The Little Flower Shop by the Sea (25 page)

‘Come on, Poppy, I may be a bit ditsy sometimes, but I’m not deaf. I heard you sneaking lover boy into the cottage last night.’

‘Ah… that.’

‘Yes that,’ she says, as she dries her hands on a towel. ‘Well?’ she whispers. ‘What’s he like?’

I’m surprised Amber isn’t more shocked that I slept with Ash on what I wasn’t even admitting to her was a first date.

‘He’s very nice,’ I reply coyly.

‘Nice as a person, or
nice
,’ she grimaces, ‘in bed. Because the two are very different things…’

‘
Amber
…
’
I flash my eyes at her. ‘He’s a nice person to be with, and…’ I flush. ‘Pretty good in the other department too.’

‘Ooh, jackpot!’ she says, pulling an imaginary handle.

‘Somebody won something?’

We both turn and see Ash walking through the kitchen door. His hair is dishevelled and he’s pulled on his jeans, but his feet and his very well developed chest are bare.

‘I think Poppy has,’ Amber says, raising her eyebrows at me.

‘Tea, Ash? Or coffee?’ I offer.

‘Coffee would be great,’ he says. ‘Do you mind if I jump in the shower?’

I see Amber swallow hard.

‘No, go right ahead,’ I tell him. ‘You’ll find fresh towels on the side.’

‘Thanks. See you in a bit.’

‘Wow,’ Amber says as soon as he’s gone. ‘You are one lucky lady, Miss Poppy.’

‘He is pretty fit, isn’t he?’ I can’t help but smile.

‘Er… ya!’

‘I’m surprised you aren’t more shocked that I brought him back here last night.’

‘Nah.’ Amber waves her hand. ‘I knew you would.’

‘How? When I was insisting to you it wasn’t even a date.’

Amber taps the side of her head. ‘Never doubt the powers of Amber,’ she says. ‘I know many, many things before they happen.’

‘OK…’ I wave my hand, not wanting to know more. I had no need to know if she’d read her cards, or her crystals or whatever else she could find. ‘But I bet you can’t predict what I’m going to do next?’

‘Make Ash breakfast?’

‘Haha! See, that’s where you’re wrong.’ I walk back towards the door Ash has just gone through. ‘Even you couldn’t predict this one, Amber. I am going to join him in the shower…’

‘Poppy, you minx!’ I hear Amber call after me as I reach for the bathroom door.

Later that day Amber and I are back in the shop waiting for a young couple, Katie and Jonathan, to arrive for their appointment with us. In a few weeks’ time Daisy Chain will be providing the flowers for their wedding in a large country hotel about half an hour away from St Felix.

It’s the first wedding we’ve been asked to do, and Amber is understandably nervous at the prospect.

‘But I’ve never done a wedding on my own,’ she said when we’d first been approached. ‘Your mom always did all the organising, I just helped out.’

‘You’ll be fine, Amber,’ I’d assured her. ‘You’re a brilliant florist. The bride wouldn’t have specially asked for you if you weren’t.’

‘The bride asked for Daisy Chain to do the flowers, not me,’ she’d said, still looking worried. ‘It was your grandmother’s reputation that sealed the deal.’

Eventually I’d managed to persuade her this was something she could do – and do well – and we’d had a preliminary meeting with the bride to discuss her requirements.

This afternoon Katie’s back with her groom, Jonathan, to discuss the designs Amber has come up with for the wedding, and to confirm how many flowers will be required – plus the all-important cost.

‘So,’ Amber says as we wait for them to arrive, and she puts the finishing touches to a birthday arrangement for a grandmother of pale pink roses, meaning grace, and white lilies, meaning majesty. ‘What’s happening with you and lover boy?’

I roll my eyes as I watch her. Since Marie’s visit, Amber has been quite open about her use of the flower books for guidance in her arrangements, and she will happily inform me which flowers she’s using and why. The science of it – I preferred to call it that rather than magic – was fascinating, but I still preferred to let Amber deal with the actual arranging of the flowers. I wasn’t ready to be that hands-on just yet, even though I had to admit I was finding being in the shop much easier these days.

