Page 90 of The Little Flower Shop By the Sea
‘No offence, Poppy,’ Amber says, sounding unusually irritated, ‘but you have no idea of the shit I’ve had to deal with in the past either!’
Before I have a chance to apologise or ask her what she means, Amber storms off.
‘Amber, wait!’ I call after her, but she’s already striding down the castle corridor in the direction of the kitchen. I’m about to follow her when Charlie and Bronte arrive by my side.
‘Hey, how are you doing?’ I ask them, glancing back to the corridor. But Amber has disappeared from sight. ‘You both did a great job tonight. Well done.’
‘Thanks, Poppy,’ Charlie says. ‘It’s been a great success, hasn’t it? Do you think you might do more events like this here? It’s a fab venue.’
‘Oh, I don’t know about that – this was only supposed to be a one-off to help Katie and Jonathan.’
‘Only we’d like to hold dad’s birthday party here,’ Bronte blurts out.
‘Bronte!’ Charlie glares at her. ‘Not so loud. It’s supposed to be a surprise!’ He leans in to me and continues in a low voice: ‘It’s Dad’s fortieth birthday in a couple of weeks and we’re organising a surprise birthday party for him. It was going to be at the Merry Mermaid, but the guest list is getting so long, I think we’re going to need a bigger venue.’
‘It would be sooo cool if we could hold it here,’ Bronte pleads. ‘Do you think the mad guy would let us?’
‘Stan isn’t really mad,’ I tell her. ‘He used to be a bit eccentric, that’s all. Er…’ I look around the ballroom at everyone enjoying themselves. Having this many happy people in the castle today has breathed life back into Trecarlan; I could almost feel the place smiling.
‘We’d do all the work,’ Charlie insists. ‘You wouldn’t have to do anything, I promise.’
I think about Jake, and holding a birthday party here at Trecarlan for him.
‘No,’ I say, watching as the eagerness in their faces turns to disappointment. ‘If you’re going to hold a party for Jake, then I definitely want to be involved. Count me in!’
‘Yay!’ Bronte calls as Charlie shushes her again.
‘I’ll speak to you about it another time, OK?’ I tell them. ‘I… I just need to go and deal with something else right now.’
I’m prevented from heading straight to the kitchen by people coming over to thank me for such a great evening, and then by Katie, who pulls me on to the dance floor, grabs a microphone, and makes everyone drink a toast to me.
When I finally get to the kitchen, I find not only Amber sitting at the big heavy wooden table in the centre of the room, but Woody and Jake too.
Woody has been acting as master of ceremonies all evening, a job he’s thoroughly enjoyed. Jake, as far as I was aware, hasn’t been involved today other than supplying us with flowers. So I’m surprised to see him.
Amber is drinking wine straight from one of the many bottles supplied for tonight’s celebrations. She lifts it up as I come into the room.
‘Ah, here she is, little Miss Gloomy,’ Amber says, taking another slug of the wine. ‘Did you know, boys,’ she addresses Woody and Jake, ‘that no one’s problems are ever as bad as Poppy’s.’
‘She’s had a bit to drink,’ Woody says apologetically. ‘Jake and I found her like this a few minutes ago.’
‘That’s right, they did!’ Amber says, grinning at them both. ‘My knights in shining armour, aren’t you?’
‘Amber, I’m sorry,’ I say, hurrying to her side. ‘I didn’t mean to say what I did. It came out wrong.’
Amber wobbles to her feet, and throws her arm around my shoulder.
‘I know you didn’t, my friend.’ She rests her head gently on my other shoulder, but then it shoots right back up again. ‘Poppy, you know you’ve really got to get over it… whateveritis… You know, the thing, the thing that makes you wear this,’ she gestures to my customary, though slightly smarter than usual, black attire. ‘Honey, you’ve got to let it go.’
I just nod. This isn’t the time or place to begin justifying myself to Amber. She’s obviously put a fair amount of wine away in the time it took me to get here.
‘What are you doing here tonight?’ I ask Jake, as Amber slides back into her seat. ‘I thought you only had time to supply us with flowers today?’
‘I’ve been helping in here,’ Jake waves a hand at the large pile of washed and dried plates neatly stacked on the worktop. ‘Castles tend not to have dishwashers, so I’ve heard.’
‘Sorry,’ I say, feeling guilty. ‘I didn’t know you wanted to be involved in the actual wedding day.’
‘You never asked me, did you?’
