Chapter Twenty-Nine
On Sunday morning Lucy was rudely awakened by Rufus’s sandpapery tongue licking her toes as they stuck out of the end of the duvet. He had somehow made his way up into the bedroom. Groaning, she whipped her feet back into the warmth and safety of her bedcovers and tried to shoo Rufus back downstairs to his bed. Hearing a wry chuckle, she opened one eye and peered out into the light of a new day. Rory was standing by the open door, his tall frame leaning against the wall, an eyebrow raised and a smile spreading across his cheeks.
‘Up you get sleepyhead!’ he sang.
‘Nooo…’ whined Lucy, burying herself deeper into hibernation and asking in a muffled voice from beneath the duvet, ‘what are you doing up at this hour on a Sunday morning anyway, you crazy man?’
‘We’re going on an adventure!’ said Rory. Rufus was wagging his tail so loudly in appreciation of this early morning activity that Lucy could feel it whipping against the valance beneath her.
‘Really? Now?!’ asked Lucy, still firmly ensconced in bed. ‘Can’t we have a lie-in first?’ she pleaded.
Suddenly the duvet had been sliced off the bed and Rory was poking her. ‘Up, up, up!’ he chanted, aiming for the ticklish side of her tummy. That did the trick, along with the cold blast of fresh air that was nipping at her skin; Lucy was out of bed like a shot.
‘Okay, okay… where are we going?’ she asked, flicking her fringe out of her eyes, feeling abnormally exhausted considering she hadn’t drunk more than a couple of glasses of wine the night before.
‘It’s a surprise. Somewhere cool, that’s all you need to know!’ announced Rory. ‘Jump in the shower and get dressed, I’ll take Rufus out and see you back here ready to go at nine?!’
‘Okay boss,’ Lucy said, giving him a weary salute. Despite her protestation, she loved him for his spontaneity and sense of fun; you never knew what he was going to do next, that was for sure.
As always the hot pelts of water that sluiced over her body reinvigorated her. The fresh mint shower gel that she rubbed all over her skin made each cell tingle in preparation for the day ahead. She dried her hair vigorously with a towel before running a comb through it, detangling it as best she could and then brushing her teeth. Prepared for anything, she pulled on a pair of jeans, a red cashmere jumper and a pair of worn-out, old ankle boots. She did her make-up and gave her hair a final rub, trying to squeeze the water droplets out so that she didn’t catch a cold… there was no such thing as a hair dryer to be found at Thurloe Crescent, it occurred to her that she might have to rectify that soon.
Still yawning, she went downstairs and made herself a coffee while she waited for Rory and Rufus to return from their walk. Despite the light drizzle that had lasted for most of the day yesterday, Sunday had dawned bright and crisp, a perfect start to February, full of promise of the coming season.
Lucy pondered where Rory might be taking her as she caught up on the news on the BBC. She checked her phone for messages, having received some lovely texts from Claudia last night singing Rory’s praises, and noticed that she rarely felt the need to log onto her favourite social media sites any longer, her go-to iPhone apps of Facebook and Instagram hadn’t been accessed for quite some time. Not to mention Tinder, she cringed at the thought of her awful date with that guy Ted. Perhaps she had finally got bored of snooping on other people’s affairs, or maybe it was because her life was now so full and happy in itself that she no longer had any need for it. Her lifelong obsession with comparing herself to others appeared to have come to an end, a wonderful side effect of getting older, she mused.
Just then the front door banged shut, rousing her from her thoughts. Rory called her name to see whether she was still upstairs. Answering back, she tipped out her coffee and put her cup into the dishwasher before traipsing up the corridor to meet him in the hall. They were taking Rufus with them, it seemed, and travelling to their mysterious destination by car. Lucy clambered into the front of Rory’s Audi A3, Rufus lying down across the back seats as Rory revved the engine, pulling his sunglasses down over his eyes as he did so.
They drove through the streets of London, blissfully empty in the early hours of Sunday morning, and listened to the strains of Steve Wright’s Sunday Love Songs. Rory accompanied each song, with Lucy doing her best to join in. They laughed at her unbelievably bad knowledge of song lyrics. Rory stopped frequently to ask her what she thought the words were to some of the most famous songs, correcting her moments later with something blindingly obvious and completely different. He told her that he preferred her versions, they were much more amusing.
