Page 40 of My Kind of Happy

Chapter Thirteen

Sam climbed into a car with Hogg Property Services down the side without a backward glance and Nina crept in through the back door.

‘Has he gone?’ she hissed, hiding behind the archway.

‘Yes. Until next week.’ My casual tone belied the fact that I had quite a few burning questions.

Nina paced backwards and forwards, swearing to herself, while I made myself useful sweeping the floor.

Finally, she flopped down onto a high wooden stool, propped her elbows up on the counter and dropped her head into her hands. ‘I know this must look bad, but I can explain.’

She looked as if she had the world on her shoulders and her chin was doing that crunched up, wobbly thing which told me that tears weren’t far away. I couldn’t make her out: five minutes ago, she’d seemed bright and bubbly as if nothing could possibly get her down. She reminded me of myself after Freddie died: all smiles one minute and devastated the next. If anyone ought to be sympathetic to a bit of erratic behaviour, I was that person.

‘It’s your business.’ I said, kindly. ‘You’re not obliged to tell me anything.’

Her shoulders heaved. ‘I know. My business, my problem, right? The buck stops here.’

Scamp looked at me, raising one eyebrow at a time; even he was worried.

‘Hey, that’s not what I meant.’ I put my arm around her. ‘I thought we were a team, a trio, you said? A problem shared and all that.’

She lifted her head and swiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand. ‘Why are you so kind?’

I grinned. ‘I’m not, I’m just nosy. I want to know all the salacious details, everything. Like how much debt are you in, what you plan to do about it and most importantly, I want to know everything there is to know about Sam Diamond.’

Nina’s mouth curved into a smile. ‘Lucas will be delighted; I thought you were sworn off men.’

‘I am,’ I said innocently. ‘“Know thine enemy”. Isn’t that what the Bible says?’

‘No, that was someone else,’ she said with a giggle. ‘The Bible says you should love your enemy.’

‘Either way I need details,’ I said, holding my arms wide. ‘Now are you going to tell me what’s going on, or not?’

She groaned and covered her face again. ‘It’s a long story.’

‘My favourite kind.’ I gave her a nudge. ‘Come on.’

‘I’m in the shit,’ she gave me a rueful smile. ‘I never even wanted a flower shop, I wanted a farmer. And it all began in London.’

For the final time that afternoon, I put the kettle on to make some comforting hot chocolate, while Nina told me the truth about her wilting flower shop.

Her first ever business was a flower stall outside a busy tube station in central London just after leaving college. It had been the perfect pitch. She collected the flowers from Covent Garden each morning, buying only what would sell in the space of two hours. The odd blooms which were left, she’d quickly twist into buttonholes as little freebies to give to her regulars. Costs were low and job satisfaction was high. This took place before work. Because at nine o’ clock, she’d pack the stall away and head into the office where she was a trainee graphic designer for a marketing agency. One day, she and the senior designer were asked to visit new clients in Derbyshire: a beef farmer and his son who were launching a new farm-to-fork business called SteakOut.

The farmer’s son was called Andrew and the two of them hit it off instantly. He invited her to stay for the weekend and by Sunday night she was smitten. A month later she handed in her notice, sold her flower stall and moved lock stock and barrel to the Midlands. She found a job in an office, and a room in a flat.

‘It was all such a whirlwind and so exciting.’ She took a sip of her hot chocolate and smiled her thanks. ‘I grew up in a big city. But even as a little girl, I wanted to marry a farmer and live on a farm. Still do if I’m honest.’

‘I’m guessing it didn’t work out with Andrew?’ I pulled up a stool and joined her at the counter. Scamp sat alert in his bed, watching as people passed by.

She wrinkled her nose. ‘Nah. He cheated on me after a month, I felt like such an idiot. I couldn’t face going back to London with my tail between my legs. So I stayed. Eventually I missed being creative, so I took a second job in a florist at weekends. Fast forward a couple of years, then the lease on this place came up and I thought, why not?’

‘Why not,’ I repeated slowly. How brave, how adventurous. ‘You’ve made a great job of it, Nina. The shop is lovely.’

She looked at me pointedly. ‘Tell that to Sam Diamond and his boss.’

‘Oh, forget them,’ I said airily, waving my hand. ‘Be proud of yourself. I’ve stayed in the same job for ten years out of habit. Or, if my mother is right, to be as different to her as possible. At least you’ve been out there having a go.’

‘I’ve been giving it a go for five years and not once in those five years have I turned a profit.’ She gave me a wry smile. ‘Won’t win any business woman of the year awards, will I?’