Miracle on Regent Street

by Ali Harris

  ‘Surely the position can’t help, though,’ I pipe up. ‘I mean, Hardy’s may be in W1 but the street it’s situated on is full of other forgotten folk, like the independent umbrella shop to the left, and the traditional cobbler’s on the right, neither of whom seem to do a remarkable trade either.’ I often wonder how they manage to stay afloat, with the soaring rental prices in this area. It’s such a shame, as the pretty, tree-lined street has so much potential with its quaint shops with brightly coloured awnings, and little specialist cafés and delicatessens.

  Felix just sniffs and says, ‘We did all right for eighty years, until Sebastian came along.’

  I glance across the table at Sam: he is unusually quiet and staring glumly into the distance. ‘Are you OK?’ I ask quietly as Lily and Felix continue to entertain the rest of the group with their stories. I stretch my hand across the table to touch Sam’s. It is warm; he pulls it away slightly.

  ‘I’m fine,’ he says, then pauses and looks at me. ‘I just thought . . .’ He trails off and then looks down. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ he says to the floor.

  ‘No, Sam, what’s wrong? Tell me.’ I’m worried suddenly that I’ve done something wrong. Does Sam not like the venue? Would he have preferred the swanky bars that Carly frequents? Was he expecting more people? A bigger get-together? Better company?

  He exhales and gazes at me meaningfully. ‘I just thought it was going to be you and me tonight.’

  I am dumbfounded. Since when did Sam and I ever talk about going out on our own together? I have no recollection of that at all. Maybe when he suggested celebrating with everyone he thought it’d just be us two as he thinks I don’t have any other friends at Hardy’s? I suppose I am always talking about how no one at the store knows my name. Sam is aware how the shop-floor staff all come in to tell me their woes but know nothing about my life. Maybe he thought he was doing me a favour by coming out for a drink with me. And now here I am surrounded by wonderful friends whom Sam has never even heard me talk about.

  ‘Sorry, that was my mistake.’ I smile apologetically and squeeze his hand. He slides it from my grasp and clasps his hands together under the table. Maybe he’s just shy and doesn’t like big groups of people he doesn’t know. ‘But this is a much better arrangement, surely?’ I continue brightly. ‘I mean, I suddenly realized after the promotion débâcle that even though Sharon and Rupert don’t know I exist, and everyone who works on the shop floor thinks I’m called Sarah, there are actually lots of people at the store who know me pretty well and who I consider really good friends. Just like you.’

  ‘Friends, right,’ Sam says, and his Adam’s apple bobs up and down as he swallows.

  ‘Don’t be nervous,’ I say quietly, thinking he’s overwhelmed by the unexpected group of people. I would be too. Everyone here is great and they are going to totally love you as much as I do.’

  Sam glances up at me just as another pint of lager is put in front of him.

  ‘To friends,’ I say as I lift my glass and wait for him to do the same. But he just stares at his glass before taking a long sip.

  An hour later and the drinks and conversation are flowing as freely as if we’ve all known each other for years. I can’t help but wonder, as I take a trip to the bar and look back at our table, what the other pub-goers make of our disparate group. I’m sure if I was trying to guess how we’re all connected I wouldn’t be able to come up with anything. There’s Lily, who looks like she’s used to spending her evenings dining at The Ritz, chatting animatedly to Jan, who wouldn’t look out of place in a beer-soaked football shirt on a match day down at the Arsenal. Velna and Felix appear to be swapping outlandish style tips and Justyna is slapping Sam on the back as he roars with laughter. Or pain; I’m not entirely sure which.

  I feel a swell of pride as I look over them all. It takes a group of special people to bond so well so quickly and it makes me wonder if I have underestimated the depth of my friendship with them. Why have I been so obsessed with thinking that no one at Hardy’s knows me? Felix and I have talked about everything during our early morning coffee chats, from his relationship with Maisie and their struggle to have children, to my struggle to make a mark in my family. He knows how close Delilah and I are, and that I’d love my father to be as proud of me as he is of her. He knows that I worry about my mum, who misses her children so much – too much really – and that I know when it is just she and Dad she feels really lonely. He knows that my dad works too much and that my brothers play too hard, but that I love them all and just wish I didn’t feel like the runt of the litter. And Lily and Sam have always listened to me when I’ve needed to vent my frustrations about my job and my lack of social life.

