Page 69 of The Little Flower Shop By the Sea
‘Ash – he’s a gardener up at Trecarlan Castle.’
‘Sexy gardener!’ She lets out a low whistle.
‘His grandfather used to work at the castle when I played there as a child. I knew Ash when he was little.’
‘Bet there’s nothing little about him now.’ Amber nudges me.
‘Amber…’ I give her a warning look.
‘What? You wanna let your hair down, Poppy, have some fun. I thought you were gonna have fun with Jake when I first arrived here, but that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, so why not this Ash?’
She casually turns and walks back into the shop.
‘Jake and I are just friends,’ I protest, hurrying after her, wondering if we’re even that after yesterday.
Amber rearranges some sunflowers in one of the metal buckets. ‘Yeah, honey, I know that now, but when I first came here and saw the way you looked at him, I did wonder if there might be something more.’
I can only stare at Amber – she’s right, of course, but I’m not about to admit that to her.
‘Poppy, come on – Jake’s fit, not as fit as Lady Chatterley’s lover out there, mind, but he’s still hot for an older guy.’
‘Jake isn’t that old,’ I reply, trying to sound like I don’t care either way.
‘He’s older than Ash.’
‘What’s that to do with anything? Jake is thirty-nine; like I said, not old. In fact, I think his birthday is coming up very soon. Bronte mentioned something about a party the last time I saw her.’
Jake’s birthday – great. That would be fun now. Oh, why did I have to kiss him and ruin everything?
‘How old is Mr Hot?’ Amber continues, unusually for her she’s not sensing my unease.
‘Twenty-two, but I don’t see —’
‘Ooh, she swings from older man to toy-boy, what a gal!’
‘Amber, stop this. Ash has asked me out for a drink tonight, that’s all.’
Amber’s eyes light up.
‘And before you say anything, we’re only going to reminisce about old times at Trecarlan.’
Amber raises one eyebrow. ‘Is that right?’
‘Yes,’ I say, heading around the back of the desk, ‘it is. Now go and get some lunch – and if you’re heading anywhere near the Blue Canary, pick me up a tuna sandwich while you’re there, will you?’ I wink at her, hoping this will do the trick and she’ll move on.
Amber sighs. ‘Change the subject all you like, but my sixth sense is tingling about this, missy, and I can’t remember the last time that was wrong.’
Twenty-four
Nasturtium – Impetuous Love
As I head down to the Merry Mermaid just before eight that same evening I try not to think too much about Ash as I walk. I haven’t been on a proper date in ages, and even though I’d insisted to Amber that it wasn’t really that, and only a catch-up with Ash, I had a feeling she might be more accurate than me with her predictions for the evening.
So as I head down the road towards the harbour and the pub, I allow the other things on my mind to battle for prominence over my thoughts about Ash.
For a start there’s the story Marie told us yesterday about the reconciliation with her sister. Could Amber’s choice of flowers really have made such a difference? It must have been a coincidence, surely? Perhaps Julie had been thinking of making up with Marie all along, and seeing her standing on her step had given her just the push she needed.
But what if Amber was right and it had been the flowers. Could it be that there really was something to these books? Amber had admitted to me afterwards she’d used the books to make up bouquets several times already, but Marie had been the first person to come back and tell her they had worked. What if more people started coming back to the shop to tell us it had worked for them too? Ant and Dec remain convinced my grandmother helped bring them together, and the locals are always talking about Daisy Chain being special… Even Jake seems to think there’s something to it, and despite our falling out, I value his opinion very highly.
