Epilogue
The middle of August was warm and the shop looked incredible. The people of Glentorrin had given encouraging comments about the exterior and the fact that Angelia had installed the most beautiful hanging baskets filled with vibrantly coloured blooms.
‘It will be a real asset to the village, and the island,’ she had been told.
‘It’s about time we had something funky here,’ Evin had said to her and Ed when they had been out walking Scrappy. ‘I can see me needing to get a job to subsidise my new hobby.’
‘Well, maybe you could help us on Saturdays if your mum and dad say it’s okay,’ Angelia had suggested.
Evin’s eyes had widened and he had almost knocked her off her feet with the hug he gave her.
The evening before the official opening had been a busy one.
Angelia had spent it opening boxes and checking the stock within them was in good enough condition.
Ed had been up a ladder most of the night clipping posters to a magnetic strip that Noel had installed just under the cornice.
He had done it for free as an apology for one of his workers filming their rehearsal and posting it on TikTok.
Angelia had told him it wasn’t necessary and that she wasn’t angry about it.
She had made him promise not to fire the person in question, too, which had taken some convincing, but a promise had eventually been forthcoming.
There were some absolute classics amongst the artwork Ed had sourced and it was exciting to see them being hung.
Each poster he had opened when they arrived had sparked a reaction in him like a kid on Christmas Day.
Her favourite was a tour poster from 2013 that featured The Fallen Angels when Lorelie was still alive and long before Angelia knew what was going to happen in her future.
Only this one had a special notice on it that read:
NOT FOR SALE
There was no way she was letting that poster go, not for all the money in the world.
Ruby and Mitch had brought sandwiches and Caitlin had brought cakes, and they had drunk prosecco and listened to some of the albums Angelia had sourced on the sound system that had been installed.
Later, Evin, Jules and Reid had called in to wish them luck and had brought fresh flowers and a bottle of champagne, too, and Angelia had presented Evin with his name badge for when he started his Saturday job, something he apparently couldn’t stop talking about.
Angelia’s mum had helped her to place the albums in the holders in alphabetical order, her favourite thing to do thanks to being a bookseller, and her dad had helped unboxing band memorabilia to place on the oak shelving to be sold, while Bella handled the items that were going to be for display only.
Angelia had used many of her incredible contacts to source these particular items. Amongst which was a pair of wristbands that Rufus Taylor from The Darkness had worn, and a framed silver-grey tie that Justin Hawkins from the same band had sported on the cover of their Dreams on Toast album.
Of course, there was a signed guitar from Heath and a collection of signed plectrums from Anouk and she had offered to do an album signing at the shop when her debut was released.
Bear had sent a signed photo of him shirtless wearing wellies and standing in a chicken coop on the smallholding he had bought in the Lake District.
In the photo he was holding onto Bertha, his favourite Marsh Daisy chicken.
She was his prized bird because Marsh Daisies were apparently rare and endangered, so he had vowed to breed her and increase the UK population.
He looked ridiculously happy… and a bit ridiculous.
Dom and Rio had said they would visit soon but they were in talks with a potential surrogate for their first child.
In the meantime, Rio had provided some gloves worn by Taylor Swift on her Eras tour and Dom had sent the T-shirt he had worn on the cover of their Come What May 2023 tour.
He and Rio had already eloped and married in secret in Sicily.
Josh… well, Josh had been a little quiet since his outburst. But Angelia had received an invitation in the post for his upcoming wedding, so she felt it was probably a good idea to forgive him and move on.
She had sent an RSVP accepting the invitation.
Evin had produced a poster to advertise the opening of the record shop.
The shop’s name, Vintage Vinyl Emporium, was printed at the top in the same font as the lettering on the shop’s frontage, and featured the mural that his dad had painted on the wall above the listening booths.
The mural featured music icons past and present all standing together as if being photographed for a magazine.
They all looked happy and relaxed with their arms resting casually around each other.
Stars that had never met in real life all gathered together in Reid’s special creation.
Buddy Holly standing by Kurt Cobain, Freddie Mercury leaning on Louis Armstrong, Amy Winehouse laughing with Janis Joplin.
It was a real feature, and Angelia knew that many people would visit solely to photograph it.
It had already been featured on the recent update TV interview she had taken part in with Kendric MacKinnon and had quickly garnered some wonderful comments online.
The morning of the opening had arrived, and Angelia, who hadn’t really slept, lay there in their luxurious bedroom, in the stunning flat above the shop as Ed slept.
She was plagued with nerves. Would it be a success?
Would any idiots try to spoil it? Meghan had promised she and Ezra would arrive early that morning in plenty of time for the opening.
They had booked a room at Morag’s B his legs swung from side to side in a pendulum motion to count the seconds. It was coming up to nine o’clock.
Meghan was in assistant mode, standing by the door, old habits definitely died hard there.
Angelia’s mum and dad stood towards the back of the main floor, Scrappy by their feet wearing his Axl Rose-style bandana, and Bella glanced nervously around, evidently still checking for snagging issues, of which there were none.
Ed walked over to the stereo system and selected a record from some he had pulled out earlier.
He wouldn’t tell her what he was choosing, and she said she didn’t mind as long as it wasn’t Angel and the Fallen because that would seem conceited and a bit obvious as the first customers, if there were any, walked in the door for the first time.
‘Here we go, folks. The first official song,’ he said as he placed the needle on the record.
‘I feel like one of those wedding DJs,’ he said with a chuckle.
‘This one goes out to all those making a fresh start today,’ he said as the intro to ‘Unwritten’ by Natasha Bedingfield began to play.
Ed walked over and took her in his arms and spun her around before pulling her close and kissing her. ‘Ready for your big day?’ he asked.
Angelia couldn’t have loved him more if she’d tried. It was the perfect choice of song, and he was the perfect man. ‘Ready,’ she replied.
‘Okay, Ferris, open the blinds,’ Ed said.
‘Aye, cap’n.’ Ferris flicked the switch on the wall and the window and door blinds ascended. At that precise moment, Angelia’s mum turned the key in the lock and opened the door.
Angelia gasped as she saw the queue of people reaching from the shop right across to the village hall.
‘Well, Miss MacAuley,’ Ferris said with a wide smile. ‘Looks like you made the right decision.’
And there was no doubt in her mind, as she shared an excited smile with Ed, that she had.
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