‘I assume you mean Ash?’ I reply, pretending to be aghast. ‘We’ve only been on one date!’

‘But what a
long
, and if I might say, very
noisy
date that was.’ Amber winks as she places her final stem into the green oasis holding her arrangement in place.

I blush. ‘He says he’ll call me, if you must know.’

‘Ooh, like “I can’t
wait
to see you again” call you? Or “I’ll see ya around” call you?’

‘I guess the first. But —’ I cut Amber off before she can say anything. ‘It’s not anything serious. Ash isn’t that kind of guy, and I’m not interested in anything too heavy right now.’

Amber shrugs. ‘OK, if you say so.’ But as she swivels the arrangement round on the desk to check it, she murmurs, ‘Not with Ash, anyway.’

‘What did you say?’

‘Nothing!’ she sings. ‘Oh look, here’s our bride and groom, I’ll just take this out back.’

Katie and Jonathan appear in the doorway of the shop, and I go over to greet them.

‘Hello,’ I say, shaking Katie’s hand. ‘And you must be the happy groom,’ I say to a not-too-happy-looking Jonathan, who shakes my hand dismally. ‘Is everything all right?’ I ask as they sit down on the chairs we’ve placed in a corner of the shop for our meeting. ‘You seem worried.’

Katie looks at Jonathan as if she’s going to burst into tears.

‘The wedding is going to have to be cancelled!’ she says, fighting back tears as Amber appears from the back room and hurries to join us. ‘Our perfect day is off.’

‘No, it’s not, darling.’ Jonathan puts his arm around Katie and tries to console her. ‘Not yet anyway,’ he says to us.

‘But why?’ I ask. ‘What’s happened?’

‘The hotel has had a mix-up with our booking,’ Jonathan explains, while Katie sniffs on his shoulder. ‘They say they can’t hold our wedding on that day because they already have another wedding booked. The other couple take priority because they paid their deposit first.’

‘They can’t just cancel you altogether,’ I insist. ‘Surely they can offer you another date instead?’

Katie shakes her head sadly. ‘Not anything that works for us. It’s either midweek or much later in the year – they’re fully booked. That’s why we wanted to hold our perfect day there, because they have such a great reputation. Plus their grounds are absolutely stunning, it would have been perfect for our photos.’

‘It happens,’ Amber says. ‘When I was at the florist’s in New York, we had a couple who got double-booked at the Plaza! Can you imagine a hotel like that double-booking you? It worked out well for them in the end though – they got married in Central Park, it was very romantic, so I hear. Much nicer than the Plaza would have been.’

‘Maybe you could find somewhere else?’ I suggest. We can’t afford to lose this booking, it’s too important, both financially and for Amber’s confidence.

Jonathan shakes his head. ‘Nope, everywhere local is fully booked throughout the summer. We may have to put it off until next year…’

Katie lets out another huge sob, and scrabbles in her bag for a tissue.

Amber produces a beautiful white lace handkerchief and passes it to her instead.

‘Thank you,’ Katie sniffs. ‘You’re both so lovely, that’s why we wanted you to do our wedding. It would have been so special to have had Daisy Chain providing the flowers. My mother was a huge fan of your grandmother’s way with flowers; she never stopped raving about her before she died. Your grandmother did the flowers for her funeral.’

I nod. I’m thinking. Something Amber said has given me an idea.

‘How would you feel about having a different sort of wedding?’ I ask tentatively, my brain still trying to keep up with all the ideas that are suddenly flooding in. ‘Like Amber’s New York couple?’

‘How do you mean?’ Jonathan asks, looking dubious.

‘I have an idea… I can’t promise anything, but if it works out it would guarantee you something much more memorable than a dull old country hotel. And,’ I add when I see I’ve got them interested, ‘your photos would be absolutely stunning.’

It’s all very well coming up with an idea, but how on earth am I going to bring it to fruition, I wonder as I tap on the cover of my notebook with the end of my pen, and take another sip of my orange juice.

I’m sitting in the Merry Mermaid waiting for Amber. This will be our first proper meeting to discuss the wedding since I put my idea to Katie and Jonathan earlier today. The shop had been unusually busy after they’d left us – looking an awful lot happier than they’d been when they arrived – and we’d not had a chance to discuss my plan any further.

