‘Ooh, Kay will be delighted.’ Cathy turned to Mum. ‘Your sister always thought Nick and Sarah would make a perfect couple.’
‘Do I know him?’ Mum asked.
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Maybe when he was little. His grandma lived next door to Auntie Kay.’
‘She’s turned pink,’ Clare said. ‘I think our Sarah’s pretty smitten.’
‘Are you going to open it?’ Jade asked.
‘Not with you lot watching.’
‘Aw, go on,’ Clare said. ‘Don’t be such a meanie.’
Scowling at her, but inwardly delighted that Nick cared enough to send me something, I turned my back to them and put the box on the counter. I carefully unfastened the ribbon and peeled back the cellophane. Inside the box were two compartments: one filled with cupcakes with flowers decorated on the top and the other filled with beautifully iced flower-shaped shortbread biscuits. They looked and smelled divine. What an absolute sweetheart.
‘Don’t be a spoilsport. Turn around and show us,’ Clare said.
I turned round, rolled my eyes at her and then lifted up the box so they could all see. ‘Who’s for elevenses? And then, if you’re all nice to me and we’re not too busy, I might tell you about Nick. But it will beverybrief.’
‘Don’t panic, everyone,’ Clare said. ‘I’ll get the unabridged version out of her later and text you all.’
Clare followed me into The Outback. ‘Are you going to phone this Nick to thank him?’
‘I might. Why?’
‘I wondered if you might like to invite him along tonight.’
‘Really? You wouldn’t mind?’
Clare shook her head. ‘I’d like to meet the guy who you’ve given up on Steven for because he must be pretty damn special.’
I blushed again. ‘I think he might be.’
Clare smiled. ‘He can only come on one condition: strictly noPDAs. You know I hate it when people are constantly snogging and pawing each other.’
‘It’s a deal. No PDAs. Are you absolutely sure?’
‘Stevie and Rob will be there so it’s not like I’ll be a gooseberry so, yes, I’m sure. I can’t wait to meet your new non-Steven.’
Almost as soon as I brought the drinks and goodies out, things went crazy in the shop. My mug of tea went cold and it was two hours before a lull allowed me to take a bite of my cake.
Around mid-afternoon, two women stepped into the shop and I recognised one of them immediately. ‘Skye! What a lovely surprise. How are you?’
‘Really good, thanks. I’m sorry to turn up on a Saturday but there’s something I want to ask you. I don’t suppose you can spare ten minutes?’
I nodded. ‘You’ve actually timed it perfectly. We’ve hardly stopped all day and it’s just this minute calmed down.’
‘I know,’ Skye said. ‘We passed about an hour ago and the shop was packed so we went to The Chocolate Pot for a cuppa instead. By the way, this is my sister, Kate.’
‘Hi, Kate.’ I smiled at her. The family resemblance was striking but Kate had short blonde hair instead of tumbling curls and wore a smart black shift dress with a cerise pink belt around the waist; very chic in comparison to Skye’s flowery maxi dress.
‘Hi Sarah, good to meet you.’ Kate offered her hand and shook mine enthusiastically. ‘There’s something I wanted to speak to you about too.’
‘Really? Sounds intriguing.’
We moved away from the counter, leaving Cathy and Clare in charge of customers, and wandered to the end of the shop.
‘I know you’re busy,’ Skye said, ‘so I’ll be really quick and, if you like the sound of it, we can talk some more when the shop’s closed. I’m organising an arts and crafts exhibition in The Ramparts Hotel over the Easter holidays. The theme is “Less is More” and it’s all about simple but beautiful crafts. I wondered if you could create some modern minimalist floral displays to complement my paintings and jewellery which I will, of course, pay you for, but could you also create some arrangements to sell?’
