by Jane Linfoot
It wasn’t as if Ollie had done anything as extreme as proposing marriage, and it hadn’t come totally from out of the blue, but it all went horribly pear shaped all the same. What began with hints that he was thinking about her differently, had blown up into a full on explosion one Friday night, as she was leaving Corks Bar with a guy she didn’t really give a fig about. The next thing he was saying was he couldn’t bear to watch her with other guys any more, and if she didn’t want to go out with him, and only him, he was going to have to leave. For Luce, being pushed into a corner only made her more determined not to bend. If Luce had been like Jules, and not over reacted, but instead tried to overcome her fears and work something out with someone she cared a lot about, the outcome might have been very different. Because in the end she’d lost Ollie anyway. And although she’d been desperate to prove to herself she didn’t give a damn, now she was just left kicking herself. Very hard.
Jules went on quickly. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I am happy about getting married really, I just hate being the centre of attention, and it’s all a bit last minute, I haven’t even got an engagement ring yet. Joe’s brother and his wife live in the states, so the ceremony’s in Las Vegas. I’m hoping it won’t be too brash. It’s all tied in with the business Joe and his brother are doing together.’
‘I’m sure a Vegas wedding can be tasteful.’ Luce tapped her thumb nail on her teeth, sounding a lot more certain of that than she was, and desperately burying thoughts of Ollie back where they belonged. If she was in Jules’ place what would she want to wear? ‘Lots of brides are going for short dresses now, how would you feel about that? Maybe something with an American swing, like the dresses in Grease?’
Jules’ face lit up. ‘It was seeing those lovely fifties dresses on the rail downstairs that made me finally book in to see you. I’ve noticed them every time we’ve passed on the way to our new shop. Joe’s taken the lease on the quick tan place just along the road, do you know the one I mean?’
Luce felt her spine stiffen, and her mouth dropped open. Joe who liked vintage? Wasn’t it Joe on Ollie’s email? That unexpected email from Ollie that had made her almost drop her phone, and sent her heart leaping right to the other side of the room. Joe, opening a “We heart home” store.
‘Err…’ Luce tried to act casual. ‘You mean the place near the Italian, with brown paper on the window?’
The future Mrs “Heart your retro home – watch this space” was the first customer in her new bridal room? What were the chances of that? All Luce could think was OMG.
‘That’s the one. Joe’s been negotiating for months, but he finally got the keys this week. It’s a brilliant area for antique shops isn’t it, it’s getting quite a name for itself.’
Funny how they’d noticed that too. Not.
‘Yes. It certainly is…Great.’ Luce faltered. So what now? Should she pump Jules for all she was worth, or was it more professional to just get on with the dress. ‘Sounds like we’ll be neighbours.’ Luce cringed, and threw out a grin. What a corny thing to say. She hurried on. ‘You know, if it was me getting married in Vegas, I’d go for a dress like the ones downstairs. I could make you one up in whatever fabric you like, maybe in white or cream. We could always add in a really special belt.’
She’d blurted it out, to fill the space and move the job on, and only then remembered she should never be imposing her own views on her brides. She always tried to let them take the lead. It wasn’t even as if what Luce was saying were true, because if Luce was actually in Jules’ shoes, well, frankly, you wouldn’t see her heels for dust. Talk about runaway brides. If it were Luce, she would be legging it faster than the speed of light.
‘Wow, that’s a fab idea.’ Jules, suddenly brighter, sat up straight. ‘I love those off the shoulder necklines. One of those would be lovely, and white cotton would be great. We were in the states recently checking out the vintage American things we’re going to be importing for the shop here.’
Vintage American. Two words that made Luce’s heart plummet. A uniquely different shop was a lot worse than more of the same.
Luce blurted out the first thing that came into her head. ‘Wow, GI Joe is having his own Home Store?’
‘The whole thing is pretty exciting.’ Jules gave a grimace. ‘Joe’s brother is going to get the stock, and ship it over. You can pick masses of stuff up over there for next to nothing.’
