Escape to Bramble Patch Craft Shop

by Sarah Hope

  ‘Are you on your break, love?’ Gladys patted Richie on the arm.

  ‘Yes, just thought I’d take ten minutes before I go off into town to talk about some more farm thefts.’

  ‘The world needs more people like you, fighting to make the world a safer place.’

  Richie chuckled and loosened the shirt collar of his uniform. ‘I try my best.’

  Gladys looked from Richie to Molly and back again. ‘Right, I’d better get some wool to go with these crochet hooks.’

  ‘Okay, give me a shout if you need anything.’ Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, Molly looked down. She could feel the heat rising to her face. Gladys had brought a whole bagful of wool on Saturday. Surely she hadn’t run out already?

  ‘I just thought I’d pop in and see how this morning went? Were Lauren and Ellis okay going into school today?’

  ‘They were good, thanks. A bit nervous obviously, but they went in okay. I haven’t heard anything from Lauren though, and she’d said she’d give me a ring or at least message at break and lunchtime.’ Pulling her mobile from her back pocket, Molly checked it again. Still nothing.

  ‘That could well be a good sign. It might mean she’s been busy getting to know people and just hasn’t had the chance.’

  ‘Yes, you’re probably right.’ Molly shook her head. She’d find out in a few short hours. ‘Did you want a drink?’

  ‘A coffee would be great, thanks.’

  ‘Okay, a coffee coming up.’ Molly looked over towards Gladys who was busy looking through the giant baskets of wool. ‘Gladys, I’m going to put the kettle on, did you want a tea or coffee?’

  ‘No thanks, love. I’ll be just fine.’

  ‘HERE YOU GO. ONE SUGAR, right?’ Placing Richie’s mug on the counter, Molly wrapped her hands around hers.

  ‘Perfect. Thanks.’

  ‘So, what brings you in here then? Not that it’s not nice to see you. It is.’ Why had she said that? Shuffling her feet, she looked down into her coffee. She should have given it a better stir. Hopefully, Richie’s didn’t have bits of coffee granules floating on the top too.

  ‘Thank you. It’s nice to see you too. I just popped in because I knew you’d offer me a coffee.’ Richie grinned, raised his mug to his lips and took a sip.

  Molly laughed. ‘Your mum lives next door. I’m sure she would have offered you a coffee too.’

  ‘Yes, you’re right. Okay, there was a reason I wanted to pop in.’ Lowering his mug, he looked across at Gladys, who was still searching through the baskets of wool. ‘I wanted to ask you if you were going to the Spring Dance on Saturday?’

  ‘Spring Dance? I’ve heard about the Spring Fete but haven’t heard anything about a dance. What is it?’ Molly scrunched up her nose.

  ‘Ah, well, the name gives it away a little, I believe.’ Tilting his head, Richie grinned.

  ‘Haha, very funny. I kind of assumed it was a dance.’

  ‘Sorry, I couldn’t resist!’ Richie laughed. ‘It’s a village tradition. After the Spring Fete finishes the villagers and a few visiting stragglers from the fete meet at the village hall for a dance and BBQ.’

  ‘Ah okay. Sounds nice.’

  ‘So, are you going to go?’

  ‘Umm, I don’t know to be honest. I’ll probably just see how things go, see how long it takes me to clear up this place after the fete.’

  ‘Oh, okay.’ Richie looked down into his mug. ‘Anyway, I’d better be off. I don’t want to be late for this meeting.’

  ‘Okay, hope it goes well.’

  ‘Thanks. Bye Gladys.’

  Holding her mug in her hands, Molly watched as Richie got to the door, pulled his car keys from his pocket and threw them in the air before deftly catching them again.

  ‘You do know he was asking you to accompany him to the dance, don’t you?’ Bustling up to the counter, Gladys rolled the balls of wool from her arms.

  ‘What? No, he wasn’t, he just asked if I was going.’ Putting her mug down, Molly straightened the balls of wool.

  ‘One thing you need to remember about Richie, is that he’s been single ever since Diane cheated on him. Oh, must be at least three years now. So, he’s a bit out of practice, love.’ Gladys briefly patted Molly’s arm.

