New Beginnings at Seaside Blooms

by Jessica Redland

  5

  ‘I hope that’s a surprised face and not a disappointed one,’ Elise said.

  ‘Of course it is. Sorry. I wasn’t expecting you till tomorrow.’ I hugged her. ‘I thought you had some family thing.’

  ‘I did, but Gary didn’t like the idea of me driving both ways in one day so he insisted I give it a miss. I thought I’d surprise you and help you pack. I hope that’s okay.’

  ‘Of course it is.’ I bit my lip. ‘But I’d better warn you that—’

  ‘Hello Elise. How are you?’

  —that Clare is here. Oh crap.

  ‘Clare? What a delight. I’m good, thanks. You?’

  ‘Couldn’t be better,’ Clare said. ‘No hubby today? I thought you two were welded together.’

  ‘We have our own lives too, you know. That’s what makes a relationship successful. Oh, but you wouldn’t know, would you?’

  ‘Elise!’ That was so unlike her. Somehow Clare always managed to bring out a nasty streak in Elise that I’d never seen surface with me or anyone else.

  ‘Doesn’t bother me,’ Clare said. ‘I’d rather have a hundred one-night-stands than get hitched at eighteen to the only man I’ve ever kissed.’

  ‘Well, it bothers me.’ I held a hand up at each of them. ‘You’ve had your childish fun and now you can play nicely. Or you can leave.’

  ‘But—’ started Clare.

  ‘But nothing. You can either apologise and be civil to each other in which case you can both stay. Or you can both leave now. Which is it to be?’

  ‘Sorry, Sarah,’ Elise said. ‘I got lost and I’m a bit stressed.’

  ‘Apology welcome, but it’s Clare you need to say sorry to.’

  Elise stiffened as she turned towards Clare. ‘I’m sorry, Clare. What I said about your lack of relationships was unnecessary.’

  Clare ran a hand through her expensively styled bob: her signature move when in the presence of other females. I knew her apology would be insincere, but at least it was forthcoming.

  ‘Thank you, Elise,’ she said. ‘Although you do speak the truth and I’m not in the least offended as that’s how I choose to live my life. I don’t need a man as a permanent fixture. Unlike some people.’

  Elise casually removed the bobble from her hair. Her long auburn curls tumbled out. What was it with those two and their hair? If they were cats, they’d be peeing up the walls to mark their territory.

  ‘I applaud you, Clare,’ Elise said. ‘You didn’t apologise. In fact, you managed to add another insult in there.’

  ‘Yes, well, if the cap fits…’ said Clare with a toss of her hair. ‘It’s Sarah’s last day in London and I want to be here so I’m prepared to call a truce if you are.’

  Elise nodded. ‘Fine by me.’

  ‘Right,’ I said. ‘That was delightful as always. Repeat it and you both leave. Understood?’

  ‘Yes, Mum,’ Clare said.

  ‘Understood,’ Elise said.

  ‘Glass of wine or cup of tea?’ I asked Elise.

  Elise looked at her watch and frowned. ‘Tea please.’

  ‘Wine please,’ Clare said, then disappeared back into the bedroom as Elise and I headed for the kitchen.

  Drinks made, we found Clare on the floor, ripping the tape off another cardboard box. ‘It’s like Christmas,’ she said. ‘Will this be a good gift or a rubbish one?’ She peered in and moved a few things. ‘Books. Rubbish one. What’s in that bag?’ She crawled across the floor.

  What bag? I only got boxes out. My eyes flicked in the direction she was heading. A large white paper bag with rope handles lay on the floor. No! Not that.

  But Clare had already pulled the pink box out of the bag. I cringed at the purple glitter lettering sparkling on the lid. ‘“Sarah’s Treasures”,’ she read. ‘Now this looks interesting. What’s in here?’

  ‘Nothing.’ I tried to grab the box off her but she was having none of it.

  She prised the lid off. ‘Ooh. Hot, hot, hot.’

  Ground, swallow me up.

  ‘Are those firefighters?’ Elise asked. ‘From the calendars?’

  ‘Might be.’ In honour of my fireman obsession, Elise had bought me the firefighters’ calendar for Christmas four or five years in a row when we were in our teens. At the end of each year, I ripped out my favourites to keep and gaze upon during low moments.