They continued driving east for about forty minutes before Rory pulled over and parked on an empty street in the middle of Tower Hamlets. With Rufus on the lead, they walked down Baxendale Street, the sun still shining proudly in a clear stretch of blue sky. As they neared the end of the road, Lucy began to hear what sounded like the hustle and bustle of a market up ahead. They turned into Columbia Road where they were instantly hit by a wall of riotous colour, an assault on the senses. The chatter of market shoppers mingled with the sing-song calls of East Londoners selling their wares. Lucy could not believe it: as far as the eye could see the street was lined with thousands upon thousands of flowers of all sizes, colour and description. Huge sunflowers as big as footballs unfurled their sunshine yellow leaves, their necks twisting towards the light from thick green stems. Stalls with every herb known to mankind filled the air with their aromatic aroma: purple sage, sweet basil, lemon thyme and coriander to name but a few. Calla lilies and amaryllis, shamrocks and chrysanthemums nestled next to towering ten foot banana trees. The barrow boys’ rhythmic chanting of ‘Everything a fiver!’ punctuated the chatter of shoppers at regular intervals.
As Lucy feasted her eyes on her surroundings she turned to Rory and kissed him, ‘Ilovethis place!’ she grinned. ‘It’s my idea of heaven!’
Rory smiled at her, his arm around her shoulders, saying, ‘I had a sneaking suspicion you might say that! Now let’s walk all the way around the market, and you better choose the ones you like best, cos I’m going tofillyour house with flowers when we get home!’
Lucy clapped her hands in anticipation, giving him another kiss and declaring him to be officially the best boyfriend in the entire world.
Upon hearing the word boyfriend, Rory spun her around to face him, raising an eyebrow and saying, ‘So I’m your boyfriend, am I?!’
Lucy blushed as she realised that she may have jumped the gun a little. ‘Do you want to be?’ she asked somewhat hesitantly.
‘Are you kidding? I would like nothing more!’ he said, bending down to kiss her. He spun her around in delight. Rufus was bemused at all the kerfuffle but wagged his tail happily.
Soon, Lucy and Rory’s arms were both full with huge bunches of flowers, bursting from their sheaths of brown paper and tied with long strands of hessian. They stopped at the edge of the market and stacked their bundles of flowers high up against the wall, ordering coffees from a little cafe and perching on stools that wobbled precariously on the pavement. They sipped their drinks and people-watched, absorbing the wondrous scene before them and marvelling at the variety and infinite beauty of nature, so very evident here.
Lucy thanked Rory again for bringing her and made him promise that they would come here all the time now that she had discovered it. They watched the crowds of shoppers passing by, Rufus sitting happily at their feet. A young family caught her eye, the toddler holding his mother and father’s hands as they swung him in the air, ruddy cheeks glowing as he laughed in delight. Lucy found herself caught unawares by an overwhelming pang of longing for a baby. She wondered whether Rory had similar thoughts. Meeting him had changed everything for her, but it hadn’t lessened her desire to become a mother. If anything, it had almost made it stronger, as she felt so secure and settled in her new relationship. She suddenly realised that her period hadn’t arrived. It was due today but she had forgotten all about it in the madness of the morning. The thought that it might be late terrified and excited in her in equal measure. She promised herself that she would take a pregnancy test at work the very next morning if it hadn’t come by then, though she was sure that it would have. Her body was no doubt slightly out of sync with all the excitement of these last couple of weeks with Rory. She didn’t want to do it when she was with him, anyway.
After a while, they walked back through the throngs of people towards the car, the Victorian buildings of Columbia Road a striking backdrop to the endless market stalls. They piled the bouquets into the boot, momentarily cutting off their supply of sunshine for the journey home.
Having made it back across London to Mayfield Road, they burst into the flat balancing bags, flowers and Rufus, while somehow managing to keep hold of Lucy’s keys. The sun was streaming in through the windows. Rufus went over to his now familiar makeshift bed and settled down for a rest after the excitement of the car journey. Lucy and Rory cut the ends off the stems of each gigantic bunch of flowers and arranged them into all sorts of containers and vases, filling every nook and cranny of the flat. It looked as though a florist had exploded. Lucy had never seen her flat look so beautiful! Within minutes, the room was filled with the sweet perfume of the flowers’ scent. As they stood back to admire their handiwork, Lucy’s mobile rang.
‘Hello?’ she said as she pressed the green button on her handset.
‘Hi darling, it’s Tor! How are you? What are you up to?’ she asked.
‘Oh we’ve just been to the most amazing place in the whole world, Columbia Road Flower Market. Have you ever been?’
‘Oooh… I’ve heard about it but no, never been. Is it wonderful?’
