Chapter 13 #2
The other woman glanced around the room, then narrowed her eyes a bit. “Are you from Nantucket?”
“Yes. I grew up here, left when I went to college, and got married. And now I’m back.”
The woman nodded. “I thought you looked familiar. It’s nice when people come back. Too many of our children move off-island when they graduate. Though I suppose I can’t really blame them.”
“Your shop is lovely,” the other woman said as she picked up one of the candles, took a sniff, then turned it over to check the price on the bottom.
Instead of setting the candle back down, she held on to it as they walked around the room.
Occasionally, they checked the price tag on one of the bags, recoiled in horror, and kept walking.
When they finished making their rounds, the woman holding the candle brought it up to the register.
“I’ll take this. The color is perfect for my guest bathroom.”
The other woman picked up a pair of sunglasses, tried them on, and admired herself in a round mirror on the wall.
Claire quickly rang up the candle, then wrapped it in tissue paper, popped it into one of her bags, and ran the credit card. She handed the bag to the woman and thanked her. “You’re my first customer. Thanks so much.”
“Oh! Isn’t that nice?”
The other woman handed Claire the black sunglasses. “I guess I’ll be your second one then. I’ll take these.”
Claire rang up the glasses, then rolled them in tissue and into one of her smaller bags. She thanked them both for coming in and felt a little giddy at having her first sales. They were small sales, but they still made her happy.
She finished her sandwich and took the last sip of her now cold coffee.
Once his customers left, Cody popped back in for a minute. “How was the sandwich?”
“Really good. Thanks again. Where did you get it from?” She’d have to keep the place in mind.
“The Corner Table. It’s close and always good.” He grinned. “I saw those two ladies come in. Did you make a sale?”
She laughed. “Two sales actually. Nothing big though, just a candle and a pair of sunglasses. But it still made me happy.”
“Good.” He glanced around the room. “You might want to get more smaller items. Especially in summer, you’ll likely get a lot of foot traffic, people window-shopping and looking for something to do.”
Claire liked that he was picturing her still there in the summer.
That was a good sign. She didn’t want to get ahead of herself though and get her hopes up too much.
“I agree. I have some jewelry on order, and I’m looking to add some other lower-priced impulse-buy types of things.
I’d like to get more from local creators if possible too.
The candle and those glasses in the window are from local artists. ”
“That’s a great idea. If you highlight that they are made locally, that will help sell them too. It sounds cheesy, but if you can get just one item that says Nantucket, that’s bound to sell well for you.”
Claire laughed. “I will look into that. There’s already a ton of sweatshirts and T-shirts, but maybe I can find something unique and inexpensive that might work. I’ll ask Lily for ideas. She has a good sense for that stuff.”
Cody’s door chimed again, and he left to greet his new customers. Claire turned her attention back to her computer. She liked his idea of something that said Nantucket on it. What would be good for her shop?
An hour later, she had an order placed for a dozen canvas tote bags that said Nantucket in big letters and directly below, in much smaller pretty script, Second Chances.
She could price the bag low, make a small profit, and benefit from the advertising if people used it on the island.
She also ordered two other small items, a Nantucket key chain and a sea glass paperweight that said Nantucket in frosty white letters.
She ordered the minimum amount of each and planned to put them by the register so they might be impulse buys.
Part of her thought they were too cheesy to possibly sell, but the other part of her was curious to see if they might.
By the time she left at three, she’d had about a dozen people stop into the shop. Most of them were just curious and left without buying anything, but she had two more sales—one woman bought a different candle, and another bought a pair of the pretty champagne glasses.
Claire’s sales total for the day was small, but it was huge to her. She’d made some sales, and that was all that mattered. She looked forward to getting some additional items in soon and to hopefully selling at least one bag during her trial month.
Claire had the house to herself once she got home.
Lily had gone to Teddy’s after school, and Marsha wasn’t due home until about five thirty; she was at an off-site meeting and getting a ride home with a colleague.
A wave of sleepiness came over Claire. She was grateful it had held off until she’d gotten home from the store.
That was also part of her reasoning for closing at three.
She seemed to crash hard around that time, when she suddenly felt bone-tired.
She yawned and pulled her comforter over her as she snuggled into her bed and closed her eyes.
A little over an hour later, she woke feeling so much more refreshed and a bit hungry.
She headed out to the kitchen to start dinner.
She’d picked up some fresh scallops from the seafood market on her way home and took them out of the refrigerator.
She took the lid off and inhaled the sweet briny scent of the scallops, which were about as fresh as possible, as they were caught locally.
