Chapter 6
Six
Iwoke up for my first day of work on a TV show with way less sleep than I needed.
I’d spent most of the night staring up at the ceiling, wondering why I wasn’t as excited as Natalie.
She was getting married without a parent and she didn’t seem to mind it.
Her family, who had somewhat ostracised her for having a child without knowing who or where the father was, were thrilled that she was finally making an honest woman out of herself.
I had to hold back the eyeroll. If it were me, I would tell them to go to hell and never invite them to the wedding but Natalie only ever wanted peace and love for everybody.
She was a better person than me…than most people actually.
As soon as I’d got back to Harrington I’d called Alfie to give him the news but Riley had gotten there first. He didn’t say so, but I knew that like me, he was thinking about our own engagement and how I wasn’t chomping at the bit to tell the world like Natalie was.
A tightness sat in my chest. A guilt I knew I wasn’t really responsible for.
That tightness remained as I got myself ready for the day. A strong coffee and a tight ponytail and I was ready to take on the world. Which was just as well because my first day was getting off to a bumpy start.
Julia Whitmore was a no bullshit woman. Her hair was pulled back into a chignon that looked more complicated than it probably was.
She wore jeans and a loose shirt as if she was about to roll up her sleeves and get her hands dirty herself.
Her accent had a North London twang. Her eyes were bright, her cheeks rosy, making her appear more youthful than she was.
I was starting to understand why she and Alfie had never hooked up. Imagining them trying to out-dominate each other was pretty funny.
I didn’t know what I had expected a television producer to be but she wasn’t it.
I thought she’d look more serious. Like Alfie.
Alfie could be in a room full of other men dressed just like him but you’d still know he was the boss.
Julia looked like anybody, until you spoke to her.
Right now, the plant suppliers were speaking to her on the phone and it didn’t seem to be going well.
“We had this conversation yesterday, correct? Correct. So why are we having it again? You were given an extensive list but we’re missing…”
“Sky blue peonies,” I whispered after glancing over the delivery of plants and flowers strewn across the Harrington driveway.
“Sky blue peonies! And also…”
“Fuschia hydrangeas,” I whispered again.
“And fuschia hydrangeas! As well as half a dozen other things!” There was a brief silence as the supplier stalled and stuttered, then she spoke again.
“Are you trying to talk yourself out of a contract?” she snapped at the poor soul on the other end of the phone.
I winced internally, relieved I wasn’t on the receiving end of her wrath.
After a few more choice words and a promise to take our business elsewhere, she hung up the phone.
“Incompetent bastard!” she huffed a long drawn out sigh and pulled out a cigarette. She lit it, took a long pull and blew out slowly, the smoke billowing up into the sky and disappearing into nothing. Then she put a smile on her face and turned to me. “Solutions?”
“I can call my old boss?” I suggested. “She has a garden centre and an extensive nursery. She might have what I need and she’s local.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot you were from around here.” She turned her attention back to her phone and I stood there, unsure if I’d been dismissed or not.
“So, should I…?”
“What?” She looked up from her phone. “Oh. Yes. Do what you need to figure out this mess, Lola. I don’t know a daisy from a begonia.”
“Well, you know they aren’t the same thing, which is a start!” I smiled at her. This hadn’t been the best start to our working relationship. I didn’t want this frustration to cloud the whole day.
She chuckled. Her eyes swept me up and down as if she’d finally decided I was interesting enough to pay attention to. The flower delivery had arrived just as we were making our introductions, not much time for small talk. Her smile widened, turning cat-like. Apparently that was about to change.
“We’ve almost met before, you know. I was at the club the first night you went there. You looked like a scared, little bunny surrounded by butchers.”
My throat closed. My hands balled up into fists. I hadn’t been stupid enough to think she wouldn’t know about Alfie and I being an item. I’d been nervous that she might hint at it here and there. I hadn’t expected for her to come out with it so brazenly.
“Don’t worry,” she smiled, taking another drag of her cigarette. “I like to comfort scared little bunnies.”
I stood there like an idiot, not knowing what to say. I was spared the task of figuring it out when a welcome interruption appeared around the corner.
“Lola! Do you need me to make a start on moving these plants or are they all being sent back?” The voice came from my new assistant, Sid.
I released a shuddering breath. “Y-yes we can move them.” I stepped around Julia and grabbed the first tray of flowers. “Pick a box, we’ll do this one at a time.”
Leaving Julia behind, Sid and I fell into step together.
He was a little older than me. He had a silver hoop in his eyebrow, wore clear gloss on his lips and a pink tulle skirt over his jeans.
I immediately thought how much he’d like Keira.
I wasn’t sure if they’d like fucking or shopping more but her peacock sequinned jacket could give his skirt a run for it’s money.
My heart was still hammering in my chest as we walked. Julia Whitmore might be comfortable with the world knowing what she got up to at the club, but I definitely wasn’t. I felt like a girl finding out her nudes had been leaked.
“Hello? Earth to Lola!” Sid grinned. He was overly familiar considering we’d only met an hour ago, but I didn’t mind it.
