Three Amazing Things About You(63)

‘The royals! The princes! Think about it . . . we might bump into Harry!’

Luke watched the smile edged with sadness on Hallie’s face and his heart went out to her; it wasn’t the first time she’d lost one of her friends to the disease that was ravaging her own body.

‘OK, the odds probably aren’t that great,’ Bea amended, conceding the unspoken point. ‘But you never know.’

Hallie’s fragile smile grew in strength. ‘You’re right. This is true.’ She raised her glass in a silent toast. ‘For Suze’s sake, I think we should definitely give it a go.’

* * *

‘There you are,’ Margot exclaimed when Flo let herself into the garden apartment. ‘You’re late.’

‘Sorry, held up in the office discussing care plans with the manager. What is it you need me to do?’

‘Nothing urgent. Just wondered how you’re fixed on Saturday. Are you working?’

Flo shook her head and pushed up her sleeves, ready to get on with tidying Margot’s kitchen. ‘Not on Saturday. Why?’

‘Fancy doing an old lady a big favour?’ Margot’s eyes were bright.

‘If I can. What does it involve?’

‘Well, it’s actually a favour for my nephew, Patrick. He’s the one with the gift shop in Thornbury, remember?’

‘I do remember.’ Flo had met Patrick, briefly, a couple of times while he’d been here visiting his aunt. In his late thirties, he was affable, cheery and actually quite attractive in an uncombed, slightly out-of-condition kind of way. His sense of style relied heavily on his love of old checked shirts and corduroy trousers.

‘Well, he has a stall at Denleigh Horse Trials this weekend. It costs a fortune to book, but you can make a killing . . . Anyway, the girl who was going to be running it with him can’t do it any more. Fell off a table last night and broke her foot. Patrick hasn’t been able to find anyone else to step in, so I wondered if you might be up for it. If you’ve made other plans, it’s fine, we’ll just keep searching.’

Flo considered the offer. Zander was working this Saturday and she hadn’t made any other arrangements. ‘I could do it,’ she told Margot. ‘Except I don’t know how I’d get there.’

‘Oh, no problem. Patrick can pick you up and drop you home afterwards. He lives in Failand so it’s practically on his way. And he’ll pay you eighty pounds.’

‘In that case,’ Flo said promptly, ‘deal.’

‘Excellent. Reaching for her phone, Margot pressed a couple of buttons and waited for her nephew to pick up. ‘Darling? Panic over, Flo said yes. I know, I’m brilliant.’ Smiling, she added, ‘I’ll pass you over now so you can make the necessary arrangements.’

When Flo ended the call a couple of minutes later, it was all sorted. A suitably grateful Patrick would be picking her up at six thirty on Saturday morning and dropping her home again twelve or so hours later. It would be a long and busy day, but hopefully an enjoyable one.

‘Can’t wait,’ said Flo. ‘I’m looking forward to it.’

‘You’ll have fun,’ Margot assured her. ‘Patrick’s good company; the customers love him. Just one word of warning, though.’

‘What?’

Amused, Margot pointed a manicured finger at Flo’s head. ‘He’ll make you wear a hat.’





Chapter 28


For the first time in years, the weather had stayed fine and Denleigh wasn’t awash with mud and rain. Having been directed to the disabled parking area, Bea jumped out of her car and unloaded the wheelchair.

‘Thanks for coming with me.’ Hallie organised the oxygen bottle, smoothed a couple of kinks out of the plastic tubing and settled herself in. ‘Don’t panic, you won’t have to push me up any hills.’

‘No worries,’ said Bea. ‘If I get tired, we’ll swap places. I’ll sit in the chair and you can push.’

It was only nine thirty. In order to avoid the queues of traffic, their strategy had been to arrive and leave early. Of course, thousands of other people had had the same idea; rows of cars were already parked in the surrounding fields, and a steady stream of people and their dogs were making their way in through the main gates.

‘Haven’t spotted Prince Harry yet,’ said Hallie.

Bea pointed to the airstrip over to their right, flanked by orange windsocks and stretching between two more fields lined with helicopters and light aircraft. ‘He’ll be flying in, I bet.’

The cross-country event wasn’t due to start until midday. Horsey types were walking the course, striding along purposefully in sludge-coloured country outfits. Inside the showground, the air was rich with cooking smells from various food concessions, sausages and chargrilled steaks vying with Indian and Mexican peppers, spices and garlic. The lake, a glassy pool of silver blue with a complicated set-up of double and triple jumps leading into and out of it, was already surrounded by eventing enthusiasts planning to install themselves there and watch a full day’s action from the water’s edge.