Blossoming romance

Amy saw the florist’s van crawling down the road, the driver peering at the houses, searching for numbers. The name was on the side in pink flowery writing surrounded by swirling pink ribbons.audrey’s.

They wouldn’t be looking for her address. Last year, her fiancé, Adam, had sent her a text wishing her a happy Valentine’s, but he’d sent it as a group text to several people at once and had ended up going out with one of them. “Sorry,amy,” he’d said later. “But it’s better we found out we’re not suited before we got married.”

He was right, but it didn’t stop it hurting. Still, someone was going to be lucky today. Just because there was no romance in her life didn’t mean she didn’t like to see other people happy. The van stopped opposite her house and the delivery guy got out.amy tried not to notice how tall and good-looking he was. His hair was on the long side, thick and bouncy. He scratched his head in puzzlement. Not many people had numbers along here.the houses had names like Clementine Cottage or Trafalgar House.amy’s bungalow was called Cherry Tree Cottage, even though she’d been told the cherry tree had blown down in a storm half a century ago. The delivery guy looked across the road and nodded in satisfaction. He went to the back of his van, opened up the doors and brought out a lavish arrangement, all white froth and pink petals.amongst the arrangement were red hearts on sticks wrapped in shiny red ribbon. Amy’s heart leaped. She couldn’t help herself.the flower arrangement was so big he had to hold it in both hands. It was magnificent. Names flew through Amy’s mind and were quickly discarded, but wasn’t that what Valentine’s was all about? Mystery? There was no one at work who would send her flowers, although Ed winked at her a lot. He could be prone to getting things in his eyes, for all she knew. Besides, he was known as the office Romeo.there was quiet Steve from her book club, with his secret smiles, but she was sure it wasn’t him. How about Dan, the guy she’d been set up on a blind date with? They’d had nothing in common and had decided not to have a second date. Potential Valentines were thin on the ground.

He was coming up the front path so she rushed to open the door. “You’re lucky you caught me,” she said breathlessly.“i was just about to leave for work.”

He smiled at her, such a wide, generous smile with such perfect teeth.was it him or the flowers making her go weak at the knees? “How beautiful,” she said, pressing her hand to her chest. But he didn’t hand them to her.

“Primrose Cottage?”

“No.this is Cherry Tree Cottage.” “Oh, I’m sorry.” He sighed.

“I noticed you standing at the window and thought you might be expecting this delivery. All I have is ‘Kate at Primrose Cottage’.”

“Kate,”amy said, her heart deflating like a balloon with a hole in it. She should have known no one would send her flowers like that.what on earth had she been thinking to let her hopes take flight

Bah humbug to Valentine’s Day, eh?

in such a fashion? “I’m sorry,” he said again, a frown creasing his forehead.“i didn’t mean to raise your hopes.”

“You absolutely didn’t,” she said firmly. “Kate lives four doors along.you can’t miss her house – it has a primrose on the gate.”

“Ah, I should have kept going,” he said. “Sorry to have bothered you.”

“I’m glad to have been able to help. Kate will love those.”

She would, too. Kate’s marriage had been through a rough patch, but she and Andrew had got back together over

Christmas and Andrew was clearly out to prove to Kate how much he loved her. Amy closed the door and went to finish getting ready for work, her heart heavy. She hated to admit it even to herself, but she’d given up on love.what a thing to realise on Valentine’s Day of all days.

Amy hoped to escape at work, but a couple of heart-shaped balloons hovered over two of the desks. On the group of desks she shared with three others she counted five Valentine cards. Someone else had a red rose in a tube. It got worse at lunchtime when she popped out for a sandwich and bumped into the flowerdelivery guy coming into the building with two bouquets.

“Hello, again,” he said.“i don’t suppose you’re Fliss or Annie?”

“Afraid not,” she said, wondering why anyone would have flowers delivered to an office.a mean little voice said it was all done for show and she batted it away. Fliss and Annie were both young. Why shouldn’t they enjoy flowers and

romance while they could? She saw him again in the sandwich bar.