  ‘Oh, I really don’t think he meant anything by it. He was literally just asking me if I was going.’ Feeling the heat of a blush flush across her cheeks, Molly looked down. He hadn’t been asking her, had he? He had literally just asked if she was going. He would have asked her directly to go with him if that’s what he’d meant.

  ‘When you see him again, tell him you’re going. You’ll be good for each other, any fool can see that and when you get to my age you’ll wish you’d grabbed love with both hands.’ Gladys cleared her throat.

  Nodding, Molly smiled.

  ‘Honestly, love, if you have any feelings for him, and anyone can see the spark between you both, then don’t waste a minute. I wished I’d listened to my heart the first time I saw my Stan.’

  ‘Why? What happened? Sorry, you don’t have to tell me.’

  ‘Its fine, love. Me and Stan met when I first started work at the old shoe factory. We could both feel there was something special between us. A special connection, if you like. But he was my boss, and I was just fresh from school, and when I got onto my apprenticeship in the offices, we decided to go our separate ways.’

  ‘Oh, that’s a shame.’

  ‘It was. It really was. I ended up marrying someone I really didn’t feel anything for and knew he didn’t for me either, but back in those days it was the done thing to get married and neither of us wanted to be left on the shelf. He was a kind man, mind, but things didn’t work out. He ended up going off with another woman, someone he’d fallen for when he was a teenager, just like me and Stan. Anyway, that gave me the kick to go searching for my Stan again.’

  ‘I take it you found him?’

  ‘I did, yes. But, unfortunately, we didn’t get as long together as we would have if we’d acted on our feelings all those years ago. He passed away four years ago, ten years after we’d met up again.’

  ‘That’s awful. I’m so sorry.’

  ‘It is, it is awful, but I’m forever grateful we had the time together that we did have, and it acts as a constant reminder how important it is to follow your heart and your dreams. Just as you have with this place, I’m assuming?’

  ‘Yes, yes. It has always been a dream of mine to own a craft shop. I just hope I can pull it off.’

  ‘You will do, love. This village needs a decent craft shop like this.’

  Molly smiled. ‘I hope so.’

  TAPPING HER FINGERS against the steering wheel, Molly peered out of the side window, trying to see Lauren through the crowds of teenagers racing through the school gates and across the road.

  ‘... and then this boy, I think his name is Charlie, yes, it’s definitely Charlie. And then Charlie shows us what he’s made at home, and it was amazing! It was a volcano that erupted! Not a real one, but a little model one and he had made it out of a bottle and decorated it to make it look like a volcano and then he poured coke into the bottle and put some mints or something in there and it exploded. I mean, erupted. It erupted.’

  ‘Wow. That sounds amazing.’ Twisting her head towards where Ellis sat in the back seat, Molly smiled at his infectious grin. ‘You’ve had a good day, then?’

  ‘Yes, the best! Hillside Primary is sooo much better than my old school and I’ve made some really good friends there. And at break time they do football and dodgeball matches, and anyone can join in. I played dodgeball with Charlie and our team won!’

  ‘That does sound fun.’ Turning back to the side, Molly squinted her eyes. Was that Lauren walking out of the school gates? Yes, it was. She was sure it was. ‘Are you pleased you started there then?’

  ‘Completely, one hundred percent definitely! And we’re going on a school trip in a few weeks! Mr Zac wouldn’t tell us where to though, which I thought
was a bit mean. I mean, we’re going to find out soon anyway, and we all begged and begged him to tell us but he said it was top secret until next week. Why do you think it would be top secret? Why do you think he wouldn’t tell us?’

  ‘I don’t know. Maybe it’s not been confirmed yet, and he doesn’t want to get everyone’s hopes up.’

  ‘Oh, I hope they confirm it. I hope we can go. It’s going to be so cool. I can go, can’t I, Mum?’

  Molly glanced at him. ‘Yes, of course you can go.’

  ‘Awesome! Thanks, Mum. I’m going to tell Charlie I can definitely go then tomorrow.’

  ‘Okay. Look, here’s Lauren coming over now.’

  ‘Who’s she with? Is that her new friend?’

  Molly looked at the girl Lauren was linking arms with as they crossed the road and breathed a sigh of relief. ‘It looks like it.’

  ‘We’ve both made friends today then!’

