Chick Lit Box Set

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Why didn’t you tell me?” asked Aggie down the phone at her mum.

“I thought you knew, dear.”

“I had no idea.”

“Well, you did go there once when you were young. It was just after your Great Uncle Jim died, Your Great Aunt Petunia invited us to a memorial do there. I couldn’t make it, but your father took you. Don’t you remember?”

“How young was I?”

“Well, I am going back a bit. Gosh, that must’ve been, er, let me think for a minute, dear. Oh well, I guess you wouldn’t really remember. You were barely three, I think.”

“Well, I doubt I’d remember that far back, Mum,” Aggie sighed.

“I suppose not. My memory must be going, I am seventy you know,” she chuckled under her breath.

“But do you remember the shop though, Mum? It’s huge. And the flat? You didn’t tell me about the flat.”

“I don’t really remember it too well, dear. I don’t think Aunt Petunia lived there in her later years so I guess I probably wasn’t really aware of it. I do have a very vague memory of the shop being quite pretty though. Aunt Petunia certainly had it jam-packed full of things when she was younger, or so I’m told.”

“What did she sell? Was it a proper corner shop?”

“Well I guess you could call it that. I believe it had everything from newspapers and sweets to milk and other groceries. Pretty much everything you’d need to live on, I suppose. But I wasn’t allowed to visit so I can’t remember it all that well any more. Aunt Petunia did have it from quite a young age though, you know Aggie?”

“Really? The only things I know is that the building was constructed in in the late eighteen-hundreds. Do you know when she first took ownership?”

“No dear. I’m afraid I don’t really know very much about that woman. But you have all the paperwork, don’t you? I’m sure you’ll find all your answers in there. Now I should go, dear. Gretchen and Peter are coming over for supper tonight and I must get this black forest gateaux finished, not to mention the mushroom vol-au-vents. You know how your father loves his mushroom vol-au-vents.”

“Okay, Mum. Have a good evening. Give Gretchen and Pete my love. See you soon.”

“Toodle pip, dear.”

Aggie put her phone back in her handbag and continued sitting cross-legged on the floor of the shop. In awe of what she’d inherited, she still couldn’t quite believe the size of the place. And it was hers. All hers. Giggling to herself, she climbed to her feet and leaned backward against the main entrance, surveying her new kingdom.

The ground floor covered an area of about two hundred and fifty square meters, the second floor a little bit less, the third floor quite a bit smaller and the top floor, quite a bit smaller—but still very spacious for Aggie to live in.

That morning she’d been to the local estate agent and put her little bungalow on the market. It was pointless keeping it when she could go mortgage-free, and any profit she made on the sale could be put straight into the new business venture. But she and Aggie had yet to finalise their plans. That would happen in a couple of days’ time, giving her enough time to make some notes about the actual building and how it could be put to good use.

Looking around, Aggie smiled at the beautiful architecture of the building. She just loved the reddish coloured stone that had been used on the outside, the pretty arched windows that were placed either side of the main entrance door, not to mention the old-fashioned countertop that spanned the entire length of the right hand side of the shop floor. The stairs to the second floor, which initially had been hidden by a large pile of old chairs covered in several sheets when she and Coco had first visited, were somewhat grand. And a multitude of shelves covered the entirety of the walls, not only behind the countertop, but to the lefthand side of the building too.

Aggie walked up to some of them and gently stroked the solid wood. A thick layer of dust covered her fingers and she coughed as she released some of it into the air.

This is going to be one of a hell of a job, she thought.

oOo

“So that’s it then? We’ve decided?” Coco asked a few days later as they pored over all their notes while sharing a bottle of white wine.

“I…I think so,” Aggie stuttered.

Coco’s eyes widened as she looked at her best friend, “I’m so proud of you, Aggie,” she said. “Let’s make a toast,” she added, lifting her glass into the air. “Here’s to the new business. Let’s hope s*x sells, eh?” she laughed.

“To the business,” Aggie replied, clinking the two glasses together. “Let it be hugely successful.”

“Hear hear,” Coco giggled as she took rather a long swig of wine.

“So what are we going to call it?”

“I’m not sure, to be honest. I haven’t even thought about that. I’ve been so busy thinking about the actual shop that I’ve barely had a chance to even think about anything else.”

“What’s been on your mind?” Coco asked, putting her glass down on the kitchen table and reaching for an olive.

“I’ve been reading over old paperwork and stuff. Trying to find out a bit more about Great Aunt Petunia. I feel like I should learn more about her, you know? I wish I could thank her for all this.”

“Yeah that’s understandable. Did you find out anything juicy?” Coco grinned.

“Well, it’s funny you should say that because I did discover that she was married not once, not twice, but four times!”

“Oh the saucy devil,” Coco exclaimed. “Who to?”

“Her first husband died mysteriously just before the start of the second world war, her second was murdered in Africa in 1955, the third died of a heart attack in nineteen…er what was it, oh yeah, 1970 and the fourth died on her seventy-fifth birthday. He had a heart attack too. Poor Aunt Petunia. What a terrible life she must’ve had.”

“Or maybe she was something of a black widow?” Coco suggested.

