Chapter 15 #2
Teddy’s face turned a bit red, which Lily thought was interesting. She felt bad that she might have embarrassed him. She’d thought they were close enough now to ask something like that. But maybe not.
“I’m not sure what my type is either. I thought I knew, but I might have been wrong.”
Kenzie came bouncing over. “What am I missing? What are you two gossiping about?”
Lily laughed. “Nothing,” she lied. “We were both just saying we’re excited that you’re going to sing our song.”
Teddy met her eyes and smiled, clearly grateful for the white lie. The last thing she wanted to do was embarrass him again.
“It’s going to be so awesome,” Kenzie said. “Do you have a song ready yet? I can come practice anytime.”
Teddy and Lily both answered at the same time. “Not yet.”
Lily laughed. “We are working on a few different ideas and haven’t settled on a final song yet. When we do, and it should be soon, maybe in a week or two, we’ll play it for you.”
“Great. Now, let’s go dance!”
“Do you want to know the sex of the baby?” Dr. McCarthy paused as she ran the ultrasound wand over Claire’s belly.
Claire didn’t hesitate. “No. I didn’t want to know on my first one but Ellis, my husband, insisted.
He didn’t want to wait. And I knew he’d never be able to keep it to himself, so I reluctantly agreed.
This time, I want to be surprised. I’ll be happy either way.
I just want something to look forward to. ”
Dr. McCarthy nodded. “Of course. Everything else looks good. How are you feeling?”
“Good. I’m a little less tired now. I’m definitely hungrier, and I’m showing faster than I did the first time. My waist is pretty much gone.”
Dr. McCarthy laughed. “All normal. You might not have the same energy level that you had when you were younger. But if you eat healthy, you should do well.”
When she got home, Claire ordered some stretchy black yoga pants, a few longer tops, and some maternity jeans with the expanding panel.
She wanted to be comfortable and still look good if possible.
When she was pregnant the first time, she’d lived in yoga pants.
All her current pants were on the verge of being too snug around the waist, so it was time to give in and order a few new things.
By the time Wednesday evening came, Claire was a bit nervous but mostly excited about her shop’s opening celebration.
As usual, she worked until three. She’d made the onion dip that morning and picked up the shrimp cocktail at Trattel’s Seafood on the way home.
The caviar and blinis had arrived the day before—she’d ordered them online.
And she’d picked up a half dozen bottles of Veuve Clicquot champagne at Bradford’s Liquors.
All she had left to do was chop the onions.
She’d had Marsha handle the minced hardboiled egg.
Claire still couldn’t be anywhere near the smell of eggs.
Just thinking about it made her stomach flutter.
She also picked up two bottles of sparkling apple cider.
Lily had mentioned that Kenzie, their friend Sarah, and their moms might come by.
And of course Claire would be drinking the cider too.
She also picked up some twinkling fairy lights. Claire loved the look of the tiny lights and thought they would add a festive note. She put one string in the display window, wrapping it around the pretty champagne glasses and the Hermès mini Kellys.
She draped the other string along her checkout counter, wrapping it around her basket of sunglasses and over the vintage register. It made the space look warm and welcoming. Her mother loaned her a portable folding side table for the food, and she and Lily helped Claire set that up.
Once all the food was out, Claire turned on her laptop and found a mix of Norah Jones and other jazzy artists for soft background music.
At ten of six, they were ready. She opened the first bottle of champagne and put it on ice along with a bottle of cider.
She filled two plastic champagne glasses with cider and one with champagne, then handed them to Lily and Marsha.
“To a fun night!” Marsha raised her glass in a toast, and Claire and Lily tapped their glasses against hers.
Marsha’s friend Carol was the first to arrive, at six sharp, followed by Rachel and Stephanie.
Jenna and Molly and Mandy and Emma came in right behind them.
Grammy and several of her friends from the assisted living arrived.
Grammy showed them around the shop proudly.
Kenzie, Sarah, and their mothers followed, along with a flurry of people who Claire vaguely recognized from the country club.
Everyone raved about the store and helped themselves to champagne and food.
Cody popped in as he closed up his shop. He looked around the room at the sea of women. “Are you sure it’s okay for me to be here? It’s not a women-only event?”
