7
Eventually, we move everything that I want to keep in the lock-up from the van, stacking it neatly and in an order I can find things easily, then we climb back inside and drive towards the shop.
‘At least it’s after seven,’ I say, glancing at the clock on the van’s dashboard. ‘So we can get close to the shop now. The barrier that prevented you driving through on your motorbike yesterday will be lifted now.’
I find my way back to King’s Parade and pull up in a loading bay, putting my badge in the windscreen to inform any eager traffic wardens that happen to be passing that I have a business nearby and therefore I’m allowed to park for a short time.
‘Right, then,’ I say, looking across at Adam. ‘Last push!’
‘Last push it is!’ Adam looks like this is the last thing he wants to be doing on a Saturday night.
‘I did say I could manage. You could have stayed at the house.’
Adam shakes his head. ‘No chance. Let’s do this.’
Getting stock to the shop has never been easy.
Clockmaker Court is situated down a small pedestrian path that leads off King’s Parade, making direct access with a vehicle impossible.
So it takes a number of trips back and forth to the van to unload the rest of the furniture and boxes.
While we’re on one of them, Orla pokes her head out of one of the leaded windows above her shop.
‘Oh, it’s you, Eve,’ she says, looking relieved. ‘I thought I heard some commotion down there, I wondered what was going on.’ She glances at her watch. ‘It’s quite late for you to be here, isn’t it?’
‘We’re just bringing some bits and pieces back to the shop,’ I tell her. ‘We’ll try not to disturb you too much – we’re nearly finished for today.’
‘Oh, don’t you be worrying about it,’ she says dismissively with a wave of her hand. ‘Now, tell me how you are getting on. Did you find much at Adam’s grandfather’s house?’
‘Almost too much, if I’m honest. But it’s been a productive day, hasn’t it, Adam?’
Adam reappears empty-handed from the shop. He waves up at Orla.
‘Oh, you’re here too, Adam?’ she says, looking with interest between the two of us. ‘That’s good …’
‘Yeah, I’m just helping Eve move some of the stuff,’ he says. ‘Not that she needs help, of course.’ He grins. ‘But I have to make it look good, don’t I?’ He takes the box I’m carrying from me and heads back into the shop.
‘Yes, indeed,’ Orla says, smiling. ‘That’s good to know it’s going well …’ She gives me a wide-eyed knowing look.
I hurriedly shake my head and check that Adam hasn’t seen. But he’s already in the back room of the shop with the box.
Orla just smiles. ‘Right, I’ll be leaving the two of you to it. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!’ She winks at me before closing up her window.
‘This place really is too cute,’ Adam says, emerging from the shop again and looking around him.
‘It’s like something from a children’s fairy tale – all these old buildings in a little courtyard and people calling out of their lattice windows.
It feels like we’ve gone back in time. Like it’s a world away from the hustle and bustle of daily life. ’
‘I suppose it does a bit,’ I say, looking around me at the court. ‘But we’re not too set in the past – we have telephones and the internet, and sometimes you might even get a 5G signal if you’re lucky!’ I carry my last box into the back room of the shop and Adam follows me inside.
I pull the green velvet curtain back across the doorway of the little room as I emerge back into the main shop.
‘I’ll sort all this out on Monday when I’m in again,’ I tell Adam.
‘I’d better leave Barney a note for tomorrow, though.
He knows not to touch anything until I’ve sorted through it, but if it’s quiet he likes to find himself something to do.
’ I search for a notepad and pen behind the solid oak shop counter that my grandparents bought in an auction, along with the big old-fashioned till I still use.
Adam is looking in the tall glass display cabinet where I keep some of my smaller items for sale. ‘When you said you give everything a story, you really meant it.’
‘Of course. Each item has its own tag with its price and as much history as I can give it. It’s not always easy, but I do my best to give everything I have here at least some provenance.’
‘This really is a cool little place,’ Adam says, turning from his inspection of the cabinet to gaze around the shop. ‘I like it. It’s warm and welcoming, not dusty and gloomy like some antique shops are, and you’ve managed to pack a lot of stuff in here without it seeming crowded.’
I’m glad he’s noticed. ‘Thanks, I’m pretty proud of it.’
‘How long have you been here?’