Worse and worse. Luce shuddered at the information dump. ‘Wow, it all sounds so amazing. I’ll just grab the fabric samples, then you can try some dresses on to check out the sizes. The nipped in waist will really suit you.’
‘Thanks.’ Jules stood up, and smoothed down her shirt. ‘All we need now is a name for the shop. He was thinking of The Diner, but I’m not sure that’s right. Come to think of it GI Joe’s would be a fabulous name. Would you mind if we used it?’
Oh no. Luce wished she didn’t have to say. She was already kicking herself for having said it at all. Shit, shit, shit.
‘You can call it whatever you like, really you can.’ Right this second Luce wished she had Izzy’s ballsy attitude, instead of being wet and weedy, and so damned polite.
‘I can’t believe that by the end of August I’ll be Mrs Kerr. I’m so pleased I came in here. I’m about to find the perfect dress, and I’ve maybe found a name for the shop too…’ Jules looked suddenly doubtful. ‘Of course, that’s if you don’t mind me using what you said.’
Effing hell. How many mental effs could Luce get away with, before she was owing the swear box?
Luce gritted her teeth, and made her voice so light, it was almost a shriek. ‘Mind? Of course I don’t mind.’ It wasn’t poor Jules’ fault, and at least she’d been decent enough to have a qualm about it. Luce composed herself and smiled at her. ‘It must be your lucky day.’
As for Luce, she’d got a sale underway, dropped the clanger of the decade over the rival shop name, and found out a whole bunch of stuff she’d maybe rather not have known. She just wasn’t sure how this was going to go down with the rest of the crew.
15
Monday Morning, 9th June
IZZY & LUCE
Vintage at the Cinema
What’s in a name – expletives, implosions, and introductions
Subject: Tanning shop
To Dida and the crew,
Just heard on the bush telegraph that the Retro American shop is going to be called GI Joe’s - obvious for someone called Joe Kerr, but a damned good name, unfortunately for us. Was hoping they were going to call it American Tan - geddit??
Ollie Sent from Bangkok, Thailand
‘Oh crap bloody asshole shit.’ As Luce let out a stream of expletives, her phone smashed down onto the polished teak counter top, bounced off, traced a perfect arc through the air, and landed in a basket of jugs.
Izzy had been propping up the last of the Free Coffee and Bridal Studio signs she’d hurriedly painted yesterday evening, when the email had arrived on her phone, but she had managed to get to the end without going postal. She stared at Luce until her eyes wouldn’t go any wider, then blinked, and stared again. What was going on? Luce swearing? And not once, but a whole colourful string.
Oh crap bloody asshole shit – what the hell?
‘Are you okay sweetie?’ Izzy swooped in and put her hand on Luce’s wrist. By rights, her first move should be to pass Luce the swear box, given the way Luce jumped on Izzy if she swore in front of the customers, but something told her she needed to cut Luce some slack here.
‘No I’m bloody not alright as it happens. Look at that bloody email.’ Luce’s pale cheeks were uncharacteristically pink.
Izzy flinched. She didn’t think she’d heard two bloody’s in one of Luce’s sentences, ever, not even when she’d been in labour, having Ruby. ‘Yes, I was looking at the email, isn’t it mostly what we know already…?’
Luce hammered her hand on her forehead. ‘You don’t understand, I was the one who handed them the bloody GI Joe name on a plate
. I didn’t say before, I was hoping they wouldn’t use it. They were going to call it The Diner, which is completely lame, and would have ended up with everyone being cross they weren’t being served burgers.’
Izzy raised her eyebrows, then knitted them into a frown. ‘Whatever, at least we’ve got a couple of weeks before they open, that should give time to raise our game. As Ollie says, GI Joe’s is a damned good name.’
‘That’s the other thing…’ Luce was taking through gritted teeth here. ‘What the hell is bloody Ollie doing in bloody Thailand? I thought he was in Goa.’
‘And this matters because…?’ As far as Izzy was concerned, all that mattered was that Ollie was away, which meant he wasn’t here. He sent her emails now and again, mentioning where he was, but one foreign destination sounded very much like another. That was the thing with far flung places, they only became significant when you were actually there yourself.
