It was exactly what Florrie had hoped would happen.
ChapterNine
‘Isla, the comments… I’ve woken up to hundreds of comments on my first ever post and the followers … I just can’t believe it. How does this happen?’
It was early morning and Florrie was sitting in bed with a cup of tea in one hand and her phone in the other whilst staring at her iPad, balanced on her bent knees. She knew Isla was an early bird and couldn’t wait to talk to her so had called her right away. ‘Do I reply to all these comments?’
‘Hang on, I’m just logging on to take a look.’
For a moment, there was silence at the other end of the phone. ‘Florrie! You’ve nailed it! This is brilliant. Yes interact, make these people feel part of your journey. You have to keep on top of this and post again today.’
‘I will. I just need to think of something.’
‘It’s a beautiful morning out there, why not introduce your followers to the grounds of Rose Cottage and let them see where the beautiful blooms are grown? Or you could take your followers on your deliveries. Just keep posting! I’ll see you tonight. I have a full day at the farm but let’s catch up later. Maybe we could grab food in the pub? Drew is taking the children to Primrose Park; he’s discovered his old fishing rod in one of the barns and has promised to take them to the fishing lake after work for a picnic.’
‘Yes, that sounds perfect,’ replied Florrie, knowing that she hadn’t been eating much. Her appetite had dwindled since the death of Great-Aunt Ada. ‘And I’m on it, I’ll post the next reel this morning.’
After hanging up the call, Florrie turned back to her iPad with a wide smile on her face. The social media campaign was off to a flying start. Everyone loved The Vintage Flower Van. She was amazed how much momentum the account had gained overnight. She began to scroll through all the lovely comments.
What a beautiful vintage flower van. I’ve booked my trip to Heartcross!
I’m on my way to Heartcross to visit this utterly gorgeous flower van.
Just look at that flower van, you have the best business in the world! Its stuff dreams are made of!
These were the types of comments that Florrie had hoped would be posted. If she could make random strangers fall in love with The Vintage Flower Van and the gardens at Rose Cottage as much as the community, she would be able to use them in her fight against W. Houston Property Developers.
‘Oh my gosh,’ she said, thinking out loud. ‘Maybe I could organise an online petition. “Save The Flower Van and Rose Cottage Gardens.”’ Of course, she would have to wait for Jaydon to get a response from W. Houston Property Developers first, but Florrie was at least starting to feel hopeful in her quest to save Ada’s beloved business.
There was comment after comment, and lots of questions about growing flowers. Florrie was stunned by the number of people who had taken an interest in such a short time. Isla was right, she needed to build on that immediately. For the next ten minutes she answered questions about the different varieties of flowers in the bouquet she’d made up yesterday. She was in her element; this was exactly what she loved doing – talking about the thing she loved the most.
What’s your favourite flower?asked one follower.
That was an easy question to answer.
The red tulip as it represents elegance and grace. Not only that, red tulips mean the perfect love. The dark centre of the flower represents a lover’s heart darkened by the heat of passion.
As soon as she’d typed the words, she was transported back eight years when she had told Tom the same thing and he’d kissed her. Right at that moment she’d been on top of the world. She’d believed she was in love in Tom Houston. Even now, as Florrie stared at the screen, she couldn’t get him off her mind.
Over the years she’d fought with herself about whether to unblock him and have a peek at what he’d been up to. She’d resisted temptation until now, and before she could stop herself, she clicked on her privacy settings and unblocked Tom. With her heart racing she typed in his username and briefly closed her eyes. When she opened them Tom’s profile picture was staring back at her. It felt like he was looking at her the same way as he did on that first afternoon they’d spent together. His stare intense, his wolfish grin sparking tiny explosions of joy throughout her body.
His face was tanned in the profile picture, and he had the unshaven thing going on, which she found deeply attractive. There was something about Tom Houston that she just couldn’t shake off.
Navigating her way to his photos, Florrie couldn’t quite believe there had been no posts in the past eight years. She couldn’t help thinking that was strange. Maybe he’d set up a new account since then? Florrie typed his name into the search bar but the only account that came up was the one she was already looking at. Being careful not to double-click the screen and draw attention to the fact she was looking at his social media, she looked at the photos. They were exactly how she remembered them.
The first showed Tom and Sophia frolicking on his father’s yacht in swimwear, Tom’s arm around her waist, Sophia gazing up towards him with a look in her eyes that Florrie recognised because she’d looked at Tom in that way too. The second photo was of Tom and Sophia sitting by the water’s edge, outside a bistro in St Tropez, enjoying a glass of wine. Florrie recognised the bottle as Chablis, a wine that Tom had first introduced her to. Sophia looked stunning with her bronze tan, designer sunglasses and straw fedora. Even though Florrie had seen these photographs eight years ago, she still felt a twinge of jealousy. Sophia had been tagged in the photograph and Florrie couldn’t resist the temptation to click through to her profile.
Sophia Henley had brains and beauty. Every photograph was the very definition of ‘Instagram worthy’. In one photo she was dressed in luxury outdoor gear with a black Labrador at her side. In the next she was on stage talking into a microphone with a room full of people seated in front of her. Florrie immediately recognised the logo on the screen behind Sophia from Flynn’s email – it was for the William Houston Foundation. The caption had a link to a website and Florrie clicked it and found herself back on the foundation’s site. Three faces looked back at her from the top of the screen: the CEO Edward Houston, the Foundation Director Tom Houston, and the Fundraising Manager Sophia Henley. Did that mean Sophia would be arriving in Heartcross for the charity event? Florrie felt a little put out even though she knew she shouldn’t be. What was it to her if they were still in touch and working together?
Throwing back the duvet she swung her legs to the floor and jumped straight into the shower. Last night, she had nipped back to Buttercup Barn to set up the shop to make things a little easier for Martha in the morning. Before she headed back to Rose Cottage, she’d stopped at her home on Love Heart Lane and grabbed her insurance policy. After hopping out of the shower she took a screenshot of the policy details and pinged it over to Tom in a text. Almost instantly he replied.
Thank you x
She stared at the text. No, she stared atthe kiss. Was he being so nice because he wanted her onside to make his life easier? Did he think it would help him to profit from the houses he planned to build on the Rose Cottage land without her putting up much fuss? If he was, he had another thing coming. She and the community of Heartcross were going to create more publicity than a royal wedding, which meant she would definitely be butting heads with Tom in the very near future, which would bring a swift end to any future kisses in texts.
As soon as she was dressed Florrie headed to the kitchen and with her phone in her hand opened the back door. She was greeted by an effect of harmony that pinned her to the spot. The sky declared that it was going to be another glorious day ahead. Just outside the back door was a short walk through the courtyard to the walled garden, an original feature of the cottage. It was a sheltered square on the south side of the cottage, with high walls of greyish-pink stone. Ada had gardened this part productively, with vegetables, fruit and flowers for her table.
Ada had also erected a row of glasshouses on the west side of the walled garden, which were crammed with cucumbers, tomatoes and fruit vines clambering up the pink, lime-washed walls. At the furthest corner the garden led into a wilder grassy orchard and then a buttercup meadow, the River Heart rushing along the perimeter. All in all, the garden covered two acres – land that had seen a huge transformation since Ada had moved in.
