Once the thought crept into my head, it was so obvious, I couldn’t focus on anything else.
With every beat of my heart, I grewmore convinced.
I was falling in love with Pip.
Thud, thump, thud.
I love Pip. I love Pip. I love Pip…
The only thing I was uncertain about now was what to do about it.
26
When Blessing phoned as I handed Pip the second-to-last bunch of asters, I couldn’t scramble out of the barn fast enough.
‘Hey.’
‘Hi. Are you okay? You sound out of breath.’
‘Yes. No. I have no idea.’
‘Tell me.’
I paced over to the nearest fence, then started marching alongside it. ‘You called me, you go first.’
‘You’ll never guess what I’ve done.’
I stopped. ‘It’s not something to do with my kitchen, is it? You’ve not set the house on fire, or killed all my plants?’
‘If I had, you think I’d break it to you by asking you to guess? No. It’s a good thing! Exciting. And nothing to do with the house.’
‘You have a date?’
‘Well, yes, but that’s not a big deal. Guess again.’
‘Please tell me. I’ve got quite a lot to do today.’
‘I’ve handed in my notice.’
‘Wow!’
Blessing had worked at the Travel Shop since she was sixteen.
‘Why? What are you going to do instead?’ For a panicked moment, I wondered if she would now expect to live with me rent-free, which was okay – I had no mortgage to pay, but I would be living off my savings for now and we had agreed that Blessing would split the cottage bills and buy her own food.
‘Help you in whatever you’re doing next? I can’t make pasties yet, but I can wash up, manage accounts and serve coffee. Compared to you, I’ll smash marketing, social media, all that biz.’
‘Blessing, I have no idea what I’m doing next.’
‘Okay, we can take some time out and travel for a bit instead. Pick up seasonal work. I don’t know, but I do know that I’m done with airports. Unless I’m catching a plane. I hate work without you there. Barb’s bitchy comments start to really bother me when I can’t laugh about them with you, later. A 6a.m. start is torture without a decent coffee. Plus, Mum said I have to give the car back if I move out and I can’t afford to buy one myself. It’ll take nearly two hours to get to the airport on public transport.’
‘Are you sure this isn’t just a bad day? It might not hurt to think about it for a few days.’
‘Maybe. Except I got a bit fired up about resigning and told Barb that if she put more effort into what came out of her mouth instead of what she slathered on it, all her staff might not want to leave. Honestly, Emmie. I’ve been Assistant Manager that long, I’ll have no problem finding customer-service work if I need to. I might be impulsive but I’m not irresponsible. I’ll still pay my way.’
‘In that case, great! I’m glad to have a wing-woman on my journey into the terrifying unknown.’
‘Okay, you’re super busy, so enough of me. What’s your news?’
