he, erm, fell...â Gareth took a bite out of an apple Danish himself before continuing, â...he asked me to play him my John McCormack record. Itâs really rare â a 1916 recording â worth a fortune.â
âWill you play it for me now?â
âSure,â Gareth said, reaching down under the counter. The record boxes front of shop had largely 80s Top of The Pops albums which nobody seemed to want. If collectors came in Gareth reluctantly took out his most precious finds for them but only if they asked and even then he usually priced them out of range.
No wonder heâs always broke, thought Lily, with a vague sense of recognition, he wonât part with the good stuff.
Gareth took the preserved record out of its plastic cover and placed it carefully on his record player. In a moment the scratchy, slightly high pitched tones of the old Irish crooner filled the shop.
Dear face that holds so sweet a smile for me,
Were you not mine, how dark the world would be!
I know no light above that could replace
Loveâs radiant sunshine in your dear, dear face.
It was her grandfatherâs party piece; he used to sing it to her.
The tears started pouring down her face again, and, as Lily reached into her bag and grabbed a handful of yesterdayâs tissues, the Vogue cutting came floating out of her bag and landed on the ground at Garethâs feet. He picked it up and, more to stop her crying than anything else, looked at the sheet and asked, âWhatâs this?â
âItâs a dress I am thinking of making,â she said, wiping her cheeks.
The words had just come out of her mouth as a sort of excuse for why she had the computer printout in her bag. However, as soon as Lily said it, the idea seemed to claim her as if it was an absolute truth.
Gareth passed the sheet of paper over to her.
âItâs beautiful,â he said and as the word âbeautifulâ came out of his mouth he leaned down. For a split second Lily panicked, thinking he was going to kiss her. Except she wasnât quite sure if it was panic or that thrilling Iâm-about-to-be-kissed feeling, because John McCormack was singing her dead grandfatherâs theme tune.
âIt looks pretty complicated,â he said.
âNot really,â Lily said, a little put out by his tone. âIâm a trained fashion designer. I made plenty of dresses in college. Plus Iâm altering clothes all the time. You know, for my work?â
The problem with Lily was that once she said she was going to do something, she simply had to follow it through. It was a pride thing; she could not let herself fail. As a result of this compulsion in herself, she was very careful about what she let herself take on. Lily kept her ambitions, her expectations of herself, manageable. It was one of the reasons she had never pursued the design career after college. Fashion was a risky business and the risk of failure was too great. The bad review sealed her deal and seemed to point her in a direction where she felt safe and certain, if unchallenged. Lily neatly diverted her ambitions into the world of vintage and succeeded at that. She won blog awards and had industry respect as an expert, but she never went after anything herself. Partly for modesty, but partly because she didnât want to put herself under pressure. Failing made people unhappy and Lily didnât like to be unhappy. However, the longer this conversation with Gareth went on, the deeper she could feel the idea of remaking Joyâs dress embedding itself in her. Partly because she felt so emotionally drawn to its beauty but also, and very annoyingly, it felt as if the conversation with Gareth was challenging her. Less than a few minutes ago, making this dress had been a private, if crazy, idea, but now he was drawing words out of her it was making the whole thing real.
âIf we canât find the dress though, I can always help you source some
âWill you play it for me now?â
âSure,â Gareth said, reaching down under the counter. The record boxes front of shop had largely 80s Top of The Pops albums which nobody seemed to want. If collectors came in Gareth reluctantly took out his most precious finds for them but only if they asked and even then he usually priced them out of range.
No wonder heâs always broke, thought Lily, with a vague sense of recognition, he wonât part with the good stuff.
Gareth took the preserved record out of its plastic cover and placed it carefully on his record player. In a moment the scratchy, slightly high pitched tones of the old Irish crooner filled the shop.
Dear face that holds so sweet a smile for me,
Were you not mine, how dark the world would be!
I know no light above that could replace
Loveâs radiant sunshine in your dear, dear face.
It was her grandfatherâs party piece; he used to sing it to her.
The tears started pouring down her face again, and, as Lily reached into her bag and grabbed a handful of yesterdayâs tissues, the Vogue cutting came floating out of her bag and landed on the ground at Garethâs feet. He picked it up and, more to stop her crying than anything else, looked at the sheet and asked, âWhatâs this?â
âItâs a dress I am thinking of making,â she said, wiping her cheeks.
The words had just come out of her mouth as a sort of excuse for why she had the computer printout in her bag. However, as soon as Lily said it, the idea seemed to claim her as if it was an absolute truth.
Gareth passed the sheet of paper over to her.
âItâs beautiful,â he said and as the word âbeautifulâ came out of his mouth he leaned down. For a split second Lily panicked, thinking he was going to kiss her. Except she wasnât quite sure if it was panic or that thrilling Iâm-about-to-be-kissed feeling, because John McCormack was singing her dead grandfatherâs theme tune.
âIt looks pretty complicated,â he said.
âNot really,â Lily said, a little put out by his tone. âIâm a trained fashion designer. I made plenty of dresses in college. Plus Iâm altering clothes all the time. You know, for my work?â
The problem with Lily was that once she said she was going to do something, she simply had to follow it through. It was a pride thing; she could not let herself fail. As a result of this compulsion in herself, she was very careful about what she let herself take on. Lily kept her ambitions, her expectations of herself, manageable. It was one of the reasons she had never pursued the design career after college. Fashion was a risky business and the risk of failure was too great. The bad review sealed her deal and seemed to point her in a direction where she felt safe and certain, if unchallenged. Lily neatly diverted her ambitions into the world of vintage and succeeded at that. She won blog awards and had industry respect as an expert, but she never went after anything herself. Partly for modesty, but partly because she didnât want to put herself under pressure. Failing made people unhappy and Lily didnât like to be unhappy. However, the longer this conversation with Gareth went on, the deeper she could feel the idea of remaking Joyâs dress embedding itself in her. Partly because she felt so emotionally drawn to its beauty but also, and very annoyingly, it felt as if the conversation with Gareth was challenging her. Less than a few minutes ago, making this dress had been a private, if crazy, idea, but now he was drawing words out of her it was making the whole thing real.
âIf we canât find the dress though, I can always help you source some
Similar Books