  While I lounged on the bed, mortified, Clare and Elise spent the next ten minutes or so debating over whom was the hottest. Boredom finally set in. ‘What else is in here?’ asked Clare.

  ‘To be honest, I can’t remember.’ I put my wine down and joined them on the floor. ‘I haven’t looked in it for years.’ They both looked at me with raised eyebrows. ‘Okay, I may have had the odd peek at the gorgeous young firemen, but I haven’t looked at anything else.’ I leaned over Clare and rummaged in the box. ‘Concert ticket stubs, cinema tickets, valentine cards.’

  ‘What’s this?’ Clare bent forwards and picked up a CD. ‘Mix CD of lurve songs from an ex?’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ I said. ‘No one’s ever made me one. Does it say anything on it?’

  ‘“Mandy’s Party”,’ Elise read. ‘Mandy from college?’

  ‘Must be. I don’t know any other Mandys.’

  ‘Only one way to find out,’ Clare said. ‘Have you got a CD player?’

  ‘There’s an old one in that box of games by the window,’ I said, pointing to it.

  Elise was closest so she crawled over to the box and pulled out a small pink radio/CD player covered in stickers. I plugged it in by the bed and popped the CD in. ‘I bet it’s something hideously cheesy. Mandy loved novelty tunes so we may need to do some selective listening.’

  Only it wasn’t music. It was a recording I swear I’d lost twelve years previously. And it was about to completely change my already turbulent life.

  6

  The CD played static for a few moments before a gentle Cornish female voice kicked in.

  ‘Hello Sarah, my name’s Madame Louisa. It’s the twenty-second of April. Your friend, Mandy, has asked me to do a reading for all her friends as a memento for her eighteenth birthday. It will be a general reading covering the next ten to fifteen years.’

  ‘Oh my God.’ I pressed the pause button. ‘It’s the clairvoyant CD. But I lost it. How the hell…?’

  Elise looked as shocked as I felt. ‘We trashed Mandy’s house and yours looking for that.’

  ‘I know! So how did it get in there?’

  ‘What is it?’ Clare asked. ‘Did you say clairvoyant?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘From when you were eighteen?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Clare rubbed her hands together. ‘This should be interesting. And who’s this Mandy? I’ve never heard you mention her.’

  ‘She was a friend at college but we lost touch. She had this clairvoyant party. Her mum was into stuff like that. We’d been drinking cocktails all evening and, by the time I went in, the room was spinning. I had my reading, came out, fell over, threw up and my dad had to collect me. The next day I couldn’t remember a thing about my reading. We’re talking major alcohol blackout here, but I figured it was no problem because I had a CD. Only the CD had gone missing and remained missing until right now.’

  Clare sighed. ‘Things don’t just disappear then re-appear. You obviously didn’t look hard enough and—’

  ‘But we did,’ I protested.

  ‘Obviously not,’ Clare said. ‘Let’s hear it then.’

  ‘I don’t know if I want to.’

  Clare raised her eyebrows at me questioningly.

  ‘She said the reading would cover ten to fifteen years. It’s twelve years on now. What if she predicts bad things are about to happen?’

  She shuffled her bum round so she could lean against the wardrobe and face Elise and me. ‘Or, what if she just comes out with an absolute pile of crap? I know what I’ll be betting on.’

  ‘What do you think?’ I asked Elise.
/>   ‘You never know till you try,’ Elise said. ‘There’s always the eject button if you don’t like what you hear.’

  I looked from one eager face to the other, my two best friends united in opinion for once, but I still hesitated. What if she said I was going to contract an incurable disease aged thirty-and-a-half? What if she said the biggest mistake I ever made was taking over Seaside Blooms and I’d end up homeless and bankrupt? And what if she said I was never going to meet Mr Right or that I’d already met him and let him slip through my fingers? Andy perhaps?

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said eventually.

  Clare sighed. ‘Jesus, Sarah. What’s the worst that could happen?’

  ‘That’s what I’m worried about.’ A flashback hit me. ‘Uncle Alan,’ I gasped. ‘I spoke to him.’

  ‘You did what?’ Clare asked.

  ‘When I came out of the reading, I told everyone I’d spoken to him.’

