Never Can Say Goodbye Read Online Free PDF

…
Her
fabulous frock shop … Just like it said on the sign …
    She grinned. ‘We’ll sort out all the dresses, and clear out everything else and see if Biff and Hedley Pippin want it for
     their charity shop first before we offload it elsewhere, then we’ll work on sorting out the frocks and—’
    ‘You could sort of colour code them,’ Lilly said. ‘Or something like that, couldn’t you?’
    ‘Yes, I could.’ Quickly Frankie drained her coffee and slammed the mug and the keys on the counter. ‘In fact, what I could
     do is make this a proper vintage shop. We can sort them into decades – we’ve got stuff dating from the nineteen fifties and
     maybe even before that in here somewhere – then into sizes, then into colours, or something along those lines. Oh, Lilly,
     you’re amazingly clever.’
    ‘Bless.’ Lilly beamed. ‘I know.’
    An hour later, with the heating working beautifully, half the rails denuded, and towering mountains of other people’s clothes
     dwarfing them, Frankie and Lilly gazed at one another.
    ‘We need a skip or a big lorry or something.’ Frankie pushed her silky black hair behind her ears. ‘And a lot of other people.
     We’ll never get rid of all this ourselves.’
    ‘Yes, we do and, no, we won’t, but looking on the bright side you’ve got millions of gorgeous dresses hidden away, haven’t
     you?’
    Frankie nodded enthusiastically. They’d uncovered some real gems amongst the dross.
    ‘And the shop itself,’ Lilly said, ‘isn’t too manky at all, really. I thought the walls would be dirty and dreary – but they’re
     OK. Cream’s nice as a background.’
    ‘Rita had it decorated last year. With difficulty.’ Frankie chuckled at the memory. ‘Poor old Brian from the kebab van came
     in on Sundays and moved stock from one side to the other until it was all done. So, at least that’s one thing I don’t need
     to worry about. Although I’ll need some other sort of decoration now if we’re just going to be frocks, won’t I? Posters and
     pictures and maybe things that relate to each of the decades.’
    ‘Mmm. Sounds great. But –’ Lilly hauled herself up onto the counter to survey the devastation ‘– what I don’t understand is
     – well, loads of things really.’
    Frankie smiled. ‘Like the meaning of the universe? Nah, that always baffles me, too.’
    ‘Like,’ Lilly continued, ‘how did Rita make this place work? How did she ever make any money?’
    ‘Rita was pretty astute and she’d been running this for all her working life and been successful. Well, she must have been
     – she made and saved enough money over the years to be able to leave this – and her bungalow – and whiz off to Mykonos and
     buy a taverna.’
    ‘Yeah, I suppose,’ Lilly said doubtfully. ‘She must have been very clever with her money, though.’
    ‘She said she had savings and investments.’
    ‘Really? How clever. I wish I did. My salary is always spent before it’s earned. But, I mean, if she never sold anything,
     just rented it out, then took in more stuff, surely there must havecome a time – like now – when there just wasn’t room for any more things?’
    ‘Quite often,’ Frankie agreed, pulling herself up onto the counter too. ‘We used to have clear-outs sometimes. Stuff that
     never moved. We used to donate it to the charity shops, but Rita never turned anything wearable away.’
    ‘Obviously. So, once she’d paid someone for it, you just hired it out over and over again?’
    Frankie nodded.
    ‘And –’ Lilly frowned ‘– then you’d have to have it cleaned every time – which costs – before you rented it out again – so,
     why didn’t she just sell it?’
    ‘Because Rita didn’t like to part with anything. And she thought renting, hiring, whatever, offered a good service to people
     who couldn’t afford, or didn’t want to, buy.’
    ‘Right.’ Lilly flicked through the pile of duplicate accounting books on the