Page 26 of Wrapped Up at the Vintage Dress Shop (Vintage Dress Shop Romance #3)
A s Monday mornings went – even grey, cold October Monday mornings – Phoebe had a spring in her step as she walked to work.
A metaphorical spring because her feet were still quite sore from Saturday night and she had a painful blister on her little toe.
It almost made her envious of Sophy and Cress in their comfy white trainers, when usually she thought they looked like orthopaedic shoes.
She’d spent Saturday night and most of Sunday with Freddy, both of them keen to assure the other one that they were sorry.
However, they didn’t go into details of where the sorriness should be distributed.
Phoebe, because she couldn’t bear to go through the whole sorry saga again.
And Freddy, probably because he knew how to quit when he was ahead.
Also, the thought of the shop being in financial difficulties gave Phoebe the same panicked feeling she got when she thought about what would happen if The Sheila had sprung a leak and which dresses she’d have time to save if such a disaster happened.
It was true that the shop was very quiet but again, it was a cold late October Monday morning and they were always quiet on Mondays. Even when it was glorious sunshine.
‘So, it makes perfect sense for Birdy to shoot her pictures and whatnot,’ Sophy said with an airy wave of her hands as she led the team through their Monday morning meeting.
Not that Phoebe had ever insisted on a Monday morning meeting when she was manager.
Her team meetings had occurred on a random ad hoc basis as the need arose.
The last one had been when she’d caught Anita snogging her then sometimes on/mostly off boyfriend in one of the changing rooms and had had no choice but to make an example of her.
Freddy hadn’t mentioned if Phoebe’s normal duties were to resume and Phoebe hadn’t wanted to cause an argument by asking.
(If nothing else, that showed how much she’d grown as a person over the last week.) So if Sophy wanted to waste everyone’s time by banging on about her rental dresses and filling in the forms correctly, then Phoebe was happy for her.
She was less happy about having to see Birdy again.
‘You mean your mini-me,’ Bea said as they restocked the costume jewellery display unit with some dead-stock Scottie dog brooches.
Charles had found them an almost inexhaustible supply of dead-stock Bakelite brooches in various animal shapes and Phoebe dreaded the day that they finally ran out.
‘She wishes she was like me,’ Phoebe said just as the bell tinkled and the mini-me herself walked in.
Phoebe waited for the inevitable entourage to follow her but it was just a slightly built man, buckling under the weight of a couple of vanity cases, a sizeable ring light on a tripod and a . . .
‘What is that?’ Phoebe asked, pointing a quivering finger at the podgy black pug in a bright yellow rain mac.
‘Hi, Phoebe!’ Birdy trilled brightly. She was obviously a Monday morning sort of person. ‘Sophy said I could bring Peggy Gug. I’m going to use her in some of my pics and she doesn’t like being left alone.’
‘Yeah, she’s been banned from doggy day care,’ said the man, who on closer inspection was as pretty as Birdy, with a luxurious mane of Byronic dark hair, delicate features and the kind of thick eyelashes that Phoebe could never hope to replicate unless she wore two sets of false lashes.
‘This is Faisal,’ Birdy said, bringing a huge leopard-print wheeled suitcase to a halt. ‘Is Sophy around?’
Sophy had popped to the big supermarket in Chalk Farm to buy teabags, coffee and biscuits. A managerial responsibility that Phoebe had been only too happy to relinquish.
‘Why is your dog called Peggy Fug?’ Anita asked from where she was lounging on one of the pink sofas. She wasn’t meant to be lounging on the pink sofas at all but Phoebe’s new reduced role didn’t require her to reprimand Anita any longer. No matter how much she wanted to.
If Sophy were here, she’d have rushed to gush all over Birdy, but neither Phoebe nor Bea nor Anita had made any such move and Birdy’s smile started to slip a little.
‘It’s Peggy Gug, not Peggy Fug,’ she said in a voice that trembled slightly.
‘After Peggy Guggenheim, the American heiress and art collector who lived in a Venetian palazzo and was never not fabulously dressed. Also, her father perished on the Titanic and . . .’
To be fair, Peggy Guggenheim sounded fascinating but whatever other facts about her Birdy was about to impart were drowned out by the most awful sound known to man.
The sound of a pug screaming.
