Page 24 of Forever Love at Fleur's Flower Shop

‘Right. I’m glad she liked them.’ Fleur glanced towards the clock. ‘I’m really sorry, but I’m going to have to bale on you. I can’t be late setting up these venues and I’m cutting it fine as it is.’

‘No worries. I’ll come with you and give you a hand if you like?’

‘What? No, don’t be daft. You don’t want to be driving around with me and arranging flowers for the rest of the morning.’ She shook her head. As much as she’d love to spend a few hours with him. She couldn’t expect him to help her.

‘I’d be happy to.’

‘No, really...’

Matty held his hands up, palms forward. ‘If you don’t want me to join you, that’s fine, but if you’re just worried about me being put out, then I won’t be. I got another rejection letter this morning for a job I interviewed for last week so if anything, you letting me help would be doing me a favour. It’ll make me feel useful and as though I’m capable of something, at least.’

Fleur frowned. How could she refuse when he put it like that? ‘Okay then. Your help would be very much appreciated. Thank you.’

Chapter Seventeen

‘Wow, they had a lot of bridesmaids.’ Matty jumped back into the passenger seat of Fleur’s van.

‘Haha, yes. Five. Still, five bridesmaids’ bouquets and one for the bride means more for me, so it’s all good.’ Fleur started the engine.

‘Where to next? We still seem to have a lot of boxes in the back of the van.’

‘We’ve got the church and the reception hall to decorate yet.’ Fleur glanced across at him. ‘Tell me if you’re bored already and I can drop you home before I go to the church.’

‘Hey, I’m not bored.’ Looking at her, Matty grinned. ‘Far from it. I’m enjoying myself. Do you remember the road trips we used to take?’

Fleur smiled as memories of their weekends together came to mind. Any spare weekend they had which wasn’t filled with roast dinners round her grandparents’ house or BBQs at his parents, they’d stick a pin in a map and head to their chosen location straight after work on Friday and find a local campsite to set up their tent before spending the weekend exploring. ‘I do indeed. How could I forget?’

‘Do you remember that time we ended up in a little seaside resort in Wales and it rained the entire time?’

‘Haha, yes! And our tent flooded so much that we had to sleep in the car.’ Fleur laughed as she turned right.

‘That’s it. We had a laugh, didn’t we?’

‘We sure did.’ Fleur nodded. It was true. Their relationship had been as close to perfect as she’d ever hoped. She bit down on her bottom lip as they turned the corner and the church came into view, the church they’d supposed to have got married in. Why hadn’t she realised where they’d be coming? She should have thought.

‘The weddings here?’ Matty’s voice was quiet.

Fleur nodded as a lump formed in her throat. ‘Sorry, I didn’t think. I should never have said you could come along.’

Shaking his head, Matty plastered a smile to his face. ‘Nope, it’s fine. Let’s get this church decorated.’

‘Okay.’ Fleur got out of the van before joining Matty at the back and pulling the back doors open.

‘Which boxes do we need?’

‘Umm, these ones.’ Taking a stack of boxes, she waited for Matty to grab the rest before she kicked the van doors closed and turned towards the church. Using her hip, she pushed open the decorative wooden gates and held them open for Matty.

‘Thanks.’ He paused and looked up at the church before stepping through the gateway.

As she followed him across the broken slabbed pathway towards the large wooden doors, she kept her eyes focused on the top box in the stack in her arms. They were really doing this, weren’t they? They were both about to walk into the church they should have got married in, the church they’d planned the ceremony for, the hymns they’d have sung, the flowers they’d have hung from the ends of the pews. Everything. She frowned. Matty would have seen the flower decorationsshe’d painstakingly created from wildflowers she’d foraged in her grandparents’ back garden. He’d have seen how the church looked once all the decorations were in place.

She hadn’t.Not from the altar anyway.

She hadn’t got that far.

Pausing by the huge door, Matty shifted the boxes he was carrying into one hand before pushing the wrought iron handle. Holding it open, he nodded at her to go through first.

Stepping through the door, Fleur halted. She should have thought this through. She never normally accepted offers of supplying flowers for weddings in this church. She normally made an excuse. It had only been because the venue of the Burton’s ceremony had changed at the last minute due to missing roof tiles in the church the happy couple were supposed to get married in. She should have said no, refunded them the deposit and walked away from the job.

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