Alice checked the door again.
Obviously this is your flat – it’s the penthouse, it’s the only one on this floor!
Tentatively, she opened the door again, millimetres at a time.
Same beige walls, same bare kitchen, same sterile lounge. Yes, this was definitely hers. An apartment picked straight out of a showroom catalogue. But who were all the cards from? Where had all the flowers come from?
Slowly Alice stepped inside. Who had been inside her flat? Alice wasn’t a ‘give a spare key to a neighbour’ kind of girl. No one in the world had access but her.
That was when she saw it. A note gingerly propped up on the side by the flowers.
Dear Miss Gunnersley,
You appear to be absent and we needed to clear the front desk of your deliveries. The flowers kept dying. I hope you don’t mind that we delivered them to your flat.
Yours sincerely,
Jim Broach
Head of Maintenance
Well, that was one question answered then.
Alice reached for the card next to the note. She recognized the handwriting but couldn’t quite place where from.
Dear Alice,
Sending you lots of get well soon wishes and good energy for your recovery. We all miss you and are thinking of you.
Love Lyla & Arnold
P.S. I hope you like the pot plant. Arnold thought it would be better than flowers as it will last longer (only if you water it though!).
P.P.S. I made Henry order you a weekly bunch of flowers. Serves him right for being a tight bastard! x
Alice laughed. How she would have loved to see Lyla approach that conversation. Poor Henry wouldn’t know what had hit him! A rush of affection surged through her.
She picked off the card attached to the large bouquet of flowers.
Please find these flowers delivered to you on behalf of your colleagues at Coleman and Chase.
Get well soon.
Lyla wasn’t lying – she really had got Henry to pay out!
The final card all but broke her.
AL!
Welcome home, my love.
Here is a little something to make you smile / please don’t kill them straight away!
Miss you always,
Sarah and Raph xxx
No matter how much she pushed, or how fiercely she denied it, right now Alice couldn’t help but feel anything other than loved.
