Page 38 of My Kind of Happy

I met my last boyfriend, Steve, on a dating app, a really nice guy. The first few dates had gone so well; I remembered telling all the girls at the book club that this one had real potential. That had been in June. Freddie had died in July. Our relationship hadn’t been strong enough to withstand that sort of test. I’d clung to him for support initially, but as the months dragged on, I think the only thing preventing him from breaking it off was pity. So we limped on into the new year, by which time I’d become so withdrawn from him it was a relief when he finally called it a day.

I smiled to myself, acknowledging just how much better I was feeling now. Not ready to embark on anything romantic, but happier to be around others.

‘Florists love flowers,’ Nina continued, crossly, ‘yet everyone assumes that because they’re surrounded with them all day, they wouldn’t want to receive them. Wrong! Who wouldn’t love to be wooed with a posy of lily of the valley or some colourful tulips wrapped in brown paper? Not that it matters because all the men who come in here are generally already in love.’

‘But surely romance should be blooming among such a backdrop of beauty?’ I said, amused by this side of her.

‘Oh, now who’s poetic!’ said Lucas dreamily. ‘I like this one. Far more class than Kelly.’

He plucked a bunch of pale yellow and lilac freesias from a bucket and counted out the change to pay for them which Nina waved away.

‘Although Kelly did come up trumps in the marquee for us,’ I pointed out. ‘I couldn’t have managed without her. Why exactly did she leave?’

Nina flicked her eyes momentarily to Lucas. ‘She wanted the job as assistant manager but I wouldn’t promote her. She thought I was being unreasonable, so she walked.’

Lucas pursed his lips as if to say that he couldn’t possibly comment.

‘And yet you gave it to me, and I’m completely inexperienced.’

‘For Kelly it was just a job, she didn’t care if she was selling flowers or fish. But you love flowers, anyone can see that. Besides, you proved yourself trustworthy by helping me out with Rosie’s wedding.’ Nina untied and retied the bow at the front of her apron for apparently no reason. ‘I need someone who can work unsupervised, if say … I had to go away for instance.’

I stared at her warily. ‘And is that likely?’

‘Um …’ Nina went pink. ‘Nothing on the horizon.’

‘Must dash. Ciao, ladies,’ said Lucas, holding the flowers to his nose. ‘Glorious fragrance.’

‘He’s fun,’ I said with a laugh, watching him collide with another man on the pavement and make him smell the flowers he’d just bought.

‘Adorable,’ Nina agreed, bending over the freesia bucket and rearranging them.

Lucas scurried back to his own shop and the other man looked straight at me through the window.

Oh my, I murmured, under my breath. This one wasn’t the least bit like Noël Coward. He was tall and broad, with thick honey blond hair and a strong jawline enhanced by stubble a shade or two darker. And he was heading our way.

‘Coffee?’ Nina shouted from the back.

The bell above the door jangled as he opened it.

‘Hello?’ Smiling eyes met mine. I was a sucker for nice eyes. And his weren’t just smiley, they were startlingly blue. Like the deepest bluest sea.

‘No thanks!’ I yelled, still staring at him. I was speaking to Nina, obviously. But he wasn’t to know that.

‘You don’t even know what I was going to say.’ The man grinned and a dimple appeared in his cheek. Smiley eyes and a dimple. My stomach hadn’t flipped like this at the sight of a man for a long time. This was so unlike me; I didn’t even recognise myself.

I grinned back inanely. ‘Well, just in case you were going to offer me coffee, I don’t want any.’

He laughed out loud at that. ‘Got it. Look, I’m Sam Diamond. I don’t think we’ve met. In fact, I know we haven’t.’

Agreed. Because he wasn’t the sort of man you’d forget in a hurry. Behind me I heard the back door close softly.

‘No,’ I replied with a squeak.

‘No,’ he repeated. ‘Are we still talking about the coffee?’

‘We haven’t met,’ I explained. ‘I was agreeing with you.’

He stretched out his arm. I thought he was trying to shake hands but when my fingers met his, I realised he’d been offering me his business card which I promptly knocked out of his hand.