Page 49 of My Kind of Happy

Nina reappeared and selected my twenty-pound bouquet. ‘Sold! I’m going to take this to the primary school. One of the teachers has won an award and they want a quick gift. I can take Scamp with me, if you like?’

At the sound of his name, Scamp flicked a whiskery glance at Nina only to return to watching Sam just in case of further biscuit enticements.

‘Please do,’ said Sam, holding his empty hands out to the dog. ‘I feel like I’m under interrogation.’

‘Yeah? Now you know how I feel.’ Nina quirked a sardonic eyebrow, wrapping the ends of the dripping flowers in paper. She looked at him again and did a double take. ‘Hey! Your beard’s gone.’

‘Oh, yes!’ I stared at his smooth face. ‘I knew there was something different about you.’

He still had a handsome profile and the dimple in his cheek was more visible, but he looked more vulnerable somehow.

Sam touched his chin, a faint flush spreading over his face. ‘Had to be done, I’m afraid. I had my orders.’

‘Shame,’ Nina said blithely, pulling on her waterproof jacket. ‘Fearne was only saying earlier how much she liked it.’

‘Beards generally,’ I said with a stutter. ‘Not yours. I mean, not specifically yours. I liked yours as well, of course. But I just like a bearded man. In general.’ I delved into my bag to fetch Scamp’s lead, before my mouth got me into any more trouble.

‘Got it,’ said Sam, clearly amused. ‘Thank you. In general.’

Nina stepped forward to study his face more closely. ‘And I see what you mean about the chiselled jaw. Very manly.’

I shot her a murderous look. At this rate our partnership might be very short lived.

‘Take a poo bag with you, won’t you,’ I said, clipping on Scamp’s lead. ‘In fact two to be on the safe side.’

Nina’s nose crinkled up. ‘Ew, maybe I shouldn’t—’

‘Thanks so much.’ I helped her make up her mind by opening the door. Scamp, spotting his chance, charged through it.

‘Fine.’ She sighed and as a parting shot winked at me. ‘Behave yourself.’

‘So, Sam,’ I said, surreptitiously pressing a cool hand to my cheek. ‘What can we do for you?’

‘I need to buy some flowers and they need to be really special.’ He walked slowly around the shop, peering at the buckets of flowers.

He leaned forward to smell a peony which wouldn’t smell of much. If I thought I’d get away with it without him noticing, I’d take his photo to show Laura. I’ve met a man I quite like, I’d tell her and we’d giggle like teenagers about it.

‘Then you are definitely in the right place. That peony, for example is perfect. It’s a plump bud today, but tomorrow it will burst forth, masses of pink and frilly-edged petals and hugely romantic.’

‘Sounds good.’ He chewed the inside of his cheek.

My heart sank slightly. ‘So is it romantic you’re after?’

‘Well.’ He exhaled and ran his hand through his hair. ‘Yes. I think. It’s a bit complicated.’

‘Romance often is.’ I pasted on a smile. So there you have it, Fearne. He’s taken. The flirting stops right now.

He was so close I could smell his scent. He smelled fresh and citrusy and earthy and the overall effect was like an early morning walk in the woods. The feeling I had the first time we met a week ago returned; this man was having such a strong effect on me that I was tempted to flip the sign on the door to closed to make sure nothing could spoil the moment.

Get a grip, Lovage.

‘You might be interested in our new line.’ I waved my arm with a flourish towards the remaining bouquets priced between ten and twenty-five pounds. ‘There are peonies in those.’

He squatted down to take a closer look. I was quite proud of my efforts. They were jam-packed with flowers and foliage and even the cheapest one looked impressive wrapped in layers of pink tissue and brown paper and finished with raffia ribbon.

Sam inspected the twenty-five-pound bouquet. I held my breath. This was what I was hoping would happen: that people would be tempted to spend a little more. ‘Increasing basket size’ as the supermarkets would say. If I could sell a few of these every day, the coffers would soon begin to swell.

‘These are great but, she doesn’t often get flowers.’ He stood up and smiled apologetically. ‘So I want something very special. And they need to make up for the last time, because things didn’t go to plan.’