Page 33 of My Kind of Happy

‘Santo cielo!’ she cried, clapping her hands to her cheeks. ‘Look atta this!’

‘Oh balls, now we’ve had it,’ Nina muttered, shaking my arm off from around her shoulder and striding up to the old couple.

‘I can explain, Maria,’ said Nina, hanging her head. ‘I accepted help from this woman who told me she was a florist and it turns out she’s not a professional.’

Maria wafted Nina away, walked to the nearest table and bent over a jam jar of flowers to smell it. The old man checked over his shoulder anxiously. ‘Maria, I think they want us for a photograph.’

‘Un momento, Stanley,’ she replied, walking over to the top table. She shook her head in awe. ‘Perfetto, bellisimi fiori.’

‘It’s true. I don’t have much professional experience,’ I said hotly, frustrated that Nina had changed her tune again. ‘But I’ve been around flowers since I was a little girl helping at my grandmother’s market stall. Flowers are my passion.’

‘Passion.’ The old lady pointed at me, nodding in agreement. ‘Worth ten times any papers.’

‘But there are skills, techniques,’ argued Nina. ‘And it takes longer than five days to learn them.’

‘You like my biscotti, si?’ Maria asked her.

Nina looked confused. ‘Yes, but …’

‘Not once you say to me, I not eat your biscotti till I see your papers. No. They look, they smell, they taste. Passion come from here.’ She banged her chest. ‘You don’t learn it in cotton blue cookery school.’

‘It’s cordon bleu, my dear,’ said Stanley, with a twinkle in his eye.

‘No, I learn from my grandmother, like her,’ Maria said, ignoring him. She reached for my hands. ‘Brava, cara. Whoever you are, this come from your heart.’

‘I’m Fearne,’ I supplied.

She smelled of lemons and vanilla and lavender and I felt a wave of nostalgia for summers spent with my granny.

‘When me and my Stanley get married, I want flowers like this. From the heart. Now, come on Stanley, we gotta go.’

She held her hand out to Stanley who tucked it under his arm. The two of them walked away, leaving Nina and I staring awkwardly at each other.

Nina chewed her lip. ‘I’m so sorry, Maria’s right, your flowers are bellisimo. And I’ve been incredibly rude and ungrateful.’

With a jolt, I remembered the arch and without replying, I made to leave the marquee, Scamp trotting loyally behind me. Professional or not, I wasn’t a quitter and I was determined to decorate it somehow, though perhaps not with the finesse it deserved.

‘Wait!’ Nina caught me up. ‘Don’t leave like this.’

‘I’m not,’ I said, distractedly. Instead I surveyed the remaining foliage. I couldn’t decorate the whole arch, but maybe that semi-complete garland could go across the top and then I could have tumbling fronds of ivy wound around the sides.

‘OK, look, the job is yours.’ She beamed at me, clearly expecting me to be thrilled.

‘The job?’ I looked at her blankly.

‘The vacancy for assistant manager?’ She raised her eyebrows mischievously. ‘That’s why you came to the shop, isn’t it? Because you’d seen the ad in the newspaper.’

‘Um … well …’ Technically, I’d gone to the café for sustenance before my day had taken such an unexpected turn. Walking past Nina’s Flowers had been purely as a result of it being next door.

She held up a hand. ‘No, I insist. This has been your interview, practical task and references all rolled into one. You’ve passed. With flying colours. Plus, you’ve impressed Maria Carloni, grandmother of the bride, which is in itself quite a feat.’

‘Well. Thank you,’ I replied, slightly dazed. ‘I suppose.’

‘Fab.’ She threw her arms around me, taking my gratitude for job acceptance. ‘Welcome to Nina’s Flowers.’

This was the point at which I could have told her that I was having a year’s sabbatical to work on my happy list. That I didn’t want a job, I wanted to experience new things and get out of the rut I’d fallen into. In essence, to find a new way to live without Freddie. But a golden glow of happiness was spreading through my body and instead of turning Nina down I was smiling back at her.

‘I can only commit to three months,’ I blurted out.

‘Hmm.’ Nina narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. ‘How about four?’

I shrugged. ‘OK, four. But Scamp will have to come with me.’

‘Done.’ She stuck her hand out and we shook on the deal. ‘Ring me on Monday and we can talk money etcetera. Now if you really don’t mind finishing the arch by yourself, I must get back to the wedding.’

And with that she dashed off across the lawn to rejoin the bridal party. I stared after her, stunned into silence, and then looked down at the dog.

‘Looks like we’ve got a new job,’ I said.

I laughed in surprise and Scamp wagged his tail eagerly in response.

Freddie would definitely find this funny, I thought wistfully, as I carted the rest of the ivy inside. His list had been full of sunrises, beaches and new places, I couldn’t imagine that spending four months in a small village shop would have found a place on it. But this was my kind of happy, my choice and my life. I didn’t know what Monday was going to bring, or in fact the next four months, but for the first time in my entire life, I was taking a leap into the unknown just for the fun of it.

Would Nina’s Flowers be my chance to let happiness back into my life …?