Nina nodded. She could kill a cup of coffee. She needed the caffeine to get her through the rest of the morning. 'Yes, please. I’d love a coffee, thanks.'
Millie nodded. 'Coming right up. I take it you might like something on the side with that? Chilli chocolate, by any chance? Do you like the sound of that? Or salted caramel?'
Nina shook her head. 'I don’t mind at all. I like the sound of anything from this shop.'
As Millie walked out of the room and made her way back to the front of the shop, Nina nodded to herself. She'd get stuck into it and see how she got on. There wasn’t much else she could do.
33
Nina had taken the riverboat to the other side of Lovely Bay and made her way to Lovely itself. She was going to get her wedding dress altered and hustled along to make sure she was on time. With the dress folded up in tissue paper and carefully put into a bag, she made her way to the dressmaker. When she’d told Birdie about the dress and the fact that the zip on the bodice wouldn’t do up at the top, Birdie had taken control of the situation saying she knew exactly what to do.
Birdie had gone on to recommend someone in Lovely who made bespoke suits for a living. Inside, Nina had wondered if Birdie was barking up the wrong tree but not knowing many people who did alterations and running out of time fast, she’d decided to plump for Birdie’s recommendation and see how it went. Birdie had sent a few texts, got everything sorted, and Nina was on her way with the bodice to get measured and see what could be done in the short timeframe. There was nothing like leaving it until the last minute, very unusual for Nina but she had a funny feeling in the back of her head that everything would be fine.
Following her phone map and remembering Birdie’s instructions, Nina walked through one of the Lovely greens andsmiled at what she saw. It was one of the bigger greens she’d come across, with a wide path through the centre, lots of trees, and small iron fences encapsulating areas full of shrubs. A man and woman walked towards her with a baby in a pram, a dog was running around off the lead, and a moody sky looked as if it was about to possibly pour with rain.
On reaching the far side of the green, Nina checked her phone to ensure she was in the right place, and stood by the edge of the green for a second, looking down a long road lined with large terraced houses. Huge trees edged the road, lots of chimney stacks poked up into the sky, and down to the left of the pavement basement French doors led onto small patios full of plants.
Nina squinted down the road as she ambled past perfectly cut hedges until she found the correct number. Before opening the gate she smiled at little white hearts and lanterns hanging from a tree in the front garden. Looking up at the house, a black railing encompassed a small balcony and to the left tucked in the corner, a huge palm tree looked as if it had been transplanted from warmer climes. She walked up to a pale blue, slightly on the shabby side, front door with a large circular brass knob in the middle and a little window pane just above.
A very pretty young woman with black high-waisted wide-leg trousers, a pretty white blouse, and long hair beamed as she opened the door. Nina didn’t think the woman looked anything like a tailor, but you never did know. Birdie was hardly ever wrong about anything, so she went with it and smiled.
‘You must be Nina,’ the woman said with a smile.
Nina smiled back. ‘I am. Hi.’
‘I’m Faye,’ the woman said. ‘Nice to meet you.’
Nina smiled. ‘Likewise.’
Nina then followed Faye up a very steep set of slightly grubby carpeted stairs to the first floor, where a small landingarea led to another pale blue door. Nina wasn’t sure what to expect; everything was a little bit on the tatty side and she was wondering if she’d made a bit of a mistake. As the door opened, everything changed. Nina raised her eyebrows in shock as she was presented with a stripped timber floor and an exposed brick chimney breast where, on either side, open shelving held all sorts of bits and bobs of sewing paraphernalia. A sewing mannequin stood on the left-hand side, a huge dresser was meticulously organised in perfect piles on the right, and baskets stacked in neat rows held impeccable lined-up rolls of fabric.
‘Oh, wow! This is lovely.’
‘Thank you. People are often surprised. It’s nothing much from the street.’
‘What a lovely workspace.’ Nina commented.
‘It is, especially when the sun is out.’
‘Ha, yes.’ Nina gazed around. ‘How long have you been tailoring?
‘Overall, about fifteen years. I got into it in my teens.'
‘Oh right, quite a while then.’
'Yes. I started in the industry while I was at uni. Then I moved to Parkley Street Tailors, you might have heard of them. Anyway, everyone moved to the same area after Carnaby Street changed. There weren’t many females when I was training. I was the only one at the time in my shop.’
‘I thought it was unusual when Birdie told me.’
‘Itisquite unusual, I guess, to see an under-30-year-old woman in the industry, but it is a really great thing to be part of.’
Nina peered at the old-fashioned equipment. ‘It looks lovely.’
‘I love the heritage and the idea of continuing on all these old-school methods that have been around for hundreds of years. We still do everything exactly the same today. Nothing's changed, so it really stands the test of time.’
Nina took a few steps towards a table where fabric samples were stacked in neat piles. Faye picked one up. ‘These are all one hundred per cent wool, and they’re all from the mills in the north of England.’
'Wow, I wasn’t really expecting this,' Nina said as she looked around in astonishment and felt as if Birdie had really done her a favour to get her an appointment.
