Chapter 25
R osie sipped her takeaway coffee as Bas delivered her flowers.
Everyone was gathering by Finn’s large corner pitch for the meeting.
The market had become her second home and an intense tugging at her heartstrings pulled her spirits down.
She looked around at the different stalls, the displays of bright blooms, the buckets of bulbs, those silly tiny windmills.
She loved this place and hoped– prayed– that this crazy, still as yet unorganised, idea would work.
As Rosie unpacked her flowers, slotting them into buckets to keep them watered, she peeked at Finn’s pitch and see if anyone else had arrived.
They hadn’t. And she worried that with Finn’s reputation, people had chosen to stay away.
Perhaps they were nervous they were going to get a telling-off, or worse, from the previously arrogant stall hol der.
She had to hope that his natural authority would bring them to him.
‘I heard about the meeting,’ Bas said, in stuttered, broken English. ‘I might come.’
‘You should,’ she replied, cheerfully. At first, she wasn’t sure what he’d be able to do, but then it occurred to her that he delivered to so many places around the city, he’d be perfect for handing out leaflets and flyers. ‘We’ll be starting in a minute. Why not stay?’
He checked his watch, sucked air through his teeth, then nodded. Rosie smiled, glad that curiosity had won out over his demanding schedule.
As eight o’clock neared, more and more vendors began to gather at Finn’s.
She knew most of the faces, but there were definitely some people she hadn’t met before– people who worked down the opposite end of the market, she presumed.
Turnout was impressive. More than she could have wished for.
She just hoped they could get everyone on board.
With a deep breath, Rosie and Bas wandered over.
‘Right, everyone,’ said Finn to the assembled crowd.
‘Thank you all for coming over for this meeting. I realise this is taking time out of your morning set-up, so thank you for being here. We’ve got a new, exciting proposal to share with you all.
Ah, here’s Rosie, the mastermind behind the idea, and as she’s English, can we stick to that, please? ’
Rosie gave an awkward wave as Finn stood aside for her to speak.
A lump formed in her throat. So much was riding on this being a success and not just for her.
She wanted it to work and to be of value to everyone.
Nerves bit at her stomach so she almost placed her hand there.
Instead, she clasped them together in front of her.
‘Hi, everyone,’ she began nervously. ‘Umm... I have been practising my Dutch, I promise. But thank you for agreeing to discuss this in English. I don’t know how much Finn has told you, but I’m hoping we can work together to do something incredible.
Something that I don’t think has been done before but will benefit us all. ’
She saw Emma, Noah and Fenna at the back, all smiling and nodding.
Finn stayed at the front with her, and she was grateful for his support.
As she got into her stride, explaining about the festival and where the proceeds would go, her nerves faded.
She was honest about her own story and most people smiled and nodded in response, keen to do everything they could to promote their businesses, but some were not convinced.
‘Why should we bother?’ one particularly grumpy old man asked. Rosie recognised him as another flower seller from further down the market. He then mumbled something in Dutch.
‘English, please,’ Finn reminded him.
He glowered, but switched back so Rosie could understand him. ‘Sounds like it’ll be a normal day for me, and if people can’t afford to keep their homes or businesses in a good state of repair, that’s on them.’
‘I don’t believe in charity,’ another said. ‘People should learn to help themselves. You can’t rely on other people to fix your problems for you.’
‘I understand your point of view,’ Rosie said.
Though she didn’t really. People didn’t take charity for the heck of it.
They took it because they needed to, often with feelings of shame attached.
And she believed in community– people coming together to make life just a little bit better.
‘Really, I do. But, if we’re honest, life isn’t always that easy, is it?
Lots of people struggle and it isn’t because they’re not putting in as many hours as they can.
It could be because they’re having family problems, marriage problems– maybe their kids are struggling at school?
I’m happy to be honest about my case.’ She glanced at Emma, who nodded encouragingly.
‘I rented my houseboat when I came here from London, and the owner didn’t keep it up to scratch.
I didn’t know this at the time, obviously, and now he can’t afford all the repairs and if I don’t find a way, I’m going to lose everything.
