Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Flick woke very early the next morning when she heard a thump from the lounge.
She looked at the time to see it was six in the morning.
She’d stayed up until midnight the night before in the hope of seeing Luke and being able to talk to him but he hadn’t come home.
She really wanted to clear the air between them and apologise if she’d hurt him.
She scrambled out of bed and quickly went into the lounge and it was evident he was on his way out. His shoulders dropped when he saw her; he clearly didn’t want to see her. He looked really sad and then she spotted the flowers in his hand. Of course he’d be sad as today was his mum’s birthday.
‘Hey,’ she said, softly.
‘Hi.’
‘You’re up early.’
‘I have lots to do today.’
‘Luke, I just want to say…’ She watched him glance do wn to the flowers and she stopped. Now wasn’t the time to talk about that. ‘Did you want me to come with you to your mum’s grave?’
His eyes widened in horror. ‘Why would you want to do that?’
‘Because I don’t want you to be sad and alone.’
He stared at her. ‘You’re so lovely,’ he said, wistfully. ‘And I don’t deserve it.’
‘What? Of course you do.’
‘Thank you for the offer but I’ll be OK.’
‘Of course. I understand. Grieving is a personal thing, I get that. But if you want to talk or even need a hug when you get back, I’m here for you.’
‘Thank you, that’s really very kind. I need to go, I’ll catch you later.’
He walked out, his head bent as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Luke walked down the stairs to his car, which he’d loaded with his stag sculpture the night before. He was going to hell. He hated lying and he’d lied to the sweetest, kindest person he’d ever met. It felt like kicking a puppy.
He got in the car and drove down the road. He spotted an elderly lady walking her tiny dog on the side of the road. He pulled over and leaned out the window, offering out the bunch of flowers.
‘Here you go, lovely. ’
She stared at the flowers in shock. ‘What are these for?’
‘To make you smile.’
She looked at them suspiciously. ‘Did you buy them for a girl and she didn’t want them?’
Luke sighed. ‘Something like that.’
‘The girl’s an idiot. You’re a nice boy.’ She took the flowers from him and a big smile spread across her face.
‘Well, I’ve been told that’s the problem,’ Luke said, thinking of his ex-girlfriend. She’d thought he was too nice.
‘Oh, the old adage of “Treat them mean, keep them keen” doesn’t really ring true.
That might be exciting to start off with, but no one wants to marry someone like that.
You marry your soul mate, someone there for you through the good times and the bad, someone who has your back.
Someone who fills your heart to the top.
No one wants to fill their hearts with an arsehole. ’
‘No, I agree.’
‘This girl who turned down your flowers, do you love her?’
Luke was regretting choosing this woman for his cast-off flowers. ‘I think it’s probably a little early for that.’
Although that probably wasn’t true. Hearing Flick’s offer to accompany him to his mum’s grave, or to give him a hug if he needed it, had made him fall for her that little bit more.
The woman looked at him as if she didn’t believe that. ‘When you know, you know. Did you tell her? ’
‘I… didn’t really get a chance.’
‘You tell her you love her and that will mean more to her than a bunch of flowers.’
Luke didn’t think he’d ever be brave enough for that.
Martine, the last woman he’d said I love you to , had laughed and promptly dumped him.
In fact, that had happened with the last two women he’d dated, although Sophie had at least been a lot kinder about not loving him before she’d dumped him.
‘Thanks for the advice. You have a good day.’
‘I will now,’ she waved the flowers at him. ‘Thank you.’
He smiled and drove off. Maybe if there were some kind of universal points system for being good and bad, making an elderly lady smile with flowers might help counteract the lie he’d told Flick.
Flick was sitting in her empty gift shop busily making her little wish jars later that morning. It was a delicate operation, she didn’t want to lose any of the little fluffy seed heads. She was very carefully threading the wire through a dandelion stem to make it stand up when Aidan walked in.
‘There’s a massive delivery downstairs. Someone needs to come and deal with it.’
That someone clearly was her.
‘OK, thanks. I’ll be down in two seconds.’
She pushed the wire carefully into the head .
‘There are fifty boxes stacked up inside the entrance. It’s causing a fire hazard.’
‘I don’t think there’ll be a fire in the next few minutes.’
‘You don’t know that. A fire can start at any time.’
