Page 68 of My Kind of Happy

‘So, I haven’t seen you for ages, how are things between you and your wife?’ I held my breath.

A broad smile lit up his face. ‘Pandora and me, well, we’re taking it slowly but it looks like we could be a family again soon.’

Nina and I exchanged relieved glances.

‘I’m delighted for you,’ I said, from the bottom of my heart. Just because I hadn’t liked what I’d heard about her didn’t mean I didn’t want him to be happy.

‘I’m sure it was the flowers from here that did it,’ he marvelled. ‘She took some convincing that I’d done them myself. But she loved them. Then I took her out, treated her like a princess, just as she likes it and afterwards … Well, let’s just say there was a second date. I brought you this to say thank you.’

He handed me the gift bag and placed the lightest of kisses on my cheek.

‘I’m very happy for you,’ I said, trying to ignore the sensations rippling through me at his touch. ‘And there was no need for this, it was my pleasure.’

I opened the bag and took out the contents. It was a set of three little jars of flavoured honey: lavender, wildflower and heather.

‘Wow! Sam, these look delicious.’ I took the lid off one of the jars and inhaled the aroma. The sweet smell took me straight back to breakfasts at Granny’s. I remembered that no matter how much honey Freddie and I had spooned over our porridge, we never got told off. It became a bit of a challenge. Happy times.

‘How cute!’ Nina exclaimed, reading the labels over my shoulder.

Sam picked one up. ‘Aren’t they! I was at a fantastic Derbyshire food market last weekend, amazing cheese and bread and flavoured oils. Anyway I got chatting to the producer of this English honey,’ he said animatedly, pointing to the jars. ‘Look, this one is heather honey made by bees on the Yorkshire moors, and this one is wildflower honey. The flavour is so distinctive and you can really taste the difference between the flowers. I thought with you being a florist, you’d like them.’

‘I do like them.’ I smiled at him. ‘Very much.’

Was it wrong of me to be glad that he’d been thinking about me at the weekend? I loved that he’d chosen me such a thoughtful gift, but most of all I loved seeing how his whole body came alive when he talked about something he cared about.

I was staring at Sam, my insides fluttering. Nina cleared her throat and shot me a warning glance.

‘So, you went on a second date,’ she prompted.

‘Yep. And since then we’ve been seeing a lot of each other. Well,’ he waggled his head from side to side, ‘mostly I’ve seen the kids. But it’s nice to be in my home with them. I’ve been living with my mum since we split up and it’s not the same, having them over there.’

‘Looks like you’ve spent time outside as well,’ I said. ‘You’ve got quite a tan.’

It suited him. His eyes looked an even more startling shade of blue, and his hair had lightened in the sun.

‘I like cooking outside in weather like this. Typical bloke.’ He laughed. ‘We were outside until the sun went down last night. I did us a cracking barbecue: steak, halloumi, chicken wings and then we played cricket. The kids loved it.’

‘And Pandora?’ I asked innocently.

The phone rang, interrupting our conversation but for once I didn’t make a move to answer it. I was still gazing at Sam.

‘I’ll get it, shall I?’ said Nina drily.

‘No. She wasn’t in last night.’ He ran his fingers against his chin. I heard the rasp of the hint of stubble. It was such a masculine sound that my pulse quickened, reminding me how long it had been since I last felt a man’s arms around me. ‘She’s started a weekly evening course in yoga. She’s going to train to be an instructor. And it’s only fair. I play cricket once a week, tonight actually, this way we both get a night off.’

Yoga? My mouth opened and closed as I floundered for something to say other than are you sure?

Nina ended the call and shut my mouth with the tip of her finger. ‘Excuse my colleague,’ she said to Sam. ‘That’s a yoga pose. Called the fish. Good for Pandora, don’t you agree?’

‘Yes.’ I smiled weakly. ‘Good for her.’

‘That call was from Wendy at A.J. Mallet funeral directors,’ said Nina. ‘She wants to see you next week.’

Sam’s ears pricked up. ‘Are you doing business with them? That’s great.’

‘Not yet,’ Nina replied. ‘But she’s asked Fearne to go and see her, which is a good sign. And the Claybourne Hotel also wants us to get involved with an event. Fearne will tell you all about it, my taxi will be here soon and I’ve got some bits to finish off.’

She retreated into the back of the shop, leaving the two of us together. I arranged the pots of honey into a line and told him about the Edelweiss beauty launch.