Page 61 of My Kind of Happy

Chapter Eighteen

By five o’clock everyone had gone. Nina had dashed out to deliver a last-minute order and I was tidying up when Lucas arrived.

‘So sorry, darling, I couldn’t get away! Is all the champers gone?’ He looked around hopefully. ‘The shop looks gorgeous and I’ve seen all the comings and goings and followed it on Twitter.’

‘It was on Twitter?’ I said, surprised, fetching a half-full bottle from the fridge. I shared it between us.

‘Oh yes, Rosie is a social media whizz. She took pictures and tweeted them. Bottoms up,’ he said, raising his glass.

‘The afternoon was a success,’ I said, chinking my glass against his. ‘Nina said she enjoyed it and I think she’s even coming round to accepting that offering a service to businesses could work.’

‘Good for you!’ Lucas settled onto a stool at the counter. ‘So glad you came along when you did. You saved her bacon and so nice that you were able to have this celebration together. You’re a safe pair of hands, anyone can see that.’

I shook my head, embarrassed. ‘I haven’t done anything except prop up the cash flow temporarily, I’m not exactly the Lord Sugar of the floral world.’

‘It’s a perfect arrangement though: you get to pursue your dream which means she gets to pursue hers. And about time too.’

I nodded. ‘I agree. Together we can get this business running more profitably. We both love flowers and we both want to be happy.’

‘Exactly! Career ambitions are all well and good but they don’t keep you warm at night, do they?’ he said with a wink.

‘Well, no,’ I laughed uncertainly, not sure what he meant.

‘Take me,’ he said, waving his glass in the air. ‘Prime example. Shop was doing well but I was lonely.’

Ah, now I understood what he meant. I smiled softly, recalling the moment when Nina had dropped her head in her hands and said that she was lonely working by herself..

‘Then I met my partner, Tyrone. Landscape gardener, dirty hands, huge feet and the very last person I expected to fall for. But then happiness found its way into my life by stealth until one day I realised that I’d found my soulmate.’ He sighed dreamily. ‘Everyone deserves that, don’t they, or at least the chance to go looking.’

‘Absolutely,’ I agreed. But was he saying I was Nina’s Tyrone? Surely not?

‘And now, even though the bed practically oscillates with his adenoidal breathing, I wouldn’t be without him for all the sheep in New Zealand.’ He nudged me and laughed. ‘Get it? Sheep? New Zealand?’

‘No!’ I said with a giggle. ‘I don’t get it, I’m completely lost.’

‘You do!’ Lucas gave a bark of laughter and pushed me playfully. ‘The Kiwi Wants a Wife.’

‘Lucas, I adore you but I have literally no idea what you’re on about,’ I protested.

There was a movement behind me and I turned to see Nina, her face as white as snow.

‘What’s happened?’ I said, alarmed.

‘Fearne.’ She swallowed. ‘I’m so sorry. I should have told you sooner.’

‘You mean you haven’t already?’ Lucas squeaked. ‘Lordy, lordy, lordy, I’m so sorry.’

He pressed both hands to his mouth as if he was scared of anything else escaping.

Nina shook her head. ‘It’s OK, Lucas. This is my fault, not yours.’

I looked at them both, bewildered. ‘Told me what? Honestly, I feel like I’m speaking a different language.’

Lucas gave my arm a comforting squeeze and got to his feet. ‘I’ll be in the gift shop if anyone needs me.’

He fled from the shop, leaving me and Nina facing each other. The atmosphere couldn’t have been more prickly with tension if we’d both been holding cacti.

‘What’s going on?’ I asked, worriedly. ‘What does Lucas mean?’

She crept closer and sat on the stool Lucas had just vacated. ‘Remember I said I’d wanted a farmer, not a flower shop?’

‘When you left London?’ I nodded. ‘Yes, sure.’

‘Well, I may have got a second chance.’ Her voice trembled nervously. ‘How would you feel if I left you in charge and went to New Zealand?’

Suddenly all the little hints she’d dropped into our conversation started to add up. The references she’d made to me not needing her, that I could run this place single-handedly. And Rosie, adamant that Nina had been serious about leaving the country. And now Lucas: The Kiwi Wants a Wife. Whatever that meant.

My jaw dropped. ‘Tell me everything.’