Page 27 of My Kind of Happy

He ran off, with Hugo scampering ahead, then stopped, pulled out something from his other pocket and turned around to me, with a wide grin.

‘Found it!’ he yelled, waving a scrunched-up piece of paper at me.

I gave him a thumbs-up; what an adorable boy.

‘Gorgeous flowers,’ I said to the bride, squeezing through the gate and pulling Scamp with me. ‘Have a fabulous day!’

I left the wedding party to it and crossed the green, heading towards the café. It had a striped yellow and grey awning and a sign with ‘The Lemon Tree Café’ picked out in delicate pale grey lettering. My stomach rumbled; it had been a long time since that shortbread and I was in the mood for something substantial.

As I drew closer, my heart sank; all the lights were off inside and the café was deserted. A handwritten note on the glass door gave me the bad news: it was closed for a family wedding. In fact, now I looked carefully, I could see that everything was closed up except the pub but I didn’t like sitting in pubs by myself, even with a dog for company.

‘Back to the car then, Scamp,’ I said with a sigh. Even he looked disappointed.

Next door to the café was a flower shop called Nina’s Flowers. There was a small card stuck to the door. I bent closer to read it, expecting it to be a notice about the shop being closed for a wedding, but it was an advertisement for a job vacancy. I stepped forward to peer inside when a flash of movement caught my eye. I shielded my eyes from the light so that I could make out the interior. A small dark-haired woman was leaning over the counter, a mountain of ivy fronds piled up beside her; it looked like she was crying. I couldn’t hear anything over the church bells but next to me, Scamp cocked his head to one side.

‘Someone doesn’t seem very happy, do they?’ I said, scratching his neck.

I almost walked away and left her to it; after all, it was none of my business, but at the last second I changed my mind. I knocked briskly on the glass and the head on the counter flipped up to stare at me.

‘We’re closed!’ shouted a sob-weary voice.

‘Are you OK?’ I shouted back, trying to inject as much compassion into my raised voice as I could. ‘You look like maybe you could do with some help?’

For a long moment the woman didn’t move but then she peeled herself from behind the counter and dragged herself across the shop.

The door opened just enough for me to note the puffy eyes beneath a heavy dark fringe, sore fingers holding the door frame and the edge of a pretty cream dress printed with soft pink peonies.

‘Whoever you are, you’re very kind, but unless you’re a florist, there’s nothing you can do.’

My head told me to smile sorrowfully and head back to the car. But my heart … my heart couldn’t bear to see such sadness when there was something I could do to help.

I crossed my fingers behind my back. ‘Then it’s your lucky day.’

Well. I didn’t exactly lie.