them.’
Finally Cindy and Sa die come out wearing wrap dresses in jewel colours made in a silky fabric which flows over their bodies and clings in all the right places. I nudge Muriel. ‘They will fly out of the shop, I love them.’
As the girls disappear to get changed Muriel goes off to make tea and coffee. Katherine and I get down to business and I order pencil skirts, blouses, little tops, dresses, oh lot’s and lot’s of dresses and as many corsets as they can make. We agree the items will be showcased in the shop and I’ll make a healthy percentage on each sale, which I’m very happy with.
Katherine then produce s a lace sheath dress in midnight blue and a wrap dress in black silk with a tiny little rose pattern dotted across it. ‘These I made up for you to try out for yourself, so you could get a feel for our garments first hand.’
‘Oh wow, they’re beautiful,’ I sa y, and run my hand over the fabrics. ‘You’re a genius, how did you know I’d love these?’
‘Aunty Muriel tol d me the sort of thing you like to wear and of course your sizes.’
‘Good old Aunty Muriel. Thank you, I can’t wait to try them on.’ I h old the dresses against myself and admire them in the mirror trying to work out which one to wear first.
By the time Katherine and the girls leave I am bursting with ideas and optimism. Muriel and I devour the last two cup cakes while we stand in the shop arranging where we are going to put everything.
‘So when do we get the first stock?’ she says.
‘We agreed on two weeks for the wrap dresses and pencils skirts. Katherine thinks she should have some of the blouses mad e up by then too.’ I rearrange some of the bags on the shelves now that I have just sold the Kelly bag to Katherine. ‘We just need to get the website up and running and we are laughing, Muriel.’
‘That is in hand and you’ll have something before the new stock gets here.’
‘Oh I’m so happy Muriel; everything is finally going my way.’ It did seem as if things are finally falling into place, not just in the shop, but with James and the house too. I smile, giving myself a mental hug, with the naïve confidence that things will now start to go my way.
Chapter Ten
The rest of the week I am on a high, full of excitement and optimism following my exuberance from the fashion show. As I get in the car after work on Thursday evening my phone beeps. It’s a text from James telling me to dress up on Saturday as he is taking me away to a lush hotel for the night. Then he proceeds to go into minute detail of what he is planning to do to me once he gets me alone in the hotel room. I fan my heated cheeks as I read it and smile to myself.
Apart from the incident by the river, he ha s been really sweet since we got back together, so thoughtful and attentive - maybe it is about time I gave him a break. If I seriously want to give it a go with him, and I think maybe it’s the right thing to do, I should just get on with it and stop holding him at a distance. After all, we have slept together many times before. So I quickly reply I am looking forward to it and a few other things I’m not going into detail about now. Let’s just say I was surprised steam didn’t come out of my phone as I typed my reply.
I haven’t seen or heard off Robert since Monday morning, so I’m a little surprised when I pull up on the drive at home and see Harley bouncing around on the front lawn and yapping at the mole hills. As my eyes scan the front garden for his owner, I notice all of the weeds have gone and the hedges have been trimmed back. I get out of the car just as Robert comes round the corner of the house, shirtless with a fine layer of sweat glistening across his broad chest. I have an overwhelming urge to run my hands across it, but I reluctantly drag my eyes away from his body and walk over to where he now stands.
‘Hey, Lola,’ h e says,
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