My idea was for Katie and Jonathan to hold their wedding at Trecarlan Castle. I was sure I could persuade the Parish Council to agree. Why not? The place wasn’t being used for anything, and it would be a fantastic setting for a wedding.

I smile to myself as I think what Stan would make of the idea. I know he would love it. He liked nothing better than to see Trecarlan filled with people; he always said the house was miserable on its own. I knew he would agree to my idea if I could only ask him. But I didn’t know where Stan was, and no one else seemed to know either. So I was just going to have to try to persuade Caroline and the rest the Parish Council to give it the green light in his absence.

‘Evening, Poppy. On your own tonight?’ Woody asks, standing hesitantly by my table in his civilian clothes: a navy blue sweater, dark blue jeans, and a blue-and-white check shirt.

‘Yes – I mean no. I’m expecting Amber in a bit.’

Woody’s eyes light up at the mention of her name.

‘Why don’t you sit down with me, Woody?’ I say, grinning at him. ‘She’ll be here soon.’

Woody tries unsuccessfully to look cool about my invite. ‘That’s nice,’ he says, hovering by the seat next to me. ‘But it really doesn’t bother me either way, you know?’ He rubs the palm of his hand over his hair to smooth it down, and glances towards the door.

‘Yeah, right, whatever you say, Woody.’ I wink.

He pretends to be shocked, then drops the fake expression. ‘OK, you’ve found me out,’ he says, sliding into the seat next to me. ‘I do find your American friend a very attractive lady.’

I just adore Woody’s style, he’s very…
proper.
Yes, that’s exactly what it is. Polite and proper should be Woody’s middle names.

‘I’m sorry, how impolite of me, can I get you a drink?’ he asks, looking at my glass.

‘No, I’m fine just now, thank you,’ I say, lifting my half-drunk orange juice.

‘So what are you up to?’ He nods at my notebook.

‘Ah, it’s a long story.’

‘I like stories, why don’t you tell me?’ says Woody, glancing towards the door in case Amber has arrived.

I need as many people onside as possible if I’m going to persuade the council to let me do this. And it wouldn’t do any harm to have our local police constable as one of them. So I tell Woody about the couple and their setback, and my idea for the wedding.

‘What a lovely idea,’ he says when I’ve finished. ‘You have my blessing. I love a good wedding, me. I always end up crying though. Ruins my hard man reputation.’

I smile at him. ‘Yes, I bet it does.’

‘So how far have you got with your plans?’ he asks, sliding my notebook across the table. ‘Oh,’ he says, when he sees the blank page. ‘It’s still in the early stages then?’

I grimace. ‘The thing is, I’ve never done anything like this before. I really don’t know where to start.’

‘Teamwork,’ Woody says knowingly. ‘That’s what they taught us in the army. In a team: Together Everyone Achieves More.’

‘Cool, I like it. So you were in the army too?’ I ask, surprised by this. Gentle Woody as an officer of the law I can about believe. But a soldier?

‘I was before I joined the force. Not for too long, mind,’ he adds. ‘We weren’t really suited, the army and I.’

‘Yes, I can imagine that… I mean, I think you’re much better in charge of a small seaside community like St Felix. It suits you.’

‘Do you think?’ Woody looks surprised.

‘Yes. A place like this, you have to know how to treat people to get the best out of them. You need a
delicate
touch.’

Woody nods thoughtfully. ‘Yes, I like that. I do have a delicate touch. My sarge at police training college always said I was a soft touch. I guess that’s why they sent me here.’

I smile at him again. ‘You bet it is.’

Lovely Woody was definitely one of my favourite people here in St Felix. Aside from being very proper, he was also kind, and very gentle and understanding with everyone who needed his help. Even though Woody didn’t have a hope of ever preventing any crime here in the town, or achieving the air of authority he longed for, everyone knew Woody, and more importantly everyone loved him.

‘You were saying something about team work,’ I remind him.

‘Ah yes. I may not have been here in the town that long, Poppy, but during that time I have learnt that places like St Felix run on committees, organisations, societies and the like. You won’t get far without them onside.’