Allowing her cheeky side to come to the fore, she giggled as she jotted this down; and while imagining the poor chap being summoned to the bedroom at all hours of the day, told herself that even florists were allowed the oddin-joke.
She knew the new Dad didn’t really care what went into his bouquet. Her customers very rarely did. For most, having something that looked the part was all that mattered, but Annabel couldn’t help herself. Every arrangement had to symbolise the event it was catering for and even though no one else knew the significance of each individual flower, at least she did. Choosing the right flowers for the right occasion was one of the things she most loved about her job. An aspect that had only come to the fore after Tom’sdeath.
She thought back to that awful time. Making a wreath for him had been one of the most painful things she’d ever had to do. Yes, she could have asked another florist to step in. She could have even given them a list of all the flora and fauna she wanted to be included. But someone else wouldn’t have put their heart and soul into it like Annabel had done. Not to mention their tears. Such was its impact, she still cried a little to this day when it came to making up arrangements for funerals. But from Tom’s death onwards, she made sure that no matter what the event, all her creations hadsignificance.
Finally, satisfied with her choices, Annabel put the pen down, ready to set about getting everything together. She grabbed the scissors and her belly began to rumble. ‘It can’t be lunchtime already,’ she said. Annabel looked over at the wall clock, she noted that it was a quarter-past-twelve. ‘Please, no. Not again.’ Annabel pictured Katy sitting at their usual table, impatiently awaiting her late arrival. She sighed. ‘Someone’s not going to be a happybunny.’
She dropped everything and quickly headed out back to collect her handbag. She silently insisted that if she was quick her friend would still be waiting. Annabel hastily flipped the closed sign as she made her exit and rushed off on herlunchdate.
‘Ouch!’ she suddenlycriedout.
In her haste, she hadn’t noticed the individual about to pass by and bumped straight into them; it felt like she’d walked into a wall. ‘Can’t you watch where you’regoing?’
‘Well excuse me,’ said a male voice. ‘Even if you are the one who knockedintome.’
Annabel dusted herself down, she couldn’t believe the man’s cheek and was ready to give him a piece of her mind. She looked him square in the face, and froze, recognising the human obstacle before her. Trying to speak, the words wouldn’tcomeout.
She watched the man’s face break into a smile. ‘Hello again,’ he said. ‘Annabel,isn’tit?’
Annabel cringed; she wanted the ground to swallow her whole. ‘It’s you,’ she said. ‘Fromlastweek.’
‘Dan, yes.’ The manreplied.
Embarrassment welled as she recalled her drunken slurring that night; she’d taken the phrase ‘Dutch Courage’ to its limit. Seeing him grin back at her, he obviously remembered events too. Why, oh why, hadn’t she limited herself to one or twoglasses?
His amusement continued while he waited for her to say something, reminding Annabel why, out of the crowd, she’d ultimately chosen him as the one to father her child. He had one of those smiles that lit up his whole face, just like Tom had had. Of course, that still didn’t excuse him not watching where he was going, she decided, at last pulling herself together. And what was he doing hereanyway?
Her stomach did a little flip. Unless he’d come to take her up on heroffer?
‘I’d shake your hand,’ said Dan. ‘But I feel our relationship has alreadymovedon.’
Annabel’s heart sank. The man was clearly laughing at her and she felt her glimmer of hope fast disappear, along with the last of herdignity.
Not that she could blame him. Again, thinking back to her rather inebriated, yet very serious conversation about him being the one to help her procreate, he had every right to tease her. Talk about easy pickings. To him, she was probably just some drunken woman desperate forashag.
However, if that really was his view, she supposed, under the circumstances, she should be glad he hadn’t taken her speech all that seriously. On the down side though, this did mean she was going to have to go through the whole rigmarole again with someone else; except this time it would be minus the alcohol. But why the unexpected visit if it wasn’t to talk about babies, she wondered and suddenly suspicious, she took astepback.
‘So what can I do for you?’ she asked. ‘What are youdoinghere?’
It began to dawn on her just how stupid she’d been. Everyone knew there were lots of weirdoes out there, yet for some reason, stranger danger had been the one thing she hadn’t banked on. In her search for a prospective father, the last thing she’d considered was the possibility of having a deranged stalker on her hands and she just hoped she wasn’t about to pay theprice.
She tried to remember if, apart from her mobile number, she’d given him any personal information that night. Her overriding feeling was that she was quite sure that shehadn’t.
‘I could say the same about you,’ he replied, which, as far as Annabel was concerned, explained absolutelynothing.
Determined not to show any fear, she pointed to the sign emblazoned above the window. ‘It’s my shop,’shesaid.
Her heart sank even further as she suddenly realised what she’d just done. If the would-be maniac standing here didn’t know exactly where to find her before, thanks to her and her big mouth, he certainlydidnow.
‘Small world,’hesaid.
Annoyed with herself as much as she was him, Annabel gave him a stern look. ‘If you could answer the question, please,’shesaid.
Finally, he relented. ‘I’m doing some work around the corner, if youmustknow.’
‘What kindofwork?’
Dan laughed. ‘What’s with the twenty questions? Besides, shouldn’t you have asked me these things before you gave me yournumber?’
