Just as she turned around the corner of a stall, she dodged out of the way of a small child on a scooter and was on her way to the war memorial to meet Lottie, when she bumped straight into Lucian McIntyre who was carrying a massive bunch of sunflowers in one hand and held a basket rammed with kale and pot plants in the other.
‘Oh my. Darling! I’m so pleased I’ve bumped into you. How are you now, darling?’
‘Much better, thanks Lucian,’ Juliette replied.
‘So glad to hear. Holly’s been updating me on the progress. Don’t worry, you don’t have to go through it all with me. I bet you’ve been stopped all the way along the market, haven’t you?’
‘You could say that. I’ve bumped into everyone! Not that I’m complaining. It’s nice to feel loved, actually. Nice to be out too.’
‘Yes, Holly said you’d hibernated, and shut yourself away from the world for a while trying to get your energy back.’
‘I did. But I think I’m over it now. At least, I hope so. It certainly feels better to be out and about.’
‘Good for you, darling. Sometimes one just has to take the bull by the horns, doesn’t one?’
Juliette smiled. ‘That’s one way of putting it. Yes. Oh! I almost forgot, thank you so much for the podcast. Sorry, it seems so long ago now before it all happened.’
‘My pleasure. You got me out of a stitch that week, and didn’t it do well? I knew it would. Tooting my own horn, but I’m usually right, darling.’
‘Yes, you were. It feels like ages ago now. So much has happened since then. I haven’t said thank you properly, sorry.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous! With what you were going through I, and my little podcast, would have been the last thing on your mind, darling!’
‘True, you weren’t at the top of my list,’ Juliette said laughing. ‘Did you know that Lellery got in touch with me after it aired?’
‘Oh my! You mean the Lellery. As in Piccadilly Lellery?’ Lucian exclaimed.
‘Yes! The Lellery,’ Juliette said giggling as Lucian threw his hands up in the air and nearly lost his basket, the pot plants and the huge bunch of sunflowers. A bunch of parsley fell to the floor and Juliette picked it up and put it back in Lucian’s basket.
‘So, what did they want?’ Lucian asked, his eyebrows raised in question.
‘They wanted A Christmas Sparkle in for Christmas in July, but because of the accident I just sent the products, and they did the rest. But they’ve offered to do a collaboration! I still can’t believe it.’
‘And you’ve taken them up on it, I assume?’
‘Oh yes, Lucian. Yes, I definitely have. We’ll see what happens, though. I’m a bit nervous about it, but in the end I bit the bullet and went for it. But we’ll see how it all goes. I’ve got to go up to town for a meeting at their offices.’
‘Well, darling, let me know. That’s the best news I’ve had all week. And I’m so glad you are feeling better. Sometimes you just need to push on through. Get back to the light.’
‘Yes, I think I’m back.’ Juliette replied, beaming.
Chapter 37
Juliette got off the fast train and hurried along the platform with all the commuters, who heads to their phones and earpods in, rushed along on their way to work. As Juliette took off her blazer in the warm morning sunshine, she looked down at her navy-blue ruffled silk blouse and wide-leg trousers and hoped that she’d made the right decision on what to wear to the meeting with Lellery. The whole outfit thing had been a conundrum.
The night before as she’d stood in her underwear trying on different things from her wardrobe, Luke had been worse than useless in his comments on her outfit of choice.
‘Whatever you wear you will look beautiful,’ he’d replied when she’d asked him what he thought.
‘That’s not the point, though. I’ve never been to anything like this before. Ahhhh! What the heck was I thinking? I have to stand up in front of all these executives and give a presentation on A Christmas Sparkle. Am I mad? I have no idea what I’m doing.’
‘You are not mad. You will be fine. Blimey, you are in charge of people who give birth and you’ve been dealing with that for years. I’m sure you’ll be okay with a load of executives whose most pressing decisions of the day will be which one of your baubles they should go with. Just wear what you always wear. You need to be yourself. Be comfortable.’
‘I know that, but it’s so different. I know midwifery. I know it inside out. I don’t know anything about this world! Oh my goodness! Why did I say yes? Why, Luke? I hate it when I feel out of my comfort zone like this.’
‘You said yes because this is a huge opportunity. And you know vintage Christmas decor. They will be blown away by you, just like everyone else is.’
‘It is an opportunity, yes a huge one. Yes, you are correct. I need to keep that in the front of my mind. Positive affirmations.’
Breathe and calm. Breathe and calm. Huge opportunity.
Juliette had continued to pull things out of her wardrobe, hold them up, and then discard them onto the bed. Luke who was lying on the bed looked up from his phone. ‘Why don’t you wear the Christmas Dance dress?’
‘The Christmas Dance dress? The Christmas Dance dress which is satin, clingy and nearly reaches the floor! That’s probably the last thing I would wear. Why am I even asking you what you think?’
‘Oh right, sorry, you look gorgeous in that and you said it makes you feel a million dollars,’ Luke replied, smiling.
‘Yes, I did say that, and it does do that. But not when I’m meeting highfalutin London stylists and some of the country’s top marketing executives.
