The Second Chance Shoe Shop (19 page)

R
iley had been shocked
when Sadie and Dan turned up at her flat. Even more so when they told her that they had walked out of Chandler’s.

‘It just isn’t on, Riley,’ said Dan as he flopped down next to her on the sofa.

‘But it’s your livelihood,’ Riley protested. ‘You can’t just walk out and have no job or no money to fall back on.’ She stared at Sadie. ‘Nor you!’

‘The shop’s going to close anyway,’ Dan replied. ‘It won’t stay open if she has anything to do with it.’

But Riley still wasn’t happy. ‘Look, I get the sentiment, you guys, but honestly, you must go in tomorrow. Don’t let Suzanne get the better of you. You don’t want her saying you walked out when she needed you most.’

‘But she sacked you!’ Sadie was outraged. ‘I can’t be loyal to her.’

‘She sacked
me
,’ said Riley. ‘I can live with that, but not putting you two out of work as well.’

‘Can you live with it?’ Dan shook his head. ‘You shouldn’t. It was her fault we had to do all this flash mob, viral, Twitter stuff. If it wasn’t for that, you’d still have a job and you’d―’

‘Still be lonely and on my own.’

A silence dropped on the room.

‘Has Ethan still not been in touch?’ Sadie broke in.

‘Yes, he’s sent me a few messages but I don’t want to talk to him. I hurt him, and he hurt me, but it doesn’t mean we can start over again. There were too many obstacles in the way. It wasn’t all about bad timing. So . . . I’m thinking of moving away from Hedworth and going somewhere like Manchester.’

‘Manchester!’ Dan and Sadie said in unison.

‘Yes, but I really want to finish this competition first,’ said Riley, not wanting to be drawn into a discussion. ‘Are you two willing to sort out the entries, if I keep it going on social media until the closing date this Friday?’

‘Are you sure?’ asked Dan.

‘Yes. It’s no one’s fault but my own that I’ve been sacked. I don’t want to let people down.’

Riley let Dan and Sadie out and then flopped back onto the settee again. She needed to keep busy. Someone had to sort out the competition entries. Despite her setback, she couldn’t let her colleagues down. Finishing off the competition would give them some great press. Maybe she could email Kim to see if she would run it in the paper. If nothing else, it would be something to put on her CV. She got out her notepad to make a list of things to do.

‘
P
oor Riley
,’ said Sadie, as she and Dan left the building. ‘I can’t believe everything has turned out like this. I couldn’t bear it if she moved away.’

‘Me neither,’ Dan agreed. ‘She’s always been there for us, yet no one seems to look after her. And now everyone knows about the life of Riley.’

Sadie put a hand on his arm and stopped him as they walked across the car park.

‘Do you think we should do some sort of social media campaign? Maybe we could get Riley her job back?’ she said, all breathless now that she had thought of a way to help.

‘She won’t want to come back,’ Dan said, shaking his head.

‘But
we
need her back. We need to show Suzanne just how good Riley is. Then she won’t leave for Manchester.’

‘I can’t think of anything worse than going back to Chandler’s, but I know you’re right.’ Dan shuddered. ‘That is, if we still have jobs tomorrow.’

‘Riley’s right. Suzanne can’t close the shop now – not until the competition is over. There would be outrage, after all the entries.’

Dan sighed. ‘We’re nothing without Riley, are we, Sadie?’

‘No, and neither is Chandler’s. Do you have Ethan’s mobile number?’

‘No, but I have his email address on something that Riley forwarded to me.’ Dan got out his phone. ‘Yes, here it is.’

‘I’m going to email him this evening.’ Sadie wrote the address down. ‘Let’s meet at work in the morning, and see what the situation is with our jobs first. We did walk out, after all. Oh!’

‘What’s up?’

‘I’ve had a text message from Cooper.’ Sadie passed her phone to Dan.

Stung a bit, I must admit. Want me to grab a bottle of wine and we can chat about it tonight?

S
adie was back
at home after collecting Esther from Christine’s. She’d told Christine that she hadn’t been feeling too well, so had finished work early. It was easy for the lie to roll off her tongue, and even though she felt guilty when she saw Christine’s over-friendly smile drop, she couldn’t tell her the real reason.

