Meredith laughed. ‘I wish I’d have seen that.’
With the singing still in full flow Florrie caught Isla’s eye and headed over to join her beside the piano. Isla slipped her arm around Florrie’s shoulder and chinked her glass against Florrie’s as they joined in the song, tears in their eyes and smiles on their faces. Soon after, the buffet was declared open, the trestle table was full of Great-Aunt Ada’s favourite foods and cakes, all made by Rona from Bonnie’s Teashop.
Once the food had been devoured, Florrie stood at the bar next to the memory box with a microphone in her hand.
‘I can read the memories out from the cards if you’d prefer?’ offered Isla, knowing how difficult this would be for Florrie.
Florrie shook her head. ‘I’ve got this, but thank you.’
As she spoke into the microphone, the pub fell silent and all eyes were on her. ‘Thank you all for coming today to celebrate Great-Aunt Ada’s life. I do know she’ll be having complete FOMO about all this – especially those chocolate flapjacks, they were her absolute favourite.’ She smiled towards Rona and Felicity, Rona’s daughter, who had been up early preparing the buffet.
The room laughed.
‘Now I’m going to share with you all your own happy memories of Ada, followed by a short video, and then I believe Martha and Dolores are going to show us how to play one of Great-Aunt Ada’s favourite games from the past. Also, the drinks are free, so please do drink the bar dry. Aunt Ada would be disappointed if we didn’t.’
The memories from the box were entertaining and there were a lot of stories that Florrie had never heard before. When the last memory had been shared, a video flashed up on the screen on the wall of the pub and everyone watched the images of Ada from the past, including footage filmed by Ewart on her first day of business, Ada standing proudly in front of The Vintage Flower Van. There were the younger versions of Dolores and Martha, dressed up on Ada’s wedding day, and a short clip of Ewart carrying Ada over the threshold of Rose Cottage.
The next ten minutes whizzed by, everyone captivated by the memories.
Taking a sip of her drink, Florrie smiled and briefly looked out of the window. The timing couldn’t have been worse, as Tom walked past at that very moment and for an instant Florrie held his gaze before breaking eye contact. As soon as he was out of sight she walked towards the bay window, curious to see where he was heading. At the end of the street, he turned and took the track at the bottom of Love Heart Lane. Unexpectedly, he looked back over his shoulder. Immediately, Florrie took a step back. Damn. He likely knew she’d been watching him.
‘You okay?’ asked Isla, joining her at the window.
‘I am. I’m just taking a moment. All those memories … and the video footage was just fantastic. Great-Aunt Ada would have loved this. The friendships she had were really something special.’
‘Just like ours.’ Isla nudged her arm and smiled warmly. ‘Now look at that pair. Just like we said, they’re in their element.’
Dolores and Martha had everyone gathered around. Martha waved over to Isla and Florrie to join them as they introduced the game ‘Most Likely’, saying they had played it when they were younger, usually when too much alcohol had been consumed.
Twenty minutes later, both Florrie and Isla were giggly, the port was flowing freely and the game Dolores and Martha had introduced them to was in full swing.
Florrie leaned into Isla. ‘I’m feeling a little woozy. In fact, I think I’m bordering on very tipsy.’
‘I’m with you there, I’m not used to drinking in the afternoon. But this “Most Likely” game is fun.’
Martha was shushing the peals of laughter whilst everyone waited for the next question. ‘Most likely to get a terrible tattoo?’
There were frantic whispers before each person pointed at someone else. Florrie put her hands in the air. ‘Definitely not me, I’m scared of pain and needles.’ Florrie turned towards Isla. ‘Who do you think?’
‘I’m saying nothing.’ Isla’s voice was low.
‘Oh my gosh, you have a terrible tattoo, don’t you? How terrible?’
‘Terrible! Picture the scene: in our youth, myself, Felicity and Allie go on a girls’ holiday in Ibiza. We get very very drunk.’
‘I’m not liking the sound of this.’ Florrie was hanging on to her every word.
‘I got a tattoo of what I thought was a lovely dedication to Drew. The farm still belonged to his parents back then but I knew it would be passed down to him in time and that we were going to be together forever. So, in my drunken stupor, I decided to have a tattoo of a cute cow’s head. However, after twenty years and stretch marks from childbirth, it now looks like a cross between Kung Fu Panda and Tinky Winky.’ Isla raised her eyebrows whilst Florrie let out a peal of laughter.
‘I vowed right there and then I was never drinking again.’
‘And here we are,’ Florrie said, clinking her glass to Isla’s.
They both looked over towards Dolores and Martha who’d thrown out a couple more questions. The tears were streaming down their faces, but thankfully they were due to laughter now. The day had certainly had a number of ups and downs!
‘I could picture them sitting around the royal yacht, eating caviar and sipping champagne whilst playing this game. How the rich and famous live,’ said Isla. ‘Oh, to have a life like Dolores…’
‘She’s really had an amazing life and career, hasn’t she? Always dragging Martha and Ada off to those glitzy parties.’ Florrie took a sip of her drink then tilted her glass towards Dolores. ‘Not only an interesting life but a nice long one. And even at the age of ninety-nine she’s never forgotten her roots or her true friends.’
