Chapter 26 #2
Madeline smiled to herself as she went back inside.
The shop did smell good—and it was nice everyone thought so enough to comment about it.
What she couldn’t quite figure out was how everyone seemed to pick out such different scents.
It should smell like mint and lemon cleaner.
Grant, she knew, picked up similar nuances. What was with everybody else’s noses?
Ah, well. It didn’t matter. Unless someone started picking up notes of mildew or rotten potatoes or something, it was all good.
She’d barely turned the lock in the front door—and hadn’t flicked the lights off yet—when there was the sound of footsteps on the verandah. A glance out the big window had her unlocking again immediately.
“Aisha, Mo! This is a nice surprise.”
“Madeline!” Mo launched herself at Madeline, who scooped her up into a huge hug.
Other than watch her the odd time here and there, Madeline had no idea what she’d done to earn such enthusiastic favor from Aisha’s hilarious and precocious little girl.
Still, every time Mo came into the shop, it was the same.
Wild, undeserved—and completely returned, it must be known—affection. Another gift.
“How are you doing, Miss M?” she asked, setting Mo down again.
“Great!” Mo said with a grrr sound like she was pretending to be a tiger. “But I have to peeeeeee!”
Aisha rolled her eyes good-humoredly. “I took the chance you’d be here, even though you’re technically closed. Can we use the washroom?”
“Ugh. I’m so sorry. Usually, of course, yes, but—” Madeline’s face scrunched in stress and annoyance. She threw up her hands. “Well, go see for yourself.”
Aisha strode to the small room, surveyed the damage as commanded—then burst out laughing. “Well, you’re right. We can’t use that. Was someone sitting on it when it broke through the floor?”
Madeline nodded, wincing as Gwen’s shriek replayed in her memory—her poor friend! Seeing it through Aisha’s eyes, however, she couldn’t help but laugh a bit too. “I think it was quite the surprise, all right.”
“A bad surprise,” Mo chimed in sternly, giving her mother and Madeline censorious looks. “It’s not funny. It’s a disaster.”
“Disaster” was a new word for Mo, and Madeline had been with her and Aisha when she’d learned it. Aisha and Madeline’s eyes met over Mo’s head of curls, and they laughed even harder.
“I’m going to look at the monsters!” Mo announced archly.
“Doesn’t she need to pee?”
Aisha shrugged. “I already suspected she just wanted to put off grocery shopping. Plus, you know her. She’s obsessed with you and this store.”
“Or the monsters anyway—and really, why shouldn’t she be? They’re awesome.”
“Good point.” Aisha grinned like Madeline was joking, but the little creatures Aisha made out of fabric scraps leftover from her and her friend Katelyn’s other creations really were wonderful.
“Did I tell you that when I watched her for you last week, she sold three of them to one person, then another one on top of that?”
Aisha grinned. “Yes, you did—twice, but that’s nothing compared to her bragging. I think she’s told me at least twenty times that ‘Madeline says I’m a great salesperson.’”
Madeline chuckled. “She is. And I’m glad I said, ‘person.’ I almost made the mistake of calling her a great little saleslady, but I could sense Lauren rolling over in her grave.”
“Even from the bit you’ve told me about Lauren, I think that’s a fair call. Salesperson. No inadvertently demeaning adjective. Much better.”
Madeline smiled. Oh, Aisha . . . so like Lauren at times that it was both a sharp cut and a soothing balm.
“She really did sell them, though. I’m not exaggerating.
One woman came in completely intent on buying each of her three granddaughters a china doll.
Mo overheard and staunchly informed her that she should buy them each a monster instead because all girls love monsters better than breakable dolls, plus she had seven of her own and loved them all like family. ”
Aisha laughed. “She’s a little parrot, that’s what she is . . . And you’d better be careful, or I’ll be dropping her off for you to watch every other day.”
“Anytime, I mean it. Babysitting just anyone here wouldn’t work, but Mo has the personality for it.”
“She has the personality for a lot of things.” Aisha sighed dramatically.
Madeline laughed. “Gee, where does she get that big personality from, I wonder?”
“No idea.” Aisha winked, then added, “Have you been freaking out about this bathroom and what you’re going to do about it?”
“A little,” Madeline admitted.
“Well, don’t. I have the perfect solution—and it’s so well-timed, it’s kind of funny, actually.”
Apparently, Aisha had a set of shell-pink 60s bathroom fixtures—sink, tub, and toilet—in like-new condition.
“I guarantee you’ll love them. They’re super cute and totally immaculate. It’s like they came out of a show house that was never used.”
It also turned out that Aisha’s fiancé Jase was something of a renovation and construction genius.
Normally, Madeline would take this kind of glowing description of someone’s significant other with a grain of salt and consider it the bias of love .
. . but this was Aisha talking. Madeline had never met someone so forthright about her own work and skills—and those of others.
If Aisha said someone had talent, they did—but it was all kind of beside the point, wasn’t it?
“I’m sorry,” Madeline said, swallowing her embarrassment. “It’s so kind of you, but it’s not in my budget right now. Maybe in a few months or—”
“Budget?” Aisha stared as if Madeline had said a foul word—or ten.
“There’s no budget involved. We’ve already got a bathroom planned for our place, and we’re going for a more natural wood and stone kind of thing, not retro, but these pink beauties were too gorgeous to pass up. We got them for free from a teardown.”
Madeline was genuinely sad. “But even the labor—”
“Is free, of course!” Aisha insisted.
It was ludicrous, way too much to be considered a mere “favor,” yet somehow, Aisha convinced Madeline.
Apparently, Jase was looking to do odd jobs in his spare time, so long as he could photograph them to add to his portfolio. “It will be perfect for The Second Chance Shop in every way—might even rival your gorgeous 50s kitchen.”
“Let’s not get too crazy now,” Madeline teased, but Aisha’s enthusiasm was contagious.
Mo took that moment to decide she really did need to use the washroom and scooted up to Aisha and tugged her hand. “I’ve got to go now. For real.”
“See?” Aisha said. “I knew it was a ruse earlier.” She nodded to Mo, assured they’d leave in “just a sec,” then quickly laid out her vision for the bathroom in bullet points.
“It seems like you’ve already spent time thinking about this.”
“I have! So weird, right? The minute Jase and I saw the retro pink, we knew we wanted to do a bathroom for you, but I thought I might have to convince you it was worth the intrusion for a few days.”
“Jase can do the whole job in a few days?”
“Jase can do anything, and he’s going to be my dad,” Mo said proudly, and Aisha nodded. Seeing how smitten they both were with the man in their life, Madeline felt a little misty. Youth and unbridled optimism were lovely, lovely things.
“Well, call me convinced. And thank you.”
Aisha promised to be in touch after she spoke with Jase, then rushed off with a now desperate-looking Mo.
Waving goodbye after them, though they didn’t turn around and see her do it, Madeline was practically quivering with excitement—and feeling pretty desperate herself. Desperate to talk to Grant, that is.
It scared her that not sharing news with him immediately felt wrong—but it was also exhilarating. Almost as exhilarating as how the problems that had seemed so daunting just days ago were already being so quickly managed. She wasn’t out of the woods yet, but there was a clear path.
With that last thought, however, her eyes fell on the house Grant had made Boots. She rested her hand on its shingled roof, then bit her lip hard and stared up at the ceiling until this newest threat of tears receded.