Flowers Go Flying in Crumbleton

Chapter 1

‘Witter-woo boss! Get you… I didn’t know you had actual legs!’

Milly Rowlands came to an abrupt halt on her way out of the tiny staff bathroom at Milly’s Flowers. She glared at her trainee. It had precisely zero effect. Jo Burton just stood there with her customary cheeky grin plastered across her face.

‘I have legs,’ Milly muttered.

‘Very nice ones, too!’ giggled Jo, wiggling her eyebrows.

‘Oh hush!’ said Milly. She bit her lip, doing everything she could to keep a stern expression on her face… but as usual, a smile was threatening to break its way through.

This was what always happened whenever Jo was in the shop. The girl might be a complete scatterbrain – and she definitely approached her work with more enthusiasm than care – but she was unerringly cheerful. Almost obnoxiously so. Still, it meant that she was a joy to have around, and every single one of their customers at Milly’s Flowers adored her.

‘Seriously though,’ said Milly, ‘do I look okay?’

She wasn’t really sure why she was bothering to ask Jo. The girl definitely had style – but not the kind Milly was aiming for right now, considering she was off to a very fancy-pants wedding.

This morning, Jo’s purple hair had been teased into corkscrew curls. Although she was wearing her Milly’s Flowers pastel pink polo shirt, she’d pulled it on over a long-sleeved skull and crossbones top. The bottom half of her outfit boasted a lurid pink net tutu over fishnet tights. The whole look was finished off with a pair of floral embroidered Doc Martins.

Milly smirked. She really was going to have to go back over the uniform policy again at some point… but not right now. Jo was doing her a huge favour by stepping in to deal with her Saturday deliveries – including ferrying the wedding flowers down to the Dolphin and Anchor so that Milly could turn up looking like an actual guest, rather than a bedraggled, overworked florist.

‘You look great,’ said Jo, studying Milly’s wrap dress with its white, blue and pink forget-me-not print. ‘Give me a spin so I can see the full effect.’

Milly raised one eyebrow but then – realising Jo wasn’t about to let her off the hook – executed a reluctant pirouette.

‘It really suits you,’ said Jo, nodding her approval. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so girly!’

‘Yeah… well…’ said Milly awkwardly.

‘It was a compliment,’ laughed Jo. ‘You know, considering you spend nearly every waking moment talking about weddings, I don’t think I’ve ever known you to go to one before.’

‘That’s because I’m usually delivering flowers via the back door,’ said Milly, ambling over to the large packing table that ran down one side of the shop. She started to survey the array of vases, boxes, bouquets and cartons of fresh blooms that were all waiting to be loaded into the van Jo had just parked outside on the cobbles.

‘You get invites all the time, though,’ said Jo.

Milly nodded. In fact, she’d received no fewer than half a dozen wedding invitations that week alone.

As the owner of the one and only florist in Crumbleton, Milly spent a high percentage of her working week talking nuptials with over-excited brides-to-be. In fact, if she was forced to put a number on it, she’d bet that well over half her words in any given day were allotted to bouquets, button holes and bridesmaids’ posies. Perhaps that was why - when it came to Saturdays - Milly never felt like getting involved in the whole big-white-dress extravaganza.

Nope – Milly didn’t usually do weddings. She preferred to keep things strictly business. Deliveries only - and even then, she did her best to nip in the back door, drop off the blooms and then get out of I Do City before anyone could spot her. Sure, she was invited to enough of the blasted things to fill every single Saturday until she hit retirement, but cute little girls scattering rose petals and nervous guys with flower-stuffed buttonholes weren’t really her thing.

Milly didn’t have anything against weddings in particular - after all, they were responsible for a hefty chunk of her livelihood. It was the bit that came after I Do that she had a hard time with. The whole idea of pledging her life to one person? Weird. A bit scary. A bit…

‘URGH!’

‘What?’ gasped Jo, nearly dropping the carton of buttonholes she’d just picked up.

‘Sorry! Nothing…’ said Milly, quickly casting around for an excuse for her involuntary outburst. ‘Erm… I thought I saw a spider, that’s all.’

