Page 106 of The Little Flower Shop By the Sea
‘Guilty, that I’d behaved badly towards you, Poppy.’
Oh!I prick up my ears.
‘You see, the thing is, I like you – I like you a lot.’
But…There will be a but, I know it!
‘But, it’s been so difficult for me, having these sorts of feeling for someone after all this time. I haven’t felt like this since Felicity. She was the only one I ever felt this way about. I never thought it would happen again. In fact I told myself it wouldn’t.’
I squeeze Jake’s hand.
‘And then you were so lovely the day you kissed me. So understanding when I said I couldn’t. I wondered if it might ruin our friendship, but it hasn’t, has it?’
I shake my head.
‘And then I nearly kissed you that day in my greenhouse, but sensibly you made a hasty exit. I was being stupid; I’d left it too late. You’d already found someone else.’
I had?
‘Ash is a good guy, Poppy. Much younger than me, of course, much more suitable for you. I’m pleased you’ve found someone. Really I am.’
But…
But this time there is no but.
‘We’ll still continue being friends though, won’t we?’
I find myself nodding.
‘Good. As long as I have that then, I’m happy. Right,’ Jake says standing up, pulling me with him. ‘I feel much better now. Time to return to the fold, my public awaits!’
As I climb the narrow steps from the ledge, then walk back up the short path to the castle making polite chitchat with Jake, my mind is buzzing with recrimination.
Did I let that just happen? Did Jake tell me he had feelings for me, and I didn’t respond… I didn’t tell him I felt exactly the same way?
Had Jake gallantly stood back to allow Ash to continue being my suitor, in the type of chivalrous gesture you might have expected to see at Trecarlan hundreds of years ago?
As I walk back inside the castle with Jake, part of me wishes he hadn’t been so gallant, that instead he’d challenged Ash to a duel at dawn for the hand of the fair Lady Poppy.
It had never been like this when I was a child. When I played at being a princess at Trecarlan, I always rode off with my handsome prince at the end of the day.
Thirty-six
Potentilla – Beloved Daughter
The next day is a Sunday, but the shop still opens for business at midday.
It’s my turn to be on duty with Bronte, which is usually a lot of fun. I’ve been getting on really well with her since she started working at the shop, and I enjoy hearing all about her latest teenage exploits.
I’m out back making a cup of coffee when I hear the shop door open. ‘Hi, Bronte!’ I call.
Disappearing from the party for a long time last night meant I hadn’t had time to drink too much alcohol, so I’d been spared the hangover that many St Felix residents would have woken up with this morning.
But after a particularly rough night’s sleep – where I dreamt I’d been locked in a high tower like Rapunzel, and Jake and Ash, wearing huge silver suits of armour, had jousted on horseback, and the results hadn’t been too pretty – a shot or two of caffeine is going to be needed if I’m to get through the next few hours.
‘Howdy,’ Bronte calls, coming into the back room. ‘How are you today?’
‘Good, thanks. You?’
