Chapter 6 #2
‘OK,’ she nodded thoughtfully. ‘If this donor believes in this place so much that they want to donate money for its upkeep, then we need to give them something impressive, something wonderful for their money. But will you let them know, that for my part, I will repay them? It might take some time, but I will.’
‘You really don’t need to worry, but if it makes you feel better then you can repay the kitty as and when you can. But there’s no rush. Focus your attention and your profits into making the gift shop a success. Worry about the kitty later.’
She nodded although Luke could see she wasn’t happy about it.
‘Have you spoken to any of the other artists, about whether they are staying or going?’ Flick asked.
‘No, Ethel glared at me this morning when I walked past her studio so I didn’t dare. I’m sure she thinks I’m sleeping with the enemy… erm, in the non-literal sense.’
Flick laughed. ‘Well, us pretending to be together isn’t going to quell those thoughts.’
Luke shrugged. ‘Let them talk. Besides, if you’re the enemy for trying to help them I’d rather be on your side any day. Some people are not worth saving and it’s the studios that matters, not them. If they walk, we’ll find new artists. There’s so many in Lovegrove Bay.’
‘Yeah, you’re right,’ Flick said, sadly. ‘I just hate the thought of kicking anyone out. My grandad would never have done that, but then he had a way of talking that people listened to. I think it was the importance of what he was doing here, people believed in it.’
‘Then we need to get them to believe in it again.’
Luke heard a car door close outside and he looked out the window to see Natalia walking up the drive towards the front door.
His heart sank. Not again. She was relentless in her pursuit of him and he wasn’t stupid enough to believe this was motivated by anything but money.
‘Natalia’s coming,’ Luke said, wondering if it wasn’t too late to run and hide.
‘Quick, put your arm around me,’ Flick said.
He did as he was told, slinging an arm around her shoulders.
‘Not like that, it’s too brotherly.’
‘I could hold your hand instead,’ he said, slipping his hand into hers and trying not to like it so much.
‘Yes, that works, although we’ve not had a chance to come up with our story yet.’
‘We need a story?’ Luke asked in alarm, looking out the window to see they only had a few seconds left.
‘Yes, where we met, how long we’ve been dating, what’s my favourite colour.’
‘She isn’t going to ask that.’
‘Maybe not but we have to be convincing. Right now, we’re just two people holding hands. Correction, one woman, one rabbit in the headlights.’
‘Well, what should we do?’
She leaned up and kissed him.
He heard himself gasp against her mouth in surprise.
They’d talked about this but he hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly and without any warning.
But then he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back and it wasn’t because Natalia was coming in, it was because she tasted so damned good, because when her mouth met his he felt a kick of desire and need slam into his stomach.
She slid her hands round the back of his neck, stroking his hair, and he groaned softly against her lips at the sensation of it.
He relished the feel of her warm body tight against his.
The outside world faded away, he forgot about Natalia or saving the studios, he could only focus on how perfectly she fitted in his arms, how her soft lips felt against his, her incredible scent, and how this might be the best damn kiss of his life.
He moved his hands up her back, touching her bare flesh on her shoulders which made her moan softly.
He pulled back a fraction to look at her and could feel her breath was heavy on his lips.
He could see her eyes were dark with… something.
He didn’t want to attribute that to lust or passion or desire, just because that was what he was feeling.
But they were dark and she was looking at him in complete wonder.
He had no idea if Natalia had come and gone or whether she was still there and he didn’t care.
He cupped Flick’s face and kissed her again and felt her melt against him, her fingers tightening in his t-shirt.
He had never felt so turned on from a simple kiss before and he suddenly wanted nothing more than to scoop her up, carry her up to his room and make love to her.
And with the way she was kissing him so passionately, it seemed she wanted that too.
This kiss was everything but he suddenly remembered that actually it was nothing.
It was an act, nothing more, and he’d completely lost his mind .
He pulled back and was just about to apologise for taking it too far when he realised they weren’t alone in the room. He looked up expecting to see Natalia but she was nowhere to be seen. Instead Ethel was standing there watching them, her mouth hanging open.
She cleared her throat. ‘Well this is a surprise.’
Flick took his hand. ‘For us too.’
