Page 43 of My Kind of Happy

‘Well, Nina does have one ace up her sleeve.’ Laura said slyly.

‘Oh?’ I leaned forward, all ears.

‘You!’ she said punching my arm playfully. ‘Market trends, forecasting, advising on how people can future-proof their business. It’s meat and drink to you.’

I blinked at her. ‘For the global paper market, yes, but …’

‘Oh, so you can advise international corporations but you can’t possibly help a florist,’ she scoffed.

I opened my mouth to argue and closed it again. If Nina’s Flowers were a client, what would I do? I’d … well, I’d gather data, talk to people about their wants and needs, find exemplary business models in the floristry industry …

Laura was smiling. ‘You’re already formulating a plan, aren’t you?’

‘OK, clever clogs, you’re right,’ I admitted. ‘I’ll see what I can come up with. But a market research project takes time and that’s something we haven’t got a lot of. Nina’s on the verge of throwing the towel in.’

‘Poor woman.’ Laura drummed a pen on the table, her eyes focused on the ceiling while she pondered. ‘It’s only a small thing, but, look at this.’ She tapped on the keyboard and brought up a graph showing the last twelve months on one axis and money on the other. ‘This red line is costs and the blue line is sales. See these cash flow dips here?’

She pointed to the places where costs outweighed the sales.

I nodded. ‘What’s happening there?’

‘Weddings. It looks as if Nina gets carried away doing the wedding flowers and then doesn’t pass the cost on to the bride.’

‘It’s like you know her.’ It sounded exactly the sort of thing Nina would do.

‘If I were you, I’d avoid weddings like the plague.’

I shrugged. ‘I’ll suggest it, but Nina won’t like it.’

‘Nina needs to get her head out of the sand and borrow enough money to pay the rent and cover next month’s expenses. How long has she got?’

Sam Diamond had said he’d be back tomorrow and this time I didn’t think he’d be so easily fobbed off.

‘Twenty-four hours.’ I felt queasy at the thought, although a tiny part of me was quite looking forward to seeing him again.

Laura whistled. ‘I’ve seen the bank statements, she’s already at the upper limit of her overdraft. What’s she going to do?’

There was one solution which had been niggling at me all week. It had even woken me up last night and made me go back through my conversations with Mum about the amount of money she was keeping for me from the sale of Freddie’s bikes. There was more than enough to bail Nina out, but was it the right thing to spend the money on?

Laura’s eyes narrowed. ‘You’re hatching a plan.’

I hesitated to tell her the truth; she would almost certainly advise against it. But then again, I was thirty-four and completely entitled to do what I wanted. I’d read Freddie’s letter so many times that I’d memorised it word for word and one line in particular came back to me now: it’s my own moral code which matters. I’m going to live my adult life doing what makes me happy.

I pulled a pile of papers towards me and shuffled them into a neat stack. ‘What would you say if I told you I was going to lend her the money?’

She made a noise somewhere between a gasp and a laugh. ‘As your accountant, I’d suggest that wouldn’t be advisable.’

‘And as my friend?’ I said with a twinkle in my eye.

She shook her head fondly. ‘If it makes you happy, then go for it.’

‘Correct answer.’ I gave her a warm hug. ‘Now I need to phone Nina and give her the news.’