‘From Ethel sewing too fast perhaps? Or the sun coming through the windows and hitting Katherine’s glass mosaics in the wrong way?’
‘I don’t think there is any need to be sarcastic,’ Aidan said. ‘I’m merely asking you to come and deal with the delivery that is causing an obstruction.’
‘And I’ve said I’ll be there in a minute.’
‘I guess faffing around with weeds is more important than the health and safety of your staff.’
Flick sighed and stuck the end of the wire in a lump of Blu Tack so it didn’t fall over. ‘I’ll come and deal with it now. I’d never forgive myself if everyone died in a towering inferno.’
Aidan grunted his displeasure at her sarcasm and stomped off back down the stairs, muttering to himself.
Flick had kind of hoped that with the suggestion of running the workshops for those people with brain injuries, the artists would rally behind her.
That was what her grandad had been passionate about and he’d instilled a passion about it with the artists too.
But there had been a total mixed response.
Katherine had been really enthusiastic about it, Rose had agreed to do it although she was worried whether she was capable enough to be trusted with something so important.
Ethel and Aidan hadn’t wanted to do it at all but had reluctantly agreed with lots of moaning and huffing about it under their breaths. What would it take to make them care?
She went downstairs and glanced into Luke’s studio as she approached the front door. It was empty and in darkness. She couldn’t help wondering if he was avoiding her.
She got to the front door and Aidan was clearly not exaggerating, there were at least fifty boxes stacked up in the hall.
Although all the boxes were addressed to Luke she recognised the names of the suppliers – this must be the stuff she had asked Luke to order for her.
She started taking the boxes upstairs. While most of them were quite light, a few were heavy and the gift shop was two floors up.
It would be nice if some of the other artists helped her but she didn’t feel she had the kind of relationship with them that would allow her to ask them.
After getting the final box upstairs, she started to unpack and felt like a kid on Christmas morning opening all the boxes and finding homes for the products around the empty gift shop.
She decided to have all the craft paraphernalia and kits on the bottom floor of the gift shop as that was what she was most passionate about.
All the rest of the gifts were going to be upstairs on the mezzanine.
A lot of the shelving and tables for the middle of the shop hadn’t arrived yet so she couldn’t find homes for everything but it was a great start.
She felt so happy that she was finally doing this.
Opening a craft supplies shop had always been her dream and, thanks to Luke persuading her to do it, it was finally coming true.
She was going to give it her all. If it all came crashing down in six months, no one could say she hadn’t given it her best shot.
Although she still felt like she needed to clear the air with him after the night before. She took a few pictures of her beautifully presented shelves and sent them to Luke with the message: ‘I’m so happy right now, thank you for pushing me to do this.’
He texted straight back. ‘I’m glad I can make you happy.’ Then he sent another text. ‘Sorry I wasn’t there to help you with the boxes.’
She smiled. That was Luke all over. She really hoped he would be back soon and she could make things right between them.
Luke climbed up the steps to the roof and sighed when he realised it was already occupied. He’d been successfully avoiding Flick all day, although he knew he couldn’t do that long term. He’d have to face her at some point.
‘Hey, I haven’t seen you all day. Are you OK?’ Flick asked and he hated the uncertainty in her eyes.
‘Yeah, I had to deliver the stag now that it’s finished and then I went shopping for some of the things that Polly needs for the café.’
‘Oh, I thought you were avoiding me,’ Flick laughed. ‘ I even checked the cupboard a few times to see if you were hiding from me in there.’
He didn’t know how to answer that because although what he’d said about where he’d been was true he had deliberately done those things so he wouldn’t have to be around the studios and see her.
He sat down next to her. She looked out over the town and was quiet for a moment.
‘Big storm coming tonight,’ she said, clearly desperately trying to fill the awkward silence. ‘Eighty-mile-an-hour winds apparently. You wouldn’t think that was likely judging by how calm it is out there right now.’
He cleared his throat. ‘Yes, it’s going to be bad. I hope our wonky tree will be OK.’
‘Oh, that tree will be there forever.’
They lapsed into awkward silence again and he hated this. He wished he could take that kiss back although he knew in his heart he couldn’t regret the best damn kiss of his life.
‘How has today been?’ she asked gently. ‘I’ve been thinking about you. Did you go to your mum’s grave?’