‘I’ve been working here about ten years.
But it wasn’t until after the pandemic that I took over the running of the shop.
My grandparents owned it originally,’ I say, knowing he’ll only ask.
‘When my grandfather passed away, I helped my grandmother out, then, eventually, when she went, the shop became mine.’
‘Family business, then,’ Adam says, picking up a Moorcroft vase and looking at the base. ‘Nice.’
‘Yes, it always has been – for as long as I can remember anyway.’
‘Your parents weren’t involved, then?’ Adam asks, moving on to examine a watercolour painting of two ladies being punted along the River Cam by a man in a straw boater and a striped jacket.
‘No. They had their own careers. My father was detective in the police force and my mother was a teacher. She was never that interested in the shop, she grew up here – I think she was happy to get away when she could, to be honest.’
‘So it was all down to you then to keep it going?’
‘Yeah, I guess.’
Adam glances at me, but he moves on to look at the next painting hanging on the wall.
‘Did you want to – take on the shop, I mean?’ he asks casually while he continues to examine the wall of paintings. ‘You said you took a history degree. No offence to this place, but you don’t need a degree to run it.’
‘It’s harder than you think running a little shop like this,’ I say, at last finding the notebook Barney and I always kept under the desk so we could leave messages for each other.
‘I’m sure it is. I just wondered why you wanted to do it. Did you feel a sense of duty to keep it going because no one else was interested?’
‘Something like that.’
‘What do your family think now?’
‘Not a lot,’ I say, beginning to write in the book. ‘Both my parents are dead now.’
‘Oh,’ Adam says, immediately turning to me. ‘I’m sorry, I had no idea. Were you very young when they passed away?’
I didn’t mean to say that so abruptly. ‘Not that young.’ I look up at him. ‘I was twenty-four when it happened.’
Adam doesn’t say anything. So I continue writing in the notebook.
‘It seems like we have yet another thing in common,’ I hear him say softly. ‘I lost both my parents when I was quite young.’
‘Your dad died too?’ I say, surprised to hear him say this. ‘You only told me about your mother.’
‘I don’t know if he’s alive or dead, to be honest,’ Adam says, picking up a statue of a dog but not looking at it. ‘But he left not long after my mum died, so it felt like I’d lost both parents.’
I want to say something profound and comforting to him, but I find I can only nod silently.
Another connection between Adam and I has suddenly and unexpectedly appeared, and I want to tell him I get it. I want to tell him I know exactly how he feels. But instead there’s a slightly awkward pause as we stare at each other.
‘Shall we get that clock in now, and then we’re done for the day?’ I hear myself saying. ‘I don’t know about you, but I could do with a bath, some food and an early night.’
Adam looks gratefully at me. ‘Yes, the grandfather clock. I’d forgotten we still had that in the van.’ He glances around the shop. ‘Are you sure it will go in here? This shop is already full to the brim with stuff. I can just take it back to the house if you like?’
‘Nice try!’ I say, relieved the atmosphere between us has lightened once more. ‘But I’m certain I can sell it if we can get it in. I’m not saying it will be easy, but I’m sure you’re up to the task.’
‘How did I ever get into this?’ Adam says, shaking his head. ‘I used to spend most of my Saturday nights either at rock gigs or down the pub – now I’m spending them trying to fit gigantic grandfather clocks into tiny timber-clad shops.’
‘Don’t worry, it’s only this Saturday. Once we get the house cleared, your Saturday nights will be all yours again.’ I finish scribbling the note to Barney, then I head towards the door.
But Adam hesitates behind me.
‘Are you coming?’ I ask, standing in the open doorway waiting for him.
‘Yes… yes, of course,’ Adam says, giving a little shake of his head as though he’s waking himself up. ‘I was just thinking about something, that’s all.’
‘I don’t need thinking right now, I need muscle,’ I reply, flexing my bicep at him. ‘And unfortunately for me, right now you’re all the muscle I have.’
Adam gives me a wry smile. ‘Thanks! Right, come on then, let’s see if we can move this clock.’
With one of us at either end, and with great difficulty, we manage to carry the full-size grandfather clock from the van back to the shop, and then we attempt to manoeuvre it inside.
