Page 83 of The Little Flower Shop By the Sea
‘Sadly ’tis true. It wasn’t long after that Stan moved out, and we lost our jobs.’ She purses her lips. ‘Me and Bertie had given that man our lives, and then he turns around and does that to us.’
‘B-but it doesn’t make sense,’ I say, trying to piece all this together. ‘Stan would never have risked his home and your livelihood on a card game.’
Stan may not have had any family, and few friends, but I know he cared about his ‘helpers’. This just doesn’t fit with the man I remember.
‘Them’s the facts, Poppy. I’ve told you all I know, and some what I heard on the quiet.’ She sighs. ‘My Bertie took ill shortly after all this went on, so maybe we were best out of there as it turns out. When he died, they said it was a stroke caused by heart irregularities. I still say he died of abrokenheart from being evicted from the place he loved. He’d worked at Trecarlan since he was a nipper. But you know Bertie: he vowed he was going to carry on looking after the gardens, even though we wasn’t being paid no more. Bless his soul.’
‘I was so sorry when I heard about Bertie,’ I say. ‘Ash told me.’
She smiles a toothy grin. ‘I hear you and my grandson have been seen stepping out together. I may have been banished to my cottage for the past few weeks, but I still keep my ear to the ground.’
I feel my cheeks turning red.
‘He’s a good lad, is my Ash,’ Babs says. ‘He’s a looker for sure, a bit like his granddad was when he was younger. But his heart is in the right place. He’ll watch out for you.’
‘Thank you,’ I tell her, but I want to ask more about Stan. Something doesn’t sound right about all this. ‘So did you ever see Stan again after that?’
Babs shakes her head. ‘No, he went to a home Up North somewhere. What with that and Bertie, I just never got around to visiting him.’ She leans in towards me. ‘Tell the truth, there was bad feeling, you know, after we lost our jobs, and then I lost Bertie. So I didn’t really want to go. Then after a while it seemed too late to try and make amends.’
‘Of course, I quite understand in the circumstances. I don’t suppose you know which home it was, do you?’ I ask hopefully. Maybe I could phone them.
‘No, dear, sorry. Lou might know though. I think she visits him occasionally.’
That’s good of Lou to travel so far to visit Stan, I think; they must have been close.
‘Thanks, I’ll ask the next time I see her.’
‘You were always a good girl, Poppy,’ Babs says, looking up at me from her scooter. ‘Mischievous, but good at heart. I was sorry to hear about your brother – terrible business.’
‘Yes… well… you know.’ I look down at Basil, who’s having a rest on the floor beside us. ‘Looks like Basil wants to get going,’ I say, tugging on his lead to wake him up.
Basil yawns and grudgingly looks up at me.
‘It’s nice seeing you again, Babs. Now you’re up and about, you’ll have to call in and see us at the shop sometime.’
‘Oh yes, I’d like that. You must pop in and have a cup of tea with me, too.’ She nudges me. ‘And you look after that grandson of mine, you hear? He’s a good boy, that one. Don’t worry too much about that Stan, he was always a bit of a rascal, even when he was young. It was going to catch up with him one day.’
I wave to Babs as she heads off on her scooter, bobbing along the cobbled street.
‘Right, Basil,’ I say, making a U-turn in the street. ‘Looks like we’re off to see your old mate, Lou.’
‘Hi, Poppy, Hi, Basil,’ Lou says, opening the door to greet us. Lou is wearing painting overalls, has her hair tied up in a scarf and is holding a paintbrush.
‘Oh, have I caught you at a bad time?’ I ask as she stands back to let me in.
Lou’s hall, which was full of trinkets and pictures the last time I was here, is stripped bare, and half the walls are painted blue.
‘No, I could do with a break, and it’s always a joy to see Basil.’ She rests the brush on an open tin of emulsion and bends down to fuss him. ‘The puppies are in the kitchen, if you want to go and see them? Basil will be fine with them now.’
We head into Lou’s kitchen to find a riot of activity, as five puppies bound around, chewing on brushes, rolling in blankets, and generally getting up to mischief.
I let Basil off his lead, and he goes over to investigate.
‘Tea?’ Lou asks, filling the kettle.
‘No, I can’t stay long. I have to get back to the shop. Amber’s got a lot on at the moment.’
‘It’s all going well then?’ Lou asks.
