Page 9 of The Little Shop on Silver Linings Street
Daisy nodded, shaking hands. ‘Yes, I’m Daisy Turner. I hope I’m not too early. It’s a bit of a habit of mine, I’m afraid.’
‘Is it?’ replied Grace. ‘Mine too actually. Hence why I’m hovering looking for people. Flora said no one would turn up until the last minute… but…’ She tapped the side of her nose. ‘I knew there’d be people like me.’ She smiled, instantly putting Daisy at ease. ‘Why don’t you come on down and you can get settled in out of the cold. Have a drink too if you’d like.’
She led the way across the yard, giving Daisy her first opportunity to look around. When she had visited in the summer there had been flowers everywhere she looked but even now, in the middle of winter, the place was still full of colour. A line of half a dozen Christmas trees stood in bright coloured pots along the length of the yard, their twinkling lights cheery against the gloomy grey sky. The doors to various outbuildings that they passed were hung with ribboned wreaths and, towards the far end of the yard, a long low building was covered in more coloured lights. It was towards this that they now walked.
‘Have you been here before?’ asked Grace. ‘The farm hasn’t been open all that long.’
Daisy nodded, her head still swivelling at all there was to see. ‘I came to have a look around at the end of the summer and Flora explained that this was their first year as commercial growers. I thought it was such a lovely thing to be able to walk among the flowers. When I get married I will definitely be coming back.’
‘Well, Flora will be delighted to hear that. When is your wedding?’
Daisy blushed. ‘Oh… I don’t even have a boyfriend yet. I just meant that when I do get married, if I do, then…’
Grace smiled. ‘I might be a little biased, but I couldn’t agree more. I’m not about to get married…’ She paused, pulling a face. ‘I’ve been there and done that, but I certainly wouldn’t dream of going anywhere else. Flora’s my friend but she’s also an incredible florist. What that woman doesn’t know about flowers isn’t worth knowing.’ She stopped, looking Daisy up and down. ‘And can I just say that I absolutely adore your cloak. But make sure you keep an eye on it during the day, otherwise when you come to go home later you’ll find that Flora has pinched it. You might have noticed that her sense of style is somewhat unique.’
Daisy returned the smile and nodded at the compliment. ‘She’s very… colourful, but it suits her. I’m not that adventurous, I’m afraid, but my cloak was…’ She faltered at the sudden welling sadness brought on by the realisation of what she was about to say. ‘A gift, from my boss.’
‘It’s tweed, isn’t it? Such beautiful colours.’
Daisy looked down at the flecks of blue, green, grey and teal, thinking of the Christmas two years ago when Bea had given it to her. She had been extraordinarily touched by the gesture. She blinked hard. ‘Yes, made in Bute. My boss is Scottish and rather eccentric. She has these made specially for her by a woman on the island.’
Grace was still admiring her cloak. ‘Well, eccentric or not, she has excellent taste. And what does your boss do… what do you do?’
‘I work in the jewellers in town; Buchanans,’ she replied.
Grace’s eyes widened. ‘Wow,’ she said. ‘A little out of my price range.’
‘A little out of most people’s,’ Daisy replied. ‘But I’ll have to see what the new year brings,’ she added. ‘My boss announced her retirement yesterday and so someone new will be running the business.’ She let her expression say the rest.
Grace studied her for a moment. ‘Well then, hopefully today will help to take your mind off things,’ she said warmly. ‘Here we are. Come and say hello to Flora.’
Grace opened the door and ushered Daisy inside.
‘Oh…’ Daisy’s hand went straight to her mouth as she gazed around her in wonder, catching Grace’s eye who was grinning at her.
‘Kind of gets you like that, doesn’t it? Amazing to think this place used to be a milking shed.’
It was the smell which hit Daisy first. Rich, intoxicating, verdant… no, more than that…alive. It was the only word she could use to describe it. Here, in the middle of winter, was a room positively brimming with life. Every surface held flowers and foliage. It lay on the tables, stood in huge buckets dotted around the floor, even hung from the walls.
The room was long and quite narrow, with whitewashed walls, and open to the rafters which towered above them. It should have been a cold and draughty space but, right at the far end, a large log burner was ablaze, casting a warm glow into the room.
It took Daisy a moment to spot Flora, her forest-green jumper embroidered with big white daisies almost camouflaging her as she arranged more bunches of greenery on a table. But almost at the same instant as Daisy noticed her, Flora looked up and grinned, putting down the foliage and coming forward.
‘Hello,’ she said, her smile of greeting changing almost immediately to a quizzical look. ‘We’ve met before, haven’t we?’
Daisy was impressed. ‘You have a good memory,’ she said. ‘And you’re right. I came to have a look around a few months ago. Just being nosey, I’m afraid, but when I saw today’s course advertised I knew I had to come back.’
‘And in the most gorgeous cloak I’ve ever seen. Don’t leave that lying around, will you, or I’ll have to snaffle it.’ She laughed as she caught Grace’s grin, obviously knowing that her friend was well aware of her penchant for such things. ‘I can’t remember your name though, I’m sorry.’
Daisy held out her hand and introduced herself, surprised to find she wasn’t half as nervous as she thought she would be.
‘Come down to the far end,’ added Flora. ‘It’s much warmer down there, and I’ve put a few chairs around so that we can have a bit of an informal session before we start on our own projects. And besides, very importantly, there’s tea and biscuits, cake too. And hot chocolate… coffee… water… fruit juice.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘I got a bit carried away,’ she admitted.
‘I might just go and see if anyone else has arrived,’ said Grace. ‘Save me a biscuit though, Amos has eaten all of mine… again… and I’d kill for a Jammie Dodger.’
Flora stood back to let Daisy go on ahead, leaning in as she passed. ‘Grace’s partner has a very sweet tooth,’ she whispered. ‘He’s the world’s biggest biscuit thief.’
Daisy nodded although she didn’t really understand; she and food had rather an odd relationship. As she got closer to the table she could see it was groaning with dishes. How did peoplechoosewhen there was just so much to choose from?
