The Turnaround Treasure Shop (16 page)

‘Did you hear that Nick was going to be putting in Wi-Fi at the library?' Dan had stopped at the desk.

Lily looked up at the mention of her hero's name. ‘That's good of him.' He hadn't told her, but there again there hadn't been much time for chit chat. They'd been heavily involved in each other…

‘He's got a PC he's donating too.'

‘He's paying for the Wi-Fi?'

‘Support to Survive.'

Lily smiled. Such a generous soul, her hero.

‘Said he wants to get more involved with the town.'

‘Yes, he told me too.'

‘Oh? When?'

‘Um… Can't remember.'

‘I should call him, actually. Wondered where he was this morning. He didn't come in for breakfast this Saturday. Like he usually does.'

Lily pulled the pencil from her hair, tightened her ponytail and re-stuck the make-shift hair clip firmly into the knot, her face heating up.

‘Wonder if he'll be in tomorrow?'

Lily looked at Dan and found him smiling broadly. ‘No idea.'

‘Suppose we'll find out tomorrow then.' He turned, then swivelled back. ‘What are you doing for dinner tonight? I'd hate to think of you all by yourself Saturday night. You must have been lonely last night. Fancy a slap-up meal in the restaurant? On me.'

‘Thanks but actually I'm a bit tired.'

Dan grinned. ‘Yeah, I bet you are.'

‘I mean from thinking. The shop — you know. Everything I have to sort out.'

‘Don't think too hard on things, Lily. She'll be right.'

Dan headed for the bar and a group of afternoon drinkers and Lily paused in her task of list-making to consider her children.

Charlotte had accepted immediate notice from Lily so today was, remarkably, her last day as waitress and all-rounder at Kookaburra's. The twins were going to be taking some of Lily's shifts for the extra money. They'd been talking about buying the grocer's store and running it together for ages now and it looked as though Lily's leap into opening her business had fired the twins' eagerness too. A rollercoaster of happenings from one small blessing known as the Support to Survive program. What a town.

She glanced around the cavernous space of the hotel, her place of employment for the last nine years. Such changes were happening in her life! Wonderful, but sudden, and she hadn't even told her mum about the shop, let alone the children.

She reasoned with herself that there hadn't been time but really, if she hadn't spent the night with Nick she would have called her mother last night. She'd have told the children too and everyone would have been excited with her.

***

‘All right. I give in!' Lily held her hands up, gasping through her laughter. If this was business, she'd take it.

Junior Morelly and Mrs Tam were fighting a path to get through the door of Turnaround Treasures — yes, she'd named the shop, officially. Well, in her head at least. She was still waiting on signage and not sure how to afford it since she'd just ordered three new outfits for her daughter from an online catalogue and had put down a deposit on a new computer for Andy. Right this moment she had customers to placate.

‘I don't need 'em. You can have the lot,' Mr Morelly told her, a tier of vintage metal pressed storage boxes in his hands. The metal was only lacklustre because it had been stored in a cupboard somewhere, probably not having seen the light of day for 60 years. They were beautiful! Lily's heart thumped.

‘I can see you'd have little use for them, Mr Morelly, but you might get money for them. They need a polish, not much more.'

‘All the catches work. Take 'em off my hands, would you? Save me throwing them out.'

‘I'm not going to let you do
that
!' She took the three boxes off him and put them on the floor next to an assortment of other odds and ends she'd been handed throughout the afternoon. Word travelled fast. Zero to 60 seconds from Kookaburra's to the Town Hall and suddenly Lily had extra stock in the shop and had been enjoying the bubbling excitement generated by the idea of a new store opening in town. God, she loved these people.

‘And I've no doubt I'll sell them,' she told Mr Morelly, ‘but I'll be taking commission only. The sale will be yours.'

‘Mule-headed, like your—'

‘Like my mother,' Lily finished for him. And like her mother, Lily liked using her brain. Taking items off the people in her town would do double-duty. They'd get an extra few dollars in their wallets, and Lily would have additional, interesting items to sell. She'd also get a handy little commission on their items to add to her own revenue which would mean she could pay back the Support program faster. ‘Business, or not at all,' she told her visitors.

‘What about my desk lamp?' Mrs Tam asked.

