Page 9 of Flowers Go Flying in Crumbleton

‘What just happened?’ gasped Milly, craning her neck as she tried to work it out. ‘Did the horse get loose? Is someone hurt?!’

‘Two secs,’ said Caroline, scurrying forward, ‘I’ll find out.’

Milly stared around, looking for Murray again – but before she had any luck, Caroline was back at her side.

‘Nothing to do with the horse,’ she said, wide-eyed and looking like she was torn between absolute horror and the desire to giggle. ‘Your flowers just clonked someone right on the head!’

‘Uh oh!’ said Milly with a guilty wince. ‘Are they okay?’

‘The flowers look fine,’ said Caroline.

‘Not the flowers, idiot,’ hissed Milly, ‘the person they hit!’

‘I shouldn’t think so,’ Caroline said, shaking her head.

‘What do you mean?!’ said Milly with a sinking sensation.

‘The poor bloke’s out cold!’

CHAPTER 4

MURRAY

Murray was quickly coming to the conclusion that weddings were very stressful things indeed.

Even though he hadn’t been entirely sure about the whole thing when he’d accepted Philip’s request to be best man, he’d comforted himself with one thought – how hard could it be?

As it turned out? Very! Of course, Josh wasn’t helping matters one little bit.

Murray had tied his boat up at the wharf next to the shabby old craft owned by the council that that was rarely ever used, and then practically jogged to the hotel. By the time he arrived at the Dolphin and Anchor, the best-man-wannabe had already managed to reduce one of the flower-girls to tears. He’d also upset the catering staff so much that Murray would bet anything Josh’s sorbet would have a high concentration of added spit by the time it was served.

Murray had barely had the chance to greet the groom before Philip sent him in search of Josh - with orders to make sure he didn’t cause any more drama before the ceremony. He’d only just managed to track him down, and by the look of things, Josh was in serious danger of having his eyes gouged out by the purple-haired whirlwind who’d turned up to deliver the flowers.

Judging by the pure venom pouring from the trainee florist’s eyes, Murray was pretty sure she was more than capable of tearing Josh limb from limb… and enjoy the experience while she was at it. If it wasn’t for the fact that he had a bit of an ulterior motive, he’d have left the idiot to his fate. This was too good an opportunity to waste, though.

‘Josh, you’re needed inside,’ he said.

Josh didn’t even turn around, he was too busy ranting with his face pressed right up against the van window.

Murray let out an exasperated sigh. Striding forwards, he grabbed Josh by the scruff of the neck and dragged him away from the van.

‘What the…?’ Josh was practically frothing at the mouth, looking slightly unhinged.

‘Philip’s looking for you!’ said Murray, quickly inventing an excuse to get the idiot as far away from the irate girl inside the van as possible.

The magic words worked a treat, and Josh disappeared in a swish of self-importance, his ridiculous top hat tucked under one arm.

‘Cheers for that,’ breathed the girl. Her venomous scowl turned into a grateful grin as she wound the window down to talk to him. ‘I was just wondering whether headbutting him would count as unprofessional conduct. Might have still been worth it anyway!’

Murray grinned at her.

‘You’re not going to have a go at me for stopping here at the front instead of trying to get into the carpark too, are you?’ she added.

‘No chance!’ said Murray, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender. ‘For one thing, I don’t want you to headbutt me, and for another - you’d never get into the carpark even if you wanted to.’

‘That’s what I told shorty arsy grumpface,’ she muttered. ‘Then he turned rabid and…’ she paused. ‘Sorry… he’s probably a friend of yours.’

‘Nope,’ said Murray mildly. ‘Definitely no friend of mine.’

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