Page 72 of My Kind of Happy

‘Hmm,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Do you know him well enough to tell him?’

I shook my head. ‘Nina has a motto: what happens in the florist, stays in the florist. It would be unethical; Gareth Weaver, or should I say Sexy Tiger, deserves our trust.’

‘And what about Sam’s trust?’ Laura said doubtfully. ‘What about the children? It’s not fair on them.’

‘I know.’ I’d thought about nothing else all weekend and I still didn’t have a good answer. ‘But if I say something, he’ll hate me for spoiling his marriage and it’ll be me who ends up being the baddie.’

Laura looked at me solemnly. ‘For the record, if you ever find out something like this about a relationship I’m in, I’d want to know.’

‘Oh god,’ I groaned. ‘Now I don’t know whether I’m being a better friend by not telling him, or a worse one.’

Her lips twitched. ‘Are you sure that’s all he is? A friend?’

Sam Diamond was on my mind more than a casual friend should be. And I needed to put a stop to it. He belonged to someone else, even if Pandora didn’t feel the same way. Besides my heart was still delicate. It couldn’t take any further loss and a man with as much baggage as Sam was a risk I didn’t dare to take. I blew out a breath and met Laura’s inquisitive gaze.

‘He’s just a friend,’ I confirmed. ‘That’s all he can ever be.’

Laura looked as if she had more to say on the matter but right on cue I noticed a familiar face heading our way.

‘Brush the crumbs off your chin,’ I said with a grin. ‘Here comes Marcia to show us around the hotel.’

An hour later, Laura and I were back on the road. I was negotiating the sharp bends and steep hills which led us back to Barnaby and Laura had her elbow hanging out of the window while singing along with great enthusiasm to the nineties hits on our favourite radio station.

‘Rather you than me,’ said Laura during a lull in the music. ‘That hotel ballroom is huge, I wouldn’t know where to start.’

‘Well once I managed to tune your dreadful singing out, I’ve been thinking about it and I’ve got loads of ideas.’

‘Rude,’ said Laura, picking up Scamp’s bag of doggie chocolate buttons.

I stopped her just before she tipped them into her mouth. ‘Although I’m sure they’re edible.’

‘I’ll pass.’ She folded her arms. ‘Go on, hit me with your ideas, it’ll take my mind off my rumbling stomach.’

‘OK. I’m going to do a moongate at the entrance to the ballroom. That’s a big metal hoop which you cover in flowers,’ I added, noting her blank expression. ‘Then once inside the ballroom, I’m going to get some wooden trellis panels and put them either side of the entrance so it feels like you’re walking into a secret garden. I’m going to do a pathway of flowers …’

I stopped, feeling Laura’s eyes on me. ‘What’s the matter?’

‘I hope Nina knows how lucky she is to have you,’ she said fondly.

I shrugged. ‘I’m the lucky one. I’m really enjoying this and if it goes well, we could get other conference work. People seem to have elastic budgets when it comes to special events.’

‘Good for you. I’m proud of you.’ She reached across and squeezed my leg. ‘As long as you’ve got a watertight contract for all your outlay, that’s the main thing.’

A dart of nerves pierced my happiness for a second but I quickly dismissed it. I hadn’t got a contract yet, but there was plenty of time for all that.

Laura groaned at my hesitation. ‘Fearne!’

‘Oh, stop worrying.’ I laughed as she squeezed the sides of her face with her hands. ‘I’m putting my heart and soul into this, it can’t possibly go wrong.’

And with the windows down, the breeze in my hair and my best friend by my side, I sang along to the radio feeling on top of the world. Nothing, but nothing was going to spoil my good mood.