and had moved from something she had to do to whizzing up to the top of her list as a priority. Cleaning wasn’t her most profound joy in life, however, needs must, and no one else was going to do it. Even though the flat was small, with Cally working three jobs and not having a whole lot of time on her hands, it had become fairly untidy and in need of a good top-to-bottom deep clean. Truth be told, she’d been procrastinating about it for far too long.
Once she’d knuckled down and got on with it, she had, in fact, quite enjoyed getting stuck in. The vacuuming, dusting, cleaning, bleaching, and polishing of the place to within an inch of its life and clearing out two bags for the charity shop had performed some sort of ritual cleansing that had been a long time coming. As she looked at the two sacks for the charity shop by the front door, it amazed her how, in not that long at all, and despite having a meagre budget for most things, she had managed to accumulate so much stuff. She’d still somehow acquired a multitude of this and that to clutter up her life. Easily done.
Just as she was putting the cleaning materials back under the sink and thinking about either walking up to the manor or popping to the library, her phone pinged with a text from Lovely Coats shop to say that her coat was ready. After a little whoop and more than pleased, with a spring in her step, she left the flat, took the steep stairs down to the ground floor, went through the deli onto the High Street, and made her way through Lovely.
On her way to the shop, every other person she passed wore a Lovely coat. Cally couldn’t quite believe that she was going to have one of her own. Of course, she’d worn one of the much-coveted coats more than a few times before. Logan’s mum had even given her one, but it was a bit big, and it wasn’t quite the same as joining the crew of locals who had their own made-to-measure coat for life. Now, she was about to join the ranks.
She smiled as she got to the shop and peered in the window. As before, she was greeted with reams and reams of fabric, little glowing lamps everywhere, old-fashioned cubby holes neatly stacked with dressmaking tools, and the vintage shop counters. Stepping in, Molly, the owner, stood on the far side beside a mannequin, pinning a collar on a coat. She looked over her shoulder and smiled. ‘Afternoon, our Cally. That was quick! How are you?’
‘Good, thanks. I thought I'd come right away to collect it, seeing as I have a day off today. Thank you for doing my coat so quickly. I’m so excited!’
‘You said you wanted to take it to Scotland with you, so we got our skates on.’
‘Fab. It will be good to have it with me. Thanks for doing that. I appreciate it.’
Molly smiled and put down her pins and scissors on the cutting table. 'Well, let's not keep you waiting then. Your coat's just in the back. Won’t be a minute.'