  I don’t know Velna that well but she makes me laugh every single day at work, which has to count for something. And whilst I’ve never had long, protracted conversations with Jan, we’ve always been able to find common ground. And not only that, he really helps me in the store, taking a break from his cleaning to cart armfuls of stock around the departments for me early in the morning, that his presence has become invaluable to me. I don’t think I’d want to work at Hardy’s without any of these people. Which makes me wonder why I’ve been expending so much energy trying to impress people like Carly and Sharon so that they’ll notice me. It suddenly occurs to me that I’ve also been guilty of taking the people I work with for granted.

  I walk back to the table with three glasses pressed between my hands before returning to the bar to get the rest. Lily has moved on to tonic water now. As she said to us earlier after her Dorothy Parker quote: ‘The most important thing about having fun is knowing when to stop, darlings.’ At which point Jan had rebelliously downed his pint and slammed it on the table, which had made us all laugh.

  I deliver the rest of the drinks and slide into my seat next to Sam. The conversations at the table have been split between the men on one side and the women on the other. Sam, Felix and Jan appear to be having a lively discussion about football, which I have no wish to participate in, and Lily and Justyna are talking quietly but passionately about something I can’t quite hear but I’m presuming from the longing/murderous looks Justyna’s throwing across the table that it’s Jan.

  ‘Are you OK?’ I ask Velna, who appears to be lost in her own little world.

  ‘Oh, YES, I’m vondervul,’ she says vehemently, beaming at me brightly, which reveals the cute gap in her front teeth. ‘I vos just thinking how vondervul it is to be out with such vondervul people. It’s . . .’ she sighs as if searching for a word to best describe how she’s feeling, ‘. . . vonderful.’ I smile. Her command of the English language is good, if somewhat limited. ‘Everyone is so vondervul here. Sam is very nice to look at, no? Oh, and Felix! How he makes me laugh!’ she exclaims. ‘And,’ she claps her hands, ‘Lily has said she will teach me some moves-of-the-dance for when I enter the Eurovision Song Contest. She is a – what is the word? – ah, yes, she is a vondervul woman.’ Velna looks at Lily and nudges me. ‘She is helping Justyna to not be so crazy-scary so Jan will fall into love with her.’

  We both glance over and watch just as Lily pulls down Justyna’s harsh, tight bun. It immediately makes an enormous difference. Suddenly her shoulders don’t seem as large, or her forehead so big, or her stare so intense. Then Lily shows her how to flick her hair becomingly off her shoulders with one hand. We watch as Justyna replicates what Lily does, except somehow she looks more like she’s violently batting off flies than trying to attract a man. Lily patiently shows her again and explains how to make the movement more fluid and feminine, which seems to work. Velna and I lean in to hear more of Lily’s wisdom.

  ‘Now, my dear, if you want a man to fall in love with you, you must master the art of being coy,’ she is saying.

  ‘Like a fishk?’ Justyna furrows her monobrow.

  ‘No, dear.’ Lily somehow manages to refrain from laughing, despite the tell-tale twitching in her lips. ‘Not like a fish, like a woman. Watch.’ And Lily looks down so t
hat her eyelashes rest against her powdered cheeks then she looks up, flutters them in Jan’s direction and looks away. Justyna stares at Lily, concentrating hard. ‘Now you try it, dear,’ Lily says with a wave of her hand.

  Justyna looks down, then she purses her lips, looks up and stares at Jan like she wants to decapitate him. Velna sniggers and Justyna shoots a look at her that suggests she is next on her hit list.

  ‘Not quite, dear,’ Lily says kindly. ‘Let’s try it again. Watch me first . . .’

  With one more try Justyna manages to catch Jan’s eye, look coyly at him and look away so well that she doesn’t notice him look longingly at her afterwards.

  Velna and I applaud her and Justyna throws a begrudging smile in our direction.

  The guys all look over at us at a natural lull in their conversation and talk soon turns to the store. Jan shakes his head wearily as he tells us how hard he found it this morning to get the store cleaned to the standard he’d been used to with a full team.

  ‘It isk impossible. We cannot work like that. It isk like they have given up on the place,’ he says sadly. ‘If the store looks bad and not clean then the customers, they will not comes in.’

  Justyna and Velna nod sadly in agreement as Lily puts her hand up.

