Three Amazing Things About You(98)

Inside, the walls of the tent were draped with black velvet and the small circular table had been covered with crimson satin. Madam Zara, in her sixties at a guess, was wearing red and black robes, lots of costume jewellery and plenty of black eyeliner.

Actually, rather more on one eye than the other.

‘Now then, my darling, that’ll be ten pounds for a reading,’ she said. ‘You’ve got a lucky feeling about you, I can tell that already.’

Ten pounds to sit in a stuffy, overheated tent and be told a lot of twaddle by someone who was just making it up. Honestly, what a rip-off. But she was trapped now, there was no escape. Flo breathed in the heavy, spicy scent of the woman’s perfume and wished she hadn’t splashed on quite so much of it.

‘Let me see your hand, lovey. Oh I say, you are having a nice time at the moment, aren’t you? Lots of good stuff going on in your life just now.’

‘Mmm.’ Shrugging in a non-committal fashion, Flo wondered how much of this was related to Annie’s mention of Zander being her handsome young man.

‘You’ve got a lovely dog,’ said Madam Zara. ‘A black one.’

‘No I haven’t.’ Flo glanced down at herself to see if one of Jeremy’s dark hairs had attached itself to her top.

‘Ah, so it hasn’t happened yet.’ Zara nodded wisely. ‘You’re going to have a lovely dog. He’ll be such a wonderful companion you’ll wonder how you ever managed without him. And I see a happy partnership ahead of you too. There’s a church and a beautiful wedding. Three bridesmaids.’

‘Oh.’ Flo looked disappointed. ‘Only three?’

‘Three little ones,’ said Zara. ‘And a couple of bigger ones too. All wearing lovely blue dresses.’

‘Any idea where we’ll go for our honeymoon? Will it be Venice?’

‘Oh yes.’ Zara nodded firmly. ‘Definitely Venice. You’ll have one of those trips in a gondola and it’ll be so romantic . . .’

‘And will we have children?’

‘Definitely. Two,’ said Zara. ‘A boy and a girl. I’m not going to tell you their names though, lovey. Don’t want to spoil the surprise.’

‘True,’ said Flo. ‘I’d rather wait until they get here.’

‘You’re all going to be so happy together, that’s in no doubt at all.’ Zara nodded. ‘It’s as clear as day. I quite envy you.’

Such a load of old tosh, Flo knew that. But there was no getting away from it, being told this by a fortune-teller – even if she was a complete fraud – was giving her a warm glow in the pit of her stomach.

Because you never knew, it might come true.

But ten pounds didn’t go far these days. Her time was evidently up. Madam Zara said, ‘There you go, my darling, that’s you done. Can you tell the next one to come in on your way out?’

Flo was mortified when, emerging into the daylight, she discovered that rather than going to the tea tent, Annie and Zander had been standing outside shamelessly eavesdropping the whole time.

And, needless to say, finding it absolutely hilarious.

‘Blimey, you didn’t waste much time,’ Annie cackled. ‘You were like Jeremy Paxman in there! Seriously, I had no idea you were going to start interrogating her like that. Especially about the wedding!’ Never one for discretion, she gave Zander a comedy nudge. ‘Ding dong, eh? Looks like I’m going to need to buy myself a fancy hat!’

It was seven in the evening and plenty of people were out on the Downs, sharing picnics, firing up barbecues, playing games or just admiring the view of Clifton Suspension Bridge strung across the Avon Gorge. Below them, the river twisted and turned, a silvery ribbon of water reflecting the still blue sky. Above them, hot air balloons drifted lazily across from Ashton Court, taking advantage of the perfect flying conditions. Dogs leapt up and barked indignantly as the balloons floated overhead, and the gas burners intermittently roared like dragons, startling small children.

‘I’ve never been up in a hot air balloon,’ said Zander.

‘Would you like to?’

‘I would.’

Flo filed away the information for future use. Zander’s birthday was at the end of August. If they were still seeing each other then, a balloon ride would make a great surprise present. That was, if he hadn’t dumped her by then and cut off all contact with the crazy spinster with the one-track mind.

‘Sorry,’ she said, not for the first time since they’d left the summer fair.

Not even for the tenth time, probably.

Zander smiled and shook his head. ‘Will you stop apologising?’