  ‘Hopefully.’ Leaning across the handbrake, Molly pushed open the passenger door. ‘Hi, Lauren. How’s your day been?’

  Slipping into the passenger seat, Lauren squashed her bag into the footwell. ‘Okay, I guess.’

  ‘Did you make some new friends?’

  Shrugging, Lauren looked out of the window.

  Clearing her throat, Molly turned the ignition. ‘Was that girl you came out of school with one of your new friends?’

  Looking across at her mum, Lauren rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, she’s a mate. Do we really have to have this interrogation now, or can it wait until we get home? I’m starving.’

  ‘Wasn’t there anything nice for lunch? I thought they had two canteens?’

  ‘Yes, they do, but I don’t have an account yet. They don’t take money, it’s all done online and then we use our fingerprints to pay for the food.’

  ‘Really? They should have told me. Have you not had anything to eat since your measly piece of toast this morning then?’ Molly had told her to have something more substantial, but Lauren had insisted one piece of toast was enough to fill her up. Molly bit down on her bottom lip, she’d messed up already. She should have sent Lauren in with something, just in case. Even a cereal bar would have been better than nothing.

  ‘I did. Marissa brought me some pizza.’

  ‘That’s a relief then. Was that Marissa who you were walking with? When are they going to sort an account out for you?’

  ‘I don’t know. Yes, that was Marissa.’

  ‘What do you mean, you don’t know? Haven’t they told you?’

  Yanking her bag up from the footwell, Lauren unzipped it and pulled out her reading book. ‘I don’t know. They didn’t say anything about it.’

  ‘Well, did you ask?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Lauren, how come you didn’t ask?’

  ‘I’ll ask tomorrow, it’s no big deal.’

  ‘It is if you can’t get food.’

  ‘I’ll just grab something from home for tomorrow and ask my tutor.’

  Nodding, Molly indicated and turned left out of the town. ‘So, you had a good day today? It wasn’t as bad as you thought?’

  ‘I guess not. It seems okay.’

  ‘Good.’ Molly grinned. She couldn’t ask more than that. ‘Okay’, they could work on. In fact, ‘okay’ was high praise when it came to Lauren. ‘You all right there, Ellis? When we get back you can help me in the shop, if you like? We’ll open up again and see if we get any more customers.’

  ‘Cool. Can I use the till?’

  ‘You sure can.’ Maybe things were going to work out for the best. It sounded as though they’d both had a good first day and they both seemed happy enough. Maybe things had turned a corner.

  Chapter Twelve

  Reaching into the box, Molly pulled out yet another wad of fabric squares and piled them on top of the display on the counter. With their beautiful colours and the contrasting ribbon tied around them, she hoped they’d be a good little on-the-spot purchase. Moving the A4 cardboard picture forwards, she stood back. Yes, that looked nice and quilting was popular at the moment so, hopefully, some of them would shift at least.

  A banging on the window pulled her from her thoughts. Jumping and turning around, Molly hurried to the door. It was only eight o’clock. Who on earth could it be?

  Pulling the blind up, Molly peered out and unlocked it.

  ‘Morning, Molly! The cavalry’s here!’ Bustling in, Gladys was followed by Susan and Eva.

  ‘Hi.’ Grinning, Molly shut the door behind them. ‘You didn’t need to come. And definitely not this early.’

  ‘Don’t be silly. It’s nice to have something to do. Plus, us oldies wake up early so this is more like lunchtime to us.’ Laughing Gladys indicated Susan. ‘Isn’t that right?’

  ‘It sure is.’

  ‘And I don’t sleep very well anyway, anymore. This little footballer in here keeps waking me up at all hours.’ Rubbing her belly, Eva yawned.

  ‘Well, thank you.’ Molly blinked back tears. It felt good to have people who wanted to help.

  ‘Right, first things first, I’ll pop the kettle on. Is it coffees all round?’ Shaking out of her coat, Susan made her way into the back kitchen.

  ‘Could I have a peppermint tea, please, Susan? I’ve brought some tea bags with me.’ Rummaging in her bag, Eva followed her.

  ‘What do you want me to do?’ Rubbing her hands together, Gladys grinned.

  ‘Umm, I’m not sure, to be honest. My head’s all over the place.’ What needed doing? She’d made a list at about two o’clock in the morning after waking up in a cold sweat, but couldn’t for the life of her remember where she’d put it.