Luce’s eyes were flashing, and she was tossing her head. ‘Everyone knows Thailand’s the sex tourist capital of the world. What’s the tagline…“Land of Smiles”? Those smiles are for one reason only.’
Luce looked ready to implode.
‘I thought Thailand had jungles and pandas?’ Izzy was puzzled. It was hardly like Luce to pass judgement, especially on someone who definitely wasn’t on her Friday night list. Ollie and Luce hung around with the rest of the crew. They were friends, that was all. Izzy had once seen Ollie flare up on a night out and tell Luce she was worth more than some guy she was about to leave with, but apart from that, as far as Izzy knew, that was it. Izzy knew Ollie had always had a soft spot for Luce, ever since they made friends at school, but Ollie was punching above his weight as far as Luce was concerned.
When Izzy first brought Luce back home, back in the day, which must be twelve years ago now, Ollie had followed Luce around the house like a doe eyed puppy. Even if Luce had laughed a lot at Ollie’s jokes, Ollie didn’t have the rock star looks to make him a serious contender. That was the one time Izzy had to get fierce with Ollie, and insist that his sister’s best friends were totally off limits.
That was when Izzy was sixteen and prickly, and mortified at having to leave her upmarket school, and go into the sixth form at the local comprehensive. Izzy got a job at the coffee shop, to help with the dire family finances, and Luce, who worked there too had seen beyond Izzy’s growling, and befriended her. It helped that they were both doing art. A shared, if unhealthy, obsession with Busted and Robbie Williams cemented the deal. Luce, whose calm exterior was a front that hid a riotous sense of humour, considered Izzy, with her rarefied girls’ school background, to be underprivileged, and took it upon herself to fast forward Izzy’s real world education.
Since they’d all worked together at the cinema, Izzy was aware that Ollie sent Ruby into fits of giggles on a regular basis, and sometimes helped Luce out with babysitting, but as far as she knew, that was the extent of it.
‘Apart from anything else, think of the STD’s.’ Luce’s voice was verging on a wail.
If Izzy needed anything to prove Luce was off kilter today, this was it.
‘Yuk, this is my brother we’re talking about, please can we not go there.’ Izzy cringed. ‘Ollie’s old enough, he’s miles away. And it’s nothing to do with us anyway…Is it?’
Izzy watched, as Luce’s mouth froze in the open position, as Izzy posed that last question. It was almost as if someone had put Luce on pause, as if she’d suddenly been reminded it wasn’t anything to do with her. Which it wasn’t.
‘Errrr…’ Luce appeared to be struggling to pull herself together here. ‘No…You’re totally right…I wouldn’t have even mentioned it if I wasn’t kicking myself over that GI Joe thing.’
Right, Okay. Why might Luce be suddenly interested in Ollie’s sex life? It didn’t make sense at all. Even if Luce hadn’t been out of his league, the kind of one night stands Luce dealt in weren’t Ollie’s style at all.
Izzy had a sudden thought. ‘Have you emailed Ollie at all since he left?’
Luce pulled the corners of her mouth down, and shook her head. ‘No.’
Exactly as Izzy imagined. So there was no reason at all for Luce to be getting her thong in a twist over this then.
Izzy’s phone beeped, and she looked away from Luce as she opened the text. It was Dida. No surprise there.
GI Joe’s? Let’s have a Vintage Cinema Club Progress Meeting
Izzy banged off a return text,
Good idea - tomorrow before we open? xx
When Izzy looked up again, Luce was already half way down the cinema, and disappearing behind a large wardrobe.
16
Monday Afternoon, 9th June
IZZY & LUCE
Vintage at the Cinema
Hand signals and hidden messages
Pssst. Stop messing about with cushions and get over here quick. Talent in the grey section x
Izzy hooked the ribbon garland she was hanging on the stepladders, took out her phone, and read the text message from Luce.
