Page 109 of My Kind of Happy

‘We can’t really accommodate a dog,’ Carole explained.

‘Oh.’ I blinked at them both. I felt dizzy with relief. ‘I thought … I thought you meant …’

‘It’s not fair to uproot him at his age,’ Ethel said, brusquely. And yet she was uprooting herself, I thought, marvelling at my old friend’s eternally optimistic spirit. ‘And you love him. He belongs with you now. So that’s that.’

I hugged her close. ‘I’ll look after him, I promise. And yes, coming to you for a holiday is a brilliant idea.’

I helped Carole tuck Ethel safely into the passenger seat and stood back to give her some privacy while she clutched Scamp to her for a final hug and I pretended not to see the tears run down her face.

‘Are you belted up, Mum?’ Carole asked, putting the keys in the ignition. Ethel confirmed that she was and I lifted Scamp out of the car.

‘Let’s talk again soon,’ I said, kissing her cheek.

‘I’d like that.’ She hesitated. ‘Keep having those adventures, Fearne.’

‘I will if you will,’ I replied.

‘Lord help us,’ I heard Carole mutter as I shut the door.

Scamp and I stayed on the pavement, me waving and him whimpering softly until they were out of sight. And then we turned and went back inside where I sat on the floor and cuddled my dog, a tear of gratitude and relief slipping down my face.

By the time Sam arrived back I’d pulled myself together, sold half a dozen posies to the customers sitting outside the Lemon Tree Café and hurriedly made a bouquet for Sam to give to his mum.

He walked in as I was tying raffia around the stems.

‘Bad news,’ I said, grinning at him. ‘Unless you’ve managed to sell a miraculous number of flowers while you’ve been gone, I’m declaring myself the winner. But to show I’m a gracious winner, these are for you, or your mum anyway. With my compliments.’

I held them out to him and he took them from me.

‘That’s very thoughtful of you,’ he said flatly.

He didn’t return my smile; in fact, now I looked properly at him, he’d gone a ghostly shade of grey.

‘Sam?’ I demanded, ‘what is it?’

‘More bad news, I’m afraid. Come and sit down.’ He took my hand and led me to a stool at the counter and numbly I did as I was told. ‘I’ve just taken a phone call from my father-in-law, Duncan Hogg.’

I gasped, worried for him. ‘What’s happened? Is it the children?’

He smiled grimly. ‘It’s not the kids, but it’s kind of you to think of them. No, the bad news involves you and this shop.’

My heart was in my mouth as I stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate.

He raked a hand wearily through his hair. ‘There’s no easy way to say this but Duncan’s decided to terminate your lease.’

‘No!’ I clamped a hand over my mouth. ‘Can he do that?’

He nodded. ‘As long as he gives you adequate notice, he can do what he likes.’

I leaned towards him, resting my head against his chest, Sam put his arms around me.

‘This is all my fault,’ I murmured. ‘Poor Nina, she’s going to wish she’d never got involved with me.’

‘It’s my fault, not yours.’ His touch on my back was gentle, but his voice was as hard as stone. ‘I’m absolutely livid. Pandora will have spun him some lies about you and me and he’s acting out of spite. The sooner I’m out of this family the better. I’ll do my best to talk him out of it, but to be honest that might make things worse. My best bet is appealing to Pandora’s better nature.’

Then we’re doomed, I thought to myself.

‘Thank you, it’s got to be worth a try. I suppose I’d better tell Nina,’ I murmured, conscious that it would probably spoil the rest of her New Zealand adventure.