“Sorry, what?”
“I was asking if you straightened this whole mess out? Are the suppliers going to send the rest of our order or do you need to rework the piece?”
I followed him into the tent where we’d be storing our supplies. I lay my tray on the ground next to Sid’s.
“Oh, no. I think Julia fired them. I’ll need to call my old job to ask for help.”
“Yuck,” he wrinkled his nose, the silver hoop twinkling in the sunlight. “Hate that.”
I spent the next twenty minutes moving stacks of plants and flowers with Maia and Sid. I didn’t see Julia again and I was glad of it. It made me nervous that she’d brought up something so personal. Would she do it again? She’d looked at me like I was something to eat.
I wanted to call Alfie. He knew Julia. If I told him, he’d make sure she never spoke to me again. It felt childish though. This was my professional problem to deal with. I could handle it on my own.
I shook the worry off as something to deal with later. For right now, I had some sky blue peonies to hunt down.
There were memories in every brick and cobblestone in this place.
Rosie’s nursery had been my second home after my gran had died. A place that had warmed and welcomed me. At midday on a Wednesday, it was busy enough, the cafe full of mostly older women in cardigans and elasticated trousers, stopping by for tea and scones.
Maia stayed in the car while I went in search of my old boss. I was glad that she didn't hover as much as another security detail might have. The advantage of having her as my guard was that she knew already where my boundaries lay.
I headed straight for the herb garden towards the back of the nursery. The place that had always been Rosie's favourite. The sun was high and the breeze soft, it was the best weather for planting. I was sure she’d be there.
She spotted me before I could surprise her. She smiled and stood, pulling me towards her in a hug that seemed to squeeze me from all sides. Her new Labrador puppy, Violet, was a gangly teenager now. She trotted over to greet me too, her paws muddy, her eyes shining.
“Oh, my darling! Why didn't you tell me you were coming?”
“I wanted to surprise you. I sort of assumed that you'd know I was coming back into town anyway.”
“No! No, I had no idea. Although,” she paused, thinking, “are you involved in all that hubbub that I hear is going on at Harrington House? I did wonder if you might be involved what with, you know, with you and that handsome man being an item and all.”
“Yes, I’m a part of the production,” I answered, smoothly dodging her mention of Alfie.
“Do you remember Imani Kishi?” I asked her and she nodded.
I had introduced them briefly when Rosie came to support me at the Chelsea Flower Show.
“Well, she's been asked to be a judge on a TV show about flower sculptures.”
“Oh…” Rosie said, looking understandably confused.
“It's like the Great British Bake Off but with flowers,” I explained.
“Oh! Well, I can't wait to watch! That sounds fascinating!”
“It is! To people like us anyway. Imani’s hired me to head the project design. That's why I'm here.”
“So, this isn't just a social visit?” She grinned, her smile filling her warm face. “What do you need, my darling?”
We spent the next two hours poring through everything that I would need over the coming weeks. By the time we were done, I was breathing a sigh of relief. Whatever Rosie couldn't supply me with, she knew someone who could.
Our business talk over, she insisted on buying me lunch. I didn’t argue. Most people couldn’t be paid enough to go back to an old job but I’d missed this place so much.
She took me into the cafe and ordered my usual for me. A pork sandwich with crackling, stuffing and applesauce. I knew I wouldn't be able to leave without at least one blueberry muffin in my hand as well.
We talked for a while and it wasn’t long before Rosie mentioned someone that had been on my mind since the moment I got here.
“Bradley will be sorry he missed you. I’ll give him your best, shall I?”
“Yes, but where is he? I’d have liked to see him.” We’d had a bitter parting years ago but had become friendly again.
“Oh! He’s on his honeymoon! He and that lovely girl married a few weeks ago now.
” She paused, looking a little uncomfortable.
“I had wondered if he would invite you to the wedding, but then I know there was some sort of attachment – at least on his part anyway – and, well you have hardly seen each other these last few years so…” She trailed off.
Her eyes were round with worry that I would be hurt.
“Oh no!” I rushed to reassure her. “I wouldn't expect to be invited at all and I'm not at all offended. I'm glad he's happy.”
She spent some time telling me about where he'd gone on his honeymoon and how lovely the wedding was.
I truly was happy for him. Bradley had been kind to me, probably kinder to me than I deserved.
In another life, where I hadn't met Alfie first, Bradley would likely have been a man who would have made me very happy, but Alfie Tell had left an irrevocable mark on me from the moment that we'd met.
Eventually, with reluctance, I let Rosie go. I asked a girl behind the counter to put another sandwich together for me and I took it out to the van for Maia to eat on the drive back to Harrington. She seemed surprised.
“What? Do your clients usually forget you need to eat or something?”
“No, but my clients don’t usually hate me.”
“I don’t hate you,” I told her, “I just trust you.”
“Fair enough. Thanks.” She bit into the sandwich, maybe to keep from saying something else, and we traveled back to Harrington in silence.