Page 16 of Forever Love at Fleur's Flower Shop

‘I know and your heroism won’t go unnoticed, I can assure you of that.’ Gregory smiled as he shoved a scorecard, pen and pin badge in her hands.

‘But, I...’

‘Thank you, ladies. Now, gentlemen, please step forward and I’ll number you one to twelve. As soon as you have been numbered and collected your scorecards, pens, and pin badges, you may go and sit with your first date. Please do not start talking until the magic bell rings.’ He held up the bell. ‘I will not condone any cheating.’

Standing back, Fleur let the men file past Gregory and towards their seats, making sure she kept her eyes low so she couldn’t catch eyes with Matty. She really couldn’t do this. She’d come face to face with him and seven minutes might not sound like a long time, but when she was sitting opposite the man she’d left at the altar, she was pretty sure it would feel like a lifetime.

‘Go on now, Fleur. Take your seat. There’s no time to dawdle.’ Gregory nodded towards the table in the corner. ‘Off you go.’

Her cheeks turned scarlet as she realised everyone was looking at her, waiting for her to join them so the evening of dating could begin. Muttering under her breath, she reluctantly made her way to her table and slipped into the chair. She was never going to volunteer to help with any of Gregory's silly ideas again. Not that she had volunteered in the first place. No, she’d never wanted to be part of this stupid debacle, but she hadn’tkicked up a fuss last night when Gregory had told her to host this stupid dating thing. Oh no, she’d gone along with it, against her will and look where it had landed her. On a speed dating cycle with Matty here.

‘And gentlemen, please take your seats.’ Gregory flourished his arms towards the tables as the men began filing towards them.

Please don’t be Matty. Please, Matty, don’t come here. Not first, anyway. Fleur breathed a sigh of relief as Thomas, one of the local farmers, joined her at the table.

Chapter Eleven

With seven rounds of speed dating down, Fleur took a sip of her water. Her mouth was parched from all the talking. The irony was that any other time, then speed dating would be just her thing - a fun night and the potential for finding someone she could share a few dates with. But tonight, she just wasn’t in the mood. Besides, however much she told herself and others that she wanted to find someone to settle down with, deep down she knew she never would.

The man sitting opposite her, someone she didn’t recognise from the town, raised his eyebrows questionably.

‘Umm... sorry. Can you repeat the question?’ Fleur glanced across at the table behind him. Matty was chatting and laughing with Lucy from down her road. He looked relaxed. Happy. Huh, they’d actually probably make a lovely couple. Lucy had always been kind to her. Not once had she seen or heard anything about her doing anything such as running off from her groom-to-be. Yes, she’d treat him right. She shook her head and focused on the man in front of her again.

‘I asked you what your favourite vegetable was?’ The man spoke slowly, as though to make sure Fleur heard him this time.

‘Right, of course, that’s what you asked.’ Did it matter what vegetable was her favourite? Did he only date broccoli lovers? Or would it be a fast no if she told him she liked eating carrots? She refrained from rolling her eyes at yet another meaningless question from someone she hoped she’d never have the displeasure of talking to again and blurted out the first thing that entered her head. ‘I hate vegetables. I try not to eat them.’

The man spluttered into his drink. ‘You don’t eat vegetables?’

‘Well, of course I do, but I wouldn’t choose to sit down and munch on a bowl of sprouts.’ She twisted her glass in her hand as she tried to lip read what Lucy was saying to Matty.

‘Vegetables hold so manyessentialvitaminsthat you need to be eating daily to remain healthy, you...’

Was Lucy asking him on a proper date? She narrowed her eyes as she desperately tried to zone in on what they were saying, but it was no good. The drivel about the importance of eating your daily vegetables was drowning out anything Lucy was saying. She was sure she’d heard the word film, though. What if she was asking Matty out? Fleur’s stomach churned. As she turned her attention back to the man in front of her, she almost felt compelled to tell him she’d stoop to eating a bucketful of sprouts she was that hungry because she hadn’t eaten since lunch, but somehow, she didn’t think he’d get the joke. Instead, she realised she must have missed another question if the stone-cold stare he was giving her was anything to go by.

Thankfully, the bell rang through the restaurant, and she breathed a sigh of relief as the man pushed his chair back and walked away from her without even a cursory ‘goodbye’. She had a feeling he’d be crossing her name off his list of potential matches and scoring her a big fat zero. She looked down at her scorecard. It was still empty despite the number of conversations she’d been forced to participate in. She closedher eyes and reminded herself there must only be another five awkwardly stilted conversations to go. Five!

‘Hello, Fleur.’

Flinging her eyes open, she watched as Matty slipped into the chair opposite her. Of course she’d been expecting him, but his presence still made her jump. She squirmed in her chair and glanced towards Sadie, willing her to look this way and come to rescue her.

‘Fleur, I’m...’

The loud tinkle from Gregory’s bell cut him off.

What was she supposed to do? She focused on her scorecard, willing him to just disappear or else a herd of elephants to run in from the kitchen. Something, anything. With the reality that nobody was going to extract her from the situation, she pushed her chair back and mumbled, ‘Sorry, need the ladies.’

‘Fleur please.’ Matty placed his hand on her forearm.

She looked down at his hand against her skin, the familiar shot of electricity that she used to feel between them shocking her enough to lower herself back into her chair. When he removed his hand, she continued to stare at her forearm, the absence of his warmth on her arm filling her with a chill.

‘You’ve not filled in your scorecard, then?’ Matty pointed to her blank card.

Shaking her head, she raised her eyes, meeting his for the first time since he’d sat down. The deep blue of his irises flooded with warmth at her acknowledgement.

‘Same here.’ Matty chuckled as he picked up his own scorecard and waved it in front of him.

‘You haven’t?’ Her voice cracked as she spoke. He was really sitting opposite her. After all this time. All she wanted to do was to jump up and run around the table and sink into his embrace but she knew the time she could do that had long since gone.

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