Page 101 of My Kind of Happy

Chapter Twenty-nine

Half an hour later, Sam found me kneeling in the ballroom, unwinding fairy lights and dismantling the wooden trellis panels either side of the moongate that I’d never even had the chance to decorate.

‘Hey, there,’ he said, approaching me slowly.

‘Sam!’ I jumped up, startled to see him so soon. I’d had butterflies in my stomach since the phone call and it had been really difficult to focus. ‘Thanks for coming.’

I jammed my hands into my apron pocket; it was all I could do not to hurl myself at him. He was as handsome as ever, although it looked like he hadn’t shaved or slept much since I’d last seen him. He didn’t look dressed for work, either.

‘No worries; besides, I don’t have any plans for the next few days.’ He looked down at his shorts and trainers. ‘I’m taking some time off; I’ve been at my mum’s house since Saturday.’

I nodded, understanding the subtext: he hadn’t gone back to Pandora. I knew how worried he’d be, thinking about his children and what was next for his family. On top of all that, working for your father-in-law when your marriage was on the rocks couldn’t be easy.

‘How are you doing, Sam?’

‘I’ll be fine.’ His eyes met mine briefly and then he cleared his throat. He looked around the room at the flower displays and whistled. ‘You made all these?’

‘Yep.’ I stood and stretched. ‘I spent all our money on the stock for a client that doesn’t exist. And now I have more flowers than I know what to do with. Some of them are already cut so they need to be sold today. And boxes and boxes of others that you’d never normally find in a village florist because either they’re expensive, or unusual or simply too flimsy to last in a home arrangement. I’ve been phenomenally stupid, I’ve worked ridiculously long hours for the last few days, I’m knackered and—’

‘Whoa.’ He crossed the room and put his hands on the tops of my arms and turned me around, forcing me to look at my work. ‘Just, for one minute, let’s put the Edelweiss element out of our minds and stop and enjoy this. What you’ve achieved is incredible.’

I swallowed a lump in my throat, floored by the deliciousness of his presence. ‘They’re not even finished.’

‘You mean it’s possible to get better than this?’ He smiled playfully and rested his arm lightly on my shoulder. ‘I never really thought about it before but floristry is art. Looking at these flowers and smelling their scent, how could anyone stay down for long?’

‘I seem to be managing quite nicely,’ I grumbled. ‘You know, I got into flowers after my brother died, as a way of bringing happiness into my life. But all I seem to be doing at the moment is wreaking havoc.’ I glanced sideways at him. ‘And not only mine. I’m so sorry, Sam. About Saturday. About letting you see that flower order for Pandora.’

‘Don’t be.’ He withdrew his arm, picked up the tangle of fairy lights and began winding them in a loop around his hand and his elbow. ‘The damage had been done years ago. You have nothing to be sorry about. I’m the one who should be apologising for letting my personal life spoil the end of the workshop for the cricket team. They loved it, by the way. I could write a book about the mistakes I made in my marriage, and, spoiler alert, it won’t have a happy ending. There’s no way back for her and me this time.’

His smile slipped and my heart ached for him. No matter how angry you were with someone, ending a relationship was sad and exhausting. Sam frowned, setting the lights neatly on the floor and starting on the second set.

‘And Annabel and Will, are they OK?’

His eyes lit up. ‘You remember their names? I’m impressed’

‘Occupational hazard,’ I said, laughing. Actually laughing. Sam had been here less than five minutes and he’d already lifted my mood. ‘I used to work in market research, collecting data on people is what I do.’

He held his hands up and pretended to look scared. ‘I’d better watch what I say, then.’

‘Probably wise.’ I remembered everything he’d told me, every detail. Stick me on a quiz show and Sam Diamond could be my specialist subject. I didn’t say that though, because there’s healthy interest and then there’s being a stalker.

‘Sam …’

‘Fearne …’

We spoke at the same time and then laughed. He pointed at me to go first.

‘I just wanted to say that I’m so glad you’re here,’ I said, feeling suddenly exposed under his direct gaze. ‘I’ve been muddling along OK without Nina but this Edelweiss thing has really taken the wind out of my sails. It’s nice to have someone to share the load. You’re very kind.’

‘Just call me the Good Samaritan. Get it? Sam?’ He gave me a lopsided smile as I groaned at his bad joke. He clapped his hands together. ‘So how can I help, what are we going to do with it all?’

‘Good question.’ I took a deep breath. ‘For starters, I guess I should get everything back to the shop, see what I can salvage, then write a letter of resignation to Nina. And for the rest of the day, I might just get drunk and wait for an old friend of mine to arrive for afternoon tea.’

He grinned. ‘Why don’t I help you with the first one and we can talk about the rest when we get to Barnaby.’

I twisted a lock of my hair around my fingers and counted to ten while I swallowed the lump in my throat. Kindness always did that to me; knocked me off kilter and brought the tears close to the surface.

‘Sounds like a plan.’ I said gruffly, managing a weak smile. ‘And you? What was it you wanted to say?’