  ‘I remember that,’ Elise said. ‘But you didn’t tell anyone what he said…’

  ‘And I couldn’t remember the next day.’

  ‘Well, now’s your chance to find out,’ Clare said.

  I took a deep breath and leaned forward. With shaking hands, I pressed play again.

  ‘Let me explain what’s going to happen. I’ll be using my crystal ball to help me, as well as a guide from the spirit world. I’m recording our discussion so you can listen to what I say on another day in the quietness of your own home where it will be easier to take in. Although I’ve been asked to give you a general reading, is there anything you’d rather I focus on? Any burning questions?’

  ‘Er no, well, erm… maybe work and men?’

  ‘You sound so young,’ Elise squealed, ‘and drunk.’

  I hung my head in embarrassment at the sound of my childish squeaky voice and the slurred words. This was going to be cringe-worthy.

  ‘Work and men?’ repeated Madame Louisa. ‘I can certainly make sure I cover those topics. Let’s start. I’m contacting the spirit world. I have a lady with me. An elderly lady. She says she’s on your mum’s side of the family.’

  ‘My grandma?’

  ‘She says yes.’

  ‘Bollocks,’ Clare said.

  I pressed pause. ‘What is?’

  ‘You led her. She mentioned an elderly lady and you immediately let her know your grandma is dead so now she can pretend it’s your grandma she’s communicating with.’

  I scowled at her and pressed play again.

  ‘She says you look like your mum and that, if you find the photo taken at the lighthouse, you’ll see that you look just like your grandma too, except you don’t have the heart shaped birthmark on your cheek that she has.’

  Goose bumps pricked my arms. I wasn’t familiar with the lighthouse photo – I’d have to ask Mum about that – but I could clearly remember the birthmark. I stared at Clare, trying to mentally convey that the birthmark couldn’t be a lucky guess, but she wouldn’t catch my eye.

  ‘Your grandma says she hopes you enjoyed your drinks but doesn’t envy you the headache you’ll have tomorrow.

  ‘You’re a warm and caring person, Sarah. You’re always there for your friends and you’re a great listener, doing your agony aunt bit when they’re in trouble. Your friends always come to you first with their problems and you like feeling you can help. Yet, when you have a problem yourself or are worried about anything, you put on a brave face and try to work through it by yourself or you bury your head in the sand, hoping things will get better on their own. This approach doesn’t work. As you get older, you’ll realise that being more open about your doubts could have prevented you from getting stuck in a rut with your job and your relationship.

  ‘In years to come you’ll find yourself in a relationship that should never have lasted as long as it did. It would never have lasted that long if you’d talked to your friends about your concerns.

  ‘You need to hold on to the beliefs you have of love and marriage because you will find it; it will just take quite a bit longer than you’d hoped in your great plan of life. But, when you find the right one, you’ll have exactly what your parents have; just like you long for.’

  I stopped the CD and looked at Clare then Elise. ‘Do you think she could be talking about Jason? And she mentioned my life plan. And my parents.’

  Elise nodded but Clare just pulled a face that I knew meant, ‘What a pile of crap’.

  ‘Will you just press play, please?’ Clare said. ‘I don’t think we need to be analysing every sentence, do we? And she didn’t say “life plan”. She said, “your great plan of life” which is very general and very different, so it is.’

  ‘You’re very close to your family. I see two mother figures in your life. Do you have a stepmother? No. Not a stepmother but definitely a mother figure. Godmother? I see her surrounded by flowers. Do you know who I’m talking about?’

  ‘My Auntie Kay. She owns Seaside Blooms on Castle Street. She’s my auntie and my godmother.’

  ‘I see. She’s a very important influence on your life, isn’t she? She’ll be pivotal when you reach your thirties but I’ll come back to that later. We’ll return to the more immediate future for now. You’re going to university after college. You’re currently planning to become a teacher.’

  ‘Did Mandy tell you that?’

  ‘No. As I said, the spirit world and the crystal are guiding me.’

  Clare raised her hand and I pressed pause again. ‘Well, that was a load of old tosh.’ She pointed at Elise. ‘She’s the teacher, not you.’

  Elise and I exchanged looks.

