Christmas at the Highland Flower Shop by Lucy Coleman

Author:Lucy Coleman [Coleman, Lucy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Embla Books
Published: 2022-06-23T00:00:00+00:00

16.

The Turning Point

I spend the entire afternoon furtively trying to fathom out how to make the industrial unit accommodate our needs. Every time Mrs Mac approaches my desk, even though she can’t see my screen, I get flustered. I can’t share this with anyone until I have the loose ends all tied up and one big component is still up in the air. Going live with only half a plan is likely to undermine my team’s confidence in me, and rightly so. Just figuring out the logistics of splitting the business – and the team – into two has required my full attention. I’m conscious that it’s going to be a massive upheaval for us all.

The truth is that I made a huge mistake rejecting Maverick’s offer to look at the empty property at the other end of the High Street. One that I hope is reversible, because if it isn’t it puts everything else in jeopardy.

‘You look like ye need this, lassie,’ Mrs Mac comments as she places a mug of tea down in front of me. ‘Don’t ye go overdoin’ it, Bella. Stress is nae good for anyone.’

‘I know, Mrs Mac, and thank you.’

‘I’m about to send out that mailshot. Holly said she’ll stuff the envelopes for me once you approve the cover letter. You’ll no doubt wanna make a few changes, but I did ma best.’

‘You always do and you have no idea how grateful I am.’

‘It’s tough goin’ but ye’ll get there.’

‘Yes, I didn’t realise how different it would be sitting in this desk,’ I reply, candidly.

‘You think I’m sittin’ over there, oblivious to the fact you’re steppin’ up for us all? And it’s takin’ a toll on you, Bella, that’s obvious.’

‘Do you think you can manage without me tomorrow?’

Mrs Mac looks me straight in the eye. ‘We’ve more than enough people in to cope. Only Holly is off tomorrow. It’s high time you grabbed a little downtime, lassie. All work and no play … as the sayin’ goes.’

Hmm … but I wonder what her reaction would be if she knew I was going to be hanging out with Maverick? He’s not exactly Mr Popular around here right now.

‘So, this is Aonach Mòr – the eighth highest mountain in Britain.’ Maverick looks impressed as I climb out of the passenger seat of his VW camper van. It wasn’t quite the mode of transport I was expecting, I will be honest, as Nick’s speciality is performance cars.

‘It is and it’s even better the higher up you go. The van is rather nice,’ I remark.

‘It belonged to my father and was stored in a garage at my grandparents’ previous property. When they moved house, they asked him what he wanted to do with it and he didn’t want to let it go. When I first arrived, and Granddad showed it to me, I made a call and my father seemed pleased that I was interested in bringing the old girl back to life. A specialist company stripped it back to the bare shell and re-sprayed it for me.

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