‘Are you absolutely sure you want to keep this?’ Adam asks, awkwardly holding the face end of the clock as we try to move it through the door. ‘Like I said, I can always take it back if it won’t fit.’
‘It will fit … if we can just … get it … round this corner,’ I reply, slightly out of breath.
The clock is cumbersome and awkward, but not as heavy as some I’ve lifted before.
‘You’re lucky, this is a particularly light model.
Most are much heavier than this. That’s it, now if we can just get it around that table …
and then over this chest of drawers … we’re nearly there. ’
‘Watch out!’ Adam cries out as I nearly knock over the vase he was admiring earlier. ‘Phew, that was close!’
‘Not at all. I had it all under control,’ I say, my heart racing a bit faster.
‘Hardly, you nearly took that vase out.’
‘I did not.’
‘I’m going to let that go because I’m holding an incredibly large clock right now. But unless you want to wipe out half your stock, you need to go a bit more carefully.’
‘Fine! Maybe if you lifted your end a little higher, we wouldn’t even be discussing it.’
With ease, Adam lifts his end of the clock higher in the air and with one last effort, we manage to get it to the back of the shop, where I’ve already made room for it in a little alcove against one of the side walls.
‘There,’ I say triumphantly as I help Adam to push the clock upright against the wall. ‘I knew it would fit in this alcove if we could get it back here.’
‘Just as well.’ Adam stands back to look at the clock. ‘I wouldn’t have wanted to take it back out to the van again. It looks as if it were made to go in there, doesn’t it?’
‘It’s a good fit. Sorry for the bickering before,’ I say. ‘When we were moving the clock just now.’
‘You call that bickering?’ Adam grins. ‘I call it banter. Forget it.’
I nod and turn my attention back to the clock again. ‘I just need to get this working now and then I might be able to sell it on to the right buyer.’
‘You know how to mend clocks?’ Adam asks, looking impressed. ‘That’s quite a skill.’
‘No, sadly not, but I know someone who can. I usually take any clocks or watches to him, but I’m hoping he might come to me since this is so big. It’s a beautiful example for its time and the engraving on the front is magnificent.’
I crouch down and run my hand over the carved wooden tree on the door at the clock’s base.
‘Is that unusual?’ Adam asks. ‘To have a tree like that carved on the door? It’s quite a simple design, isn’t it?’
‘I don’t know that much about clocks, to be honest. I’ll have to ask Freddy when I see him. I’m sure he’ll be able to tell me.’
‘Freddy?’
‘He’s my clock expert. I do hope he can fix it; it’s such an unusual piece. It’s big, but it’s not weighty. I think because it’s made from a light oak and not a heavy mahogany. Colour makes such a difference to the saleability of wooden furniture, and light wood is definitely in right now.’
Adam yawns.
‘Am I boring you?’ I ask, raising my eyebrows. But I smile. I know just how he feels – exhausted.
‘Sorry, no, not at all. It’s just been a very long day.’
‘Yeah, I know. Shall I drop you back at the house now?’
‘Do you fancy something to eat first?’ Adam asks. ‘I’m starving.’
‘To be honest, I’d rather get a shower first and then some food.’
‘Great, let’s do that, then?’
‘Erm … what?’ I ask, confused.
‘A shower first, and then food?’ he says. ‘I brought a change of outfit – that’s what I have in my bag. That’s if you don’t mind?’
‘Don’t mind what?’ My exhausted brain simply isn’t following this.
‘If I take a shower at yours before we go for some food? I mean, I don’t have to if it makes you uncomfortable?’
‘Oh …’ Oh, no, how do I get out of this? Entertaining Adam is the last thing I want to do right now. I just want to go back to my little house and be on my own with a cup of tea and some buttered toast before I collapse into my bed.
But I just haven’t got the energy right now to argue with him and he has been so helpful to me tonight.
‘All right. You can shower at mine and we’ll get something to eat – takeaway, though.
I’m not going out to eat tonight. Plus you’ll have to find your own way back to your grandfather’s house later.
I’m not driving you back to Grantchester once I’m all settled for the evening. How does that sound?’
‘It’s a deal.’ Adam extends his hand to me and reluctantly I shake it. ‘Now lead the way, my good friend! I’m intrigued to see Chez Sinclair in all its glory!’