I know I’m not as in need as a lot of people, so if this works, I’ll only be taking a small fee for organising it– an amount I intend to put back into the fund as soon as I can.
But it made me think how hard it is to keep such a beautiful space as this protected. ’
She signalled to the Bloemenmarkt around her. ‘This city is beautiful. The flower market is beautiful! It’s the only floating one in the world! Isn’t that worth protecting? Heritage is important. It’s why I wanted to come here and I’m sure it’s why you all feel so proud to work here too.’
Those who were already on board continued their nodding but the two naysayers weren’t to be convinced.
‘No,’ one replied, shaking his head. ‘I still don’t agree. Why should I give some of my profits to a fund for people I don’t know?’
‘I agree,’ the other added. ‘I’m not interested.’
Finn suddenly stepped forwards. ‘That’s absolutely fine.
’ He held up his hands in surrender. ‘No one is going to be forced to be involved. You’ll benefit from the crowd we’ll draw in, but you don’t have contribute if you don’t want to.
The only thing is, you won’t be able to request any money from the funds we raise if that’s the case.
And if anyone else wants to opt out, that really is fine.
Please don’t feel obliged if it isn’t something you want to do.
But the more we come together, the more successful this will be in not only raising money, but also in raising the profile of the Bloemenmarkt and us as people who work here.
For me, it’s a way of thanking those of you who supported me when my awning collapsed.
We’ve all relied on the friends we’ve made in the Bloemenmarkt community at one time or another, and this is a way of giving something back.
All it is, is putting on something a little bit special during that working day when you’d be here anyway, encouraging donations and maybe helping with some tasks like putting up posters. ’
‘That’s right,’ Rosie said, speaking up once more.
Finn had done a great job of quietening the miserable ones and moving the conversation on.
‘What we really need is contacts. If you know people who can design the flyers or get the word out online about what we’re doing, please let us know.
We just need to let everyone in Amsterdam know what we’re doing and encourage them to come along. ’
‘Sorry,’ a younger woman said, raising her hand. ‘I’m confused. What exactly will happen on the day itself?’
‘Well, I’m planning to hold some special talks and Finn’s planning on teaching people about arranging flowers.’
‘I’m holding a cheese tasting,’ Noah said. ‘There’ll be samples everywhere for people to try.’
‘Same for me, but with meat and crackers,’ Emma added, smiling at him.
‘I’ll be showing people how to pair meats and cheeses perfectly and what things they need to go with them.
’ Noah grinned back and Rosie felt her heart skip a beat for them, before this quickly reminded her that Max had broken her own heart and that her love life was an absolute disaster.
‘You can do anything you like,’ Rosie told the crowd, drawing her attention back to them. ‘Just make it something a little different to usual. But we’ve only got three weeks, so we need to get started with spreading the word. That’s our priority.’
‘I can deliver... things,’ Bas added, sticking his hand in the air, and Rosie had to resist the urge to hug him.
‘Thank you, Bas,’ she replied. ‘That will be so helpful.’
‘I suppose I could talk about the history of windmills to the tourists,’ the young woman said, and Rosie immediately recognised her as the owner of the windmill stall.
‘Yes! That would be amazing!’
‘Or children can build their own. I’ve been designing a paper kit to sell. This could be a good way to see if it works.’
‘That sounds wonderful,’ Finn said, smiling at her and then Rosie.
The crowd nodded their assent and disappeared, chatting to one another as they went. Finn, Fenna, Noah and Emma all remained behind.
‘That went well, I think,’ Fenna said.
‘Why do some people have to be negative, though?’ Rosie asked, fully aware that she’d been exactly the same recently.
‘That’s people. You can’t make everyone happy all the time, and it is their right not to take part. Some people just don’t like change.’
‘Or putting themselves out there,’ added Noah. His glance at Emma seemed to speak volumes. Was he admitting he’d been holding himself back? Emma smiled shyly then dropped her eyes.
‘There is one thing, though,’ Rosie said, annoyed that the thought had only just occurred to her.
‘How are we going to pay for flyers and posters?’ She looked around the group, nerves tightening her stomach that this might prove the stumbling block that tore her plans down.
