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Not helpful, Ryan. She doesn’t like you, remember? She thinks she’s better than you.

“Aye,” I say. “Good to meet you, Innes.”

“You too, Axe King.”

“Bye, Penny.” I give her a last wee pat, then nod at Briony. “Briony.”

She returns the nod. “Ryan.”

And with that, we go our separate ways.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

BRIONY

Quarter to nine on Tuesday morning, and I’ve checked the list three times.

Eleven buckets stand in a row along the back wall of the shop. I inspect them again, even though I know there’s no need. I lift a stem here, turn one there. Everything came up from a grower in Ayrshire yesterday and has spent the night in cool water.

Cream, green, and purple. Cow parsley and guelder rose for the cream. Solomon’s seal for the green. Camassia in that deep blue-purple, and aquilegia so dark it’s nearly black. Hazel and ferns for foliage.

Eleven buckets is more than I’m likely to need, and there’s a lot of cow parsley, but it’ll start shedding the moment it’s under lights, and I can’t exactly nip back to Hyndland for more.

The boxes by the door hold everything else. Scissors, wire, tape. The tarpaulin I’ll work over, so my mess stays off the floor we’re shooting on. And the vessels, each with a ball of chicken wire already taped in place to hold the stems where I put them.

I stand back and look at it all, remembering Mara’s brief.

Wild. Romantic. Not polished. She wants it to look like the flowers are growing up out of concrete.

It sounded so exciting when she popped into the shop a couple of weeks ago and booked me, but now the day is here, my stomach is full of butterflies.

The bell tinkles, and in walks Emmy in a navy boiler suit and her usual chunky platform boots, a coffee in each hand. “Morning. I come bearing caffeine.”

“You absolute angel.”

I lean against the counter and take a grateful sip. Mmm, exactly what I needed.

“How’s the photoshoot prep going?” Emmy asks, crouching to make a fuss of Penny. “Anything I can do?”

“I’m all sorted. Very much at the worrying needlessly stage. Though once we’ve had our coffees, I’ll accept a hand getting all this into the van.”

“Of course. You’re going to smash it today. I just know it.”

“I hope so. And you’ll be all right minding the shop on your own?”

“On my own? Penny’s here. She’ll keep any difficult customers in line.”

I smile. “I don’t need to leave for another twenty minutes, and I could do with a distraction. So, spill. How did the date go last night?”

“It was brilliant.” Emmy lights up. “Dinner, drinks, then back to hers.” She wiggles her eyebrows.

“Sounds like it went well.”

“Mm-hmm. She’s so funny. Confident too. Like, properly confident. She just says exactly what she’s thinking.” Emmy lowers her voice. “And some of it was pure filth.”

“Right. Well…” I take a very long sip of coffee.

“But she’s sweet too. Afterwards, she hugged me all night long, and she made me breakfast this morning. We’re seeing each other again on Saturday.”