After sitting still as long as she could, Mia made her way to the picturesque shops that lined the front street. They were more touristy than anything she was used to, which made perfect sense considering the amount of people that day tripped over from Seattle. She wandered into the first shop, the smell of sweets tempting her to buy something to take back to Matt. Mia tried to see the layout and the color coordination as a visitor and not a designer as she wandered around the small shop. On one wall, an impressive display of glass tubes filled with jelly beans channeled down, giving the impression of a rainbow. Beneath it hung a large cane basket filled with rock candy sticks of every color imaginable. A stand of bright red soldier toys topped a display of red and black licorice. She couldn’t help but buy a pack to snack on.
Even distracted with sweets, her mind wouldn’t settle and let her enjoy it as much as she would have hoped. Still, she chatted with the cheerful and helpful candy shop owner about the chocolates she made there on the island, even choosing a few to share with Matt over supper if he didn’t have any other guests. Afterwards, she paused to buy a cup of coffee at the small café at the end of the complex and sat outside overlooking the water while she sipped it.
Next she followed the tourist trail as laid out on signs indicating areas of local interest. She lingered at the park, drawn to the shade of the trees, and read up about the founding fathers. She laughed when she realized that Matt’s great, great grandparents must have been the first to occupy the island. That sense of history would be wonderful to have. No wonder he acted like he was settled here. He really was.
She wanted to see the lighthouse but Mia figured she should save something for another day. She needed to drive around the island to find that anyhow. For now, she’d have a look at more of the town on foot, hopefully find a book shop, then go back to Matt’s and have a lazy afternoon. That was, if she could force herself to sit still for that long.
Mia crossed the road and followed the cobbled path, taking the street that ran behind the main road. Small shops were mixed in with residential cottages. Some of them had signs out front indicating they were for rent, while others were occupied, but they all had one thing in common: they were quaint and well maintained. If she didn’t love high-speed internet and life in the city so much, she could get used to the idea of living in something like one of those picture-perfect buildings.
She came across a set of three shops, all built of old brick and all of them vacant. Their worn exteriors covered in green ivy made her give them a second glance. Mia tried to see inside but it was impossible with the amount of dirt and dust caked onto the glass. She licked one finger and worked on the grime, clearing just enough for a small glimpse of the interior. The first shop was empty apart from the half dozen cardboard boxes stacked in the back. She made her way down the set of buildings repeating the process, using a different finger each time. The middle shop had a flight of stairs to what appeared to be a loft and an old broom leaning against the stair rail; the last was totally empty. A small sign in the corner of the window gave a telephone number for inquiries for lease details.
She carried on down the street, annoyed she couldn’t shut off her thoughts on the possibilities of the empty shops. Her business mind was always on, even when she was supposed to be on holiday. She couldn’t help herself. It would make a nice sized shop if she knocked out the interior walls or at least put a door in between them. It would be more quaint and less upmarket than most of her shops, but something about it appealed to her regardless. The building had character in spades and she loved nothing more than to take something old and refurbish it to give it new life. Thinking about how long it had been since she’d let her imagine take over a space like this made her realize how much she missed doing the recycled pieces she started off with. She was always so busy sourcing goods for the shops she had that making her one-off pieces had become a thing of the past.
The vacant shops were nothing like the manicured offerings down on the waterfront. This bedraggled but super cute building was more her style, with its window frames with peeling paint, chunky wooden doors, and a vigorous green vine creeping up the front of the building finding purchase in every nook and cranny. The mix of pavers on the sidewalk blended with the old bricks softened by age and weather. Even the odd spring flower pushing its head up through the pavers gave the surroundings charm.
Being one street back from the beach didn’t seem to detract from the foot traffic either. Even after midday people still strolled up and down the street. Both tourists or residents filled the sidewalks as they went about their daily chores.
But Mia wasn’t in the market for more work. She didn’t need another shop to add to the mix. According to her uncle, she needed less work. And look how she was dealing with that. A prickle of annoyance poked the back of her neck and she walked faster, intent on finding a bookshop and not giving too much brain time to worrying about something she couldn’t change no matter how much she wanted to. She’d been the one to set the direction for the way the business was growing. Imagining
