The Little Flower Shop by the Sea

by Ali McNamara

  ‘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.’

  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.

  ‘They’ll be fine,’ Jake says, gesturing for me to go inside. ‘We’ll only be a minute.’

  I take a deep breath and step inside a greenhouse full of brightly coloured flowers.

  ‘This is the batch that will go out tomorrow,’ Jake says proudly. ‘To your shop, and the many more I supply around the area. Some will go up to Covent Garden tonight, for the market tomorrow.’

  ‘Really?’ I ask, trying to breathe without taking in too much of the smell, which is extremely hard to do. The scent of the flowers in here is overpoweringly sweet.

  ‘Yes, these are my flowers at their very best.’ He steps away from the door, further into the greenhouse. ‘These beauties are in peak condition – come see.’

  I have no choice but to step further into the greenhouse. Eith
er side of me on great long tables are more flowers than our little shop could hold ten times over. I can see carnations, chrysanthemums, lilies – I try not to look any further down the greenhouse for fear of spotting a rose.

  ‘How do you get them just right?’ I ask, avoiding looking at the flowers too much, by concentrating hard on Jake. ‘Don’t some go to waste if they’re past their best?’

  ‘No, we keep the glasshouses at different temperatures – colder to hold them back from blossoming too early, and warmer if we need to bring them on a bit faster.’

  ‘What temperature is this one?’ I ask, as Jake moves closer to me. Today he’s wearing blue jeans, tan Timberland boots, and my favourite of his many checked shirts. It opens just far enough to allow me a glimpse of the beginnings of his sandy-coloured chest hair. Swiftly I look up at his face as I realise where I’m gazing.

  ‘This one is just perfect,’ he says in a low voice, looking at me.

  I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. Jake moves closer to me, so I can feel his warm breath on my face, he leans down towards me and…

  ‘Do you have roses in here?’ I suddenly demand as a familiar scent begins to engulf me.

  ‘What?’ Jake asks, looking confused.

  ‘Roses – I think I can smell them.’

  ‘Yes, about two hundred. They’re down at the bottom of the glasshouse, did you want to see them?’

  ‘Two… two hundred roses… in here?’

  ‘Yes, but —’

  ‘Sorry, Jake, I really gotta go.’ I run for the door of the greenhouse and as I fumble with the handle, I begin to panic even more, terrified I can’t get out.

  A large hand reaches over me and opens it with ease.

  I stumble out and begin taking large gulps of fresh air as quickly as I can.

  ‘What on earth is wrong, Poppy?’ Jake asks, following me. He shuts the door of the greenhouse behind him, and it’s as if he’s just wiped out all the roses on the planet by doing so. My breathing begins to recover, and I become a sane (well, fairly sane) person once more.

  ‘Nothing, I just remembered I have to be somewhere. Now.’ I begin to walk back towards Jake’s farmhouse. ‘Come on, Basil!’ I call, and to my relief for once he obeys and follows me.

  ‘Ah, right, I see what you’re doing,’ Jake calls after me, not moving. ‘I get it – this is payback time.’

  I turn to look at him, and for a split second wonder whether to tell him everything.

  ‘No, you don’t get it,’ I mumble to myself as I turn and carry on down the hill with Basil next to me. ‘That’s the thing. No one does.’

  Thirty-three

  Pink Carnation – I Will Never Forget You

  The next day I’m sitting in the gardens of Camberley House with Stan. It’s a hot sunny afternoon, so we sit in two deckchairs, partially shaded by the branches of a huge oak tree.

  ‘Are you OK, Poppy?’ Stan asks, looking at me with concern. ‘You seem a bit subdued today. Is everything going well with the plans for the birthday party?’

  I’d asked Stan if we could use Trecarlan for Jake’s birthday party, and of course he’d agreed.

  ‘It’s good to know the old gal is being put to use,’ he’d said with pleasure in his eyes. ‘I don’t like to think of her standing empty.’

  ‘Everything is going fine,’ I tell him now. ‘With the party at any rate.’

  ‘And with everything else?’ Stan asks.

  I glance at him. ‘Not so well.’

  ‘Is it the shop?’

  I shake my head. ‘No. We’re doing better than ever.’

  ‘Friends?’

  ‘Kind of.’

  ‘Kind of… Hmm, let’s see, then it must be your love life?’

