Glad to see his mum smile, he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead ready to make his exit. ‘Don’t wait up,’ he said, heading forthedoor.
‘Maeve’s a very nice girl, you know.’ his mum suddenly called after him. ‘You could doworse.’
Despite trying to hide it, the desperation in his mother’s voice caused Dan to stop in his tracks. Feeling suspicious, she either had a good idea he was up to something and this was a last ditch attempt at stopping him; or, she was up to something herself. Whichever of the two, neither optionbodedwell.
He quickly recalled his numerous phone calls with Annabel, mentally double checking that each and every one of them had taken place out of his mother’s earshot. And knowing that, short of him talking in his sleep, there was no way she could be on to him, Dan realised this could only mean one thing. The woman had plans afoot ofherown.
‘Mum,’ he said, turning to face her. ‘What’sgoingon?’
She didn’t reply, her sudden silence on the matter increased hiscuriosity.
‘Mum?’ herepeated.
Whatever was on her mind, he could see she didn’t want to tell him. Dan just hoped she hadn’t taken her need to match-make one step further and organised some sort of blind date. Or worse still, booked the church for a wedding, something he wouldn’t have put past heroflate.
She patted the seat next to her, indicating he should sit down and wondering what this was all about, he accepted theinvitation.
‘Just promise me,’ she said. ‘That you’ll be married, or at least settled, before I pop myclogs.’
Dan laughed. At least this meant she hadn’t ordered a hat. But still, talk like this was way over the top, even for hismother.
His mum failed to share in his amusement and maintained her air of solemnity as she placed a hand on his. ‘Promise me,’shesaid.
He decided to play along. The woman might be a tad eccentric, but they both knew she had years left in her; therefore, it was a vow he could easily make. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Ipromise.’
He rose to his feet but she reached up tostophim.
‘Come on, Dan. I’m beingserious.’
The sincerity in her face began to worry him and he found himself sitting back down again. ‘I know, Mum,’ he said. ‘And soamI.’
She took his hand once more and Dan felt her grip tighten. Confused, he watched her take a deep breath, as if gathering herthoughts.
‘Mum, what’s wrong?’ heasked.
‘There’s something I need to tell you,’ she replied. ‘Something I should have told you before now, but every time I tried I couldn’t find the right words.’ She paused, bringing a hand up to her mouth. ‘God, this issohard.’
Dan suddenly felt frightened. ‘What’s so hard? You should have toldmewhat?’
As his mother looked at him, he saw tears beginning to form inhereyes.
‘I’m sick, Dan,’ she said. ‘Verysick.’
7
Elbows on the counter,Annabel sat by the till, propped her chin in her hand, and sighed. It was one of those days; one of those weeks, even. A few days ago, she’d had so much to look forward to. Becoming a mother had seemed a real possibility. Now, and through no fault of her own, parenthood was back to being a dream. She ached with disappointment. How could life be so cruel? How couldpeoplebe socruel?
She stared at the phone and willed it to ring. With all the births, deaths, and marriages taking place, let alone the engagements, the leaving-dos and the just-for-the-heck-of-its, someone somewhere must want a bunch of flowers. Of course they did. Just not from her it seemed. She gazed out of the window at all the passers-by, acknowledging there’d been a distinct lack of customers coming through the door. Annabel hated times like these. They weren’t just bad for business, they gave her the headspace to think, whether she wanted toornot.
The one thing she most certainly didn’t want to consider was her situation with Dan, a desire her brain adamantly refused to acknowledge. Images of the man popped into her head at every given opportunity. Pictures of him having a good laugh at her expense, while she just sat there waiting for him to turn up. She felt almost as annoyed with herself. From what Katy had said about him being a player, she should have known he’d pull a stunt like that. Not that any self-blame stopped her from wanting tothrottlehim.
While glancing around the room, she tried to conjure up another job to help keep her murderous thoughts at bay. It was a struggle. Having spent the last couple of days tidying the stock room, checking the inventory, and giving the shop a good old clean, there didn’t seem to be any more chores left. She tried to look on the bright side and supposed that Dan had done her a favour. These were all jobs that had needed doing anyway and he had provided her with the required motivation to get stuck in. She frowned, wondering who she was trying to kid. The man hadn’t done her a favour at all. He’d made a complete foolofher.
She reached over the counter and pulled a rose out of its container. After running her fingers along its velvety petals, she put it to her nose hoping its scent would be enough to soothe her. On this occasion, though, it seemed even her beloved flowers couldn’t help and, she began to imagine what she was going to say, or better stilldo, to Dan the very next time she clapped eyesonhim.
Annabel headed out back, telling herself a cup of tea would make her feel better. Not that she really believed in the power of the hot drink, her stash of teabags had failed to work their magic all week. She grabbed one from its box and simply tossed it into her cup before clicking thekettleon.
While waiting for the water to boil, the shop door opened and its bell sounded. ‘At last,’ she said. ‘A customer.’ With a bit of luck they’d want lots of fancy flower arrangements organising for some big event, a job detailed enough to give her mind anotherdiversion.