She peeled off the small muscle from the side of each scallop, cut most of the bigger ones in half, put them back in the container, then drizzled them with olive oil and a teaspoon or so of sriracha sauce.
Just a hint of the hot sauce gave a nice bit of heat without changing the flavor.
She added a squeeze of lemon, then gave the scallops a stir and set them aside to marinate while she put sliced new potatoes and asparagus on a baking sheet and into the oven to roast.
When she heard a car pull into the driveway, she dumped about a half cup of panko crumbs onto the scallops, tossed them to coat evenly, then popped them into the air fryer to cook for exactly seven minutes. They came out perfectly every time when she made them that way.
Lily arrived a few minutes later, and when the scallops were done, they all sat down to dinner.
Lily just took a few scallops as she knew there’d be food at the dance that night.
Claire liked to serve the scallops with a garlic mayo on the side for dipping and extra lemon.
While they ate, Lily and Marsha asked how her first day had gone.
“It was slow but fun, and I made a few sales. No bags, but the smaller stuff, the candles, sunglasses, and champagne glasses all sold. Looks like I need more smaller items.”
“I’m sure you’ll sell the bags too. But I agree. What else are you thinking to add?” Marsha asked.
“I have some jewelry ordered that should hopefully be here by Monday. I looked around a bit online, and I ordered some tote bags, key chains, and paperweights that all say Nantucket on them. I wanted to ask you both for ideas.”
“What about hats? You could have a cute baby blue baseball cap with Nantucket in white or pink letters? Something really girly,” Lily suggested. “Oh, and wide-brimmed straw hats for the beach. Those look really Nantuckety, and I bet they’ll sell well, especially this summer.”
Claire liked both of those ideas. “I want to be careful not to have too much of the same stuff that the gift shops that focus on T-shirts and sweatshirts have, but I love both of those ideas.”
“What about a few books?” Marsha suggested.
“Specific ones, like a coffee table book on high-end fashion or designer bags or something? Maybe a smaller inexpensive book on how to tie scarves? That’s something I’d buy actually.
Scarves are still a mystery to me. Some people have the knack, but I feel silly whenever I try to wear them. ”
Claire nodded. “I think a lot of people feel that way. I don’t wear them often for that reason.
But I love how they look on other people.
I think those are both great ideas. I’ll look into how to order a few specialty books.
Maybe I’ll add a few pretty blank journals, leather-bound or embroidered.
There are some gorgeous ones out there.”
“I think that’s a great idea. I love my journal,” Lily said.
Claire had given her a pale blue journal for Christmas that had a vintage-looking pattern on the cover.
Lily used it often. Claire had assumed at first that she was using it like a diary, but she’d recently mentioned that she filled it with song ideas and that she and Teddy were working together on a songwriting project for extra credit.
“Hopefully those things will come in a week or so once I order. I am going to check locally to see what else I might be able to stock that I could get quicker.”
Marsha looked thoughtful for a moment. “Maybe give Brad Hallet a call, or stop by his shop. He’s a goldsmith and does beautiful work.
I think he does some wholesaling. Maybe you could carry some of his pieces, like thick gold bangle bracelets and a Nantucket basket necklace or bracelet. People love those.”
“I’ll stop in his shop tomorrow on my way in. I love that idea. I have one of his bangles. His pieces are timeless. They’re not inexpensive, but they are much cheaper than buying a bag. Maybe having something not super cheap but still gorgeous could work too.”
“If he’s open to it, test it out by just getting a few pieces at first. You should keep those locked up though. It would be too easy for someone to walk out with a gold bracelet while you’re busy helping someone else.”
Claire agreed. She didn’t plan to lock up the impulse stuff like the sunglasses or costume jewelry, but her mother was right about the gold. She couldn’t afford to have that shoplifted.
By the time they finished dinner, Claire was excited to find new items to order and looked forward to stopping by Brad’s shop in the morning and going to the event at the club tomorrow night.
They moved into the living room to relax and watch TV for a bit.
Lily ran out to say goodbye when Kenzie came to pick her up, and Claire’s eyes watered.
Lily looked so grown up and so beautiful.
“Do I look okay?” She glanced in mirror on the wall and smoothed her hair off her face.
“You look gorgeous,” Claire assured her.
“Stunning,” Marsha chimed in.
Lily grinned. “Thanks! See you tomorrow.”
Claire watched her go and sighed. The years were going by so fast. It was almost surreal to think that she was having another baby and starting over in more ways than one.
It had been a long day, fueled by the anticipation of her first day open.
She considered it a success that she’d had any sales and dreamed of having a shop full of customers soon.