Page 17 of In Just One Day
‘Thank you.’
‘What for?’
‘Seizing opportunities.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Just that.’ She rose up on her toes to kiss him, then turned to go inside, smiling as she left.
8
Mack woke to the sound of the phone ringing downstairs. He reached for his watch by the side of the bed. It was just past nine o’clock in the morning. Slowly, he made his way downstairs, the shop still in darkness. The phone stopped ringing just as he got there but soon started again.
‘Hello?’ His voice was gruff with sleep.
‘Mack? It’s Flora. I know you said not to come in today but I wondered if I could. I need to talk to you about something.’
Mack looked across from behind the counter to the front door. The sign on the back of the door hung in its usual place, the word ‘OPEN’ facing him.
‘Yes, Flora, of course.’ Mack was pleased to hear her voice. He still felt terrible about having to let her go. ‘I’m not intending to open today, actually. Thought I’d use the day to tidy up a bit. The estate agents want to come and have a look around.’
‘Well, about that… Can you put them off until I’ve been in? I need to talk to you about an idea I’ve had.’
Mack switched the light on behind him. ‘Um, yes, I suppose so. I’ll give them a call now.’
‘Great. I’ll be with you in about half an hour.’
‘I’ll get the coffee on, then. See you shortly.’ He put down the phone and looked around the shop, feeling surrounded by the presence of people and places as much as bottles. He made his way back upstairs, a tiny spark of hope in his heart.
By the time Mack was dressed and downstairs, Flora was already at the door. He went to unlock it, instinctively reaching to flip the shop sign over, stopping himself at the last minute.
‘Morning, Mack.’ Flora was smiling from ear to ear. ‘I’m sorry again to call so early but I just wanted to get here before you did anything.’
‘Coffee?’ Mack headed back towards the pot, two empty cups on a tray ready for them.
‘Ooh, lovely. Yes, please. Listen, I’ve got a proposition for you.’
‘Go on.’ He poured the coffee and handed Flora a steaming cup.
‘Thank you.’ She put it straight back down, unable to stop herself. ‘OK, I have good news and bad news. I’ll start with the bad. Johnny’s been made redundant…’
‘Oh dear, I am sorry to hear—’
Flora cut Mack off. ‘No, it’s fine, honestly. He got a fairly good redundancy package; he’s been there for, God, I can’t remember how many years. Anyway, the point is, what he’d really like to do is run his own business, and so we thought, if you’re happy to, we could perhaps take over the lease of the shop. Obviously, you could still live above – if that works for you, if you wanted to, of course – and we hope you would still want to be involved in the business. But we wouldn’t want you to feel like you had to, you know? It would be totally up to you how much or little you do.’ Flora looked at him, hopefully. ‘So, what do you think? I mean, take your time, you don’t have to…’
Mack took a sip of his coffee and put his cup on the counter, turning his face away from Flora.
‘Mack, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bulldoze you. Johnny did say perhaps we should wait a bit, ask you more formally. If so, please ignore everything I’ve just said.’
‘Flora…’ Mack turned his head to face her. The tears in his eyes were barely perceptible but Flora knew him well enough to spot them. ‘Are you sure you and Johnny want to take this on? I mean, it’s not going to make you very much by way of income…’
‘We both really want to do something we love. Johnny’s going to – if you say yes, that is – draw up a proper business plan, take it to the bank so we can afford to do it properly. We’d plan to move some of the business online, all that kind of stuff. And if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. But we’re willing to give it a go. What do you think?’ She held her breath.
‘I think that’s just about the most wonderful thing I’ve heard for a long time.’ Mack’s face broke into a wide smile. ‘But are you sure you really want an old man like me around?’
‘Mack, we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. So yes, we really do want an old man like you around, as much as you want to be.’ Flora laughed, relieved. ‘Now, shall I turn that sign on the door over?’
Mack raised his cup to hers. ‘We should be doing this with wine really, but yes, turn the sign over.’