Page 9 of The Vanishing Bookstore
She thought George was handsome, and he definitely smelled good, but there was something about him that she couldn’t put her finger on, and she shook her head.
‘I’m sorry, I’m meeting my friend. The shop isn’t open until tomorrow, it’s Sunday, I don’t work them, got to have a day off now and again.’
‘I’ll pay you double, triple, what the cost of the arrangement is.’
Dora paused. The money would be very handy after the month she’d had and it was tempting, but her heart never listened to her head.
‘Don’t be silly, come tomorrow morning and we’ll sort it out then.’
He stared at her a little too intensely with his big brown eyes but nodded.
‘Of course, sorry. I keep forgetting what day it is, tomorrow it is then.’
He turned and walked away. She finished her latte and threw the cup into the recycling bin outside the tube station. Looking around to see where he was, she couldn’t spot him, but she felt as if he was still there somewhere, and he was watching her. A cold shiver ran down her spine, and taking out her phone she rang Katie.
‘Hey, what are you doing right now?’
‘Dora, it’s not even nine o’clock and it’s Sunday morning. I’m not doing anything, I’m in bed.’
‘Oh, sorry, I forgot it was so early. I wanted to ask you a favour, but I’ll speak to you later.’
‘No, you never ask for a favour. What do you want?’
‘How do you fancy running the shop for me for a few weeks while I go on holiday?’
Laughter filled her ear. ‘You’re funny, you never go on holiday, and I know nothing about flowers. You’re not being serious, are you?’
‘Yes, I am. Lenny has to go to the States for work and I thought I might tag along if you could manage the shop. I can show you how to make basic bouquets and arrangements, I’ll put a post up on Facebook and Instagram saying collections from shop only while I’m away. What do you think?’
‘I think you’re nuts, Dora, but does this position pay?’
Dora smiled. ‘Of course.’
‘Then I’ll give it a go, but don’t turn around and blame me if it all goes horribly wrong and your customers start buying their flowers from M&S online. I’m not ashamed to tell you that I will honestly only be doing this for the money, not because of some weird friendship loyalty that I owe you.’
Dora laughed but at the same time hoped to God that Katie wouldn’t be that bad at basic flower arranging. She was always the arty one at school so she should be okay.
‘I won’t and you’ll be fine. When can you come to the shop so I can show you?’
‘Ooh, in an hour. I need to shower and eat something, is that okay?’
‘Perfect, thanks, Katie.’
Katie hung up and Dora wasn’t quite sure what else was going to happen to her today because up until to now it had been the strangest Sunday morning that she had ever spent. What was it that Lenny was always saying,Be careful what you wish for? Hadn’t she been wishing for her mundane life to be more interesting and to maybe meet a handsome man, go on holiday? What she hadn’t wished for was a handsome man who was grieving, not to mention a little bit weird, plus a holiday with her aunt, but she supposed she’d take what she could get and be thankful at the same time. She didn’t know how she felt about George and his strange behaviour but at least if she went on holiday, he would lose interest in her. He would be a distant memory.
6
Dora unlocked the shop door and stepped inside her tiny world of bliss. She smiled whenever she first walked inside, it was hard not to. She loved her little slice of heaven. She placed the flowers George had bought for her on the side. She didn’t really stock any of the flowers that were bunched together, there wasn’t much call for them in the bouquets she made, but they were very pretty. She did stock tiny herb plants – rosemary, lavender, bay and mint were her most popular sellers. But not in October, in fact she wasn’t even sure that forget-me-nots and periwinkles were in season. She went out the back into the tiniest kitchen in London and filled the kettle, thinking Katie would no doubt need a large mug of tea to get her in the mood to pay attention. Dora took two mugs out of the small pine cupboard and placed them on the draining board. The bells above the door tinkled.
‘Blimey, this is early for a Sunday. I hope you’ve got the kettle on, Dora.’
Dora turned, took three steps and held up the large mug that Katie used whenever she came to the shop, waving it in the air.
‘Your wish is my command, thank you for coming.’
Katie looked as effortlessly beautiful as always. Her honey-coloured hair was in a high ponytail and she was wearing jeans,a black polo neck and a pair of Gucci trainers, teamed with simple gold hooped earrings. She crossed the room and gave her a brief hug. They had met at college, Dora taking art classes and Katie business skills, both of them bonding over a love of horror movies and cheese salad baguettes.
‘You’re my friend, if you need help then I’m here for you. Although I’m not sure our friendship will survive you leaving me in charge of your shop for a few weeks.’