Claire laughed and handed him a glass of champagne. “Help yourself to the food.”
He nodded. “All right. I will. Thanks.” He wandered over to the side table and dipped a potato chip in the caviar, then topped it with a dab of crème fraiche, followed by a shrimp dunked in cocktail sauce.
A few minutes later, he made his way back to her and glanced around the room.
“Great idea to do this opening. It gets your target audience into your store. If they don’t buy tonight, they will be back. ”
Claire loved his certainty. “I hope so.” So far, no one was buying a thing. They were just telling Claire how gorgeous everything was, sipping champagne, and eating the food. It made her a little nervous. What if no one bought anything and no one came back?
Since the country club event, she’d had a steady flow of people stopping into the store, but most of them were just passersby who took a quick look around, thanked her, then bolted for the door.
A few bought something small, and she did sell two more of the gold bracelets.
Those were a hit, and she would be restocking soon.
But all the little purchases didn’t add up to covering the rent.
She had more items on order, so there would be a wider selection, and she was still waiting for her costume jewelry to arrive.
That was taking longer than expected due to delayed shipping.
Claire didn’t like when things happened that were out of her control.
It made her feel a bit unsettled, helpless even.
She shrugged off the feeling of doom and gloom and took a swig of her cider.
Looking around the room, everyone seemed to be having a good time, and the feedback on her selection was good.
Hopefully some of these women would either be back or tell their friends to come in.
A group of women who Claire didn’t recognize came into the store. She realized they had probably been at the charity event when Jenna greeted them and ushered them over to meet Claire.
“Muriel and Caroline, this is Claire, the owner of the shop.”
They shook her hands, and when the first one spoke, Claire recognized the voice instantly as the one who’d been so rude in the restroom.
But tonight she was all smiles and gushed over the shop.
“This is so wonderful. You have the most beautiful things. I’d hate to part with any of them. But what a clever idea to open a shop!”
Claire forced a smile. “Thanks so much. Would you like some champagne?”
“We’d love it,” the other woman said. Claire handed them each a glass and told them to help themselves to the caviar and shrimp.
“There really is caviar. I wasn’t sure if Jenna was joking about that,” Claire heard one of them say as they walked off.
She glanced at Jenna, who laughed and shook her head. “Remember, just take their money if they want to give it to you.”
Claire laughed. “I will remember that. Thank you for spreading the word, Jenna. I really appreciate it.”
Grammy gave her a big hug as she headed out the door with her friends. “Claire, I am so proud of you. Your shop is perfect. I predict good things!”
Claire smiled. “Thank you for coming, Grammy.”
By the end of the night, after everyone had left except for Rachel and Stephanie and Marsha and Lily, Rachel glanced at the sales register and started to ask the question, but Claire answered before she could get the words out.
“One bracelet. That’s it. And Grammy bought it. Quite a few women wanted a closer look at the bags but, after checking the prices, handed them back to me. A few said they’d be back and hadn’t planned to buy tonight but seemed excited by what they saw.”
“That could be the case, honey,” her mother said. “It’s a lot of money. They might need to sleep on it and check their bank balances first.”
Lily spoke up. “Some of them will come back, Mom. They seemed really into the bags. I heard a few talking about what a great selection you have. I think if one person had bought a bag, you would have had other sales. But when no one did, they maybe didn’t feel the same urgency.”
Stephanie agreed. “Your daughter might be onto something, Claire. I think tonight was more about introducing the shop and giving people a luxurious experience, a fun celebration with the champagne and caviar. Now they’ll associate that with your shop.
Those who can afford it—and quite a lot of them can—will be back. ”
“I hope you’re right. My best sellers are those gold bracelets. But I can’t count on those alone to pay my rent.”
“You have more jewelry and other things coming in soon,” Lily reminded her. “You’ll be fine.”
Claire glanced around the room at all the women who believed in her and her new venture. “Thank you, all of you. It was a fun night, wasn’t it? Even if it doesn’t make it, opening this shop has been a great experience. And I’m so glad I decided to do it. That alone is worth celebrating I think.”
Rachel pulled her in for a hug. “Absolutely. We all believe in you and in your shop.”