m&mwp.
"Verity! Have you got a moment?"
"Uh, not really," she replied. She looked across the store at the gaggle of young students scrambling over each other for the last of the Skiving Snackboxes. "I'd say my hands are a bit full at the moment."
But her boss paid her no heed. "Brilliant. Just wanted to ask for a touch of advice… romantic advice."
"From me?" Verity ran a hand through her short blonde hair. "Not sure that's my area of expertise."
"I'm taking Angie out on Friday," George continued. It was as if she hadn't even spoken at all. "I'm not sure if flowers would be too much."
Ah. Angie. Of course.
"I'm not sure I can help you," Verity insisted, looking desperately over at the rowdy school children. All they had to do was knock something—anything—and she would have had a decent excuse to escape this conversation.
"It feels a bit old-fashioned if you ask me," George's rambling continued. "But if Angie would like some, I'm really not opposed. But even if she would like some, I wouldn't even know what kind of—"
"George!" Verity interrupted sharply. At his shocked look, she recomposed herself with a sigh. "George, go to Floribunders in Carkitt Market. They do some lovely little bouquets there. Maybe some dahlias would be nice."
"Brilliant!" He grinned at her, clapping her enthusiastically on the shoulder. "Thanks, Verity. I knew you were the right person to ask."
And then he was gone, bounding towards the kids and leaving her alone at the counter at last.
If he had bothered to ask why dahlias, Verity might have told him that dahlias were Angelina's favourite flowers, obviously. She might have told him that Angelina's favourite colour was yellow. She might have told him that Angelina had told her just one week earlier that she'd never received flowers before, but secretly found the whole idea incredibly romantic.
But he didn't bother to ask, and Verity found herself using far too much self control to stop herself from shouting "But that was my idea!" when Angelina came in on Saturday morning cooing over George's beautiful gift—how thoughtful it had been. Angelina, much to Verity's great disappointment, looked very much in love.