  ‘Let’s have a look.’ Glancing around the shop, Gladys looked back at Molly. ‘Right, so we need to set up the activity. You’re demonstrating knitting, right?’

  Nodding, Molly bit down on her bottom lip.

  ‘So we need a collection of knitting needles and wools set out on the coffee table.’

  ‘Yes. I thought about setting up other little stations around the room. Well, not stations, I mean sort of like little displays. I’ve got some other display stands like the one on the counter with step-by-step instructions on how to do things. I’ve got some leaflets too, somewhere. I thought we could put them out with the displays. Just to try to show people what they could use things for. To encourage them to try something new.’

  ‘Great idea! We can space those displays around the shop then.’

  ‘Here you go, girls. Three coffees and one peppermint tea. I’ve popped a sugar in all of the coffees, I thought we could do with a bit of an extra energy kick to start us off.’ Lowering the tray onto the counter, Susan picked up the mugs, placing them in front of everyone.

  ‘WOW, HAVE YOU SEEN out there? They’ve got little fairground rides set up in the market square this year and I’ve just seen a coach arriving already.’ Closing the door behind them, Lucy herded two small children in ahead of her. ‘I’m sorry, I’ve got these two munchkins for an hour or so until their dad gets back from the gym. They’re under strict orders to be good and not to touch anything.’

  ‘Hi, that’s fine. Hello, I’m Molly. What are your names?’ Molly smiled at them. It would have been lovely if Lauren and Ellis could have been here too but Trevor had apparently already arranged something so couldn’t swap weekends. Still, hopefully they’d be having a nice time at his.

  ‘This is Edward, and this is Hannah.’

  ‘Lovely names.’

  ‘Right, off you two go. Here, take my bag, you can sit in the kitchen and do some drawing. Is that all right?’

  ‘Yes, of course. Do you two want some squash or something?’

  ‘They’ll be fine. They’ve got snacks and drinks in my bag. Right, off you go then you two.’ Lucy looked down and rearranged Frankie as he slept in his baby carrier.

  ‘Thank you for this, but don’t you want to go and look around the stalls with them?’

  ‘Oh no, competing with hundreds of people to get a look at some pesky st
all selling something made in a factory that I can buy offline? No, thank you!’

  ‘I thought it was supposed to be all food and drink stalls?’

  ‘The majority of them are, love. I think Lucy here has more of a problem with people rather than what stallholders are selling, isn’t that right, Lucy?’ Stroking Frankie’s head, Gladys chuckled.

  ‘You’ve summed that up perfectly as always, Gladys. Phil will come and get the kids in an hour or so and take them around. No doubt he’ll treat them to an abundance of sugar-filled rubbish and armfuls of plastic tat. He’s always one to sniff out rubbish anywhere.’

  Molly grinned. ‘Well, thank you.’

  ‘You’re welcome. It gets me out of the house for a few hours with the added bonus that when the kids are out in public they’re less likely to tease and kill each other. The joys of having five-year-old twins, hey?’

  STANDING BY THE FRONT door, Molly scanned the room. Susan and Eva were manning the till, Eva perched on a stool next to Susan who was itching to start serving. Gladys was rearranging the balls of wool and knitting needles on the coffee table and Lucy was meandering around the shop floor, rubbing Frankie’s back as he slept attached to her front.

  Taking a deep breath, Molly pulled the door open and kicked the heavy dog-shaped doorstop into place. Smiling, she greeted the first customers before rushing back to the circle of chairs.

  ‘THAT’S IT, KEEP GOING. You’ve got it.’ Smiling, Molly patted the young woman on the shoulder and looked around the circle of chairs, each occupied by someone learning to knit for the first time. Choosing knitting as their demonstration had been a good idea. It was a skill that could be taught and picked up by any age group. So far today, they’d taught both men and women, boys and girls from the age of seven and up. One lady had said it had been her ninety-fifth birthday last weekend.

  ‘Does anyone want a drink? We’ve got tea, coffee and squash?’ Straightening her back, Molly took out a small notebook from her back pocket, ready to scribble down any orders. With the chatter and bustle from numerous people looking around the shop, she didn’t trust herself to be able to correctly remember what people wanted.