Page 93 of The Little Flower Shop By the Sea
‘And do they wear it?’
‘Yes, all the time.’
‘There you go then. That’s all I need.’
‘This is amazing!’ she says. ‘I can’t believe my jewellery is going to be in a real shop.’
‘Is your dad OK with all this?’ I ask, wondering if Jake is here.
‘Dad, yeah, he’s cool. He was the one who encouraged me to keep making my stuff when I thought about giving up.’ She pauses, then confides: ‘Mum and me used to do all these kinds of things together before she died. She was very arty – Dad says that’s where I get it from.’
I nod.
‘I mean, we didn’t make jewellery like this – I was only ten when it happened. I think we used to make bead necklaces though, and I remember us painting and drawing together.’ She screws up her face. ‘It’s hard sometimes to remember. Does that sound awful, Poppy?’
I shake my head. ‘No, I know what you mean; as time goes by our memories become slightly hazy. Doesn’t mean you love your mum any less though. It just means new experiences are taking up the space that’s allotted in your head for memories.’
‘I like that,’ Bronte says, nodding slowly. ‘It makes sense. Like a flash drive that’s full and there’s only so much space on it. My memory flash stick is so full I need to remove some data from it to allow new stuff to be uploaded.’
‘Yes.’ I smile at her. ‘Something like that.’
‘Hey, Dad,’ Bronte says, looking towards the kitchen door. ‘You’re back already! Poppy is here checking out my jewellery for her shop.’
Jake pauses in the doorway and smiles at us, then walks into the kitchen. Miley jumps from his shoulder, and immediately goes to the fruit bowl on the kitchen counter.
I wonder how much of what I was just saying Jake heard.
‘Just one, Miley,’ Jake instructs the monkey, who is already unpeeling a banana with great dexterity. ‘I hope she’s offering you a good price for it, Bronte,’ Jake comments as he heads towards the kettle.
‘I certainly am,’ I reply. ‘I think Bronte’s jewellery will go down a storm.’
‘She’s a very talented lady is my Bronte,’ Jake says, winking at her. ‘Tea?’ he offers, looking at me.
‘I’m fine, thanks.’ I lift my can.
‘Do you want to take the bits you like right away, Poppy?’ Bronte asks. ‘I’ve a box upstairs I can put them in for you.’
‘That would be great, thank you.’
Bronte heads for the stairs. ‘Back in a mo.’
Jake turns and leans against the kitchen counter while he waits for the kettle to boil. It feels a bit awkward for us to be on our own like this; it hasn’t happened for what seems like ages.
‘She’s over the moon you’ve shown an interest,’ Jake says, and noticing a snoozing Basil he comes over and crouches down to fuss him. ‘She keeps talking about going to art college when she’s old enough.’
‘She’d do very well at it,’ I tell him. ‘She has talent.’
‘Just need to sort out what Charlie is going to do now. He has one more year of A-levels then it’s uni time for him, but he still doesn’t know what he wants to do.’
‘Charlie is very different to Bronte, but I’m sure he’ll find his way. I bet you’ll miss them when they go to college.’
Jake stands up from where he’s been fussing Basil and heads towards the boiling kettle.
‘Truth is, Poppy,’ he says with his back to me as he puts a tea bag in his mug and pours boiling water over it, ‘I don’t know what I’ll do here without them. The place will seem deserted.’
I wait for Jake to continue but he doesn’t, he just stands very still gazing out of the kitchen window. Miley, sitting next to me on the table, looks up at Jake, then she leaps across the kitchen units and offers him the rest of her banana.
‘Of course I’ll still have you, you little monster,’ he says stroking Miley’s head. ‘No, you keep the banana, thank you.’
