‘Not to dismiss your concerns, Fearne, but that steak was fabulous.’ Hamish wiped his chin with a napkin and put his knife and fork together neatly. ‘What flavours did you use?’
‘I didn’t,’ I said. My face was already hot from the heat of the barbeque but I felt the temperature rise a bit more. ‘I used something Sam gave me. He’s a real foodie; that’s his passion. He loves nothing better than to … what?’ I stopped in mid-sentence; Laura and Hamish were grinning at me.
‘I don’t know about you,’ said Laura, leaning against Hamish’s shoulder, ‘but I feel like I know this Sam intimately.’
‘You mean Sam with the deep blue eyes and cute dimple.’ Hamish wrapped his arm around her.
‘On his left cheek,’ she added with a snort and the two of them laughed.
‘It’s not funny,’ I said, put out. ‘What I’ve done could be the straw that broke the back of their marriage.’
I popped the last morsel of chicken in my mouth and collected their empty plates. We just had time for a quick bowl of raspberries which Delphine had brought into the shop for me as a thank you for helping her arrange some sweet peas.
‘Cream?’ I said, handing round the jug.
I say ‘quick’ because Laura and I couldn’t hang around for long; the florist’s van was outside loaded with flowers and equipment and as soon as we’d finished eating, we were setting off to do as much work tonight as we could, ready for the Edelweiss event tomorrow. Laura bit into a plump raspberry and sighed with pleasure.
‘Let’s talk about this rationally,’ she said. ‘The wife sounds awful, so you could well have done him a favour.’
‘That’s true,’ I agreed. ‘Listening to her humiliating Sam like that made me so angry that I couldn’t stop myself. Before I knew it, I was interfering.’
‘Reading between the lines,’ said Hamish, pouring cream into his bowl, ‘Pandora may have been using Sam to get the house ready for sale. Perhaps she was planning on divorcing him anyway. At worst, all you’ve done is escalated things.’
I chewed my lip. ‘Those poor children. I feel so sorry for them.’
Hamish nodded. ‘How confusing for them: their father moved out, then reappearing and presumably going again.’
‘We don’t know that for sure, they may have kissed and made up.’ I shuddered at the thought. ‘Although I doubt that. He knows she doesn’t love him, he knows she’s been lying to him; even for the sake of his kids, I don’t think he’d put up with that.’
‘It’s enough to put you off marriage for life, isn’t it?’ Laura glanced at Hamish.
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. ‘No. But if you ever tell me you’re starting a yoga course, I might start worrying.’
‘Ha, no chance of that,’ she giggled. ‘I don’t know my downward dog from sun salutation.’
A well of affection rose up inside me for these two lovebirds. After witnessing a relationship gone bad, sitting here in the reflected glow of their happiness restored my faith in love.
‘Pandora’s probably never even been to yoga,’ I said crossly. A thought struck me. ‘Gareth Weaver is going to be furious when he finds out.’
Hamish topped up my water glass. ‘Hmm. Technically it was a breach of confidentiality.’
‘Technically,’ I argued, ‘we don’t say “don’t worry, we won’t tell a soul that you’re sleeping with someone else’s wife”.’
He raised a sceptical eyebrow. ‘Two words: data protection.’
I wrinkled my nose. ‘Yeah, I know, and anyway it’s implied that we wouldn’t reveal personal information about customers. Nina wouldn’t.’
‘You’re overthinking it,’ said Laura, stacking our bowls. ‘Pandora’s lover knew she was married, he knew the risks. He’ll have a lot more on his mind than what the local florist’s role in this sordid affair was.’
I wasn’t convinced. ‘Imagine if he sues us? That’ll be a nice homecoming present for Nina: here are your shop keys, oh, and by the way, you’re due in court next week.’
Nina had phoned this morning and I hadn’t mentioned any of this to her. It would only worry her and what could she do about it anyway? However, I had told her how much money we made on Saturday night, and that one of the cricket girlfriends had phoned to book a workshop for her hen party. Nina had been full of praise for me, which made me feel even more guilty.
