Page 65 of The Little Shop on Silver Linings Street
‘Run that by me again,’ he said bluntly.
‘I’m pulling out of the competition,’ Bertie said, screwing up his face in sheepish apology.
‘Yeah, that’s what I thought you said.’
Bertie’s face fell. He’d looked so happy when he came through the door that Daisy couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him. Now, his excitement was seeping out of him like a punctured tyre.
‘I know it’s not great timing, but then actually, maybe it is. And it wouldn’t be right for me to go along with this thing, not when I’ve realised that running this place isn’t what I want to do. At all.’ He took a step forward. ‘You made me realise what my life should be about, Daisy, and I’m sorry, it isn’t about running the family business.’
Daisy looked up in anguish. ‘Don’t make this my fault,’ she said.
‘It’s not anyone’s fault,’ countered Bertie. ‘I’m immensely grateful to you. If it hadn’t been for you, I would never have realised what I wanted. Or had the courage to go for it.’ He smiled at her. ‘I’d kiss you if I didn’t think you’d hit me for it.’
She sighed, not daring to look at Kit. ‘I’ll go and put the kettle on,’ she said. ‘And then I think you’d better start at the beginning.’
Daisy didn’t want a drink at all. What she wanted was a private opportunity to take in what Bertie had just said away from Kit’s furious stare. How had it all gone so horribly wrong? Only a day ago she had come home from seeing Flora and Amos, fired with inspiration and determined to follow her dreams, and then yesterday, it had all been so lovely to start with until Kit had ruined it all. And now this.
She couldn’t blame Bertie for wanting to follow his dreams but, out of all of the brothers, she’d always had the feeling that he was the most likely to win the competition. And she already knew that she could work with him. His news couldn’t have come at a worse time.
She added water and teabags to three mugs and held her hands to both cheeks, feeling how flushed they were. Kit was clearly stunned by Bertie’s news and she wondered how that was making him feel – more confident about his chances of running Buchanans, or less so? There had just been the two of them in the shop today, and it had been busy, but the atmosphere had been awful, a strained politeness that set her teeth on edge and made her head ache. And Bertie’s news would only make it worse. But, whatever happened, she still didn’t want there to be any unpleasantness with Bertie. He’d obviously made up his mind up about his future, and that had to be good thing.
Kit was with a customer when Daisy returned to the shop floor and so she and Bertie stood, rather awkwardly, while they waited for Kit to finish. Her tea was far too hot to drink but she tried to sip it anyway, feeling a little self-conscious. She hadn’t seen Bertie since their rather embarrassing encounter when he had brought the flowers that weren’t for her – only a week ago and yet so much seemed to have happened.
‘So how did your day out with Lawrence go?’ asked Bertie, blowing across the top of his mug. ‘I hear he took you to Harrods.’
Daisy nodded. ‘As you might imagine, not my favourite place,’ she replied. ‘But it was okay. I met your mother’s friend, Monique, which was… enlightening.’ She smiled. ‘Actually, it was good fun. If you ignored the price tags on the clothes, it was just like the dressing-up games I used to play when I was a child.’
Bertie grinned. ‘I didn’t ever really play at dressing-up…’
‘No, I don’t suppose you did. What did you boys do then?’
‘Ran around shooting at stuff mostly, from what I can remember. That and try to kill one another. Nothing much has changed.’ He winked at her. ‘And how was Lawrence?’
She tutted. ‘He was fine.’
‘Just fine? Really?’
Daisy rolled her eyes. ‘Okay, he lectured me on his birthright and exactly why he’s the one who is going to gain control of Buchanans. Then he told me what he wants to do when he does. Oh, and of course he didn’t think I would see through his thinly veiled plot to use Monique as a spy, feeding him with all the information about me that he could possibly wish to know. I think I annoyed him by arguing with nearly everything he said, and then he pretty much threatened me for doing so, implying it wasn’t the kind of behaviour he would expect from an employee. Apart from that, we had a lovely day…’
Bertie groaned.
‘Well, you did ask.’
‘And I’ve just made everything a million times worse, haven’t I?’
Daisy held up her hand to prevent him from saying anything else and was about to change the subject when Kit’s voice sounded from across the room.
‘That’s pretty much the size of it, yes.’
His customer was just walking towards the door and Kit came across to join them, claiming his cup of tea. ‘This had better be good,’ he said. ‘And I don’t mean the tea.’
Bertie took a deep breath. ‘In a nutshell, what’s happened is that Luka has asked me again to go into business with him, only this time, I’ve said yes.’
‘So you’d rather do that than keep the family firm going, thanks Bertie.’
Daisy winced. ‘Hang on a minute, Kit. At least let Bertie explain.’
Kit glared at her, wanting to say something else, but then his shoulders dropped and he held his tongue. He nodded slightly in Bertie’s direction.
