Read Online The Hat Shop on the Corner by Marita Conlon-Mckenna - Free Book Online
Authors: Marita Conlon-Mckenna
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suggested Polo. ‘It’s lovely wood so it would be a shame to just dump it.’
‘What if we painted it?’ suggested Mary-Claire. ‘I know it’s sinful to paint such beautiful wood, but if we don’t it will only end up getting thrown into a skip. What do you think, Ellie?’
Ellie tried to imagine the counter in a soft white or pale wood colour and knew immediately that it would work better with what she planned.
‘Yes. I agree.’
Before she could change her mind, Mary-Claire and Polo had decided that they would tackle the job, promising that in a few weeks she wouldn’t know the place.
Six weeks later Ellie twirled round her premises. She felt like pinching herself as number 61 looked totally different from what it had been. She had taken Colm’s advice and gone with the German lighting. It had transformed the place. She had also reluctantly followed his suggestion of moving a partition wall to make the front of the shop slightly bigger, although she had lost space in the workroom. A wall-to-wall workbench had been built against the back of the new wall. The sad, tired look of an old hat shop had disappeared and been replaced with a pale yellow shopfront that brightened up the whole street. A friend of Polo’s who specialized in signage had written
Ellie Matthews – Milliner
in a looping black scroll above the doorway. The floorboards looked almost like new and were perfect against the colour of the walls and the hand-painted, slightly distressed-looking counter and display shelves. The tiles in the doorway were shining and through the sparkling glass she imagined her hats enticingly placed in the shop window to attract the customers’ attention. The pretty striped canopy added a final touch.
Mary-Claire, using all her advertising contacts in magazines and newspapers, had insisted on doing all the publicity to help launch the chic little hat shop.
‘Ellie, I promise, everyone is dying with curiosity. Of course they’ll come!’
Tomorrow there was the official opening with fashion journalists and magazine editors invited plus some of the social diary journalists. Many of her mother’s regular customers were coming, and a few of her own: Francesca Flaherty and her sisters and nice Mrs Cassidy and her two daughters. There’d be champagne and canapés and she was thrilled that Dominic Dunne, one of the country’s leading designers and a friend of her mother’s, had agreed to do the opening.
Kim had begged her to ban the black cat, Minouche, from the shop.
‘The thing is half wild,’ she warned, ‘and God knows what dirt or diseases it’s carrying.’
Ellie looked at the green eyes and little black nose and saw that Minouche was determined to come in and explore its new surroundings. She ignored her friends and the cat curled itself up in its usual spot under the window. As she looked around her she realized that the shop was perfect, just as she had pictured it a hundred times over in her mind. Now all she had to do was make and sell enough hats to keep the business going.
‘Pasta for everyone!’ she offered, leading the way to the Italian restaurant up the street after the grand preview for her friends. She was delighted that Colm and Mr and Mrs O’Leary had joined them.
‘It’s my treat!’ she insisted as they ordered huge bowls of creamy tortellini carbonara and spicy chicken and tagliatelle. Fergus opened two bottles of Chianti to go with them.
‘I just don’t know how to thank you enough for all the work you did.’
‘Go on, try,’ urged Fergus. ‘Try.’
Sometimes she could kill him for the way he wound her up, but thinking of all his effort and hard work over the past few weekends she chose to kiss him instead.
‘You are the best friends in the world and I don’t know what I would have done without you all over these past few months,’ she said, overwhelmed. ‘You’ve been so good to me.’
She could see that Kim was trying to contain her emotions too.
‘But
‘What if we painted it?’ suggested Mary-Claire. ‘I know it’s sinful to paint such beautiful wood, but if we don’t it will only end up getting thrown into a skip. What do you think, Ellie?’
Ellie tried to imagine the counter in a soft white or pale wood colour and knew immediately that it would work better with what she planned.
‘Yes. I agree.’
Before she could change her mind, Mary-Claire and Polo had decided that they would tackle the job, promising that in a few weeks she wouldn’t know the place.
Six weeks later Ellie twirled round her premises. She felt like pinching herself as number 61 looked totally different from what it had been. She had taken Colm’s advice and gone with the German lighting. It had transformed the place. She had also reluctantly followed his suggestion of moving a partition wall to make the front of the shop slightly bigger, although she had lost space in the workroom. A wall-to-wall workbench had been built against the back of the new wall. The sad, tired look of an old hat shop had disappeared and been replaced with a pale yellow shopfront that brightened up the whole street. A friend of Polo’s who specialized in signage had written
Ellie Matthews – Milliner
in a looping black scroll above the doorway. The floorboards looked almost like new and were perfect against the colour of the walls and the hand-painted, slightly distressed-looking counter and display shelves. The tiles in the doorway were shining and through the sparkling glass she imagined her hats enticingly placed in the shop window to attract the customers’ attention. The pretty striped canopy added a final touch.
Mary-Claire, using all her advertising contacts in magazines and newspapers, had insisted on doing all the publicity to help launch the chic little hat shop.
‘Ellie, I promise, everyone is dying with curiosity. Of course they’ll come!’
Tomorrow there was the official opening with fashion journalists and magazine editors invited plus some of the social diary journalists. Many of her mother’s regular customers were coming, and a few of her own: Francesca Flaherty and her sisters and nice Mrs Cassidy and her two daughters. There’d be champagne and canapés and she was thrilled that Dominic Dunne, one of the country’s leading designers and a friend of her mother’s, had agreed to do the opening.
Kim had begged her to ban the black cat, Minouche, from the shop.
‘The thing is half wild,’ she warned, ‘and God knows what dirt or diseases it’s carrying.’
Ellie looked at the green eyes and little black nose and saw that Minouche was determined to come in and explore its new surroundings. She ignored her friends and the cat curled itself up in its usual spot under the window. As she looked around her she realized that the shop was perfect, just as she had pictured it a hundred times over in her mind. Now all she had to do was make and sell enough hats to keep the business going.
‘Pasta for everyone!’ she offered, leading the way to the Italian restaurant up the street after the grand preview for her friends. She was delighted that Colm and Mr and Mrs O’Leary had joined them.
‘It’s my treat!’ she insisted as they ordered huge bowls of creamy tortellini carbonara and spicy chicken and tagliatelle. Fergus opened two bottles of Chianti to go with them.
‘I just don’t know how to thank you enough for all the work you did.’
‘Go on, try,’ urged Fergus. ‘Try.’
Sometimes she could kill him for the way he wound her up, but thinking of all his effort and hard work over the past few weekends she chose to kiss him instead.
‘You are the best friends in the world and I don’t know what I would have done without you all over these past few months,’ she said, overwhelmed. ‘You’ve been so good to me.’
She could see that Kim was trying to contain her emotions too.
‘But
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