The Little Gift Shop on the Loch: A delightfully uplifting read for 2019!. Maggie Conway
took a deep breath thinking back to the previous evening when she’d joined a few colleagues for drinks. She rarely went out these days, but it was best to show face now and again and it had made a change to drink in company. She’d found the bar rather noisy, and had trouble hearing Harry from menswear recount his latest hysterical story. Something to do with slim-fitting trousers and inside leg measurements.
She wondered at what age it was acceptable to admit you hated noisy pubs, certain that 28 was too young. She simply wasn’t used to it anymore. Not like the evenings she’d frequented the best of Edinburgh’s bars, immune to the clamorous voices and pulsating music vying to be heard. Erin and Clare had been her willing accomplices but since they’d both left, Lily was less inclined to go out and making excuses had become a habit. It was amazing how quickly invitations stopped and people fell away if you constantly turned them down.
Lily slowed her pace as she approached her usual coffee shop, anticipating the extra hot skinny cappuccino which provided a pleasant kick start to the ten – possibly more – hours that lay happily ahead of her.
With her coffee in hand, Lily turned into Princes Street. After six years of working there, she still felt a little thrill as she approached Bremners department store. For over a hundred years it had dominated Edinburgh’s skyline, sitting on the corner of Princes Street like a grand old lady; graceful and enchanting and just a little bit formidable. To most people, Bremners department store was the iconic building which stood opposite the castle, its beautifully ornate facade a testament to Victorian architecture. To Lily, the building was like an old friend, one she was always happy to see.
As usual Lily was the first to arrive, slipping in through the staff entrance and nodding to the security guard as she entered. Soon the shop would be fully awake, the lights on and doors open, and shoppers would start to filter in. The staff would be ready to spend time with their valued customers, providing the antidote to the quick and cheap retail fix offered by so many other shops. Lily had always thought there was something magical about the old-fashioned store. Bremners oozed an old-world charm and elegance from another era. A place where you could still buy tweeds and reliable underwear, a place where dreams were lived out. The perfect wedding dress, a special gift for a lover or simply a treat for yourself. Shoppers could drift from shoes to cosmetics, stop for lunch or visit the bookshop. Lily thought there was something comforting that people still wanted to buy darning needles from the haberdashery department or silk handkerchiefs from menswear.
Lily skirted around the perfume department on the ground floor where notes of jasmine, amber and magnolia lingered in the air, and headed to the lifts. She knew the layout of the shop, knew how every department operated. Her new boss thought it was important that all staff, no matter their role, should be familiar with the stock and ambience of the shop. It was just one of the things that made James Sinclair such a wonderful boss. Lily sighed, thinking of him, and wondered if she’d see him today.
The lift pinged its arrival and Lily stepped in and pressed the button for the seventh floor. Although she was familiar with the shop floor, it wasn’t where she belonged. Instead, she was happy to retreat behind the scenes, to be part of the invisible workforce on the top floor dealing with HR, legal and – in her case – financial matters.
As she entered her office, a sense of calm and purpose took hold of Lily. This was her world, her cocoon of order where she felt comfortable and in control. Swapping her well-worn trainers for three-inch Carvelas, her eyes scanned the room, checking everything was in its correct place.
She sat down with a small contented sigh, with a sense that all was as it should be. Only then did she allow herself the first sip of coffee, now at the perfect temperature. She booted up the computer, her mind running over the day ahead.
An hour later Lily was engrossed in a spreadsheet and when her phone rang, she answered it without thinking. Her pulse quickened as she heard the icy tones of James’s secretary. ‘Can you come along to Mr Sinclair’s office, please?’
And although her day had started like any other, Lily didn’t know the phone call was about to change everything.
***
As Lily walked into James Sinclair’s office she thought back to the first day she’d met him. After months of rumours, speculation and negotiations, a multimillion-pound deal had finally been agreed and Bremners department store was now part owned by Dunn Equity. Although it had always been hugely successful, Bremners wasn’t immune to the economic pressures brought by spiralling costs and internet shopping and the deal had given a huge injection of much-needed capital. Bremners was no longer an independent store and – amidst reassurances its unique identity would be preserved – had been thrust into the corporate world.
James Sinclair belonged to that world and had swept into the boardroom one bleak Monday morning. The mood was sombre and speculation rife amongst the administrative staff gathered for the much-anticipated meeting. Lily had felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle when James had entered. For the next hour she’d sat transfixed as he’d explained he was part of the management team whose job was to put procedures in place to standardise systems and provide the necessary in-house training to ensure a smooth transition.
It wasn’t just the way his blonde hair flopped over his forehead or his penetrating blue gaze that Lily hadn’t been able to tear her eyes from, it was his sheer energy. The very air around him seem to crackle.
‘What do you think of him?’ she’d whispered to Erin, perched on the seat beside her.
‘Looks like a ruthless bastard to me. Wouldn’t trust him an inch,’ she’d muttered darkly while Lily had remained silent.
There followed an uneasy period of redundancies and jostling amongst management and Lily was bereft when Erin and Clare both decided to take the package on offer. They had all started at the same time and had quickly become confidants. Clare, already struggling to balance work with 1-year-old twins, saw it as the perfect opportunity to embrace full-time motherhood. Erin, recovering from a messy break-up, had declared she was taking herself off around the world to eat, pray and love.
‘Come with me,’ she’d implored Lily, her voice filled with excitement. Lily had considered it for all of five seconds – she’d never really been one for spontaneity. And so she had stayed put, feeling even more isolated when the other two senior accountants both nearing retiring age, had left. James’s team included accountants and Lily worried her position was precarious.
Shortly after that, James introduced himself personally to Lily and up close he was even more impressive, his disarming eye contact and firm handshake staying with Lily long after he told her he was looking forward to working with her.
As it turned out, she needn’t have worried. With her knowledge of staffing, costs and systems Lily soon became James’s go-to person. Lily accepted most people might not find preparing balance sheets particularly sexy and she’d be the first to admit the prospect of filing tax returns didn’t always leave her fizzing with excitement. But when she started working with James, her job rocketed to a whole new level. She’d never considered herself overly ambitious but now, under his watchful gaze, she’d stepped out of her comfort zone.
Reporting directly to him, Lily found herself compiling reports, analysing data and presenting business plans. Work became a different place. Exciting. She attended meetings and sat on committees set up to oversee the integration process. On several occasions she’d travelled with James in his sleek company car to meet new and existing suppliers. Over meetings, coffee breaks, and sometimes dinner, they discussed business, the conversation occasionally veering onto something more personal as they shared snippets of their lives – the line between professional and personal blurring pleasantly over a glass or two of wine.
The work had been consuming, exhausting and Lily thrived on it. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you,’ James said to her one day with a look that sent a thrill through her.
With furtive glances she watched James operate, marvelling at how he commanded a meeting, winning people round to his way of thinking. A room changed when he walked into it, people noticed him. Charismatic, dynamic and tough when he needed to be,