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Emmy is basically the patron saint of casual dating. I’ve never heard her sound like this after a first date.

“Emmy Nolan, you’re smitten, aren’t you?”

“Am not. It’s early days. Practically embryonic.” A beat, then she giggles. “Okay, maybe I’m a little smitten. But she’s so hot! And…” She sighs. “Perfect.”

She shoots me a look. “How about you and Ryan, then? Have you seen him since Saturday?”

I admitted during our Sunday-morning debrief call that Ryan and I kissed. I left out the details, though. She doesn’t need to know that he lifted me up, pressed me against my flat door, and ground his you-know-what against me. Nor does she need to know how close I came to coming apart right there and then.

But she does know I stopped things and called the kiss a mistake. Her response: “You turned down a birthday shag with Ryan Sloan? Briony, do you hate yourself?”

I tell her about bumping into Ryan in Kelvingrove while I was with Innes. “Which was awkward, as I’m sure you can imagine.” I fill her in on Innes teasing Ryan, and on Ryan offering Innes tickets to the fight—which was, I admit somewhat grudgingly, quite a nice thing to do. “Innes and Dad had already bought tickets, though.”

“Oh, they’re going? I really want to go too, but I’m waiting until a bit nearer the time to get my ticket, just in case we’re done by then. Imagine it, though. Niamh all sweaty and fighting another woman. Hot.” She grins. “You fancy going?”

I remember the clips I saw. A man’s head snapping sideways. Another man going down and not getting up. The crowd roaring for more.

“Absolutely not. Not my scene at all.” I drain my cup. “Anyway, we’d better get this lot into the van.”

“Let’s do it.”

The old warehouse is huge and echoing, all exposed brick, concrete, and tall industrial windows. I’ve been here nearly an hour. Long enough to meet Mara’s assistant, the photographer, and the two women from Moss & Ember; unload the buckets and boxes; and try a few combinations while the photographer took his test shots.

Now we’re onto the first proper setup. An amber diffuser sits on a low concrete block, cow parsley frothing up behind it, hazel leaning in over the top, guelder rose low at the base. I’ve probably spent far too long fussing over it, but I can’t resist one last tweak. I slide a stem of aquilegia in at the front, close to the guelder rose.

The contrast is gorgeous. All that soft green and cream against the hard industrial backdrop. But Mara says, “Too much, I think. Can we try scaling it back? We’re losing the diffuser.”

Now she’s said it, I see she’s right. My eye goes straight to the flowers instead of the product these photos are supposed to sell.

Okay. Don’t panic, Briony. Which is easier said than done with everyone watching me.

I take out the aquilegia and thin out the cow parsley, removing two stems, then three, until the diffuser has room to breathe. I leave the guelder rose and hazel as they are.

I step back. Yes, that’s better.

Mara studies it for a moment then nods at the photographer. He takes the shot, and a second later it appears on the laptop tethered to his camera. Mara and the Moss & Ember women lean in towards the screen and have a quick murmured conversation, then Mara glances over her shoulder at me and smiles.

“Lovely. That’s exactly the sort of thing we’re after, Briony.”

I let out a breath.

After that, I find my feet. We work our way through the shot list. Mara gives me the direction, the photographer checks how it looks through the camera, and the Moss & Ember women weigh in on whether it feels right for the brand. I build and adjust as we go.

Cow parsley growing out of a crack in the concrete. Dark aquilegia peeping out from behind a bottle. One camassia stem beside a bottle on bare concrete, and nothing else in the frame at all.

Not everything works. A few arrangements are vetoed before a shot is taken; others look lovely in the room but not on the screen. As the morning goes on, though, there are fewer misses as I get a better feel for what works on camera.

Around midday, Mara’s assistant comes round with a notebook and takes everyone’s lunch order, mine included, which is considerably more glamorous than my usual lunchtime arrangements. When the food arrives, we stop for a short break, then it’s back to work. More building, more composing, more stepping in to move one stem a quarter of an inch and stepping out again. I’m still concentrating hard, but the nerves have faded. Now I’m just having fun.

By late afternoon we’re ready for the final shot, featuring the full product range. One of the Moss & Ember women asks for a softer arrangement, so I suggest putting the diffusers beside a loose vase of flowers, with Solomon’s seal arching over the bottles.

It’s a hit. The last frame comes up on the screen, everyone crowds round to look, and the Moss & Ember women give it a small round of applause.

With the shoot wrapped, we pack up. Mara’s assistant gives me a hand carrying the buckets and boxes to the van. On one of my trips back in, Mara pulls me aside.

“Briony, you were excellent today. You understood exactly what we were trying to do.”

“Thank you. I was a little nervous this morning, but I’ve really enjoyed myself.”