‘Well yes, but not normally about finances or sales, or rather the lack of them. And some of them have their own Etsy stores or websites so I presume they’re making sales elsewhere too. Well I hope they are.’
‘Maybe this place just isn’t needed anymore. Maybe that’s the trouble, more and more people are buying things online and places like this just get forgotten.’
‘Well, maybe we need to remind people that we’re still here.’
‘Yeah, I’m just not sure how.’
He sighed. ‘You’re right about the online thing, you could probably go on Amazon and buy a Monet replica for a tenner. No one cares about real craftsmanship anymore or the hard work that goes into producing a unique work of art. Take that pirate, for example,’ Luke said, gesturing to a sculpture of a pirate’s face on the back wall made entirely of different chains and tools. ‘It took Derek two weeks to do that. He used to have a studio here but he moved to the town a few years ago.’
‘It’s wonderful. I love the detail. But I think you’re wrong. You invite people from the town up here and most of them would love the embroidered quilts or paintings – most people can totally appreciate the amount of work that goes into one of your sculptures – but the average family or couple couldn’t afford it no matter how much they love it. A lot of people are having to make the choice between buying food or paying bills and buying a three-thousand-pound wooden sculpture or a thousand-pound painting just isn’t on their radar.’
‘No, I get that. But artists are not suddenly going to start charging ten or twenty pounds for something that took them weeks or months to do.’
‘And I wouldn’t expect them to, but there has to be some middle ground. We have to encourage more people to come and buy or the place will close.’
He frowned. ‘Is that what Audrey said?’
‘I have six months to somehow turn this place around or she will sell it. There’s been hotel developers sniffing around for years so I presume she’d sell to one of those and wash her hands of it.’
‘I wish she’d told me. I have a bit of money squirrelled away, I could have helped her out if I’d known she was in trouble.’
Audrey knew about his finances, why hadn’t she told him? Although Audrey was one of the few people in his life who didn’t see him as a free meal ticket.
‘I don’t think throwing money at it is the answer. It’s not going to help long term,’ Flick said. ‘We have to finda way to make the studios self-sufficient or we’ll be back here again in a few months once the money runs out.’
‘No, you’re probably right.’
‘I need to have a meeting with everyone tomorrow, see if we can come up with a plan together.’
Luke shook his head. ‘I’m not sure how that will be received. Many of the artists are stuck in their ways.’
‘Then you’ll have to help me persuade them that change is the only answer, or they lose this place for good.’
He nodded. ‘I’ll help.’
He had to do something to save this place before he left, for his mum and for the legacy left behind by Flick’s grandad. But maybe he could help Flick realise her dreams too.
CHAPTER THREE
Flick woke up the next day and pulled back the curtains. She propped herself up against the headboard and looked out over the spectacular view. It was so much more beautiful in the daylight, the summer sunshine making everything sparkle. The sea was a stunning turquoise green today. The houses of all different colours were snuggled up together on the opposite hillside overlooking the little harbour. Lovegrove Bay had always been one of her favourite places. She wanted to walk around the pretty village, try one of the unique flavours of ice cream from the little shop on the corner of Main Street, eat fish and chips on the steps of the harbour, maybe even have a paddle on Blossom Beach.
But there was work to be done. She wanted to have a good look at each of the artists’ shops, see how their space was laid out. Maybe presentation was the key or at least part of it.
Six months didn’t feel like a very long time to turn around the shops’ successes.
She thought about her conversation with Luke last night. She felt so frustrated that her nan hadn’t told the artists what the lie of the land was. They had no idea why she was here, or the state of the studio’s finances or that the whole place might be closed and bulldozed to the ground in a few months. At least if her nan had had that discussion with them they might have been more open to her coming in and changing everything. Audrey hated confrontation or breaking bad news. She was the classic ostrich, burying her head in the sand and hoping anything bad would go away. So now it was down to Flick. Her nan hadn’t made it easy for her.
She bit her lip as she thought more about the conversation on the roof terrace. She couldn’t help but smile when she remembered Luke doing the flying scene fromTitanicwith her. He was unashamedly silly and she loved that. She thought back to her previous boyfriends and whether any of them would have done something silly like that with her and the answer was definitely not.
She wanted someone she could have fun with. She knew life wasn’t always sunshine and roses. There was a lot more to a relationship than having someone who made you laugh. A good relationship was being there for each other throughout the highs and lows but the lows were a little bit easier to deal with if you had someone you could be silly with. Luke made her laugh and shereally liked that. It was just a shame he was leaving in a few weeks.
There had even been a moment when she’d turned around fromflyingover the sea when she’d thought he might kiss her. She’d seen his eyes cast down to her lips and she thought he was going to but then he stepped back and she decided she’d probably imagined it. He didn’t know her, why would he kiss her? What would she have done if he had kissed her? She’d been flying so high that he’d joined in with her silliness she would have probably kissed him back. But god that would have made things awkward when they had to work together and live together. They were probably better off as friends, especially as he was leaving, so why did she feel a little bit disappointed about that?
She went out into the communal living area but there was no sign of Luke. His bedroom door was open and he wasn’t in there. The bathroom door was closed, however, and she certainly didn’t want a repeat of yesterday and to walk in on him naked again. She hoped he would have the good sense to lock the bathroom door.
She walked up to it and knocked. There was no answer. She called out to him but again there was no answer. But that didn’t help her feel any more confident about opening the door, knowing that he liked to listen to music on his headphones.
She clamped one hand over her eyes and opened the door. There was still no sound from the other side.
