‘The place would be yours, just like the van,’ Luke said, looking at Flick to see if she agreed.
Flick nodded.
‘I lease the van.’
‘Well, there would be no rent or overheads to pay at the café,’ Luke went on. ‘All income would be yours for the first two months which will give you enough time to establish yourself and get it up and running. After that, you’d pay us twenty-five percent just like the artists do when they sell one of their pieces.’
Polly stared at them, considering their offer, then she looked at the van fondly, painted bright yellow with bees and flowers round the sides. ‘I love my little bumblebee van.’
Flick’s heart sank. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.
‘But I’ve always dreamed of having my own café or restaurant one day – although I’m not sure if Waterfall House is the right place for me.’
‘Maybe you could use the experience of running a bigger place, see what you would do if you had your own place one day,’ Flick said. ‘I have to be honest, reopening the café is our last-ditch attempt at saving the studios. If we can’t make a profit for the studios in six months, the place will be sold,’ she added. ‘And I know that isn’t a great incentive but at least if you gave us six months and you didn’t like it, it’s not a big commitment. You could even keep the van and just work in the café in the mornings and then come back down here in your van for the lunchtime rush, or work in the café three or four days a week and use the van on other days.’
‘We’ll pay for all your food and supplies for the first two months,’ Luke added. ‘After that it will have to come out of your income.’
Polly chewed her lip. ‘I need to think about this.’
‘I understand,’ Luke said. ‘But we do need someone to start as soon as possible. Why don’t you come up to the café this afternoon, once you’ve finished here, and we can show you around and you can see if it’s somewhere you’d like to work. Also if the café needs any utensils or… blenders or coffee machines or anything else you can think of, we can make a list of things we’ll get, within reason, to make the place work for you. No pressure, or commitment, just come and have a look.’
She nodded. ‘OK, but just a look. It’s not a yes.’
‘Of course,’ Flick said, trying and failing not to gether hopes up. ‘We were going to give it a lick of paint too, so if there’s a colour scheme that works for you, you could let us know about that as well.’
Polly smiled cautiously. ‘I’ll see you this afternoon.’
With that she returned to her van.
‘What do you think, will she do it?’ Flick asked as she returned her attention to her delicious burger.
‘I don’t know. I think she’d be perfect but it’s a big change and not necessarily the best thing for her.’
Flick smiled. ‘Did you bring me down here because you thought she would be a good fit?’
He grinned. ‘Maybe. You said you wanted someone to run the café, Polly has the skills and the experience. I thought it would be good for the two of you to at least meet.’
‘Crafty.’
‘Practical. When we get back, I want you to look at the shop space next door to the café. I think you should open a gift shop. People love a gift shop. There are catalogues that you can order gifts like scarves, gloves, cuddly toys, calendars, diaries, bird feeders from, that sort of thing. You buy them at cost price and sell them with a mark-up. You can source local foods like honey, jam, pickles, cheeses and sell those too. If you don’t feel comfortable enough to have your own studio space to sell your wish jars, you could sell them in the shop. But mostly you could sell craft supplies: paints, brushes, canvases, embroidery threads, wool, crochet and knitting needles, clay, maybe little kits to make mosaics oreverything you need to start painting, or fused glass kits, just as you imagined.’
‘But I don’t know the first thing about running a business.’
‘You don’t need to. You source stuff, you sell it, that’s it. If stuff sells well you buy more, if it doesn’t you don’t. If people ask if you sell something you haven’t got, tell them you can order it in and we’ll find it somewhere. If lots of people ask for something like chocolate or candles, order some in and see if they sell well too. But at least, in some small way, you’d be living out your dreams to sell craft supplies.’
‘You make it sound so simple.’
‘It doesn’t have to be hard.’
Flick wanted to protest. She couldn’t run a shop. Could she?
‘There’s enough money in the kitty to buy some stock to start you off.’
‘There is?’
‘Yes, we can stretch to that. What have you got to lose? In six months Waterfall House could be gone so you might as well give it a go.’
She bit her lip as she thought, unable to come up with any more reasons why she shouldn’t.
