Page 70 of The Little Island Flower Stall
‘I might do that,’ Celestine said, and it was telling of how worn out she must have been that she didn’t insist on getting up to open the stall with Bella. ‘You’re sure you’ll be all right?’
‘Of course – I’ve got the hang of it now. I did arrange to meet Rory for lunch, if that’s all right.’ She paused, watching as Celestine hobbled across the room. ‘What should I tell him?’
Celestine turned to her. ‘About what?’
‘About Violette and Klaus. All things considered, I think he has a right to know. Don’t you?’
Celestine shifted on her crutches and then let out a sigh. ‘You must do what you think is best.’
Bella made no reply, and Celestine filled the gap by leaving the room with a final goodnight. She knew what she wanted to do, but she wasn’t sure it was the right thing. Perhaps she’d be struck by some divine inspiration in the morning. With that final thought, she followed Celestine up to bed.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
It was strange not to get a reply to her text, but Bella was busy, and she didn’t have time to worry about it. She had to assume Rory was busy as well. Too busy to read a text and type out a quick response? That seemed less likely, and though the notion bothered her, she had no choice but to trust there was a perfectly good explanation that she’d hear all about when they met up at lunch.
But as lunchtime approached and there was still no word on their arrangements, Bella decided to text again:
Hey, you haven’t forgotten about our lunch date, have you? I don’t know if you got my last text, but I have something massive to tell you. Let me know what time you think you’ll be able to make it.
She reread it, worried for thirty seconds whether she’d got the right tone or not and then pressed send anyway.
By this time, Celestine was at the stall. She’d been chatting to Michel from the patisserie while Bella was messaging Rory.
‘How about some nice freesias?’ Bella heard her ask.
‘That sounds perfect,’ Michel replied. ‘How much will that be?’
‘Depends how many you want…’ Bella glanced over to see Celestine hold up an armful of flowers. ‘That all right for you?’ Michel nodded. ‘That’ll be five pounds then.’
‘I’ll take that while you arrange them,’ Bella said. She smiled at Michel as he handed over a ten-pound note. ‘How’s business?’
‘Good,’ he said. ‘Always is once the tourist season gets under way. How did you enjoy the Liberation Day celebrations?’
‘They were brilliant, weren’t they?’ Bella passed over his change. ‘I might have to come over next year for them.’
‘Unless you’re still here,’ Celestine said as she wrapped Michel’s flowers in some paper. She handed the bouquet to him. ‘I’m working on persuading her to stay when her six weeks is up.’
‘Well I wish you luck,’ he said with a smile. ‘You seem to make a very good team here.’
He went on his way, and Celestine turned to Bella. ‘I mean it, you know. I’d love you to stay.’
‘I know, but I’m not sure I can. Isn’t it difficult? There are things to be sorted at home, and…’
Bella’s mind went back to Sean and their divorce. She’d barely given him a single thought over the past few days, and certainly not when she’d kissed Rory the night before. There was no reason why Sean deserved any guilt over that, so why did she feel it? Yes, they’d made marriage vows, but it wasn’t as if he’d kept his, so why should she feel bad for doing the same? Even Celestine had been on her side there, despite coming from a generation that viewed marriage far more conservatively. Perhaps she should have waited until things were final with Sean before she started something with someone else, but then, who knew how long the divorce would take? If Sean decided to be awkward, it might be years.
Then there was the matter of money. She’d tried not to think about how much it was going to cost, but she’d have to do that sooner or later. She needed a job, one that actually paid a wage rather than the food and board she was getting from Celestine, lovely as that was. She was owed half of the house she’d lived in with Sean, but he’d made it clear he was going to go out of his way to make sure she didn’t get it. He might succeed too, and then what?
She was spared going into a misery spiral by a flurry of customers. It was a shame she couldn’t stay here and work at the stall forever with her aunt, because she loved the work, she loved being with Celestine and she loved Jersey most of all. She could see an amazing life here. Perhaps there would be a way to make that happen, but she couldn’t see it yet.
By the time she’d seen off the last customer of their rush, she checked her phone to see there was a text message from Rory.
I’m so sorry I won’t be able to make it today, something’s come up. I’ll call you when I can.
Bella frowned at the screen of her phone.
‘Everything all right?’
She looked round to see Celestine watching her with concern in her features.