  ‘At the time the CD was made, I did want to be a teacher,’ I said.

  ‘But you did business studies. You wanted a job in marketing or PR like me.’

  ‘I know. But I used to want to be a teacher.’

  ‘Since when?’

  ‘Since I was little.’

  ‘We both wanted to be teachers,’ Elise said. ‘I wanted to teach English and drama but Sarah wanted primary school.’

  I nodded. ‘College released me for work experience after my exams finished and I hated it. As soon as I got my A level results, I went through clearing. I thought business studies would help keep my options open.’

  ‘Can’t imagine you as a teacher,’ Clare muttered. She held out her glass. ‘I need a top up.’

  ‘The bottle’s empty.’

  ‘Drink.’

  I sighed and headed for the kitchen to reluctantly open a third bottle. I returned to a heated debate.

  ‘It’s lucky guesses,’ snapped Clare.

  ‘It isn’t. It’s a gift,’ Elise insisted.

  ‘Bollocks.’

  ‘That’s intelligent, Clare.’

  ‘It’s more intelligent than some charlatan pretending she can predict the future.’

  ‘Just because you don’t understand something, it doesn’t mean it isn’t true,’ Elise retaliated.

  ‘And a few lucky guesses don’t mean it’s true either. Plus she said Sarah wanted to be a teacher when Sarah obviously didn’t want to be one so it’s not even accurate.’

  ‘She said Sarah was planning to become a teacher which, at the time, she was.’

  ‘You’re just trying to fit things to—’

  They both stopped when I coughed loudly. Elise muttered ‘sorry’ and Clare just looked at me with sad eyes. Without a word, I topped up Clare’s glass then pressed play again.

  ‘You’re the sort of person who’ll always work hard and make sure they do their best in their career. You won’t become a teacher, but you’ll still go to university. After graduating, you’ll stay in the city where you studied, then move to London with work a few years later. After many years of the same career in the same company, your auntie will offer you an opportunity, out of the blue, to make a fresh start and make a career out of something you love. It will be something completely different to what you’re used to and will enable you to use the creativity that your job stifled. The opportunity will be p
resented to you when you’ve reached a crossroads in your life and, even though you’re desperate for a change, you’ll feel like you shouldn’t take it. It will excite you and scare you at the same time. You’ll doubt you can do it, but you should know that you have what it takes to be an amazing success at it.’

  There was a short pause and I realised that my heart was thumping rapidly. This had to be the weirdest thing ever, listening to someone summarise my life – though at the time, it had been predictions.

  ‘Let’s move on to the other subject you wanted to discuss. Men, was it? You haven’t had much success with men so far but remember you’re still very young. University will be an awakening for you with many intelligent, interesting men. A friend will become very special and you’ll be together throughout university.’

  I pressed stop and was about to say his name when someone beat me to it.

  ‘Andy,’ Clare said. She looked surprised as if she hadn’t meant to say it aloud. She quickly added, ‘I only said that because you were about to and not because I believe in anything she’s saying. Another lucky guess. Lots of relationships start with friendship.’

  Nice back-pedalling, Clare. She was right, though. It had to be Andy. Feeling warm and fuzzy as I always did when I thought about him, I pressed play again.

  ‘It will be an intense and passionate relationship. You’ll both think you’ve found The One and that you’ll always be together, but it will end after university. It will be very hard getting over him, but, over the years, the hurt will lessen and you’ll strike up a friendship again. You’ll often wonder about trying again, Sarah, but the timing will never quite work.’

  ‘That’s definitely Andy and that’s frighteningly accurate,’ I whispered. I felt a bit shaky and sat on my hands to steady them. It couldn’t be a more accurate summary of Andy and me if I’d written it myself. ‘You can’t just say that’s a lucky guess, Clare, surely?’

  ‘Hasn’t everyone had a first love that they always wonder “what if…?” about? That’s basically all your woman there is saying.’

  ‘I disagree,’ Elise said.

  ‘You would.’

  ‘There will be a few more short-term relationships before you meet someone else who you think is The One. He may wear the uniform of your dreams, but he still isn’t The One for you. It will take you a long time to accept this but, when you do, the ending will be quick and a whole new chapter in your life will start. This is the person I was talking about earlier.’