Set in Stone

Chapter 32

Approaching a beachfront dive shop, Grace intended to have a keen eye for detail when she went in, wanting to spot anything that she might have omitted in her plans for Miami Diving Adventures.

Scuba and Swim, the shop was named. Grace liked the name of her store better. She stopped for a moment to look at the bullet points on the cheap wooden sign above the door.

Sales, repair, rental, instruction, authorised dealer.

Repairing and servicing gear was an important part of a dive shop, with good money to be made. For that reason, a workshop area in the back right corner of the store was on the plan Grace had put together with the shop fitting company. It would have all of the necessary equipment fitted from day one.

What Grace needed was someone with the knowledge to operate that equipment. She had Deonna Purrazzo signed up as the shop's manager, and possibly Trevor Campbell as an assistant when he reached a decision on the job offer. Both of those people had experience in retail, but had none with scuba diving. For that reason, Miami Diving Adventures were now advertising for a sales assistant with that kind of experience. Grace was prepared to take on one, or possibly even two people, depending on the quality of the applicants who came forward.

"Looks a bit run down," Roman commented to her quietly. He was carrying two bags with all of their beachwear inside. Once they had their snorkel gear, they would need to find a beach hut to change in.

The sea breeze and the salty air had certainly done the exterior of the dive shop no favours over the years, Grace saw. It didn't compare to the brand new look that Miami Diving Adventures was soon going to have.

"Let's hope their gear is in better shape," Grace chuckled.

"Do I get to choose my own stuff?" Layla asked. Standing there holding Roman's hand, she looked like she couldn't wait to go inside.

"We'll see what we can do," Grace said cheerfully. "The most important thing is to get gear that's a good fit for you. Hopefully they have a good selection for people your age."

"Let's go and have a look," Roman said.

Grace followed them inside. She found the shop to be quite dimly lit, thanks to the smallish windows being covered with display pictures. It told her not to make the same mistake with her shop. Having displays was important, but so was having some natural light to brighten up the in-store experience for customers.

Looking around at some of the displays, Grace saw a couple of brand names she recognised. There was no top quality gear of the kind that she was going to stock. She got the feeling this place mainly specialised in rental, and for whatever reason didn't want to offer people who knew what they were looking at the kind of gear they might like. Luckily, her trio were only going to be snorkelling. One thing the shop did have in its favour was that it was quite busy. Saturday afternoon was understandably a popular time for the Miami beaches.

"Is this what your shop is going to be like, dad?" Layla asked, looking around as they joined the back of the line for the sales counter.

"Similar, sweet pea. Ours is going to be newer and better, of course."

Grace smiled at the pride with which he spoke. Continuing to survey the shop, she couldn't see anything that she hadn't thought of for Miami Diving Adventures. Picturing her own business up and running filled her with excitement. It felt like it was taking forever to get it ready, but in truth the progress had been quite quick as far as purchasing the shop was concerned. Not needing a mortgage had been a big help in that regard.

There were two people serving at the counter. When Grace's turn came to step forward, she was greeted by a grey haired man who looked to be in his fifties. He looked like someone who had been harassed all day, with his patience being stretched – not a good look for a sales assistant.