Page 63 of My Kind of Happy

‘When did you change how you felt about George?’ I asked.

Her hand felt automatically for Scamp’s head. He leaned into her and a look of contentment spread across both of their faces.

‘He always seemed to be there just when I needed him, with a clean hanky, or an umbrella in a sudden shower, or spare money for chips when I was starving.’ She smiled, no doubt remembering George as a young man, herself as a girl on the cusp of womanhood. ‘Patient, kind and completely reliable. Then one day something just clicked into place and I saw him for the wonderful man he was. I knew without a second doubt he was my future. And even better, my intuition told me that he felt the same way.’

I loved the way Ethel’s face softened until her wrinkles almost disappeared when she spoke about her late husband. I reached for her hand.

‘Your story is more romantic than a Nicholas Spark book.’

She shot me a mischievous look. ‘That’s not one of those rude ones, is it?’

‘No,’ I laughed. ‘It’s a bit like Gone with the Wind but with more kissing in the rain.’

‘I grew up in Manchester, there was a lot of rain.’

‘What about kissing?’

‘A lady never tells,’ she said primly. ‘Now that’s enough prattling from me. What happens if Nina falls in love with one of these farmers, what then?’

‘I hope she does and that the feeling is mutual. But where does that leave the flower shop? And me?’

Ethel twirled her worn gold wedding ring around her finger. ‘Fearne’s Flowers has a nice ring to it.’

‘It does, doesn’t it?’ I said eagerly. ‘The problem with using a name is that it’s limiting if you want to sell it. Something more general works better; like Say It With Flowers. Not that I’ve given it much thought, obviously.’

‘Obviously,’ Ethel chuckled.

‘But taking over the running of Nina’s shop which lurches from overdraft to overdraft each month isn’t what I signed up for,’ I mused. ‘I’m still a beginner.’

She squinted as if wracking her brains. ‘Remind me about that work trip to Tokyo you went on last year.’

‘I did a project about managing growth in a changing market for the Japanese forestry bods.’

She gave me a reproving look. ‘Then I hardly think you’ll have a problem getting one small floristry business in Derbyshire back on track. On the other hand, if she’s putting a lot of pressure on you to take over then that’s unfair.’

‘She’s quietly hopeful I’ll say yes. I’ve said I’ll think about it overnight.’

‘And if you say no?’

‘Plan B is to shut the shop for a month. But I can’t let that happen. We’re just beginning to make headway. All the work, all the leads I’ve been working on would come to nothing and the shop would be back to square one.’

‘You’ve made quite a new life for yourself there in a short time, haven’t you,’ said Ethel proudly.

‘I do like it,’ I admitted. ‘But the whole point of me taking this sabbatical from my job in market research was to be free to do things that make me happy, to be more adventurous and make Freddie proud.’

‘And aren’t you doing all those things?’ she questioned. ‘Top of your happy list: flowers? Before I had my fall I remember watching you pull up in your car after work and just sit there, as if you didn’t even have the energy to get out and walk into the house. Now look at you; you’ve come a long way since then, young lady.’

‘I worry that I’ve walked straight into a new job and within days I’m back to analysing the local market, competition, customer trends, gaps in the market. This feels like a cop-out. You don’t think I’ve settled for the first thing that came along?’

Ethel rolled her eyes. ‘Do you ever think you might be overthinking things?’

‘All the time,’ I admitted, laughing.

‘Nina will be gone for a few weeks. Blink and it’ll be over. And this is still an adventure.’

‘Adventure is taking a step into the unknown,’ I argued. ‘It’s waking up every morning not knowing where your journey will take you, it’s doing things that scare you. Taking risks. It’s not running a flower shop.’

‘For heaven’s sake. Adventures come in all shapes and sizes,’ said Ethel tetchily. ‘You’ve given up a steady career, put your own money into a failing business and now in all likelihood you’re taking responsibility for it while the owner swans off to the other side of the world. If that’s not taking risks, I don’t know what is.’