  ‘No offence, Jan darling,’ Lily says. ‘You’ve always made the store look spit-spot, but it still didn’t make customers come in. It wasn’t until these wonderful makeovers started happening recently that Hardy’s has started to sparkle again. But you’re right, Jan. Cutting corners in essential departments like yours is not going to help Hardy’s survive.’ She sighs as she pulls her neck scarf through her fingers. ‘I fear that whilst your team have been the first to suffer, it won’t be long until all of us are out of jobs.’ She presses her scarf to her mouth as her eyes fill with tears. ‘It just makes me so sad,’ she says. ‘Hardy’s has become my life. I’m not sure I’d want to carry on without it. I’d just be another OAP sitting around at home doing nothing. And Lily Carmichael does not sit around doing nothing.’

  I take a deep breath. ‘Well, you don’t have to, Lily. Do nothing, I mean.’ I say obliquely, faltering a little over my words. ‘You could help. You all could, in fact.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ She dabs her eyes as Velna pats Lily’s shoulder.

  Felix winks and nods at me encouragingly as if he knows what I am about to say. He has a devilish sparkle in his eyes that tells me he knows more than he’s letting on. I can’t think how, though. I thought I’d kept my secret well. The only person I’ve told is Sam. I look at Felix questioningly and he clears his throat.

  ‘I think our Evie has got something to tell us,’ he says, clasping his hands together and sitting back in his chair. I feel six pairs of expectant eyes looking at me. ‘Isn’t that right, love? She’s been a busy girl over the last few days . . .’

  ‘You know?’ I say deliberately obliquely. Everyone is looking at each other in confusion.

  ‘’Course I do, love!’ Felix laughs hoarsely and it turns into a cough. Lily leans over and pats him on the back. He smiles at her gratefully. ‘I spend my entire shift watching security cameras – how could I not know? Besides, those makeovers have got Evie Taylor stamped all over them. Anyone who knows you could see that.’

  ‘You?’ A look of realization floods across Lily’s expressive face as Velna, Justyna and Jan gape at me and then start clapping. Sam just smiles at me.

  ‘Of course!’ she says. ‘How could it possibly have been anyone other than dear Evie! You clever girl, darling! And clever you, Felix, for being a super-sleuth!’ She pats both of us on the hand and I blush whilst Felix puffs up and nods proudly. I dip my head, embarrassed by the attention. ‘I should’ve known it was you, darling. I mean, it’s obvious. After all, you have such a flair for . . . what do they call lasting style these days?’ She snaps her fingers so a flash of red polish whips through my vision. ‘Vintage chic. Yes, that’s it.’

  ‘She’s been doing a wonderful job, hasn’t she?’ Felix smiles at Lily. ‘The place is looking just like the Hardy’s we both knew and loved.’

  ‘Vondervul!’ echoes Velna as she grasps my hand and squeezes it. I smile at her thankfully.

  Felix picks up his pint glass and addresses the group. ‘I’ve been watching her for the past week, you know, gradually transforming each little enclave of the store in her own vision. It’s magic what she does. Pure magic.’

  ‘I’ve not seen the actual store makeovers themselves,’ pipes up Sam, ‘but I’ve seen her sketches of window and shop-floor displays, and they’re brilliant. No wonder she’s got the customers coming back to Hardy’s.’

  ‘But it’s not enough,’ I say sadly, draining then setting down my glass of wine on the table.

  ‘Why not?’ Jan and Justyna say in unison. She smiles shyly at him and he grins at her and scratches his shaved head.

  I sigh, twirling my empty wine glass as I look at them all. ‘Because I overheard Rupert telling Sharon that Hardy’s takings need to rise by at least five hundred per cent to stand any chance of survival. The board have already told Rupert that if this hasn’t happened by Boxing Day, the building will be sold and turned into the flagship London store for the high-end American chain Rumors. They’re already in negotiations for the takeover.’

  ‘But that’s terrible!’ Sam says, his eyebrows knitted together making him look older and more brooding. ‘There must be something we can do?’

  ‘I’ve been trying,’ I say wearily. ‘But I’m not sure it’s enough.’

  ‘Piffle!’ Lily says, rising to her feet. ‘The makeovers you’ve done in the store have drawn in more people in the last week than the store has had all year. The customers can’t stop talking about the beautiful, nostalgic displays you’ve created. They’re coming into my tearoom in droves and talking about why they’ve never been here before! It’s quite astonishing.’ She waggles her finger at me. ‘You’ve started something, darling girl, you can’t go giving up now.’

  I smile at her and my eyes flitter around the table at all the concerned faces. ‘I’ve got no intention of giving up, Lily. This store means too much to me, and to so many other people, to do that. But I can’t do this on my own any more.’

