Page 18 of A Scottish Highland Surprise

“Oh, stop teasing me, young lady. What is it?”

I started to say the words, but it sounded like they were being voiced by someone else. “I am considering starting my own business. A crockery shop.”

Ivy’s lined mouth, daubed in heather-coloured lipstick, flapped open. “Well! I never expected you to say something like that.”

“Neither did I,” I confessed with a nervous laugh.

Ivy allowed this revelation to sink in. “I didn’t think you were into crockery.”

“I am, actually. It’s always been an obsession of mine. I’ve got my grandmother to thank for that. She could tell a Royal Doulton from a Royal Albert from three miles away.”

“That’s the lady who passed away recently?”

I nodded with a sad smile. “It all came as a bit of a shock.”

“I bet it did I don’t think anyone is ever prepared for losing a loved one.”

“It wasn’t just losing her that came as a shock.” I heaved a sigh. “It turns out my gran left me a few sets of expensive crockery to auction off.”

“Oh, bless her!”

“And not just crockery,” I admitted, still surprising myself as I said it out loud. “I found out that she has also purchased me a shop.”

Ivy’s face was priceless. “Go on! Are you serious?”

“I’ve never been more serious.” I let out a stunned half-laugh. “It turns out she bought me Mrs Cotter’s business in the village.”

Ivy’s jaw dropped. “Hang on. Is that the little florist’s?”

I shot her an apprehensive look. “That’s the one.”

“And how do you feel about it all? Did you have any idea what she was planning?”

I glanced across and out of the sitting room window.

Before I knew what I was saying, all my tied-up feelings of anticipation and apprehension unravelled. “I’ve no idea where that valuable crockery came from or how she was able to afford that shop.” I shook my head. She had never failed to surprise me all her life. “What I do know is that I’m worried that if I do try to make a go of the shop, I’ll end up letting her down.”

Ivy listened, nodding, murmuring and every so often, giving my hand another squeeze. When I finished talking, I felt drained. “So that’s it.”

Ivy’s apple-cheeked expression was a study in shock. She recovered herself. “Well, if you’re adamant about not going back to Castle Marrian, I think you know what you have to do.” She leant forward, her buckled, brown leather shoes emitting a squeak. “Your grandma thought you could do it and so do I.”

I tilted one brow at her.

“If you don’t, you will spend the rest of your life wondering what if.” She let out a little laugh. “And believe me, you don’t want to be doing that.”

She rose from the sofa and I got up from my armchair. She scooped me into her arms again and held me for a few moments. “Thank you, Sophie, for what you did.”

Then she took a couple of steps backwards in her solid, wedge-heeled brogues and held me at arm’s length. “I shall be one of your first customers. It’s about time me and Len treated ourselves to a new teapot.”

Once Ivy departed, making me promise to keep in touch, I decided not to take the car, but to walk it instead to Briar Glen’s main street. The fresh air would do me good, help me to clear my head.

My mobile trilled from the depths of my shoulder bag. It was Heston again. Oh for pity’s sake! Ringing me on a Saturday, when he was still supposed to be on holiday? That was a bit much, even for him. Pity he hadn’t been as attentive when I’d worked for him. I knew I would have to speak to him at some point, but right now, the prospect of listening to his selfish moans about me “dropping him right in it” wasn’t at all appealing. I decided not to answer it.

There was the languid burr of a wood pigeon, as the morning sunshine pushed its way through the trees on the other side of the road. Dusty trumpets of daffodils waggled their heads as my trainers tapped past the manicured gardens of thatched cottages.

At least Nina and Dev had a lovely day for their wedding – though it didn’t assuage my pangs of guilt about missing their big day. Still, they were such a lovely couple and Nina had been so understanding.

I had three years’ experience as a wedding planner at one of Scotland’s most exclusive hotels, not to mention my university degree in events management. That should help bolster my chances of securing another job, should this crockery shop venture not work out.