Christine had obviously assumed that it was because of what had happened the night before, but Sadie couldn’t think about that at the moment. Even though Cooper would be calling later, and it would have to be addressed then, her thoughts were with Riley.

While Esther was playing, Sadie got out her laptop and logged on to Twitter. She checked out the tweets that Riley was still getting on Chandler’s feed, and the ones that she was able to see on Riley’s feed. Some of them were vicious, but many were in support of what she had done. #giveRileyabreak was a hashtag she noticed quite a few times.

Riley had seemed so resigned that afternoon, as if all the fight had gone out of her. Sadie was so used to seeing her with a smile on her face, no matter what, so used to her having an answer to any problem.

She thought about their friendship. How Riley had always been there for her. She had been more than a manager to her for a long time, and yet Sadie had never been there for Riley, not really. Of course she had seen their friendship growing as they’d worked together longer, and had valued every minute of it. But she hadn’t seen it as so one-sided until now.

What had she ever done for Riley? Riley hadn’t even felt able to confide in her about Nicholas, because she felt too embarrassed. Friends should be able to tell each other anything.

Shame washed over her. After being betrayed by Christine, she tried to put herself in Riley’s position. It had happened twice to Riley. Once when Nicholas lied to her, and then with Ethan’s ex-girlfriend making trouble because she wanted Ethan for herself.

Ethan had been a fool too. He should have realised that Riley wasn’t capable of the things Clarissa accused her of. When she had sent that tweet with the photo of Clarissa attached to it, she had been at breaking point. And now that the competition and the shop were still in the news, Riley had become a target for every weirdo to have a go at. Hopefully they could do something about that now. Ethan had emailed her to say he would call in at the shop tomorrow.

Sadie’s phone beeped with the arrival of a message. It was from Cooper, to say he was on his way. Her heart skipped a beat. They’d have to make small talk, as if everything was okay, unless she could get Esther to leave them alone for a few minutes. She didn’t feel that was fair. She always seemed to be pushing her out of the room.

She replied to Cooper and then sent Riley a message too.

Hope you’re feeling a little better. I just want to say I’m sorry. You’ve been such a good friend and I haven’t. I should have looked after you better. I hope I’ll be able to put that right in the future. X

A message came back almost immediately.

Don’t be silly. You’ve had a lot to deal with but you’ve always been there for me. No need to apologise. Thanks for calling this afternoon. Was good to see you and Dan. X

There was a knock on the front door. Esther came thundering down the stairs.

‘Cooper!’ she cried, jumping into his outstretched arms. ‘I’ve been practising dancing. Mummy says I can go to Streetwise to learn with Serena!’

Sadie smiled shyly at Cooper. At least there was no awkward silence with Esther at home.

‘That’s great!’ said Cooper, enthusiastically. ‘Do you want to show me some moves?’

Esther shimmied down his body, onto the floor. ‘I’m practising,’ she huffed. ‘I’ll be down when I’m ready.’

She tore upstairs again.

And there was the awkward silence.

Cooper held out a bottle of wine. ‘I had a feeling you’d need this. I bought your favourite.’

‘Thanks.’ She took it from him and went into the kitchen.

‘Have you had a good day?’ she asked, trying to fill the silence.

‘Yeah, not bad. You?’

‘Well, apart from me and Dan walking out halfway through the day, everything has been fine.’

Cooper stared at her in disbelief before pulling out a chair. ‘Tell me.’

‘I will.’ Sadie sat down across from him. ‘But we might only have a few minutes until madam has finished her dance routine, so I want to stress how sorry I am about what happened. It was totally unforgivable of me to assume that it was you.’

‘It was quite a shock, I must admit,’ he said. ‘At first I kept thinking that I must have led you on. If I did, it wasn’t intentional.’

Sadie felt her skin burn immediately. ‘Gawd, don’t remind me.’

‘Did I, though?’

‘No. I just jumped to conclusions. I mean, really jumped to them. I couldn’t think of anyone else it could be. You’re as close to me as Christine. It just didn’t enter my head that she would do anything like that.’

‘But I would?’

