“All fixed?” Rosie asked.
“He is great. And how sweet to buy those books.”
“We have a lovely community here. At least, for the most part. I’ve been thinking and wanted to ask your opinion on where we donate the money to. We’re getting quite a stash of five dollar notes now!”
Every time someone donated one of the books, Rosie took five dollars from the till and added to a locked metal box under the counter. At the end of each day, it went into the safe.
“Do you have anything in mind?”
“If it was my choice, I’d make sure it found its way to Darcy. Help with those rates.”
Charlotte grinned. “I love it. Every bit must help.”
“And he’s too proud to ask for help. All that family needs is a little bit of breathing space, and Christmas is the perfect time to give them that.”
As Charlotte wrapped the books up, a warm glow filled her. Despite the thefts and some shady characters, Kingfisher Falls had a heart of gold.
Even though the car was fixed, Charlotte elected to walk to the garden centre. If she purchased anything too large to carry, she’d collect it later. There was no sign of the earlier rain as she followed Esther’s map. It took her to the roundabout, then left and along a slightly winding road with houses on large blocks of land, some set back, and all very pretty with Christmas decorations in the gardens.
The garden centre was on a corner. Customers had to walk through the shop first. There was nobody around. A huge pile of boxed, artificial Christmas trees cluttered the entrance with a large ‘sale’ sign leaning against them.
Open roller doors at the back led to the outdoor area which stretched a long way back. Walkways went off in different directions and there were shade sails over some areas. Charlotte was curious about Veronica after the meeting that night and hoped she’d be able to observe her at work.
She heard her before seeing her. From the back of the property, Veronica’s voice screeched in an angry tirade. Charlotte followed the sound. What was noticeable was the lack of stock. A few shrubs here. A handful of roses there. Seedlings left out in the sun were almost dried out. Water gushed down the path from somewhere.
“How many times do I have to tell you the same thing?” Veronica was still yelling as Charlotte reached a large greenhouse.
Veronica, dressed in a short skirt and blouse, faced the other way, where a teenaged girl stood, face as red as her hair.
“I…I’m sorry. But they are almost dried out in here—”
“Are you telling me how to run my own business?” Veronica almost stamped her foot.
Charlotte would have been amused but the poor girl was distraught. This was no way to treat anyone and Charlotte wanted to tell the older woman off. But jumping into an unknown situation was likely to cause more grief than remedy it. She coughed.
Two sets of eyes spun to Charlotte. The girl’s expression was thankful, but Veronica’s face might have been carved from ice.
“Hi. Just looking for some gift ideas.” Charlotte made her voice friendly, as though she’d seen nothing out of the ordinary.
Veronica shook her fingers at the girl. “Leave for the day. Go.”
The girl flew past Charlotte, head down. Her heart went out for the youngster and the friendliness dropped from her voice. “Your daughter?”
“Staff. Stupid girl has no idea what she’s doing.”
Screaming at her reflects on you. Not her. Poor kid.
“You work in the bookshop. You’re the new hope for Rose.”
“New hope? I don’t understand.”
Veronica picked up the end of a running hose. She pointed it into a half-empty raised pond. “I need to turn this off.” She stalked off and Charlotte followed.
“What does new hope mean?”
“Poor old Rose can’t keep going forever now, can she? Dragging herself from home to work and back again. One wonders what the state of her house is because I’m certain she doesn’t get any help.” She leaned through bushes to find the tap.
It took all of Charlotte’s self-control not to push Veronica completely into the bushes. She practiced deep breathing until the other woman straightened.
“Oh, you’ve not been to her lovely home? You could eat off the floor there. And so welcoming.” Charlotte gazed at a pile of old pots. “Just like the bookshop. As neat as a pin.”
Veronica followed her gaze and her face hardened. “If Rose’s doing so well, why does she need you?”
“Anyway, I did mention I came to look for Christmas gifts, but you don’t have very much?”
“We’ve been busy. Too busy to order, in fact. What do you want?”
“Cat toys. And perhaps something for the garden. A windchime?”
Play nice, Charlie. Works better that way.
With a dramatic sigh, Veronica was on the move again, this time toward the building. “I only have a small selection of things for pets. Not an animal lover so once they’re gone, they’re gone. But there might be some windchimes somewhere up here.”
Charlotte stopped to smell a tiny pot with a lovely white rose. Such an evocative perfume. Her hand hovered, ready to collect the pot, but she couldn’t keep collecting plants until she’d worked out what was already in the small garden behind the shop. She’d offered to maintain it and Rosie had been thrilled.
A moment later she stepped into the building and looked around. Veronica was behind a counter, reading something on her phone. She pointed to a corner without lifting her head. By now, Charlotte had no intention of giving this woman a cent, not even if she found the best gift ever.
It took less than five minutes of rummaging through a box on a shelf to find that what might have once been nice cat toys were all damp and falling apart.
Along a wall