Luce could arguably have walked across the shop and said the words to her, in the time it took to send the text, but Luce had been playing hide and seek all morning, and still was this afternoon. Wherever Izzy had been – and actually she’d been everywhere, desperately assessing ways she could make things better – Luce had made sure she was somewhere else. Izzy wasn’t quite sure why Luce was avoiding her. It was obviously something sparked by Ollie’s email, but although she wracked her brains, Izzy couldn’t imagine what it could be, other than that Luce was feeling mega guilty about the tanning shop name.
As for Luce’s messages about talent, after Friday’s delivery fiasco, Izzy wasn’t sure she wanted anything more to do with Luce’s particular brand of talent spotting. The wave of crashing anticlimax that had engulfed Izzy since Friday evening made no sense at all. A guy she had no interest in was flagged up as unavailable, end of story. Right now, there was no space for romance in her schedule, regardless of whichever hot guy popped his head over the parapet. The radical re-styling of the stock she was working on in response to the Vintage Cinema Club crisis was a welcome distraction, that kept her mind off a certain man she shouldn’t be thinking about at all.
‘What do you want?’ Izzy squinted across the store to where Luce had now bobbed up behind the counter. She was handing a receipt to a customer who was propping up a gigantic mirror, by the main desk.
Luce gave a nod in the direction of a monumental grey armoire, and held up five fingers. Izzy got the message. Hot guy, five star rating.
But then Luce flashed her fingers again. And again.
In hand signal terms Izzy read this as a cross between a red alert and a mayday signal. She craned her neck to see, but despite being half way up a ladder, she failed to get a view past the massive butler’s pantry piece. Luce’s hands were both flapping now, so Izzy untangled herself from the ribbons, climbed down, and went across.
‘He’s here.’ Luce was hissing excitedly. ‘Over there by the chiffonnière, looking at the daybeds and the chests of drawers. It’s the guy you delivered to.’
Izzy felt her heart fray, and her stomach lurched, and landed somewhere down by her knees ‘Forget the hot. I told you, he’s taken.’
One unavailable guy elsewhere, she could cope with. Having him dangled under her nose, yet again, seemed downright unfair.
Luce brushed away Izzy’s protest. ‘Whatever, he’s doing just what he did on Friday. Taking pictures on his phone, then talking to someone. Look out, he’s turning this way.’
Izzy chewed, narrowing her eyes to get a better view, then as the broad shoulders turned towards her, she snapped her head away.
Luce breathed in Izzy’s ear. ‘Wow, from the look of pure lust he’s just given you, I’d say you’re in big trouble, of the best sort. I know a come on when I see one, and that’s the hottest one I’ve seen from twenty yards in ages.’
Izzy plunged down behind the counter.
‘Hide if you
like, but I’m going to see what’s going on.’
Luce might look waif-like, but once she decided something, there was little point in arguing.
Izzy, crouched on the floor, grabbed a strawberry Hubba Bubba from her pocket. Whenever the going got tough, it always helped if she chewed. She began to rearrange the boxes on the shelves under the counter. Now she came to look, there was enough chaos to keep her down here for most of the afternoon. That sounded like half a hot man avoidance plan, but with Luce racing around the store in trouble shooter mode, there was no knowing what might happen. Izzy might be better to make a run for it. Through the slice of space between the counter side, and Luce’s rail of dresses, Izzy had a view straight through the shop doorway, to where Chou-fleur was parked, out on the road. She was just contemplating a dash for safety, when Luce’s yell echoed across the shop.
‘Izzy!’
Shit. What now? Izzy wasn’t sure how Luce balling across the shop fitted in with the improved customer service initiative. Izzy didn’t move. Sometimes if you stayed completely still, whatever you didn’t want to face would go away.
‘Izzy…’ Luce was definitely persistent. It just goes to show that the quiet ones were always the ones you needed to watch out for.
Hunched down, in the shadows under the counter, it reminded Izzy of how she used to hide under her bed and freeze when she was younger, and hope the shouting would stop when her parents were having their worst slanging matches, in the last few weeks when their mum had decided she wanted out, and family life had imploded.
‘Izzy…Where are you?’ Luce’s voice was nearer now. Definitely not giving up then.