Because Coco Chanel, having eaten her breakfast in the back office, had now entered the shop en route to the atelier where she’d spend most of the morning snoozing. She was a creature of routine.
But the mere sight of Coco had caused Peggy to rear up on her hind legs and start caterwauling. It was now quite obvious why she’d been banned from doggy day care.
‘Sorry. Peggy doesn’t play well with others,’ Birdy said as she tried to shield Peggy from the sight of Coco who seemed to toss her head in disdain at the howling pug then trotted up the stairs.
Phoebe was so proud of her. At least Coco had good manners.
Alas, when Coco was safely halfway up the stairs, she turned to bark at Peggy whose decibel level rose accordingly.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Birdy said again.
‘Anita, maybe you could show them out to the patio?’ Phoebe suggested when the noise had gone on long enough. ‘We’ve got a lovely view of the canal. It’s very calming.’
Faisal shot her a grateful look as he gathered up the plump pug and followed Anita who’d risen from the pink sofa with a beleaguered air. She’d never have shown such attitude during Phoebe’s reign.
‘Hopefully there aren’t any boats out there,’ Faisal said as he hurried past. ‘Peggy doesn’t like boats.’
Peggy was clearly a very spoilt little madam who wasn’t given proper boundaries, Phoebe decided. Talking of boundaries . . .
‘So, you’re just going to shoot the rental dresses?’ Phoebe asked Birdy. ‘Was Sophy quite clear about that?’
Birdy nodded. ‘Very clear. But also, I’m going to try very hard not to buy any dresses while I’m here.
Very, very hard.’ She gazed longingly at a sea green chiffon kaftan, which was hanging up by the changing rooms because a customer was coming to collect it at lunchtime.
‘Stay strong, Birdy. You know you haven’t got the length of leg for a maxi. ’
Where was Sophy? It showed very poor time management skills.
Still, Phoebe didn’t have anything pressing to do and there was a part of her that was curious to see what an influencer actually did.
Also, it was probably best that she was there to make sure that no dresses were harmed during the shooting of this #sponcon.
‘As we’re quiet, you can use one of the changing rooms,’ Phoebe offered graciously. ‘Has Sophy already pulled some dresses for you?’
She hadn’t. Of course she hadn’t. ‘Though she said it was probably best to wait until now as she only had limited stock and she didn’t know what might be rented or returned over the weekend,’ Birdy explained which all seemed very loosey-goosey to Phoebe.
Phoebe walked over to the rail of rental dresses, which were looking a bit sparse after a busy Friday and Saturday.
‘Well, this would look good on you,’ she decided, selecting a black 1960s A-line minidress shot through with silver lurex thread.
‘Not sure how it will photograph though. And this 1940s cocktail dress.’ It was adorned with champagne glasses and party hats on black rayon silk. ‘Who doesn’t love a novelty print?’
‘Me! I love a novelty print,’ Birdy said with genuine excitement. ‘I’ll try that one on first.’
While Birdy was getting changed into her first look, Peggy Gug was safely contained in the back office and Faisal set up the ring light.
A couple of customers did come in while all this was going on, but Phoebe could tell that they were just idle browsers keen to spend a few minutes in the warmth. She had a nose for these things.
Birdy emerged from the dressing room in the cocktail dress, which she’d accessorised with black suede peep-toe heels she could hardly walk in.
‘Your jewellery is all wrong. The dress is already making a statement. You don’t need your necklace clamouring for attention too,’ Phoebe said as Birdy fingered the big gold necklace she was wearing.
‘Do you think?’ she asked uncertainly.
‘I know.’ Phoebe was already unlocking the door of the glass display cabinet. ‘I’ve got a couple of faux jet wrist cuffs in here and maybe these jet beads too. I’d double loop them.’
She had planned to be just a casual observer but Phoebe found it so hard to be casual when vintage looks were being put together.
Once Birdy was dressed to their mutual satisfaction, Phoebe perched on a stool behind the till and watched as Birdy went through a series of poses from standing on one leg with the other leg kicked out behind her to gaily swinging her black beaded necklace about to elegantly sprawling on one of the sofas.
During all this, she and Faisal would take breaks to look at the pictures he’d just shot on an impressive-looking camera so they could reshoot if necessary. Then they shot some live action on camera and phone before Birdy disappeared into the changing room to try on another outfit.