  I’m silent.

  ‘Is young Ash giving you grief?’

  ‘Oh, no, Ash is lovely. We get on great.’

  ‘Do you?’ Stan asks, his eyes narrowing.

  ‘Yes. Ash is lovely to be with. Chilled, relaxed. Just what I need right now.’

  Stan studies my face before speaking. ‘Those are telling words – “right now”. If Ash is perfect for you “right now”, then who is it that might be perfect for you in the future?’

  ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ I lie.

  I know exactly what Stan means because Amber said pretty much the same thing when I got back from Jake’s yesterday…

  ‘How did you get on?’ Amber asks, looking up from some sweet peas she’s arranging in a vase.

  ‘With…?’ I ask, letting Basil off his lead.

  ‘Bronte?’

  Bronte. With everything that had happened with Jake, I’d almost forgotten that’s why I’d gone over there in the first place.

  ‘She’s definitely going to supply us with some of her jewellery. It’s very good.’ Damn, I’d been in such a hurry to get away, I didn’t go back to Jake’s house to collect Bronte’s box. I’ll have to text her and ask her to bring it down to the shop when she comes in to talk about the job. There was no way I could go back to Jake’s, not after what had happened. ‘And I’ve asked her to work part-time in the shop – weekends, that kind of thing. When you’re busy with arrangements.’

  ‘That’s a wonderful idea! I like Bronte.’ Amber smells the flowers, then places them down on one of the tables. ‘Did you see Jake while you were up there? He came into the shop earlier. When I said where you were, he dashed off pretty quickly.’ She gives me a meaningful look from under her big lashes.

  ‘Yes, I did, briefly. He arrived home just as I was finishing up with Bronte. Then he showed me around his nursery. Why?’ I can’t bring myself to tell her about the greenhouse, that would only complicate things. And things were already complicated enough.

  ‘No reason. I thought he’d probably head home when he knew you were there.’

  I watch Basil noisily lapping water from his bowl until it’s nearly empty. ‘Hey, fella, let me fill that for you again,’ I say, picking up the bowl and heading out the back to the sink.

  ‘So what if he did?’ I call to Amber. ‘It’s his house.’

  ‘It is indeed. Made even more inviting knowing you’re there, no doubt.’

  I carry Basil’s water bowl through to the shop and set it down next to where he’s crashed out on the floor after his excursion.

  ‘Explain yourself, Amber,’ I say sternly, folding my arms and turning to face her.

  ‘I only say what I see,’ Amber says, unfazed. ‘And I see not one, but two hunky men interested in our Poppy.’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ I leap in, a bit too quickly. ‘We’ve been through all this before. Jake is not interested in me, I can tell you that for a fact. And you know full well I’m with Ash now.’

  Amber merely nods. ‘Yep, so you are. But for how long?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘For how long? Ash is only a temporary solution to your troubles. He’s like a pretty Band-Aid covering up a wound. What you really need, Poppy, is a surgeon to stitch that wound up for you permanently.’

  I knew what Amber was getting at with her analogy, but I chose to play dumb, and luckily we were interrupted by customers wandering in.

  Now, sitting in the garden with Stan, I think again about what she said.

  ‘Is there someone else, Poppy?’ Stan asks. ‘You don’t have to tell me, of course. But I was a bit of a looker in my time, you know. I had my fair share of female attention. I do know something about complications of the heart.’

  I smile at Stan. ‘I bet you were!’ I say, then I sigh. ‘Yes, there’s someone else. But not in that way. It’s someone I’ve liked for some time – since the first day I came to St Felix, as it happens. But the trouble is he’s never shown any interest in me.’

  Until yesterday. But was that just a spur of the moment thing? Had Jake meant to try and kiss me, or was it just wishful thinking on my part?

  Not that I was ever likely to find out now. Jake obviously thought my running away was an attempt to get back at him
for the time at the cottage when I’d tried to kiss him and he scarpered.

  ‘I find that very hard to believe,’ Stan says, his eyes wide. ‘A pretty girl like you?’

  ‘It’s kind of you to say, but I hardly think so, Stan.’

  ‘Now you listen to me, my girl. I may be an octogenarian, but I can still spot a beautiful young lady when I see one, and you are it. You wear a bit too much black for my liking, and you could smile more often, but underneath all that there’s a radiant beauty waiting to emerge.’