Page 25 of Forever Love at Fleur's Flower Shop

She looked down at the floor, at the grating lining the cement slabs, and took breath after breath. Ten years ago, almost to this day, was the moment her life had changed forever. The moment both their lives had changed forever, and they were both standing in the exact same building as they had been that day.

‘Where are these going?’ Placing the boxes on the nearest pew, Matty looked around the vast space.

‘Err...’ Shaking her head, Fleur blinked, willing herself to step out of the thoughts of what might have been, what should have been, and focus on what needed to be done in this moment. Just because she’d messed up her and Matty’s wedding, it didn’t mean she had any right whatsoever in messing up her clients’ wedding by standing here and not setting up. ‘Sorry, these ones need to hang on the end of the pews please.’

‘Right.’

She watched as Matty began carefully unpacking the flower arrangements and hanging them in position before she finally leaned over and opened the box to the larger arrangement which would sit next to a photograph of the happy couple on the table by the door. Picking it up, she made her way back towards where they’d come. The photograph wasn’t here yet, but she knew exactly where to put the flowers.

Bending down, she lowered the arrangement to the table before returning tothe boxes and lifting out the small arrangement which would loop around the lectern. Gently taking it in her hands she walked towards the altar, her cheeks flaming as she realised Matty was standing beside the first pew as he attached the hanging arrangement.

Looking up, Matty’s eyes fixed upon her, and she saw him straighten his back as he watched her walk down the aisle. Her mouth was dry and if she could wish for anything right at that very moment, then it would be for the floor to open up and swallow her up inside. This replay of what should have been couldn’t have been planned.

As she reached the lectern at the end of the altar, she realised her cheeks were damp with tears and her eyes stung. Fiddling with the long garland of dainty sweetpeas and peonies, she willed herself to hurry up and attach them to the lectern. She could feel her ears flaming as she felt Matty’s eyes bore into her back.

‘Drat.’ Dropping the garland on the floor, Fleur stooped to pick it up and once she’d taken the stems between her fingers, she stood back up, her head crashing right into Matty’s as he leaned down to help her.

‘I’m so sorry. I...’ Straightening his back, Matty reached out and helped her with the garland, his fingers touching hers as he too held the stems between his thumbs and forefingers.

‘No, I’m sorry, I didn’t look.’

‘I shouldn’t have bent down at the same time as you. It was my fault.’

‘It wasn’t.’ Fleur caught Matty’s eye as he began to chuckle, and she fought the giggle erupting in her belly for a second before she joined him. As they laughed, the garland looped between them, Fleur shook her head. ‘This is so ridiculous.’

‘It sure is. Whowouldhavethoughtthat we’d both be back in the church we weresupposedto get married in ten yearsafterthe non-event,dressingit with flowers for adifferentcouple?’ Matty’s chuckle faded as his face grew serious again. ‘I’vethought about you every day, you know that, Fleur? Every single day.’

She frowned. ‘No, youhaven’t. You had a partner.’

‘Ihad a girlfriend, yes but Icouldnever bring myself to marry, to settle down. Instead, I flitted from onerelationshipto the next, always searching for whatIcouldn’t have. You.’

‘You did?’ Fleur bit down on her bottom lip beforespeakingagain. ‘I’m sorry about whatIdid. I really am.’

Taking the garland from her hands, Matty laid it over the lectern and took her hands in his. ‘Please don’t apologise. I understood. I was never angry at you.’

‘You weren’t?’ How could he not have been? She not only broke his heart, but she showed him up in front of all his friends, too.

Matty shook his head, his eyes full of kindness. ‘No, I wasn’t. Naturally I was upset, distraught, but you’d just lost your grandma. I knew you’d been going through a tough time and we should have postponed.’

‘But, I... I wanted to get married. I wanted to marry you.’ She looked down at the floor between them and lowered her voice. ‘I just couldn’t. I couldn’t go through with it knowing I’d probably lose you, too.’

‘Fleur, you’d never have lost me. I’d have stayed with you through thick and thin.’ Matty’s voice cracked as he spoke.

Looking up at him, she finally met his gaze. ‘I think I knew that all along, and that’s what scared me the most.’

Frowning, Matty circled the pad of his thumbs across the back of her hands. ‘What do you mean? Why would that have scared you the most?’

‘Because I would have hurt you even more. I wasn’t, I’m not, capable of loving someone, anyone, the way someone should be loved. The way I grew up, my parents dropping me off at my grandparents’ and never returning, how could I have known how to love someone?’

‘You loved your grandparents. And you loved me. Whatever you say, I know you did.’

She nodded. ‘You’re right. I did. I loved them and I loved you, but you deserved better. You didn’t deserve to be married to someone you had to piece together. You deserved it all. The real deal.’

‘You were the real deal.’

‘I wasn’t.’ Fleur shook her head. She’d been broken. She’d been trying to grieve for her grandma, face her parents, who had returned to Nettleford briefly for her grandma’s funeral and arrange a wedding all at the same time.

‘You were.’ Matty led them towards the first pew and lowered himself to the wooden bench as she sunk to it next to him. Twisting to face her, he dropped one hand and instead tucked his forefinger beneath her chin, lifting her face until she was looking at him. ‘You were. You were everything I ever wanted. Everything I could ever have dreamed of. And, if I’m honest, none of that has changed. You’re the reason I came back to Nettleford instead of going to my brother’s. I came back here because I still have feelings for you, and I needed to know if you feel the same way.’

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