Page 44 of The Little Flower Shop By the Sea
‘That’s wonderful. I’m pleased for the two of you,’ I say, genuinely meaning it; they seem like a lovely couple. ‘But you haven’t told us the significance of the flowers in all this.’
‘Ah yes, the flowers,’ Dec says, smiling. ‘I wondered myself afterwards what they meant, so I looked them up. Peony means anger. Verbascum – take courage. And freesia – lasting friendship.’
‘I still don’t see —’
‘It was a message from your grandmother. Ant turned up on my doorstep because Dominic, his partner, was angry with him – the peony. I had to take courage – the verbascum – in inviting Ant back to taste my wares. And as a result?’ He takes hold of Ant’s hand. ‘We now have a lasting friendship – the beautiful delicate freesia – that’s been getting stronger every year for the last ten years.’
Fifteen
Columbine – Desertion
After Ant and Dec’s revelation about the flowers, and the story of how they met, we all suddenly realise what the time is.
Ant and Dec rush back to the bakery to see if Neil their Saturday boy has coped in their absence, while Amber and I get ready to open the doors to our first customer.
‘What are you doing?’ I ask as Amber begins tying some white floristry ribbon across the shop doorway.
‘It’s for you to do the official opening,’ she says, tying one end with a fancy bow.
‘What official opening? I thought we were just opening the door at ten?’
‘Poppy, you can’t let a significant occasion such as this go by without at least a bit of fuss.’
‘Can’t we?’
‘No.’ She finishes tying the other end. ‘I was going to use a red ribbon, but after what Ant and Dec said I thought white would be more appropriate.’
‘You don’t believe all this flower nonsense, do you?’ I ask. ‘That thing about Ant turning up after Dec got the flowers – that was just a coincidence.’
‘Albert Einstein once said: “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.”’
‘Einstein said that? I thought he was all into science and stuff, not airy-fairy quotes.’
Amber pauses before she unbolts the door. ‘Einstein was a very clever man, Poppy. Do you know why?’
I shake my head.
‘He didn’t let his incredibly smart brain cloud his thinking on any subject. Instead, he allowed his super-intelligent mind to be opened up to a whole world of new possibilities,’ she says, sliding the bolt back. ‘Gosh, I hope you’re good at speeches!’
‘What do you mean?’ I ask as Amber flings open the door and I see a small crowd has formed on the cobbles outside the shop. ‘Oh fu— or goodness sake,’ I recover just in time, and put on my best welcoming voice. ‘I didn’t expect to see so many of you. Hello, welcome, how good of you all to come.’
The crowd look up expectantly as I dither in the doorway.
‘The ribbon, Poppy!’ I hear Jake shout from amongst them. ‘You need to cut the ribbon before we can come in.’
A pair of silver scissors miraculously appears over my left shoulder, courtesy of Amber.
‘Speech!’ Amber calls from behind me, trying to disguise her accent.
Cheers, Amber, I’ll get you for that later…
‘Right… well…’ I grin manically at the people in front of me. ‘Like I just said, thank you all for coming, I’m sure my grandmother would be very touched to see you all here.’ I hear someone mumble, ‘Probably turning in her grave, more like.’
I run my eyes over the sea of eager faces in front of me, but I can’t spot anyone who would have said that, so I carry on:
‘The shop wouldn’t be opening today without the help of many of you standing here right now. Jake Asher –’ I gesture towards him and Miley – ‘the ladies of the St Felix Women’s Guild –’ I wave quickly at Harriet, Willow and Beryl along with a few others. Then I notice that Caroline has joined them today, although she had been notably absent when we’d been setting up the shop. Then there’s Bronte and Charlie, Woody, Lou, Mickey, Belle, Rita and Richie from the Merry Mermaid, Ant and Dec and a few other shop owners from Harbour Street – even Father Claybourne the village priest is here. ‘Wow!’ I exclaim, taken aback at seeing them all standing here. ‘Actually, so many of you have been absolute stars at helping us out, Amber and I really couldn’t have done it without you all, honestly we couldn’t. So from the bottom of our hearts, thank you.’
I stare out into the crowd, and they look awkwardly back at me, and then at each other, wondering if I’ve finished or not, and whether they should applaud.