‘No!’ She shook her head vehemently. ‘I can’t even think why I thought it was you now. It was on the spur of the moment.’

Cooper put up his hand. ‘Before you go on, I do have a confession. Because I
haven’t
been entirely honest with you.’

Sadie paused. Oh no. What was he going to say now?

‘I―’ Cooper faltered, looking away for a moment.

‘What is it?’

‘I’ve been dating Ash.’

Sadie drew her head back and frowned. ‘Ash? But you always fool about as if you hate each other! I― oh! Is it serious?’

He nodded. ‘I’d like to think so.’

‘How long have you been seeing each other?’

‘Nearly three months.’

Sadie shook her head. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘You said you get upset seeing other people together. Plus Ash and I have been friends for so long. I’ve been wanting to tell you for a while.’

‘So no one knows?’

Cooper shook his head. ‘What do you think?’

Sadie’s chin almost hit the floor. ‘It’s fantastic news if you’re both happy! Why wouldn’t you tell anyone?’

‘We wanted to be certain first,’ Cooper shrugged.

Sadie reached for his hand. ‘I’m so pleased for you both.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?’

‘Well, with you being in love with me, it might be awkward when we get together for Sunday lunch . . .’

They grinned at each other. Once again, Sadie had been shown that her friends would stick by her through anything. All of a sudden, she didn’t feel so lonely.

D
an and Sadie
hadn’t expected a welcome when they arrived at work the next morning. But neither of them were expecting Suzanne not to be there.

Dan was waiting for Sadie outside the shop as she crossed the High Street.

‘I didn’t want to go in on my own,’ he told her. ‘And I thought Suzanne would be here, didn’t you?’

Sadie nodded. ‘Do you think she’s closed the shop for good? Maybe she thinks we’d given up on it when we walked out yesterday.’

‘I hope not.’

‘Perhaps we should open up as usual? That might prove how sorry we are.’

‘I’m not sorry!’

‘Maybe not, but we shouldn’t have walked out yesterday. Suzanne might be a cow, but she was struggling and we just left her.’

Dan looked remorseful. ‘I suppose. And we can’t get Riley back to a shop that’s closed. What time did Ethan say he was calling in?’

‘He said it would be early, before he started work. I expect he’ll be here soon.’

‘Right, then.’ Dan took out his keys. ‘Let’s get this show on the road.’

A few minutes before they were due to open, Ethan banged on the shutter. Dan went to let him in.

‘Is Suzanne here?’ Ethan asked, stepping in cautiously.

‘Not yet,’ Sadie replied, deciding not to say any more just then. ‘We might only have a few minutes. Did you have a think about what I said in my email?’

Ethan nodded.

‘Are you able to help in any way?’

‘You should, because you’re the one who has done the most damage,’ Dan said.

‘It’s not all my fault,’ Ethan snapped.

‘But it is the fault of that stupid ex of yours. Riley is so thoughtful, always putting everyone else first. She loved Chandler’s and is amazing at her job. She―’

‘Lets everyone walk all over her.’

Dan froze. ‘What do you mean?’

‘You’re supposed to be her friends,’ said Ethan, his hands shooting into his trouser pockets. ‘Yet all I’ve ever heard Riley talk about is keeping Chandler’s going. You two have just gone along with whatever she’s tried. Grabbing on to her apron strings as if you can’t think for yourselves.’

‘No, we haven’t!’ said Dan.

‘If anyone has let Riley down,’ Ethan continued, ‘it’s you two, for taking her for granted and putting her under too much pressure.’

‘Will you two stop pointing the finger!’ Sadie cried. ‘Because I think we’re as guilty as each other.’ She sat down on a leather cube and looked up at them both. ‘Riley has been my rock since Ross died, but I haven’t been there for her.’

‘You’ve been grieving,’ said Dan. ‘Everyone takes different amounts of time to get over grief. You can’t blame yourself for that.’ He sat down too, and sighed loudly. ‘If we hadn’t done the flash mob, then none of this would have happened.’

‘The competition has been successful because of that,’ said Sadie.

‘I can’t believe how cruel people can be online, though.’