‘But you’re not scared of spiders,’ said Jo, narrowing her eyes and cocking her head.

‘Or… maybe a bird?’ said Milly.

‘Riiight…’ Jo snorted. ‘Gotta watch out for those terrifying robin-tarantulas here in Crumbleton. Seriously, boss, I think the idea of going to a wedding has loosened one of your screws!’

‘Oi!’ laughed Milly. ‘My screws are all fine and dandy, thank you very much! Now… let’s get moving. You start loading while I check this lot over.’

Jo shrugged and headed off to open up the van, ready to receive the day’s deliveries. Milly breathed a sigh of relief the minute her trainee disappeared from sight. She just needed two seconds of peace to get her head back on straight.

Drawing the massive bridal bouquet towards her, Milly turned it slowly to make sure it was absolutely perfect. It wasn’t her kind of thing - but it was exactly what the bride had asked for. Large, bright and impressive had been the three stipulations for the bouquet - and Milly was confident she’d managed to achieve all three. She just hoped the bride had been busy with the dumbbells because the thing weighed an absolute ton! Still, it looked amazing and would be complemented perfectly by the flower girls’ bright hoops and the gerbera buttonholes for the men.

‘So, what’s different about this wedding?’ said Jo, bouncing back into the shop.

‘What do you mean?’ hedged Milly, tweaking a bit of greenery that really didn’t need adjusting.

‘I mean,’ said Jo with exaggerated patience, ‘you barely know the bride or groom.’

‘Do too!’ said Milly.

‘Go on then,’ said Jo, ‘what’s the bride’s name?’

Milly racked her brain, her eyes darting around as she tried to remember. ‘Elizabeth!’ she said triumphantly.

‘You just cheated and looked at the order pad!’ snorted Jo.

Damnit, she couldn’t get away with anything!

‘Anyway,’ said Jo, ‘my point is - why go to this one when you’ve turned down invitations to about a hundred others?’

‘Well… it’s local,’ said Milly with a shrug. ‘I could hardly tell Elizabeth that I couldn’t manage to make it down as far as the Dolphin and Anchor, could I?’

It was true – the wedding was taking place in the old hotel right at the bottom of Crumbleton’s steep hill… but that wasn’t the real reason she’d finally broken her self-imposed wedding ban.

‘Yeah… I’m not buying it!’ said Jo, narrowing her eyes. ‘Try again.’

Milly shook her head and let out an exasperated sigh. Jo was right, of course - but there was no way she was about to admit the real reason she’d accepted this particular invitation. If she let it slip that she had the hots for the best man, she’d never hear the end of it!

‘You’re going all pink,’ Jo noted with interest.

‘That’s because you’re stressing me out right now!’ growled Milly. ‘Get cracking with the loading, will you?’

Jo grinned at her, completely unruffled as she grabbed the bridesmaids’ flowery hoops and trotted back outside.

Milly shook her head again, widening her eyes. Thank heavens Jo would be leaving to make a start on the deliveries in just a few minutes. The girl was like a dog with a bone if there was even the slightest scent of impending gossip… and this would definitely count as gossip if she let the cat out of the bag.

She’d managed to keep quiet about her crush for months. Eighteen months and counting, in fact. The last thing she needed to do was let his name slip out in front of Miss Gob-Almighty Burton!

Part of the problem was that Milly had been single for… well… forever. At least, that’s what it felt like. It meant that any hint of a man in her life would definitely get tongues wagging!

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to find a guy to share her life with… she was just… independent. She liked her space. Plus, there was the unfortunate fact that she tended to attract stage-one clingers for some reason.

Milly hadn’t even been on a date for nearly two years. What was the point? If she knew from the beginning that it was only going to amount to a glass of wine or a meal at most before she had to disentangle herself, why bother getting into the mess to start with?

She’d simply never had the good luck to come across someone she could handle being with for more than a couple of months before she wanted to put the brakes on.

Apart from one guy. The one she’d met at a town event eighteen months ago. The one she’d accidentally kissed in the dark carpark of the Dolphin and Anchor… and then never spoken to again.

Murray Eddington.