“Didn’t have time to make my packed lunch today,” he explained.“i’ve been up half the night making the arrangements.” “You make them?”

“Guilty,” he said, looking embarrassed. “But it’s such an art! Your arrangements are beautiful.you should be proud.”

“My ex-girlfriend didn’t think so,” he replied.“she couldn’t understand why I’d give up a job as a fork-lift truck driver to become a florist.

It was when she banned me from telling any of her friends what I did for a living that I realised she wasn’t the one for me.”

“How did you make the leap from forklift truck driver to florist?”

“The shop used to belong to my aunt Audrey and I always loved helping her out when I was a kid. She reckoned I had a knack, so when she retired . . .” He shrugged.“i’ve never been happier.”

“Well, I think it’s lovely.you bring pleasure to so many people, and comfort, I’m sure, at sad times.”

“Thank you. I must admit, it’s very rewarding.”

She grabbed her tuna sandwich. “Better be going. Nice seeing you again.” “Just wondering,” he said.“where’s your cherry tree?” She laughed and told him how there hadn’t been one for many years. She walked into her office and backtracked, double checking what it said on the door.

“Sorry,” she said.“i thought we were an accountancy firm, yet we seem to have turned into a florist and gift shop.”

“Bah humbug to Valentine’s Day, eh, Amy?” Ed said with a wink as he walked past. From the smear of lipstick on his cheek, it would seem her supervisor had found his Valentine.

“It’s all nonsense,” she said.“what a terrible waste of money.”

“It must be hard for you at this time of year,amy,” Crystal said as she laid a sympathetic hand on Amy’s arm.

“Not at all,”amy said. Lots of people didn’t get cards and flowers and gifts in velvet-lined boxes or taken out for lovely meals. She sighed deeply. She wasn’t sure she’d particularly like any of those things, but it didn’t look as if she’d ever find out. “I’m fine, Crystal.”

“That’s good.who needs flowers, eh?” “Exactly.”

Amy had a sudden vision of that beautiful arrangement of this morning filling her living-room window, to greet her when she got home from work. But it would be gracing Kate’s living room. She passed Primrose Cottage on her way home from work and saw the arrangement in the window. She smiled and hoped Kate and Andrew had a romantic evening planned.

As she opened her front gate, she saw at once the cleared patch in the centre of her front garden, and in the centre, a new young tree fastened securely to a post. “What’s this?”

A label on the tree said it was a flowering cherry. She’d always wanted one – it was as if her cottage had been calling out for one for years. She straightened up and looked round, but there was no one in sight.when she went in and picked up her mail, there was one envelope without a stamp.a Valentine’s card! The writing inside was big and bold, but neat.“i’ve booked a table for two at the Swan for eight. Please come. Hope you like the flowering cherry x”.

She had a tentative list of potential suspects. Perhaps Dan had had a change of heart and decided to give them another chance. Maybe Adam had come back.what about quiet Steve? It would be rude not to turn up, and she’d hate to think of anyone being embarrassed. Besides, that flowering cherry was the most perfect of gifts and the person who had thought of it deserved a chance. Everyone knew that Cherry Tree Cottage lacked a cherry tree.when she arrived at the restaurant, she didn’t know who she was meeting, but there was the florist again, standing in the lobby looking more handsome than he had any right to be in a smart suit and a blue shirt. He was holding an exquisite corsage made of a single red rose and a froth of gypsophila. Still working, even now!

“We must stop meeting like this,” she said, and her heart knew before she did that he was her Valentine’s date.

“You came.”

“Of course I did,” she said as he pinned the corsage to her jacket.

“Thank you so much for the cherry. It’s a beautiful, thoughtful gift.”

“Thank goodness,” he replied.“it was only after I’d dug a huge hole in your front garden that I started to worry you might not be happy about it.”

“I couldn’t be happier,” she said and tucked her arm through his as they went to claim their table. She realised she still didn’t know his name and he didn’t know hers, and started to laugh. “It’s Josh,” he said as if he’d read her thoughts. She’d never understood before what it meant to be on someone else’s wavelength. Now she knew.

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