‘But none of that was true,’ said Ethan. ‘I’ve been trying to tell Riley that I can see past it all, but she won’t listen to me.’

‘That’s because you took your time in believing her,’ said Dan. ‘She’s crushed because of you!’

‘Okay, okay!’ Sadie held up her hands for silence. ‘Now that we’ve established we’re all a little bit to blame, maybe we should concentrate on seeing if we can put it right. Without Riley, this shop will be nothing anyway – if there still is a shop after we walked out yesterday.’

Ethan stood wide-eyed. ‘You walked out?’

‘It’s a long story,’ said Sadie. ‘But it made us realise that we can’t let the shop close because of a few thoughtless people – including us. That’s why we need to put a plan together.’

‘To save the shop?’ asked Ethan.

‘No. To get Riley back here.’

‘Do you think Suzanne will go for that?’

‘She might bow down to pressure if we can prove that Riley is popular.’ Sadie frowned. ‘No one knows she’s lost her job over what’s happened. We could play on what she did out of the goodness of her heart – for her friends as well as to save the shop.’

‘We could get Frank to speak out too,’ added Dan, ‘and some of the students that have been helping him.’

Sadie nodded. ‘You have to agree, since all this started, Riley’s followers online have increased a lot. So even if a few idiots have tried to spoil things for her, she’s got lots of people behind her. It’s these we need to tap into.’ She looked up at Ethan. ‘What do you think?’

‘I think that’s a great idea.’ Ethan ran a hand over his chin. ‘But I might have something else I can offer too. Riley has been a stalwart of the High Street for years. Maybe we could build something around that.’

‘You mean think of a good hashtag?’ asked Dan. ‘On social media?’

Ethan sat down. ‘Not exactly . . .’

S
adie was going
through her list when Dan nudged her.

‘Heads up.’ He nodded at the door.

Sadie looked up to see Suzanne coming into the shop. ‘Morning,’ she said in her brightest voice, even though she was unsure what reaction she would get.

‘I came to collect some of my things.’ Suzanne walked towards the till. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see the shop open. I was going to leave it closed until I found new staff.’ Her laugh was self-deprecating. ‘I couldn’t run it by myself, that’s been perfectly obvious this week.’

‘We weren’t sure if we would have jobs this morning, but we both decided to turn up anyway.’ Sadie paused. ‘Suzanne, we both love Chandler’s and we don’t want to see it close. We’re also both sorry for walking out on you yesterday. Things have been very stressful for us all over the past few weeks.’

‘You don’t know the half of it.’ Suzanne’s shoulders drooped. ‘If I’m honest, I don’t know what to do. I’m not sure I have the heart to keep it open, even if I did find a new manager. I might just call it a day – have a big sale and then close.’

‘No!’ Sadie and Dan spoke in unison.

‘But what about the competition?’ said Sadie. ‘People will go mad if you don’t announce a winner. The closing date is this Friday. Surely you can wait until then to make your mind up?’

‘I suppose I could.’ Suzanne pointed at the notepad on the counter, with a list of names on it. ‘Is that what you’re doing now?’

‘Yes.’ Sadie turned it for her to see. ‘Have you seen some of the photos online? We can show you, if you like. Some entries are photos of people wearing their best shoes on a special day, at their wedding for instance. Some people have slung them over their shoulder. Some have just lifted their foot in the air and snapped away.’

‘One woman lined some of her shoes against a wall,’ said Dan. ‘There’s even one woman who couldn’t decide which shoes she liked best and so has taken a photo of her entire shoe closet!’ He smiled at Suzanne shyly. ‘Would you like to pick a winner?’

‘I suppose I’ll have to, now that Riley isn’t here to finish what she’s started.’

Dan nudged Sadie, although she had been going to speak anyway.

‘Speaking of which, we think she should be here to announce the winner.’

‘I don’t think so,’ Suzanne snapped. ‘She’s caused enough damage. If I choose the competition winner and give out the prize, Chandler’s might not be a laughing stock any more.’

‘It isn’t a laughing stock,’ cried Dan.

‘It’s too late. You know I’ve advertised for a new manager. If I can get someone to run the shop, Chandler’s will stay open. If not, it will close in a month’s time.’