Page 67 of The Little Flower Shop By the Sea
‘Ah, that was great!’ I tell Basil. ‘Will and I used to do the same when we were here.’
‘Did you now?’
I swivel rapidly in my sock-clad feet towards the other, smaller door to the ballroom that Stan would tell us was the servants’ entrance.
‘Who are you?’ I ask an amused-looking young man wearing khaki combat trousers and a white T-shirt. I notice he’s holding a spade in his right hand.
He doesn’t answer but instead says, ‘You’re Poppy, aren’t you?’
‘Yes…’ I reply hesitantly. ‘But…’
‘I thought so. My sister told me all about you and the flower shop.’
I look blankly at him.
‘I’m Willow’s brother, Ash,’ he says. He walks over to me, brushes down his free hand on his trousers and holds it out. ‘Pleased to meet you.’
‘Willow, from the Women’s Guild – yes, of course. Hello,’ I say, still slightly dazed by his sudden appearance. ‘Oh, Willow and Ash —’
‘I know…’ he says, rolling his eyes. ‘Trees. My parents were keen gardeners.’
‘As are you, by the looks of it.’ I indicate the spade in his hand.
‘Runs in the family,’ he says. ‘My grandfather used to be the gardener here many years ago.’
‘Oh, you must be Bertie’s grandson!’ I exclaim, looking up at this broad, tall, blond guy. ‘I remember you now, you were just a little fella running around in nappies when I first used to come here as a child.’
‘Yeah, that was me,’ he says without a hint of embarrassment. ‘I wasn’t always in nappies though – at least, I hope not, ’cos we lived in St Felix until I was seven!’ He winks. ‘My parents moved the family back here when my granddad got ill,’ he explains. ‘We stayed on after he passed away, to be close to Grandma Babs.’
‘How old are you?’ I ask, trying to work all this out.
‘Twenty-two.’
‘That would be about right. I stopped coming to St Felix when I was fifteen, although by then I wasn’t really running around the castle playing. We’d just pop up to visit Stan when we were here visiting my grandma.’
‘Sorry about your grandma,’ Ash says sombrely. ‘Rose was a lovely lady.’
‘Yes, she was, and your granddad too.’
We look at each other, caught in a slightly awkward moment.
‘So, you haven’t actually told me why you’re walking around this dusty old house. Or,’ Ash’s blue eyes twinkle, ‘how you managed to break in.’
‘And you haven’t told me what you’re doing in Stan’s old house brandishing a spade.’
Twenty-three
Apple – Temptation
Ash and I close up Trecarlan again and walk back through the grounds with Basil, Ash returning his spade to a shed full of gardening equipment.
‘So, how come you still do the gardening here?’ I ask him after I’ve explained how I got into the house and why.
‘I promised my granddad I would,’ Ash says, closing the shed door and locking it. ‘When Stan left Trecarlan, my grandparents did too. Bertie said just ’cos Stan had left didn’t mean to say the place had to go to rack and ruin, and he was going to continue looking after the gardens.’
‘Aw, that’s sweet of him.’
‘I know,’ Ash says. He gestures towards the path. ‘Walking back into town?’
