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Chapter 40 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 41 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 42 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 43 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 44 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 45 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 59 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 47 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 48 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 49 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 50 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 51 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 52 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 53 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 54 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 55 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 56 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 57 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 58 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 59 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 60 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 61 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 62 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 63 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 64 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 65 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 66 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 67 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 68 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 69 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 70 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 71 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 72 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 73 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 74 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 75 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 76 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 77 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 78 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 79 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 80 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 81 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 82 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 83 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 84 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 85 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 86 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 87 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 88 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 89 (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)
Also by Jane Linfoot … (#litres_trial_promo)
Jane Linfoot (#litres_trial_promo)
About HarperImpulse (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
1 (#uf98bf655-74e6-5a61-b155-60113b52c740)
Tuesday Afternoon, 3rd June
IZZY, LUCE & DIDA
Vintage at the Cinema, Matlock
Birthdays and Bubbles
‘So a few words, to celebrate our achievements, before we get on to the cake.’ Dida gave a toss of her head as she cleared her throat. Then she stamped her foot to get the attention of the people gathered in the shop, although to be fair, most of them already had their eyes fixed on this powerhouse in red, standing up there, on her makeshift soap box. Waving her bubbly in the air, she grinned down at Izzy and Luce.
Izzy glanced up at the banner high above Dida’s head, fluttering in the breeze from the open door. Happy Third Birthday to Vintage at the Cinema, and that retro turquoise font they’d gone for looked fab.
Dida might well have had a champagne flute grafted to her hand at birth. Whatever the occasion, she managed to involve Moet & Chandon. It was the same with her ever present high heels. Izzy grimaced at the wooden box Dida had grabbed as her temporary stage. Good thing it was already distressed, as Dida’s Manolo Blahniks were stabbing a hundred tiny indentations in the top as she teetered on her five inch stilettos.
‘So Vintage at the Cinema is three today, and it’s been an amazing journey. Three years since my other half accidentally acquired the cinema building…’ Dida paused for the fleeting grimace that passed over her face every time she mentioned awful Aidie, the husband from hell. She certainly had her hands full being married to that guy, even if they’d all benefitted from this particular impulse buy of his. Getting hold of a building he had no interest in, in some very dodgy deal, was Aidie all over. Dida snatching and commandeering the abandoned cinema building had been a gift for all of them.
She took a slurp of champers, and carried on. ‘Three years ago, Luce, Izzy and I decided to set up a pop up shop in the empty cinema, selling the vintage things we all love so much.’
Luce gave Izzy a nudge, and slipped her a sideways smile. Izzy swallowed down the lump that always came in her throat when she thought how proud she was of her best friend Luce for nailing being a single mum, and launching her vintage dress business at the same time, all thanks to the lucky break of Vintage at the Cinema. Before that they’d both come back from uni, armed with their art degrees, Luce with the additional bundle of baby Ruby, and slipped straight back into their default setting jobs at the coffee shop, where they’d worked before they left. Before the cinema, the furthest Luce and Izzy had got with their creative careers, were occasional stalls at craft fairs. But somehow with Dida, the three of them together had found the momentum to do amazing things. A pop up shop had been much less scary than committing to a lease, and given a risk free opportunity, they’d finally dared to do the things they’d been dreaming of for years.
‘And the rest is history.’ Dida paused for dramatic effect, neatly fast forwarding over all the slog and toil that had gone in along the way. ‘But we couldn’t have pulled this off on our own. Our success is also down to all of our lovely friends and fellow sellers, who joined in with us to make this the fabulous emporium it is today, and of course all our wonderful customers.’ Dida waved her glass towards the crowd in an expansive arc, before knocking back another gulp.
Dida had come a long way too, even if the income made less of an impact on her domestic finances than those of Luce and Izzy. It wasn’t that she’d had ever grumbled previously about being a stay at home mum, managing a home which might have been super-sized on steroids, and a husband as capricious as a stormy day in spring. But Vintage at the Cinema had given her something else to focus on by taking her away from the hell that was her home life. These days Dida glowed with a new found confidence and zest for life she’d never had three years ago.
Looking around the shop now, Izzy knew she’d personally excelled herself with the preparations for this birthday bash. Flowery bunting mingled with the twinkly chandeliers, soaring across the lofty space, above the gorgeous creams and greys of painted cupboards and dressing tables and dressers below. Artful piles of trunks and suitcases nestled against cascades of vintage fabric, and every shelf was decked out with an array of beautifully displayed objects, like a series of arty still life paintings. There wasn’t a corner of the shop that didn’t look as if it had come from the pages of a glossy up market country homes magazine.
Izzy and Luce had first met Dida at art college, when they were eighteen, and she was a thirty something, desperate to find some sanity after having her first baby. The friendship was cemented when Dida and Luce rocked up at the same ante-natal class, having Lolly and Ruby, who were sitting together on the counter now, fingers entwined, swinging their legs. Ruby caught Izzy’s eye as she gazed around, and her little wave made Izzy’s tummy turn over.
Ruby was so like Luce, all pale slender beauty, in her flowery shorts, snuggled in next to the vision of frills in pink fluo net that was Lolly, Dida’s daughter. Whereas Dida got the champagne flute, Lolly had exited the birth canal complete with diamanté tiara. Izzy knew without asking the battle that would have gone on at Alport Towers, Dida’s home, this morning, over Lolly’s insistence on day glow pink and orange glitter wellies.
Her friend was in full flow now. ‘We were the first vintage shop, and as others followed, Matlock has become the retro shopping destination in Derbyshire.’
