Christina looks puzzled. ‘Why not?’
‘They’re not very good.’
‘That’s not for you to decide.’ It’s said kindly but firmly.
‘Oh, really?’
‘You’re not the best judge of your talent, Daph, the same way I’m not the best judge of mine. Or Lucy of hers.’ Christina’s smile returns. ‘Speaking of – that’s who I think could make them.’
‘Lucy?’
Christina nods as the customer approaches the counter with the pink dress in hand.
‘Oh, wow!’ Christina says. ‘What a great colour.’
‘Isn’t it?’ the customer says. ‘And I think I’m going to trick it up a little. Make it new again.’
‘Wonderful! What do you think, Daphne?’
‘Yes. A very good idea.’
The customer is now gazing at Christina with an odd look on her face, and Daphne knows what will come next.
‘You look so much like Christina Clarke,’ she says.
Christina laughs. ‘I hear that a lot.’
Daphne likes this answer, because it’s not a denial – it’s simply the truth.
The customer peers more closely. ‘YouareChristina Clarke.’
Now Christina grins. ‘I might be.’
‘Oh,’ the woman says, going red in the face. ‘Oh. Wow. Oh.’
‘It’s all right, love,’ Daphne says. ‘She’s a normal person, just like you and me.’
Which isn’t the truth – there’s nothing normal about Christina, Daphne has decided, in the best possible way – but it’s what needs to be said to calm the public down.
‘Shall I put the dress in a bag for you?’ Christina says, unruffled.
Once the customer has departed, Christina turns to Daphne, eyes bright. ‘I have a good reason for asking you if you’d have the designs made.’
‘Oh?’ Daphne can’t imagine what that would be.
‘I’m going to rent this shop.’
Daphne isn’t sure she heard correctly. ‘You’re what?’
‘Going to rent the shop! I’ve spoken to the real estate agent who’s looking after it. There haven’t been other enquiries – no one wants to pay the rent they’re asking.’
‘So why do you?’ What could Christina possibly want with a frock shop?
‘I thought about renting it for the charity, as a donation. But then I thought, no, it was always a frock shop. So I want to turn it back into one. And have your designs stocked in it.’
‘I see.’
‘And I want to call it The Frock Shop.’