Luke looked down at her and she smiled up at him happily. Either she was playing the part really well or she had somehow completely fallen in love with him over the last few minutes. He sighed, softly. He was a fool if he thought it was the latter.
‘Well, now we know why you’re fighting her corner so hard,’ Ethel said.
‘I’m fighting her corner because it’s the right thing to do. Unless we change we’ll lose this place forever.’
‘Well, I actually came down to tell Flick that I won’t be taking part. I won’t be producing cheap tat for the tourists, that’s not who I am. I’m very happy here and I’ll be sad to go but I’m not lowering myself to that.’
Luke felt Flick visibly deflate next to him. ‘Oh, I, erm… It’s such a shame you feel this way. Is there anything we can do to change your mind?’
‘No. I’m an excellent quilter. I won best quilter in the south-west six years in a row and two years ago I won best quilter in England. When people buy quilts from me, they are buying quilts from an award-winning, professional quilter and that comes with a price tag.’
‘No one is doubting your credentials,’ Flick said, weirdly still holding Luke’s hand.
‘Your quilts are probably the most beautiful quilts I’ve ever seen in my life.
The attention to detail, the exquisite embroidery, it’s incredible.
I have no doubt at all that they are worth the high price tag.
But the problem is, right now, no one is buying them.
Unless you’re selling them online or somewhere else I don’t know about, you haven’t made a single sale in six months.
Or more. You have hundreds of them in your studio, all stacked up in piles.
And yes, the complete lack of footfall is a big part of that but when we open the café and the gift shop that will bring people here, we have to give them something to buy.
Ninety-nine percent of the people who will walk through those doors will not have three thousand pounds to spend on a piece of art.
And I don’t want you to produce tat. You could embroider and frame small pictures of animals.
Baby animals are very popular decorations for nurseries.
It could still be your high-quality embroidery but on a much smaller scale. ’
‘How small?’ Ethel said.
‘Six inches?’ Flick tried.
Ethel didn’t say anything and Luke could see she was wavering.
‘Why don’t we display your award-winning quilts on the walls and I’ll take photos of the rest and we can project them onto the walls in a kind of slideshow?’ Luke quickly offered. ‘We can carefully pack away the rest in storage and display some of your embroidery pieces instead.’
Ethel sighed. ‘I did enjoy creating some embroidery pictures of baby Australian animals when my great-niece had a baby.’
‘Couldn’t we at least get you to try embroidering some animal pictures and see if it’s something you would like to do long term? You can still do your quilts as well,’ Flick said.
‘How about a deal?’ Ethel said. ‘If I sell one of my quilts at full price within one month of the café reopening, you’ll leave me be to continue making them?’
‘OK,’ Flick said, cautiously. ‘But we will have to reassess in six months’ time. One a month is fine, but one a year is not feasible.’
Ethel nodded her head to concede this. ‘But in the meantime I will make twenty embroidered animal pictures and we’ll see how well they sell in the first month too.’
‘They have to be less than thirty pounds,’ Flick reminded her.
Ethel scowled but nodded. ‘Very well. We’ll give it one month.’
With that, she walked out. Flick still continued to hold Luke’s hand even when there was no one there to see it, making his heart do weird things in his chest.
‘Well, that was a success,’ Flick said.
‘The kiss or our conversation with Ethel?’
She grinned at him. ‘Oh, the kiss was very successful. I wasn’t expecting the hottest kiss of my life.’
‘I am sorry.’
She looked at him in surprise. ‘For what?’
‘Well, I know we talked about kissing but I got a bit carried away and it turned into something a bit more… pornographic. I’m sorry, that’s not what you signed up for when you agreed to help me.’
She frowned in confusion. ‘You’re… You’re apologising for kissing me with passion and desire?’
‘Well, it wasn’t real, was it?’
Her face fell. She let go of his hand and took a step back and then another.
‘No, of course not. It meant nothing, obviously.’ She took another step back.
‘I just meant it was successful because it clearly sent Natalia packing. We were very convincing. We do that a few more times and your fan club will get the message.’ She started walking towards the door. ‘And thanks for your help with Ethel.’
‘Flick…’
‘I should go, I, umm… I’m going into the town to speak to some of the artists at the local outdoor market.’
‘I could come with you.’
‘No. No need. See you later.’