‘Look, it’s very unlikely,’ said Hamish. ‘There’s so much more going on here than that one act of yours.’
‘Agreed. You were careless,’ said Laura, never one to beat about the bush. ‘But it wasn’t intentional, got it?’
I went bright red. ‘Well. I suppose I could have just had the book open at a random page and it was just bad luck that Sam happened to spot the message written to his wife from another man.’
Hamish grinned. ‘So just stick to that and you’ll be fine. She was having an affair and she lied to her husband about where she was; Pandora is in the wrong, no question. How and why that information about the flower delivery got out is pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.’
Laura sniggered. ‘Did he really call himself sexy tiger?’
My lips twitched. ‘Really.’
Hamish leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. ‘While you two are out I might come up with a macho name for myself.’
Laura pouted. ‘What’s wrong with Mr Snuggle Bunny?’
‘Shush!’ Hamish laughed.
‘And on that note,’ I said, getting up from the table swiftly. ‘I think we should get going to the Claybourne Hotel before my dinner makes a repeat appearance.’
Half an hour later Laura and I were well on our way to the hotel. Hamish was staying at my house to clear the furniture out of Freddie’s old room. All three of us had stood in there earlier trying to decide what I should use the room for. Last winter, I’d contemplated selling up and moving somewhere else because it hadn’t felt like home without Freddie. But over the last few months I’d fallen in love with it again; maybe it was because I had Scamp for company, or maybe it was simply because I was starting to make new happy memories, but either way, I’d changed my mind about leaving. So Freddie’s room was going to be redecorated and after my stint at the florist, I might investigate taking in a lodger. It felt good making plans for the future again.
‘So apart from breaking up marriages,’ Laura said, retuning the van’s radio to our favourite nineties station, ‘it’s working out all right being in the shop by yourself?’
I gave her a stink eye. ‘Not funny.’
She grinned. ‘Sorry, but you need to stop beating yourself up about your role in Sam’s break-up. I think you were really restrained given the circumstances.’
‘Hmm, I’ll stop beating myself up when Sam rings and I know he and I are OK.’
She was quiet for the moment. ‘You really like him, don’t you?’
I sighed. ‘I do, but the next few months are going to be tough for him and his family. The last thing he needs is another woman complicating matters. I’ll be a friend if he needs one and nothing more. To answer your question, I’m loving running the shop. It’s busy and I feel like it’s a constant juggle between making up orders and serving in the shop and making deliveries. I followed your advice about not doing weddings so I’m saying no to those but I do enjoy workshops, so I’m going to try and grow that side of the business.’
‘Look after yourself,’ she warned. ‘It wasn’t so long ago that you were wiped out with grief. Don’t overdo it.’
I was working long hours and yes, it was tiring, but Nina was only away for a few more weeks so there was no point looking for extra help.
‘Thanks for caring.’ I smiled at my friend. ‘But sleep is overrated and the shop is worth it. You should come for a visit and see for yourself.’
‘Ooh yes!’ Her eyes sparkled. ‘And if you can arrange for Sam to be there at the same time, even better.’
‘That’s funny, I’ve got Ethel coming to visit tomorrow aft
ernoon; she said the same thing.’
‘Ah, darling Ethel,’ Laura sighed wistfully. ‘I miss seeing her cheery face at the window next door.’
‘Ditto.’
After I got home from visiting Freddie’s grave yesterday I’d phoned Ethel to ask if she was up to having a visit from Scamp and me that afternoon. I hadn’t seen her much since Nina had gone away because I’d been so manic and I’d been feeling guilty about it. Her move from The Beeches care home where she’d been since spring had been delayed by one thing and another: a room had had needed to be decorated for her, there’d been a family holiday and then a couple of routine hospital appointments which Ethel hadn’t wanted to miss, but when she’d answered my call I’d found her buzzing with excitement and far too busy for visitors.
‘I’m moving to Carole’s!’ she’d cried. ‘This Tuesday! I’m up to my ears in packing.’
