Page 94 of The Little Flower Shop By the Sea
Miley turns from Jake and looks at me, and I’m sure I see her shrug.
I get up and go over to the counter where Jake is making the tea. This seems to jolt him into action; he grabs the milk and sloshes far too much into his mug.
‘Damn,’ he says under his breath.
‘Don’t you like it milky then?’ I ask, smiling.
He turns to me and I see his eyes are misty.
‘Oh, Jake,’ I say, putting my hand over his as it rests on the kitchen worktop. ‘When it happens – and like you said, there’s another year to go before Charlie leaves for uni, if that’s what he decides to do – it will be OK, I’m sure it will.’
Jake looks down at my hand, but he doesn’t attempt to move his own.
‘How do you know it will?’ he asks. ‘It was bad enough when I lost Felicity – at least I had the children for company. This time it will be just me when they’re gone.’
‘But you have your friends in St Felix, and you have Lou.’ I know this sounds weak.
‘Yes, I know, and I’m grateful for them, of course, but sometimes…’ He struggles for the right words. ‘When it’s just you, on your own, and you close the door on the world outside, it can be very lonely to have only your memories for company. I felt like that every night when I lost Felicity.’
I know exactly what he means, and I want to tell him I know, but I can’t, it just won’t come out, so I squeeze his hand instead.
Jake looks up at me. ‘Poppy, I —’
‘Couldn’t find the box!’ Bronte announces from the door, marching back into the kitchen. She stops and stares at Jake and me, apparently holding hands by the sink. We immediately pull away from each other, and Bronte, her head down, carries on as if she’s not seen anything. ‘It was under my bed of all places,’ she says, rapidly placing the items of jewellery into a decorated shoebox.
‘This is fab,’ I tell her, hurrying over to the table. ‘If I pay you for these now,’ I reach for my bag, and pull out my purse, ‘then you can make some more, like we discussed – yes?’
‘Sure,’ Bronte says quickly. She glances at Jake then at me. ‘That would be great.’
I pay Bronte and gather up the box of jewellery, still annoyed with myself that Bronte had seen the two of us like that. ‘I was wondering, Bronte,’ I ask, as a thought suddenly comes to me, ‘if you’d be interested in a part-time job at the shop?’
Bronte stares at me. ‘Really? You want me to work at Daisy Chain?’
‘If you’d like to. We’re a lot busier these days, and I’m sure Amber would be happier spending less time in the shop and more in the back room creating her bouquets and arrangements. What do you think?’
‘Definitely!’ Bronte says, her eyes shining. ‘I’d love to. Is that OK, Dad?’ she asks, looking at Jake.
‘Of course.’ Jake looks at me. ‘Thank you, Poppy,’ he says, and our eyes meet again.
I quickly look away. ‘Well, I’d better be getting off. Pop in and see me at the shop soon, Bronte, and we’ll discuss it further. Right, where’s that dog of mine?’
We all look around for Basil, who up until a few moments ago had been snoozing peacefully under the table.
‘And where’s Miley?’ Jake asks.
We all rush out into the hall to find Basil wandering around in a slow circle with Miley riding on his back holding on to his collar.
‘Oh, Basil,’ I say, grinning at him. ‘What is she doing to you?’
‘Training him to ride in the Grand National by the looks of it,’ Bronte says, and we all laugh.
‘Would you like to see where all your flowers come from while you’re here?’ Jake asks hopefully. ‘You did say you’d like a tour sometime.’
Oh lord, I couldn’t say no after the way Jake was a few minutes ago. Plus it was lovely to have Jake talking to me again; I’d missed him. ‘Sure,’ I reply, my words catching in my throat. ‘Why not?’
Bronte remains at the house while Jake walks Basil, Miley and a very hesitant me up to his nursery. It’s much larger than I’d thought it would be: there are about a dozen greenhouses lined up along one side of the land, some fields of rich dark soil with a few polytunnels, and two of Jake’s four staff. He introduces me to Gemma and Christian, who are busy trundling wheelbarrows full of compost over to one of the greenhouses so they can begin filling pots with new seedlings. Then we walk over to another greenhouse and Jake holds the door open.
‘B-but what about Basil and Miley,’ I say, looking over my shoulder. Basil is walking along sniffing the ground like a bloodhound, and Miley is trying to imitate her idol.