Lily had tried to keep her eyes off the item in Mrs Tam's hands as she wrangled with Mr Morelly. Now, she gave it her full attention.

‘It's a Tiffany lamp, Mrs Tam.'

‘It's a horrible colour. Doesn't match my décor.'

‘It's worth…' Lily valued it mentally. No cracks in the glass shade, no scratches or dents in the base. Perfect, practically unused condition.

‘It still works,' Mrs Tam said. ‘Just needs a bulb.'

‘It's worth around 500 dollars.'

‘Good heavens. For this old thing?'

Lily nodded, smiling at her surprise. ‘It's Art Nouveau.' She wanted to sell that lamp, but an antique store in Canberra or even Cooma might be able to command a higher price than Lily could. There again, they'd charge a considerable commission too. ‘It's special,' she told Mrs Tam. ‘How about I sell it for you, no commission.'

‘Twenty per cent,' said Mrs Tam, responding so quickly that Lily wondered if she'd known exactly what was in her hands and if she'd planned this to help Lily along.

‘Five,' Lily told her.

‘Fifteen.'

‘Eight.'

‘Twelve, Lily. Or no deal.'

‘You drive a hard bargain, Mrs Tam.' Lily took the lamp off her and placed it carefully on the counter.

Saturday afternoon and her life was in full swing. Euphoria seemed to be charging through her veins.

She pulled out a pad and a pencil and input the items she'd just accepted onto her spreadsheet. ‘I'll give you each a receipt,' she told her clients. She still hadn't had time to call her mother and the children but she wasn't berating herself for that. She would call them when she drove home in about an hour's time. Before she showered, pampered herself a little with her favourite creams and lotions and dressed in a lacy, skimpy pink G-string and bra set she'd been given years ago and had never worn. She'd top it with her favourite ivory cotton dress with blue rosebuds. The one Mrs Tam had called romantic.

‘There.' She handed the receipts over, her heart swelling with pride and promise. She was already doing business, and Nick was in love with her. And off course, she was half-way to falling in love with Nick right back. He hadn't said it again, just that first time before he made love to her, and then made love
with
her. The differences were enthralling but she ought not to be thinking about either now.

‘What the hell's this for?' Mr Morelly asked Mrs Tam, rattling a heavy chair by its back brace.

‘It's a commode,' Mrs Tam told him, shutting the lid. ‘A toilet in a chair. Not sure who'd want to buy that.'

Lily wasn't sure either, but it would be an interesting feature in a country garden if she painted it brightly and turned it into a plant pot.

She leaned her elbows on the counter, watching them riffle through the wares piled on the floor and on a donated table, her thoughts tumbling to Nick. Tonight. She'd receive all that pleasure again tonight. And she might tell him of her feelings for him. He'd understand if she was a little hesitant. She had the children to think of. She wasn't a single woman. She had dependants. She'd need to talk to them, ease them into knowing that their mother was dating. She closed her eyes and thought about how they might take the news.

‘Who's doin' all the shifting in for you?' Mr Morelly asked.

‘Probably Nick,' Mrs Tam said, picking up a small iron birdbath in the shape of a lotus flower. ‘I might buy this.'

‘Dan is going to move the cabinets and shelving in for me,' Lily said. ‘I can manage the rest.' She straightened, and shuffled paperwork, planning ahead in her mind. She'd talk to her children about Nick when they returned from Sydney a week on Monday. They'd enjoy Easter Monday together. The shop had its official opening on the Tuesday, and the kids started school again on Wednesday. No value for anyone in bringing the subject up while they were away. She wanted to see their faces when she told them. She wanted to gauge their reactions because she'd see straight away if there were doubts or concerns.

‘Young Janie-Louise'll be glad to have Nick around, I bet,' Mr Morelly said.

Lily looked up, brought out of her thoughts. ‘Around?' she asked.

‘So will Andy,' Mrs Tam said, putting the lid on the commode down. ‘Once he gets used to the idea of having a father.'

‘A what?' Lily said, her breath catching.

Mr Morelly turned to her. ‘The kids.'

‘What about them?' Lily asked, clutching the pencil in her hand as though it were a fuse leading to a bomb.