  ‘We’ll help!’ pipes up Velna, and starts singing an unrecognizable tune. We look at her blankly and she stops singing for a moment. ‘“Everyway That I Can”,’ she tells us knowledgeably and then sings the chorus. ‘It vos Turkey’s winning entry? In 2003.’ Then she closes her eyes and carries on singing.

  ‘Yes, whatsk can we do to help?’ Justyna says loudly over Velna’s voice. I think it’s the first proper sentence she’s ever spoken to me without baring her teeth.

  ‘Well, I think I’ve thought of a way to make people sit up and take notice of Hardy’s,’ I say slowly. ‘Not just the people who are walking by and wandering in because of the makeovers on the ground floor.’ I take a deep breath, feeling my confidence and passion build with every word. ‘We need much more custom than that. I want to get the Regent Street shopping crowds coming to us because we’re a destination store. I want the Londoners and tourists and out-of-towners that come to the West End to experience an old-fashioned shopping spectacle this Christmas that they won’t find anywhere else.’

  ‘Vondervul,’ murmurs Velna as Lily claps her hands in delight.

  But I haven’t finished yet. Suddenly I am carried away with my vision and my enthusiastic audience, all of whom are listening intently to me. ‘I want beautiful, eye-stopping, jaw-dropping, traditional-with-a-twist store windows and an enormous Christmas tree in the centre of the store by the staircase.’ The words are falling out of my mouth as my mind spews out its secret vision to the only people I can trust. ‘I want glittering fairy lights, and reindeer and a sleigh flying overhead. I want children to be charmed and adults awestruck. It’s got to be big, beautiful, but most of all, it’s got to be everything people want Christmas to be.’

  My heart is racing and I’m out of breath as
I finish my speech. There is a moment of silence, then Felix starts whistling through his fingers and Jan lets out a whoop. Sam stamps his feet and bangs on the table in appreciation, Justyna joins him and Lily blows kisses across the table at me. Velna starts humming Cliff Richard’s Eurovision smash hit, ‘Congratulations’.

  ‘So I take it you are all with me?’ I say with a smile.

  ‘Yes!’ they chant, and I laugh.

  ‘Well, we’ve got a lot of work to do. Why don’t we start by brainstorming some ideas?’

  Felix eyes his empty glass ruefully.

  ‘It’s my turn to get the drinks in,’ Sam says, standing up. ‘I think we’re going to need something special to help the ideas really flow.’

  ‘I know just what we need,’ Lily says, as she edges out from the table and over to Sam. ‘Now then, darling boy, why don’t you take my arm and escort me over?’

  I smile as I watch Sam lead Lily off.

  ‘What’s she up to?’ I say to Felix.

  ‘Causing mischief, if I know Lily Carmichael!’ Felix replies with a grin. ‘She’s always known how to draw a crowd. It’s partly why I hired her all those years ago.’

  I gawp at him, annoyed at myself that I’ve been so caught up with the makeovers and Joel that I’ve forgotten to ask Felix more about this. ‘One of the best decisions I made, an’ all,’ he says. ‘It was shortly after Walter Hardy, junior made me store manager. She was my first hire, actually. The tearoom had been struggling to make any money and I realized it wasn’t about the tearoom, or the cakes, or the quality of the beverages, it was about who was running it. They had some pursed-lipped old dear who was good at baking but not good at selling. Lily drifted in one warm spring day in 1961, if I recall rightly. Anyway, it was shortly after she’d retired from dancing due to an injury. She loved fashion and was a regular in the Designers department. She was in her late twenties and wasn’t looking for work – she was happy teaching dance at a local stage school – but she caused such a scene in the store when she came in I offered her the job anyway on the proviso she bring in her chums regularly and create a buzz about the place. And she certainly did that. She was as good with the celebrities and arty people as she was the regular Joes. Everyone loved her. Her little tearoom became the place to be seen. Of course,’ he coughs a little, ‘it helped that so many people wanted to see an ex-Windmill girl fully clothed and serving tea and cake. I knew that. She turned out to be as much of an attraction as the store’s goods were. As were her friends.’ He laughs. ‘Being a bloke, I knew that men would flock here and bring their wives. In those days it was the men who held the purse strings, so if they came, their wives shopped. It was as simple as that. Takings went up the first day she started. Walter junior thought I was a genius,’ he adds proudly.