Chapter 12
“What do you think of this?” Claire turned her laptop so her mother could see the image of the clear acrylic locked case that was slanted and had three levels to display items.
They’d just finished dinner and were relaxing at the kitchen island. Lily was in her room doing homework. Marsha took a sip of her iced coffee and leaned in for a closer look. “It looks perfect for displaying your bags.”
“If I order tonight, they can guarantee delivery by the end of the week.” Claire liked that the case locked so she could open it for clients to get a closer look and keep the bags safe until they sold.
Even though it was just a temporary shop, she still ordered with the mindset that she would be there longer. If for some reason it didn’t work out, she’d deal with reselling some of the items she purchased later.
Claire set up an e-commerce payment program so she could take credit cards on her iPad.
She’d been planning to buy a cash register, but the day after she and Lily went shopping, Claire and her mother found a vintage cash register from the 1950s at a yard sale.
It was a bit rusty in spots, but Claire fell in love with it instantly.
With a little cleanup, it would be perfect and add a bit of charm to the space.
They also found two perfectly good gray-upholstered armchairs at an estate sale.
The people were moving and selling everything.
And she found an inexpensive glass and brass desk online that would be perfect for ringing up purchases.
She ordered a simple sign from a local company that would be ready the following week too.
Everything seemed to be coming together.
Lily had been helping her with the website, and that was just about done as well.
So far, the site hadn’t received any sales and had barely any traffic.
But Claire wasn’t too worried about that, as she hadn’t done any marketing yet.
She hoped that once the shop opened, the site would naturally see some traffic.
“Did you order business cards yet?” her mother asked.
“Yes, Lily actually suggested that I give some out at the country club event as well. I thought that was a great idea.”
“Very smart,” her mother agreed. “Oh, a box came for you right after you left this morning. I put it in the office.”
Claire went and got the cardboard box and brought it into the kitchen. She’d ordered some shopping bags that had the store name printed on the side. She opened the box and pulled one of the bags out.
Marsha approved. “Those are pretty.” They were inexpensive but very good-looking shiny paper bags in a gorgeous ocean blue with butter-yellow font.
Claire was thrilled with how they turned out—they screamed Nantucket and had a sophisticated feel.
She hoped they might also be good advertising as people walked around downtown with the bags.
The event was on a Saturday night, and Claire planned to open the shop the day before.
She didn’t have high expectations for a rush of sales immediately, but she wanted to work out any glitches before her official grand opening party.
Jenna had suggested that she put the word out that she was having a champagne opening celebration and have it the following Wednesday from six to seven so people could stop in and check out the shop and have a glass of bubbly.
Claire loved the idea but admitted to Rachel that she was worried that no one would show.
Rachel shut that down though. “Don’t be silly. We’ll all come. And even if you don’t sell a single bag, we’ll still all be there to celebrate with you!”
The following Monday, Mr. Washborn had an announcement for the class.
“I have an exciting opportunity for those of you who want to earn extra credit.”
Lily leaned forward to hear what the assignment would require. She was already doing well in the class and welcomed the chance to do even better.
“Songwriting is often a collaboration between several people, going back and forth with lyrics and the music. Sometimes you’ll have the music first or the lyrics, or it might come in bits and pieces as you work out the beats.
” Mr. Washborn looked around the room with an eagerness that made Lily curious.
“For those who want to apply what we are learning here, I would like to invite you to create your own music—a song with original melody and lyrics. You can do it all yourself or team up with a classmate. And you’ll perform it in front of a live audience at our night of music, which will be open to the public.
If you don’t want to sing it personally, you can recruit a friend outside the class.
You’ll be awarded credit based on the quality of the song itself.
See me after class if you’d like to sign up. ”
“We have a pretty good one already,” Teddy whispered. “But maybe we can make it even better or come up with something else.”
Lily nodded. “We have plenty of time. We can work on a bunch of songs and then go with the one we feel the best about.”
“Want to come over this afternoon? I worked on a new beat over the weekend. I’d love to see what you think of what I have so far.”
Lily happily agreed. She’d been to Teddy’s house twice now, and both times, they had so much fun, laughing and listening to songs and playing around with fitting some of her lyrics to his music.
Teddy played guitar too and sometimes just played some chords on the guitar when he was trying to work out the overall way he wanted a sound to go.
He didn’t have a piano, but he did have an electric keyboard, and Lily tried to help out a bit there too.
She found it fascinating how he was able to feel his way into creating a melody, and he was equally impressed with her ability to create lyrics that worked.
The hours flew by as Teddy fiddled with different arrangements and Lily played with the lyrics, sometimes entirely rewriting the words to fit better or as new ideas came to her.
She didn’t know if what they were creating would be considered good or not, but she was having so much fun writing songs with Teddy.
It made her happy, and it made her forget to stress out about her dad’s upcoming visit or worry about how her mother was holding up. She knew it was hard for her.
As much as she tried to put on a brave face, Lily knew Claire was still sad.
She’d seen her just the day before with red-rimmed, watery eyes, staring out the window while she sipped her coffee.
Lily had gotten up earlier than usual, and Claire was curled up on her favorite comfy armchair in the living room with a soft fleece throw on her lap.
She’d smiled brightly when she saw Lily and tried to sound cheerful as she announced that there were fresh bagels on the counter.
Lily was hopeful for her mother’s new business, and it had been fun helping with the website.
She also helped her pick out some other small items to sell.
Once the shop opened, she could make some social media posts and videos.
Claire was grateful for Lily’s help. It had been fun to go shopping together on Saturday, and Lily was looking forward to wearing her new dress Friday night.
She was excited but also a little nervous about the dance.
“Are you going to the dance this weekend?” Lily asked Teddy when they took a break. It was already almost five. She should get going soon.
Teddy looked surprised for a moment, then shrugged. “I haven’t decided yet. Probably. Are you going?”
She nodded. “I’m going with Kenzie and Sarah. Have you been before? What’s it like?”
“It’s pretty cool. It’s at the yacht club, and everyone goes. I’ll probably go with Sean.”
Sean was one of Teddy’s best friends. He was more of a jock and not into music the way that Teddy was.
“So I have to work tomorrow and Wednesday, but maybe we can hang out on Thursday and work on some more music—if you’re not tired of it yet?” Teddy grinned, but Lily also caught a flash of uncertainty in his eyes. She knew he worked part-time bagging groceries at Stop & Shop.
She smiled. “Thursday works for me.”