“Oh, yes, I do. I’m keeping this.” With that, Viv walked confidently out of the old cottage. And boldly, a new idea blossomed in her heart as silky orange fabric billowed around her.
ChapterThirteen
Siena
“Yep, got ‘em. I talked to Molly. She’s creating all of them right now. Yep. Sure. See you for dinner? Great. Get some rest.”
Siena got off the call with her mother and should have been reassured. But she wasn’t. The truth was she’d been struggling to make the balance sheets balance for two years, even before her mother’s cancer. What she’d got from her mom didn’t seem to be the answer. Then again…
It’s not that the designs weren’t lovely. It’s just that they were similar to the previous few years. That was the Vivian Blackwood look. That’s what their customers wanted. The last few years had been tough on all kinds of businesses. Siena knew they’d bounce back; she was going to be sure of it. Molly, their seamstress, was working on putting a few pieces together to display in the store. It would be okay.
The store was almost ready.
Aunt Libby was handling making sure everyone in the tri-state area was headed to Irish Hills for the Sunshine Days, the summer kick-off in the region.
There was even a magazine writer from Detroit coming to do a feature on their flagship shop. That’s right, flagship. Siena was thinking positively.
What she didn’t have were enough décor pieces to stage the store, to make it feel more welcoming and less like a big room with hangars and mirrors. She wanted minimalism, but what she had right now was cold and boring.
She needed to find a few things to make the place feel warmer and to keep the customers in the store while they browsed.
Siena was headed on an adventure to find some things to warm up the space. This was good. This was fine-tuning. She would tweak the place and get the feel they needed. She knew she’d make the deadline for the opening. She just had to stay positive.
She also wasn’t letting this type of detail get through to her mom. She was the one who’d insisted on coming here, on the store, and on this course for their lives. It was up to Siena to let her mom do what she had to do to continue to get better. Despite her worries about sales and the new line, her mother had been different in the last few days. She seemed almost like her old self. Siena reminded herself that was the whole point.
She locked up the store and headed to the Tecumseh Trade Center and Flea Market. The motto was, “If someone here doesn’t have it or can’t get it, no one makes it.”
She’d heard about it from a few residents. It was open on weekends and claimed to have a huge collection of vendors. Hopefully, it was big enough to offer a good selection for her to choose from. It was about a forty-five-minute drive to some place between Tecumseh and a town called Clinton. She’d never been to either. Plus, she didn’t have a big enough vehicle if she found something she needed to haul. Siena and her mother had driven the Volvo here, and it barely fit their luggage.
But Aunt Libby had come to the rescue again and hooked her up with Cole Brady. He worked with his dad, Keith Brady, at the marina. He had a pickup truck and time on his hands today.
Siena was ready to go when Cole Brady’s truck pulled up. She locked the front door and came out to discover that Cole Brady had rushed around to the passenger door.
“Hi, I’m Cole.” Siena rarely had to look up to anyone. She did have to look up to meet the eyes of Cole Brady. His blue eyes were framed with dark eye lashes, gorgeous. But that was about the only soft-looking thing about his face. He had a tough stubble edging his strong jaw. She couldn’t help but notice the broad shoulders and corded forearms. Get a grip, Siena. This is just a guy doing a favor for his dad’s girlfriend to help you haul a big flea market find. She tried not to act like a dorky schoolgirl.
Siena snapped out of her gawking and responded. “I’m Siena.”
“I cleaned out the truck as best as I could, but it’s best not to open the glove box and do me a favor and ignore the taco smell. I had that for lunch yesterday while driving, and well, it’s just not pretty.”
“I’ll crack a window. Besides, you’re doing me a favor.”
Cole opened the passenger door, and Siena climbed in. It was an old truck, it looked tidy enough, but as Cole sat in the driver’s seat, she put her finger on it.
“Nachos Supreme?”
“Yes, good nose. I love ‘em.”
“I haven’t seen a fast-food place in Irish Hills.”
“We’re going to the Tecumseh, right? They’ve got fast food. Or we can head over to Brooklyn. After we can go to Poppa’s Place, they’ve got a great ham and cheese.”
“Sounds good!”
Siena hadn’t spent much time with anyone her age other than enjoying Lila’s company when she brought lunch. Other than that, it had been all old aunts and doctors for over a year.
“You’re from Irish Hills?”
“Well, we moved here when I was a teenager. Before that, all over the place with my dad’s deployments. But I’d say it’s my hometown more than any other place.”