‘That’s great news!’ I’d responded with gusto, brushing away my own sadness at the thought that I’d no longer be able to call in for a dose of Ethel’s sage advice when I needed it. It would be comforting for her to be so close to her family in Yorkshire. I’d suggested she drop in to the florist’s on her way up north to see us. She’d jumped at the chance.
‘I’ll check with Carole, but I’d love to.’ She paused for a second. ‘And it will be nice to say goodbye properly to you. It’ll be nice to be able to think of you in the shop when I’m miles away. Do you see much of that chappie? What’s his name …?’
I made a mental note to make sure there were plenty of tissues in the shop and then one of our favourites came on. Laura turned up the radio and we both launched into an enthusiastic rendition of ‘Nine to Five’ and all my worries were put on hold for the rest of the journey.
This time when we arrived at the Claybourne Hotel, I drove past the pretty entrance with its canopy of wisteria blooms and headed straight round the back. Marcia had given me instructions to use the service entrance which gave us easy access to the set of function rooms Edelweiss had booked.
Laura and I set about unloading the van. We had all the usual floristry equipment as well as containers, fairy lights, wooden trellis panels, heaps of flowers and the metal moongate I’d managed to borrow from a friend of Nina’s. To create the natural summer meadow feel that Edelweiss wanted, I’d have to do a lot of the work early tomorrow morning. But the large pedestal displays would contain plenty of water, so that meant I could get them out of the way tonight.
‘What is this anyway?’ Laura was attempting to bolt together the pieces of the moongate. ‘I’m trying to work out if it looks like an instrument of torture, or one of those hoops you see at a circus with an acrobat dangling from it by her teeth.’
‘Hopefully it’s better than both of those.’ I took out my phone and showed her the picture of the one we’d done on our floristry course back in March when spring flowers had been in season. ‘It’s usually the centrepiece for a wedding but I thought it would fit in here quite well.’
‘Wow. That’s gorgeous.’ She took the phone out of my hand and zoomed in on it, her eyes sparkling. ‘Let’s do it tonight, I want to see it covered in flowers.’
I suppressed a smile; she’d kill me for pointing it out, but since she’d been with Hamish her romance-ometer had gone off the scales and it warmed my heart to see it.
‘No can do, I’m afraid,’ I said, sliding my phone back in my pocket. ‘It’s not something you can water so I’ll have to do it first thing in the morning. I’ll take lots of photos, I promise.’
‘We could keep Scamp overnight, if it helps? It would give Hamish a taste of responsibility.’
I grinned at her. ‘Care to expand on that statement?’
‘Nope.’
We both laughed. Perhaps they were thinking about what the future might look like as a family. Wasn’t that what I wanted for myself one day? Although right now there was more chance of me flying to the moon.
‘Thank you for the offer but Biddy from the pet shop has offered to have him for as long as I need.’
‘Any news on her and the lover?’
‘Nothing to report, but I’ll keep you posted,’ I promised.
I’d told her about Biddy and her affair with Nigel. We’d agreed I shouldn’t do anything for now. But I hadn’t forgotten about them; maybe one day when the time was right, I’d get the chance to re-introduce them.
‘I wish Dad had found someone new after Mum died. I know he’s lonely and I feel guilty that I don’t do more with him.’ She sighed.
‘There’s still time, perhaps he just hasn’t met the one.’
Laura shook her head sadly. ‘For Dad there’ll only ever be Mum. Theirs was the perfect marriage, he says nothing could ever beat it.’
‘That’s so romantic,’ I said with a wave of affection for the man who’d been like a dad to me during my teenage years.
She nudged me sharply. ‘Look at the two of us: gooey pair. Let’s get cracking before we start weeping.’
An hour later, we’d done as much as we could. I’d practised all the displays back at the shop to speed things up and I’d already cut the stems to length to keep this evening’s work as quick as possible. We were both yawning as I was finishing off the last bits while Laura was giving everything a spray with water.
‘You’re bloody brilliant, Fearne Lovage,’ she marvelled, looping an arm over my shoulders. ‘I come out in a sweat with one vase of flowers to arrange, and you, cool as a cucumber can take on an entire scheme without turning a hair.’
