Page 68 of The Little Flower Shop By the Sea
I nod and we set off down the hill together.
‘Shortly after Granddad got ill he asked me if I’d look after the place for him until he got better. But he never did.’
‘Again, I’m sorry,’ I say, meaning it. ‘Your granddad was a lovely man, I remember him well.’
‘As was your grandma,’ Ash says, and then he smiles. ‘So I look after Trecarlan whenever I get the time in between my other gardening jobs, because there’s no one else to.’
‘Stan never sold up then?’ I ask, trying to piece all this together.
‘Nope. He still owns the house, as far as I’m aware. He leaves it to the Parish Council to look after the place. And they don’t do very much. They don’t really have the funds to run a country house.’ He thinks for a moment. ‘That Caroline can be a bit of a terror though. She went nuts when she found out I was gardening here. Tried to tell me what to do and everything, but I soon put a stop to that.’
‘How?’
‘I told her if the Parish Council wanted to start paying me to work here then she could tell me what to do. Until then, the gardens were my business.’
‘Brilliant!’
‘Funnily enough, I never heard another peep out of her. They seem quite happy with me popping in and doing the gardening for nothing.’
‘I bet they are.’ I think for a moment. ‘So what happened to Stan in the end? I’ve asked around but everyone seems a bit vague about what happened.’
‘I don’t think anyone knows the details. I reckon he had money troubles – like I said, it takes some wonga to run a place like Trecarlan, and I don’t think Stan was all that loaded. Although someone must be paying for his home.’
‘His home? Where does he live now then?’
‘I’m not sure exactly, but I heard he went to live in an old folks’ home somewhere. My granny always says ‘Up North’ if she ever talks about him – which isn’t too often. I think she blames Stan for my granddad’s demise.’
‘Oh no, that’s awful.’
Ash shrugs. ‘She’s elderly. Bit stuck in her ways. It’s easier for her to blame someone else than face up to the fact Granddad smoked twenty a day, and spent five nights a week in the Merry Mermaid!’
We’ve arrived back in town, and as we stop outside Daisy Chain, I let Basil off his lead so he can go on into the shop to get water. When I stand up again, Ash is looking at me.
‘So,’ he says, as we linger outside the open door. ‘Do you need to go back in and fiddle with your buds right now?’ His eyes, set against his tanned skin and scruffy blond hair bleached by the sun, sparkle like naughty sapphires. ‘Or can I take you for an early lunch at the Mermaid?’
I feel myself flush, but I manage to reply with a fairly straight face, ‘I don’t actually fiddle with my buds, I prefer someone else to do that for me.’
Ash grins.
‘However,’ I continue, ‘it’s Amber’s lunch break very soon, and I have to cover the shop. So I’m afraid it’s a no.’
Ash pulls a sad face. ‘Ah, I see. Never mind…’ Then I see the glint in his eyes. ‘In that case, might you be free for a drink tonight instead?’
‘Oh…’
‘We can have a reminisce about Stan, and me in my nappies…’
An image of Jake in the cottage yesterday flashes across my mind. So I quickly shake it away.
‘Sure, why not?’ I agree, without stopping to think about it.
‘Great,’ Ash says, grinning. ‘I’ll see you in the Mermaid about… eight?’
‘Eight’s fine.’
Ash gives me a cheery wave as he carries on up the cobbled street, just as Amber appears at the door with an intrigued look on her face.
‘Who was that?’ she coos, bending to look around me so she can watch Ash walk away.
