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‘Would you agree to let Faith Hudson in and refresh this place? I’ve got some ideas that I’d like to share with you to make it look nicer and attract more customers. We could start with a Christmas theme.’
‘Christmas? Have you looked around? Starry Cove is exploding with Christmas every bleddy day of the year! I don’t need it in my shop. My customers are mainly tradespeople who need bits and pieces. They don’t need to be slowed down by fairy lights and plastic Santas. They want to come in, get what they need and get out. I’m a boatbuilder. I don’t deal in festivities. Here, people actually come to me to getawayfrom Christmas.’
Oh, brilliant. An authentic Cornish Scrooge. If this is any indication of our work relationship, we’re already dead. Jago isn’t one to compromise so easily.
‘But it’s not just your shop,’ I correct him. ‘And I get 50 per cent of the say.’
He looks at me as it begins to dawn on him that whatever I decide to do with my life,I’mhis business partner now, not my grandfather anymore, and that he’s going to have to deal with me, either on the phone and through emails or in the flesh. I suspect he prefers the former, so he can fob me off at his leisure.
‘Well, then you can do what you like in your 50 per cent of the shop.’
‘What?’ I laugh.
‘There! That half at the back,’ he says, jerking his thumb over his shoulder to the darkest corner of the already cave-like ambience. ‘Knock yourself out.’
I put my hands on my hips and glare down at him as he pretends to go through some paperwork. When he realises I’m not going away, he looks up with a huff.
‘Are we playing teapots?’ he says, nodding at my stance. ‘Maybe you could put a Santa hat on and—’
‘Are you deliberately trying to piss me off?’
He sits back and grins, locking his hands behind his head. ‘Now why would I want to do that, partner?’
‘I’m not going anywhere.’
‘I noticed.’
‘Good. I’ll be having a friend in to see what can be done.’
‘That’s coming out of your expenses.’
‘I have no doubt.’
‘And I don’t want to see anything Christmassy at the entrance. I don’t want to drive my customers away with any of this childish nonsense.’
‘Fine by me,’ I agree just to shut him up.
What I haven’t told him is that I’m looking for an expert opinion to make sure this dive doesn’t actually cave in on my festive mood – or my brand-new customers.
But can Jago and I actually live in the same village now, work side by side every day without ending up arguing over absolutely everything, and enjoying every moment of it?
