Page 21 of The Little Flower Shop By the Sea
‘And you know everyone that passes through this town, do you?’ I ask, my face reddening still further as I feel my fists clench by my sides. ‘Oh, that’s right, I bet you’re the local busybody, nosing into everybody else’s business, so of course you’d know.’
Caroline is the one with the red face now as I hear a few sniggers around the pub.
‘Deuce!’ Jake calls, and we both glare at him.
Caroline opens her mouth to defend, but I gain the advantage.
‘I should like to thank the ladies of the St Felix Women’s Guild very much for helping to keep my grandmother’s shop up and running, it was most kind of you.’ I smile in the direction of the table some of the ladies are still sitting at, although most have gone home now as Richie has already called last orders. Then I score the winning point: ‘ButI’mhere now, Caroline. The Daisy Chain is nowmyconcern, and no one else’s. I may not be the perfect granddaughter, or the perfect person to run a flower shop, but I’m prepared to give it a damn good try, and I’m going to do it in a way that would have made my grandmother proud!’
I stop as I realise what I’ve just said. Oh no! Me and my big mouth – my mother was right.
Have I just stood and publicly agreed to run a flower shop?
I turn towards Jake and see he’s grinning. ‘Game, set and match!’ he mouths at me.
It seems I have.
Then I hear applause break out from behind the bar as Rita begins cheering.
‘Yay for Poppy and our magical flower shop.’
Magical? There’s that word again.
As people offer to buy me drinks and congratulate me on my new venture, I notice Caroline has melted away with the rest of her cronies. But I have a feeling it won’t be the last I see of her. I’ve met the Carolines of this world before; they don’t take defeat well.
‘So,’ Jake says, when my temporary fan club has dispersed. ‘It looks like you might be needing that chat about flowers after all…’
Seven
Gerbera Daisy – Cheerfulness
The next morning I awake early to sunshine streaming through the curtains in the bedroom downstairs.
Yuck, I’m used to sleeping with blackout blinds in London. I immediately roll over, pull the eiderdown over my head and try to get off to sleep again. But I can’t, my mind begins churning over the events of yesterday, particularly last night, so I roll on to my back and stare up at the uneven ceiling above me.
After my accidental admission about the shop, Jake had walked me back to my cottage, and then taken himself off home, sensibly leaving his van at the harbour because he’d been drinking. He didn’t mention anything more about the shop, obviously sensing by my silence I had much to think about, and for that I was grateful.
What on earth had possessed me to announce that to Caroline and the rest of the pub? I was no more certain I wanted to stay on in St Felix and run the shop than I was of the coastal weather forecast.
But as I’d said to Jake only yesterday, if I say I’m going to do something, I do it. I don’t back down.
However, by sticking to my guns this time, it would mean I’d have to give this flower shop thing a go.Flowers and me. I screw up my face. Not exactly a match made in heaven.
It’s getting quite warm in the little bedroom now, and I wonder if perhaps today will be a nice sunny day in St Felix, and I’ll get to see the town in a better light. I kick the eiderdown off, and begin thinking again:
Would staying for a while in this quiet little seaside town really be so bad?
What had I got to look forward to if I went back on my word and sold the shop and cottage and returned to London? I’d just been fired from the hotel job, I didn’t really have any friends, and I lived in a tiny flat above an off-licence in Barnet, having insisted on paying my own way when my mother wanted me to take a job in Violet and Petal’s shop in Liverpool. Also I’d have an excuse not to visit Teresa for a while; her receptionist had been chasing me to reschedule the appointment I’d cancelled four times already. Much to my annoyance, my mother had insisted on continuing to pay for my therapy, even when I had taken to paying for everything else. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t get away from it.
Butselling flowers…Just the thought of it is making me feel very uneasy indeed.
Maybe I could get someone in to help me? Then I might not have to have too much contact with the flowers. I could concentrate on the day-to-day running of the shop, and let my assistant do the rest!
Brilliant! Yes, I could try that for a while, and if it didn’t work out I could leave before the rough winter weather set in. It might be nice to spend the summer here in St Felix…
I lie there in bed, happy that I have a plan, and not a bad one by my standards. One that will not only keep my mother happy, it will appease the people of St Felix for a while.
Suddenly I hear banging on the front door.