‘Hmm,’ I said, trying not to picture the moment I’d first met Nina, face down on the counter and sobbing her heart out in a race against time to get ready for Rosie’s wedding. Victor would be delivering the rest of the flowers directly to the hotel at the crack of dawn in the morning and I’d be here at six a.m. to get started. ‘Let’s see if I’m still looking cool this time tomorrow.’
We were about to leave the room when we heard the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps in the corridor outside.
I opened the door as Marcia burst in, red-faced and perspiring.
‘You’re here!’ She marched straight to the window, threw it open and lit a cigarette, her elbow covering up the ‘no smoking’ sign. ‘Thank goodness for that!’
‘Um, yes,’ I said, confused. Laura and I exchanged worried looks. ‘As arranged.’
She took a long drag on her cigarette and blew the smoke out of the window before replying.
‘Everything, and I mean everything, has gone wrong today. So I wouldn’t have been surprised if you hadn’t turned up.’ She shut her eyes and massaged the bridge of her nose. ‘I should have gone home hours ago. I’m just glad it was my boss who took this booking not me. If heads are going to roll at least I should be safe.’
‘Which booking?’ Laura asked.
Marcia puffed out another cloud of smoke and this time forgot to aim it outside. She flapped her arms to disperse it. ‘Edelweiss. It looks great in here, by the way, very rude of me not to mention it straight away. Sorry. I’m a bit stressed.’
My stomach twisted. ‘Is there something I should know about?’
‘A major confusion over the bedrooms.’ Marcia rolled her eyes. ‘Major.’
‘Oh dear.’ I hid my relief; I was sorry for her, but at least it had nothing to do with my side of the event.
‘Is it sorted now?’ Laura, reading my mind, squeezed my arm.
‘Not yet.’ She took one more impossibly long drag from her cigarette, stubbed it out on the wall outside and closed the window. ‘The guests are saying that the conference fee they’ve paid to Edelweiss included overnight accommodation. Whereas Edelweiss told us that guests were settling their own bills. Whatever. It’ll work out in the end.’
She stood up straight, tugged her tight skirt down over her thighs and smiled at us. ‘They’re going to be thrilled with this, it looks great.’
‘Oh, thanks,’ I said distractedly, still thinking about Edelweiss and the mix-up over payment. What
if the same happened to me and there was a dispute over who was paying my bill? An uncomfortable shiver ran down my spine.
‘Can’t you ask an Edelweiss representative about it?’ Laura asked.
‘You’d think,’ said Marcia wryly. ‘But they haven’t turned up yet. Their flight has been delayed.’
‘It’s a Swiss company,’ I explained to Laura.
‘Flying in from …?’ she wanted to know, getting her phone out. ‘I’ve got an app for live flight information so I know if Hamish is going to be late.’
Marcia shrugged. ‘No idea, but they’re hiring a car from Manchester airport.’
‘Their office is in Geneva,’ I said, wishing I’d made more effort to find out their travel arrangements.
Laura shook her head. ‘No flights due in. There’s one from Zurich.’
‘That’s probably it,’ I said hastily.
She pulled a face and showed me the phone. ‘It’s already landed. No delays.’
‘That’s odd,’ I frowned.
Marcia flapped a hand and laughed. ‘Look at your worried little faces. There’ll be a perfectly reasonable explanation.’
‘There’d better be,’ I murmured, eyeing up all the flowers in the room, not to mention the ballroom next door and the other half of the delivery on its way from Holland as we spoke.
Marcia tucked her cigarette lighter down her bra and checked her phone. ‘It’ll be fine, it always is. The hotel business is always full of last-minute niggles: things go wrong, we sort them; customers complain, we pacify them. Welcome to my world. Tomorrow will be fantastic, don’t worry. I’d better get back to the front line. See you in the morning.’
My Kind of Happy - Part Three: A new feel-good, funny serial from the Sunday Times bestseller Page 7