A shiver went down Aggie”s spine before she shook her head. “My Great Aunt Petunia was not a killer, Coco.”

“Well you don’t know that.”

“Of course she wasn’t. She was just unlucky in love that’s all. Poor girl.”

“You’ve not really told me that much about her. Where was she up until recently? And why didn’t you know she existed? It’s all a bit weird isn’t it?” Coco asked.

“Yeah it is a bit, come to think of it. I got the feeling that she and Mum weren’t close—at all. Mum barely even knew about the shop. Oh, she did mention that I’d been here before though. I was about three apparently, and Dad and I came over after her last husband died, but I can’t remember that far back. I understand that she was in some kind of an old peoples’ home for the last ten years or so and died just after her ninety-ninth birthday. It’s kinda sad, really. I’d have loved to have known her—at least to have visited her at least once anyway.”

“It’s strange that your mum didn’t tell you about her sooner. I’d have thought your mum was more sentimental than that.”

“Yeah well, Mum’s not really the sentimental kind. I reckon something must’ve happened in the family at some point. When Mum gets something into her head, she doesn’t really let it go, does she?”

“I suppose not. But why don’t you ask her?”

“I don’t want to pry,” Aggie said. “Besides, she probably wants bygones to be bygones.”

“Maybe, but don’t you think she owes it to you to tell you the truth about Petunia? After all, the woman did just leave you a shop worth an absolute fortune.”

Aggie screwed up her face and shook her head. “I get where you’re coming from but I don’t think so. It’s not worth upsetting the balance with Mum,” she raised her eyebrows, “And anyway, Aunt Petunia can’t have held a grudge otherwise she wouldn’t have left Mum’s kids anything, would she?”

“I guess not,” Coco frowned, just a little disappointed not to have learned the good old gossip. “So, back to the s*x shop.”

“Can we not call it that, though, Coco?”

“What?”

“A s*x shop. It makes is sound so…so…seedy.”

Coco laughed. “What do you suggest?”

“A lingerie shop.”

“But that’s not strictly the truth though is it?”

“It is…kind of,” Aggie added, taking another swig of wine.

“What about a ‘spicy lingerie shop?’” Coco suggested.

“That’s a little better.”

“But still not quite right,” Coco agreed. “Perhaps we should just describe it as an adult shop?”

“Yes that’s better, I suppose. I’ve been thinking about the placement of the products,” Aggie added as Coco looked up, intrigued. “Seeing as we have a second floor to the shop, I thought we ought to place all the lingerie on the ground floor and then the er…”

“Toys? Gadgets? Fun stuff?” Coco interrupted her with a laugh.

“Toys,” Aggie nodded with a smile.

“Hey,” Coco piped up.

“What is it?”

“You didn’t blush!” Coco exclaimed.

“I…I didn’t?” Aggie asked with a knowing grin, before she nodded, “I’ve been working on my embarrassment factor.”

“Embarrassment factor? Well, you should keep doing what you’re doing because it seems to be working.”

“Until I start working in the shop, that is,” Aggie said, backtracking a bit.

“You can stop that already,” Coco shook her head. “You’re doing great. Don’t sell yourself short. But anyway, what were we talking about?”

“Product placement,” Aggie replied, picking up the bottle of wine and filling both glasses.

“I think the lingerie should be on the ground floor and the more ‘adult’ items should be on the upper level.”

“I couldn’t agree more. We’ll have to splash out on CCTV though, otherwise we’ll get people nicking everything,” Coco suggested.

“We ought to have a counter and till upstairs too,” Aggie said. “Otherwise any shy customers might be too embarrassed to carry any…toys…downstairs in full view of the rest of the clientele.”

Coco nodded, “Good idea.”

“It all sounds very expensive though, doesn’t it?” Aggie said, resting her chin on her hand. “I just hope we can afford to do it. The CCTV might have to wait a little longer though.”

“Don’t worry about it, Agg. Money’s never a problem, you know that.”

“Yes but I don’t think you should be the one to be buying all the stock and equipment.”

“Honey, you own the entire building. The least I can do is put my money where my mouth is. Besides, I reckon you’ll make a little bit on the sale of the bungalow. Not that you need to, but have you thought about asking your sister if she wants to invest the money she inherited?”

“Christie? You’re joking, right? She’d be mortified,” Aggie said, shaking her head.

Coco’s eyes squinted and she tapped the side of her head with a finger, “You think so? I don’t. I think you’d be surprised. I reckon Christie would love to get involved in something like this. It’ll tickle her, I’m sure it would.”

Aggie rested her chin in her hand and was quiet for a moment, regretting the jealousy she’d initially felt when Christie had inherited the cash from their great aunt. “It would be kind of nice to involve her, I guess. We’re much better friends now than when we were kids,” she laughed.

“I think Christie could be an asset. She knows a lot of mums and lots of mums are craving this kind of stuff,” Coco grinned, pointing to a couple of the product catalogues they’d been sent. “Not to mention their husbands,” she added, winking.

“You do have a point there,” Aggie grinned. “I’ll speak to her about it.”

“Why don’t you see if she fancies coming out for dinner soon? I’m sure she’s craving a break from the kids.”

“Now that I know she’d love. I’ll ask her.”