‘I can’t afford to pay for anything. We don’t have any upfront money to cover those initial costs. ’
Once again, she’d been impulsive and forged ahead with an idea before thinking all the details through. If she had to call everyone back and say the idea was already a no-go, she’d be a laughingstock.
‘I’ll do it,’ Finn said and Rosie, along with the others, were surprised at his generosity. ‘Don’t all look like that.’ A note of sternness crept into his voice. ‘I know I haven’t always acted as nicely as I could but I’m not a complete ogre.’
‘We know that now,’ Emma replied cheekily. ‘But still. That’s more than anyone expects, Finn. I’m happy to add some money in too.’
‘Me too,’ Noah agreed, with a firm shove of his glasses up his nose. ‘I can afford some and, with any luck, we could make this an annual festival.’
‘We could,’ Finn agreed excitedly. ‘This could be very good for business. I’ve never known this community come together as much as it is now. It’s wonderful to see. I’ll set an initial budget of five hundred euros—’
‘Five hundred euros!’ Rosie shouted, louder than intended, making everyone jump. ‘That’s– that’s—’
‘Enough to get us started. We don’t want this to be a flop.’ Finn straightened up as if he’d brook no argument, and any protest Rosie was about to make died on her lips. ‘We need to sort out city permits and paperwork,’ he added. ‘But I can handle that. My assistant will take care of everything.’
Rosie managed to keep her voice at a reasonable level this time, even though she was more shocked than she had been at the five-hundred-euro starting budget. ‘You have an assistant?’
‘Hashtag life goals,’ Emma added, and Finn chuckled.
Fenna, who had been quiet up to this point, turned to him. ‘It’s nice to see this side of you, Finn. I remember when you first joined the market, you used to be like this all the time. It’s good to have you back.’
‘Thank you,’ he added, shuffling his feet as though uncomfortable. ‘I have to admit, things have been difficult for me lately.’
‘Sorry, I wasn’t fishing for information.’
‘I know,’ Finn said gently, placing a hand on her arm.
‘You really don’t have to tell us anything,’ Rosie added. ‘It’s fine if you’d like to keep things private. I get not everyone’s an over-sharer like I am.’
He smiled fondly at her. ‘No, it’s okay.
I’ve been bottling things up for a while and taking my bad temper out on everyone else.
My staff were too polite to point it out to me.
I’m lucky I still have them. You talking about the problems people are having, Rosie, it was so true.
That’s why I forgot to get the awning fixed.
I—’ He took a deep breath in, avoiding their eyes.
‘I used to be married but my husband and I separated.’
Fenna gasped. ‘He used to meet you sometimes when we closed. Oh, Finn, I realise now he hasn’t been around for a while. I’m so sorry– I should have asked.’
He shook his head. ‘No, no! I don’t know if I’d have been able to answer even if you had. And at the same time, my mother, she has Alzheimer’s, and it’s been getting worse. She’s now in a home.’
Rosie couldn’t help but reach out and rub his arm. ‘That must have been so difficult for you.’
‘It has been hard,’ he admitted. ‘But I know I made life harder for myself by staying away from everyone. I could have had a lot more support if I hadn’t taken it out on everyone else.
I was just so worried that I’d lose the business, and it felt like the only thing I had left.
And I needed the money for my mother’s fees.
I was so concerned about not making money, not making profit, feeling like it was the only thing in my life I was good at. ’
‘Oh, Finn,’ Rosie said, shoving her arms around him, taking him by surprise. ‘I’m so sorry for everything you’ve been through.’
‘If I can do anything,’ Noah said as Rosie let Finn go, ‘please just let me know.’
‘And me,’ Emma agreed.
‘Maybe we should have lunch later?’ Fenna suggested to him. ‘It’s time we got to know each other again.’
‘I’d like that very much, thank you.’ There was no hiding the tears in his eyes as he clapped his hands together. ‘Now, we had all better get back to work!’
‘Definitely,’ Rosie agreed. ‘I’ve got to get arrangements made for the gallery opening.’
If nothing else, Rosie reflected, she had at least done something to help relieve Finn’s burden and for that, her mum would be proud, whether the floating flower festival was a success or not.