Page 17 of Cosy & Chill
Business Planning
Finn felt bereft when Mrs Tienfield locked the door to the alleyway. He’d been convinced that the shop was perfect for him when he’d only seen it from the outside. Now that he’d spent an hour and a half inspecting every room, that conviction had grown even stronger.
The house had lain empty for months, but the moment Finn had stepped inside, it had felt like more than a place to display his yarn stash and share his love of knitting. It had felt like home.
What he loved most was how quiet and peaceful the house was.
He could see himself creating a studio in one of the two attic bedrooms. A space with a big table where he could draw and spread out his patterns. Room for his laptop to run his online store, though he might actually do that from the downstairs office. A huge comfortable chair, where he could sit and knit.
He could spend a little of his savings on a decent sound system. Or he could just soak up the silence, safe in the knowledge that nobody would bang on his door and barge in to rant at him. He could work without having to listen to his parents arguing, worried that, one day, his father would take his anger one step too far.
Finn thought that if he didn’t enjoy knitting so much, he might have moved out of his parents’ house a long time ago. He’d always liked his solitude, hadn’t minded spending his time in his room so he wouldn’t run across his father. He’d only started to hide out in the Crown & Anchor when his father had begun to bring his anger into Finn’s room.
After seeing Leo as excited about the store as he was, Finn couldn’t wait to move in. His parents didn’t want him in their lives. His mother ignored him; his father grew angry the moment he caught sight of him. Was that reason enough to take such a leap? To rent a store and a home with a man he’d just met? Was it fair to Leo?
He worried that he was keener to move away from his old life than he was to move into his new one, but when he caught sight of the smile on Leo’s face, the thought vanished.
They stood on the pavement outside an empty shop, grinning like idiots, until Leo broke the spell.
“Let’s head to the pub,” he said. “I know it’s early, but we have a lot to discuss.”
Finn didn’t argue. He had no desire to return home and let his parents spoil his good mood. He’d picked up a yarn delivery from the post office that morning and he had needles in his bag. Those added up to him not feeling guilty for spending the rest of the day in the Crown & Anchor. He could work there better than he could at home these days, and he had Leo’s company and a new project to get excited about.
In the same way that Finn carried yarn and needles in his bag, Leo carried notebooks and pens. An hour after the Crown & Anchor had opened for business, he’d already filled two pages with scribbles while Finn worked on a chunky cream-coloured scarf.
“Will you make me a scarf like this one?” Leo asked.
Finn immediately shook his head. “Wrong colour for you. You want deeper shades to set off your hair. Navy, indigo, garnet, wine, forest green, charcoal, slate… I’ll happily make you any number of scarves as well as hats and gloves. Especially if you’re standing around in the cold selling ice cream. Are you keeping your market stall?”
“I think I should, for the moment. It will help me promote the shop. You know, telling everyone that they can find me in the store when they want tasty ice cream when it isn’t market day. Then they come in and see all your gorgeous knits…”
“How do you know my stuff’s gorgeous?” Finn teased. “It could be all holes and dropped stitches.”
“Yeah, right. I saw the hat you made yesterday, and this scarf is growing at an alarming rate and looks like something people would fight over. Besides… you’ve got a customer review! Mrs Tienfield said you produce quality work.”
Finn’s face burned and he didn’t look up.
Leo touched his arm. “Don’t hide. You should be proud of your work.”
“It’s not that. Iamproud of my work. It’s just… I’m embarrassed, too. It’s difficult to ignore when you’re told ten times a day that knitting is a job no real man would be seen dead doing.”
“Is that why you don’t list your name on your Etsy store?”
“Part of it. I had my name on the store when I started, but I got flak from other business owners. Women, you know? Telling me to get out of their playground.”
“What? That’s—” Leo looked appalled.
“Annoying. Fortunately, I’ve had just as many supportive messages as I had negative and threatening ones. The weird thing is, I can get a thousand positive comments and thank you notes, and I read them all and forget them. But as soon as I get one negative one, that’s all I can think about for weeks.” He shrugged. “I really wish I could stick with the good stuff, but…. I suppose I do that every day. It has to balance itself out somehow.”
“Maybe,” Leo conceded. “I’ve been lucky. I don’t get much negative feedback. Ice cream isn’t—”
“Don’t say it isn’t something that people get excited about. I know they do.”
“They do, but more in theory than practice. I’ve seen the endless debates about the best flavour and whatnot, but when I’m manning my stall, people will either buy an ice cream or they won’t. Even if they don’t like it, it’s gone in five minutes, and they move on. The pieces you create are more permanent… or have more emotion attached, like that christening gown Mrs Tienfield talked about.”
Finn hadn’t considered it that way.
They sat in silence until Leo nudged him with his knee. “Come on, spit it out. What’s really bothering you?”