‘I overheard your kids talking. About their dad.'

A short fuse.

‘Or lack of,' Mrs Tam offered in a dry tone.

Andy and Janie-Louise never spoke about their father. Never. Lily blinked hard and fast; her eyes had become dusty and dry. They didn't speak about him to Lily and she never uttered his name in front of them. Had she been wrong not to do so? Not to tell them some kind of truth, or bending of the truth to make them feel better.

‘By the way, Lily, there's a rehearsal for the Easter Ball this Wednesday night.'

‘A rehearsal for what?' Mr Morelly asked.

‘For the band, mainly. Ted said he doesn't trust the musicians to get it right without a rehearsal.'

‘He's not going to be singing, is he?' Mr Morelly said a disparaging tone.

‘Well, he's bound to pick up the microphone later in the evening.'

‘I'll be leaving early then.'

‘You'll be there for the rehearsal, Lily?' Mrs Tam asked. ‘Quite a lot of folk are coming, helping Ted with the decorations, you know. He's got 400 balloons to blow up.'

‘You'll be able to smooch around the dance floor with your beau.' Mr Morelly winked at Lily.

‘My beau?'

‘Nick.'

‘Oh, I bet it's thrilling being in that man's arms,' Mrs Tam said.

It was. But what were they talking about? Her children, her love life, her shop…

Lily stepped from behind the counter and crossed her arms. ‘What did you overhear, Mr Morelly? What did my children say about their father?'

‘Andy was asking Janie-Louise if she ever thought about him.'

Lily's heart clutched. ‘What did she say?'

‘She said never. She said she was going to have four children and didn't mind if they didn't have a dad because she had experience in that. But it got me thinking.' He winked again, obviously well-pleased with himself. ‘So I had a word with Mrs Tam here — being as she has a lot to do with you and the kids, over at the library and the museum.'

Lily attempted to rationalise the events in order. ‘So you started matchmaking on my behalf.'

‘Not without putting a lot of thought into it,' Mrs Tam offered, smiling broadly. ‘We'd never match you to an unsuitable life partner.'

‘Thanks,' Lily said, her brow furrowing and her heartbeat picking up the pace. ‘Were Charlotte and Dan in on it?'

‘I did have a little word in few birds' ears.'

‘And Sammy too?'

‘Nothing passes through town without Sammy knowing. She is, after all, our self-appointed matchmaker. She and Charlotte were a mine of information on how we should proceed.'

Proceed? It might have been mildly amusing at first, but it felt like interference now, and it felt like there was more to be told. Much more. And Lily knew what it was. ‘So you instigated the need for heavy lifting at the library. And what about your store, Mr Morelly? I take it you're not in need of a cleaner after all.'

‘Likely I'll get one of the youngsters around town to do that now that you're opening the shop.' He nodded at Mrs Tam. ‘Take a leaf out of Nick's book — you know — give the kids a chance to make some pocket money.'

‘Oh, he's generosity itself,' Mrs Tam said. ‘Why-Fie in the library, offering to support the cost of the school bus and now — you know. This.'

Mr Morelly nodded, chewing on his dentures in thought. ‘Good man. Putting his money in like he has.'

‘Trustworthy,' Mrs Tam pronounced.

‘Dependable.'

‘Quite magnanimous, really.'

‘A stayer.'

Lily interrupted their list of Nick Barton's merits. ‘Where else has he put his money?'

Mrs Tam coloured and looked down at the birdbath in her hands. Mr Morelly turned to the treasures on the floor.

They didn't have to answer. There was no need to question them further on how their little plan to get her a beau had developed. Or where else Nick Barton had put his money. Lily knew. It was Nick who had put up the money for the lease — not the Support to Survive program.

She turned and sat on a stool the twins had brought in for the shop, clutching at the seat with sweat-ridden hands. Why?
Why
did this have to be true?

Lily wrangled with her thoughts but they were haywire. She picked up the still-packaged lingerie set she'd been planning on wearing tonight, and stuffed it back in her underwear drawer.

She'd been reasoning with herself all the way home but she still couldn't shift her dented pride. Couldn't resign herself to the matchmaking mischief that had suddenly turned her world upside down. She couldn't swallow the sense of betrayal balled in her throat.