Izzy and Luce exchanged indulgent smiles. Dida was extending the short and punchy she’d agreed on for her speech, but they had pulled off something spectacular here, and just for once Izzy was enjoying a few minutes of basking in the glory. After the way her dad had treated her mum when he left, all Izzy had wanted was a means to make her way in life, without having to rely on a partnership with a guy who might up and leave at any moment. What seemed at the beginning like a happy accident of a retro shop, had gone a long way to giving her that independence, and she had her wonderful friends Luce and Dida to thank for that.
‘So thanks to Byron from Corks, for the wonderful cocktails we love so much, Gigi at Amandine’s Patisserie for keeping us supplied with delicious tarts especially the blue berry ones, to Evan at Majestic Wine, please don’t count the Moet bottles…’
Izzy gave a wry grin, and noted that Aidie’s name didn’t appear anywhere on Dida’s ever growing list.
Dida bashed on. ‘…and huge hugs to my mum and dad, I am so, so, so grateful…’
Talk about out of control at the Oscars. Izzy knew Dida’s mum was a total nightmare. Dida was doing a Gwynnie here. It was time to cut to the cake.
Izzy put on a five hundred watt beam, and chimed in. ‘So, shall we raise our glasses, and do confectionary?’ She gave Dida’s hip a large nudge, and nodded in the direction of the glorious tower of cupcakes, decorated with roses and lace, in sludgy blues and pinks and creams.
Luce had Izzy’s back. ‘Great idea.’ She added with her own wide grin.
‘Okay, so to sum up…’ Dida took a deep breath, her voice wavering now. ‘Vintage at the Cinema represents three women – Izzy, Luce and I – and we have worked our butts off to create something truly unique, that surpasses all our hopes and dreams.’ Dida wrapped her arms around Luce and Izzy, and pulled them against her.
Tears welled up in Izzy’s eyes at that last bit, and despite her best attempts to control it, her bottom lip began to wobble, as all the love she felt for Luce and Dida burst up in her chest. She was only saved from full blown howling by an overpowering blast of Dida’s Diorissimo, and the pain in her shoulder, as Dida squeezed her tight enough for the linen of Dida’s jacket to graze her skin.
‘So let’s raise our glasses, to the very awesome Vintage at the…’
Dida held her glass high, but before she could say the final word, a loud mechanical sound reverberated through the shop.
A shadow flickered across Dida’s beatific smile. ‘What the hell is going on out there…? Can someone please tell whoever that is, this is not the time for hammer drills.’
Izzy, peering past the crowd, could make out a ladder propped up on the pavement beyond the shop doorway.
As the crew moved towards the door and peered out, Luce got there first. ‘What are those two huge for sale signs propped against the window for?’ Her brow creased into a worried frown.
Dida staggered down from her trunk, and elbowed her way out onto the pavement. Then she grabbed an umbrella from a flower pot, rapped hard on the ladder with the handle, and shouted to the man above. ‘Excuse me, what exactly do you think you’re doing?’
‘98 Derwent Street, Commercial Freehold For Sale.’ The man said, glowering down from ten feet up and sounding casually confident.
Dida’s jaw dropped, but she squared her shoulders, ignored the collective gasp behind her, and shouted up. ‘I’m sorry, there must be some mistake.’
Izzy’s heart plummeted. She knew Dida’s husband, Aidie, was ruthless, but surely he wouldn’t do this to them. Although on second thoughts, this stunt had Aidie written all over it. From his snarky comments whenever he was around, which happily wasn’t that often, he clearly resented Dida’s growing independence. His wife’s success was a direct threat to a control freak husband like Aidie, and selling the building was a fast forward way to wrestle back his power, simultaneously wiping the floor with all of them. And if he was hell bent on bursting Dida’s bubble, in the most spectacular and public way possible, his timing was impeccable.
‘Definitely no mistake.’ The workman up the ladder sounded very sure of himself. ‘Don’t blame me, I’m only doing my job.’ His shrug and weary sigh suggested this happened a lot, then his tone became conciliatory. ‘Best ring the agents love, they’ll clear it up for you.’
Izzy, feet welded to the pavement, by a mixture of shock, and panic watched Dida bristle. She hated being called ‘love’.
‘Eldon and Trellis. Right. I’ll do that now.’ Dida’s growl was ferocious. ‘I hope you realise you’re wasting your time up there, you’ll be back in half an hour to take it down.’
Fighting talk, and good on Dida for not taking it lying down, but Izzy, whose stomach was languishing somewhere at pavement level, wasn’t so sure.
Dida bustled back through the shop waving her mobile. ‘So sorry about this, carry on with the cupcakes. One minute, I’ll sort this out.’
Nice try, but nothing flattened bubbly faster than bad news. Realistically, this party was over.
Izzy, Luce and Dida threaded their way past the customers, as they discarded their plastic champagne flutes on the counter next to the untouched cupcake tower, and discretely began to disperse. Izzy’s heart was racing, and she wasn’t sure if her shaking knees were due to anger or pure fear. Dida might have pulled off an upbeat exit to the kitchen, but Izzy had caught the wild whites of her eyes as she passed. The gash of her red lipped grimace reminded Izzy of the face in Munch’s The Scream, and it was enough for Izzy to know that Vintage at the Cinema was in big trouble here. And that had to be awful news for all of them.
2 (#uf98bf655-74e6-5a61-b155-60113b52c740)
Wednesday Evening, 4th June
IZZY
