Читать книгу Summer Secrets at the Apple Blossom Deli: A laugh out loud feel-good romance perfect for summer - Portia MacIntosh, Portia MacIntosh - Страница 13

Chapter 5

When my bosses offered me this job they were keen to mention that it needed someone with both business and shop floor experience. They said that Marram Bay was a hugely popular coastal town, overflowing with tourists who would lap up a YumYum deli. I don’t think they would have sent me here if they didn’t think I was up to the job, but they did neglect to mention one small detail…

‘What do you mean no one wants us here?’ I ask Mike, the site manager.

‘No one wants us here,’ he repeats himself, just in case saying the exact same thing twice provides a little more clarity.

I blink.

‘The locals,’ he says in a strong cockney accent that makes me feel both comforted and homesick.

At YumYum we have an in-house team of fitters responsible for decking out the delis with everything they need. Mike is their manager and today he’s supposed to be showing me around, except there’s just this one little problem.

‘I saw the sign outside,’ I tell him. ‘Are you telling me one of the locals left that there?’

‘No, no. They left it in here, I just put it out there, ready to go in the skip. They had a protest, everyone had their little signs. That one was the butcher’s.’

That explains the terrible pun.

‘Why were they protesting?’ I ask.

Mike takes a battered looking iPhone from the pocket of his paint splattered jeans and taps the screen a few times before handing it to me. I notice that he’s calling Eric, one of the big bosses, so I hold the phone to my ear.

‘All right Mike, what’s the problem now?’ he asks, and it sounds like there’s been a lot of problems so far.

‘Eric, hello, it’s Lily,’ I say as brightly as I can manage.

‘Lily,’ he says, sounding a little sheepish. ‘You made it there OK then? You all settled in?’

‘Erm, it’s not exactly what I had in mind,’ I say, choosing my words carefully. I decide that now is not the time to mention the state of the cottage – I’m dealing with it anyway – so instead I get straight to the point about the deli. ‘Mike says no one wants us here?’

‘No,’ he replies.

‘No?’ I echo, staring to feel like a parrot.

Eric sighs deeply.

‘OK, so the locals have a bit of a problem with a chain opening, they want to preserve the town, not make it a clone of every other high street out there…so they put in a lot of objections with the council,’ he explains.

‘But, all the delis have different names and identities, so it’s not going to look like a clone. And the foods we sell, they’re from all over, and it’s not like we’re opening a butcher’s to compete with the existing one.’

‘I know, that’s why the council gave us the go-ahead to open,’ he assures me.

‘But?’

‘But the locals still aren’t happy. They think the deli is going to destroy the independent shops that define the community and that we’re going to damage local businesses. They say we’re targeting transient custom, people without roots in the community who don’t care about whether or not they enrich local economy over us, who they see as “the man”,’ he says with a bit of a chuckle. They might be a chain, but they’re not exactly ruthless business people.

‘So, what now?’ I ask.

‘So now it’s your job to convince them that a YumYum deli belongs in Marram Bay,’ he tells me. ‘I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry about it, to have this hanging over your head. If anyone can make this place a success, it’s you. You’re a hard-working single mum, not some ruthless businesswoman. Let people get to know the real you, tell them about how we operate, change their minds.’

‘And if I don’t succeed?’ I ask.

‘Well, at the moment they’re trying to prevent us getting our liquor licence,’ he tells me. ‘But don’t worry about it, OK? Just do your best. Amanda and I have faith in you.’

I feel my face crumple with stress.

‘OK, sure,’ I reply.

‘That’s our girl,’ Eric replies. ‘Call me anytime if you need me.’

‘OK, I will. Thank you,’ I say, hanging up and handing Mike his phone back.

‘Not great, right?’ Mike says.

‘No,’ I reply.

‘Anyway…show you around?’

‘Sure,’ I reply.

So far my dream life in a new place has turned out to be anything but what I expected. I can’t believe the locals don’t want us here, YumYum delis are such amazing places, with a great choice of international food – why would they not want us?

What I’m not going to do is panic or, worse, get upset, because Eric is right. I’ve got this. This is my chance to show the people of Marram Bay exactly what YumYum delis are all about, and to show the world exactly what Lily Holmes can do. I want to prove to my bosses that I can do it and, even more importantly, I want to prove to myself that I can do this. Well, it would have been boring if it were easy, right?