He hated lying. The lie about the flowers had slipped off the tongue so easily the night before to save his embarrassment but he wasn’t going to dine out on the lie just to get himself some sympathy.
To his surprise, she slipped her hand into his. ‘If you want to talk about it, I’m here for you.’
Enough was enough.
‘Flick, I lied about the flowers. ’
Her face fell and she quickly removed her hand. ‘What?’
‘It’s not her birthday today, not even close. And she doesn’t even have a grave, she was cremated and her ashes scattered in the sea, so even if I wanted to take her flowers, I’d have nowhere to do that.’
Hurt filled her eyes. ‘Why would you lie over something like that?’
‘I didn’t do it for sympathy if that’s what you’re thinking.
You asked me about the flowers and I had to come up with a lie and that was the first thing I thought of.
If I’d had more time I’d have said they were for a sick friend or something.
I didn’t realise you were going to be all sweet and lovely and sympathetic about it. I’m sorry.’
‘I don’t understand. Why would you need to lie about the flowers in the first place?’
‘Because I bought them for you.’
Her eyes widened in shock and he couldn’t face any more questions so he got up and went back downstairs. But she was hot on his heels and she caught up with him just as he was heading towards his bedroom.
‘Luke, why did you buy me flowers?’
He sighed. The can of worms was well and truly open now. He might as well give the can a good shake and empty out all the worms for her to see.
‘Because I like you, a lot more than I should. And not just because of the earth-shattering kiss, but because you’re lovely and kind and like sunshine on a rainy day. And because you like me for who I am not… other reasons.’
She stared at him in confusion. ‘But last night you said you didn’t want to kiss me anymore.’
‘I said I didn’t want to fake kiss you anymore. I was going to ask you out on a real date. Hence the dinner and the flowers.’
She stared at him in horror. Well there was his answer.
‘You… you were going to ask me out? For real?’
‘Yes.’
‘But… you’re moving. To the Isle of Skye. That’s nearly fourteen hours away. I checked.’
He frowned. Why had she checked?
‘I know, but I felt like we had some kind of connection, even before the kiss, and I knew if I walked away from here in a few weeks and never explored this spark between us, I would always regret it.’
She watched him like he was a complicated maths problem she was trying to solve.
‘Look, it doesn’t matter. It’s just a silly crush, it doesn’t have to be weird between us,’ Luke said.
‘Oh, we’re already there.’
He sighed. ‘I know. But it will all be fine in a few days. I’ll get over it and we can just get back to being friends again. Goodnight Flick.’
He turned for his bedroom but she snagged his arm. ‘We’re not done here.’ She stepped closer. ‘Yesterday, after our… incredible kiss… ’
His heart leapt. Had it really been incredible for her too?
‘You were all, oh but it’s not real, it doesn’t mean anything,’ Flick said.
‘You said it didn’t mean anything. I never said that.’
‘Because you said it wasn’t real.’
He sighed because they were going round in circles here.
‘And I was gutted because… it was the best kiss of my entire life and you were just dismissing it,’ Flick said.
His heart soared, his mouth suddenly dry. ‘Flick, are you saying… Do you like me too?’
She smiled. ‘Way too much.’
He laughed with relief. ‘God, there’s a lot to be said for simple honest conversations.’
She reached up to stroke his face. ‘And not jumping to conclusions. I should have let you speak last night but I was so hurt and embarrassed when you said you didn’t want to kiss me anymore.’
‘I probably could have opened with something more positive.’ He leaned his forehead against hers.
‘And for the record, I didn’t need flowers or for you to cook me dinner for me to say yes. All I needed was for you to kiss me again like you did yesterday and I’d have been yours.’
He smiled with relief and cupped her face. ‘Is it too late?’
She wrapped her arms around him. ‘Definitely not.’
He bent his head to kiss her then pulled back. ‘And I know I’m leaving in a few weeks and I don’t know what will happen then but—’
‘We worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. We have no idea where this will go, that spark between us might well and truly have fizzled out by the time you leave, but we can have a lot of fun together over the next few weeks while we get to know each other better.’
That sounded a bit more casual than he would like but she was right. A lot could happen in a few weeks. She might decide he was too nice and boring for one, his previous girlfriends had. He just had to enjoy what was happening now and not worry about anything else.
With his heart thundering against his chest, he bent his head and kissed her.