Milly shivered with delight. He was the only person she’d had even the slightest flutter of interest in for ages - the one person she’d even consider breaking her dating dry spell for.

The problem was – the object of her desire had proven to be more than a little bit elusive. Murray lived on an old trawler in the salt marshes that surrounded Crumbleton. According to the careful snooping she’d done after meeting him all those months ago, he was the Marsh Ranger.

Going by the fact that he was seldom seen in town, Milly had a sneaking suspicion that Murray was probably more comfortable in the company of the birds and the elements than actual people. She didn’t have an issue with that… but it did make getting to know him a bit of a nightmare.

To begin with, she’d been convinced they’d run into each other again before too long. After all, Crumbleton was tiny. As it turned out, though, Milly had only laid eyes on him a handful of times since that night - and it had always been from a distance. She’d still managed to go weak at the knees every single time though - proving that her monster crush was still alive and kicking! With any luck, this wedding might give her the opportunity to do something about it at long last.

Milly had her sights set firmly on the best man… and she couldn’t remember ever feeling this nervous!

‘Earth to Milly!’ said Jo, snapping her fingers in front of her face.

‘What’s that?’ said Milly, blinking in confusion.

‘Wow, where were you?’ chuckled Jo.

‘Back in bed with a cup of coffee instead of going to a wedding!’ said Milly promptly, hoping that it might mask her nervous excitement.

‘Blimey,’ laughed Jo. ‘Anyone would think you’re off to help de-louse earthworms for the day instead of going to a shindig full of free bubbly and cake!’

‘Do earthworms get lice?’ said Milly.

‘No idea… but gross job, right?’ said Jo.

‘Erm… yeah,’ said Milly.

‘Anyway, I was just asking if the bouquet’s going in a box or…?’ Jo trailed off.

Milly sighed and shook her head. She loved so many things about Jo - her energy, her good humour, and her creativity all made her a promising trainee. She was popular with the customers and great at sales. Her memory for the finer, more technical details of the business however… needed some work.

‘We went over this, remember?’ said Milly gently.

‘Sure… yeah,’ said Jo, scratching her nose.

‘Okay, let’s go again,’ said Milly. ‘I’ve done the ribboning already - because it’s just at the bottom of the hill - but any further than that, I tend to do it in the back of the van when I get there.’

‘Right!’ said Jo, nodding. ‘Because the ribbons wick up the water and you don’t want a soggy wedding dress.’

‘Exactly,’ said Milly. At least something had gone in. ‘So then - we use the short cylinder glass vases with a bit of water in the bottom, and we place them in the cardboard stands for the back of the van. Then…’

‘Three sheets of tissue around the bouquet!’ said Jo, clicking her fingers.

‘By Jove, I think she’s got it!’ chuckled Milly.

‘See - I do listen,’ said Jo.

‘Yeah… but you know what?’ she said, making a snap decision. ‘I’m going for a bigger vase for this blighter! It’s just going to topple over otherwise.’

‘Good call,’ said Jo, nodding.

‘Seriously Jo,’ said Milly, ‘brace yourself when you carry this one in.’ She couldn’t help it. Images of Jo dropping the armful of bright blooms on the way across the hotel carpark had just started flashing in her head.

‘You can trust me, you know,’ said Jo.

‘Yeah - I know,’ said Milly with a smile as she rummaged for a larger vase. ‘I wouldn’t even trust myself with this one – it’s super heavy!’

‘Just as well you’ve got my muscles on the job then,’ said Jo, flexing a skull-and-crossbones-clad bicep at her. ‘You sure you don’t want a lift down the hill in the van?’

‘Nah – thanks,’ said Milly, shaking her head. The last thing she wanted to do was get locked in the van with Jo right now… she was so nervous, she was bound to spill the beans about Murray! ‘I’m looking forward to a walk!’

‘That’s it,’ said Jo. ‘There’s definitely something up with you. Voluntary exercise? Whatever next?!’

‘You’re fired!’ said Milly.

‘Yeah, yeah,’ said Jo, hefting the bouquet carefully into its new vase. ‘So you keep telling me.’