I prepared spreadsheets, updated my filing systems and transferred the huge pile of business cards on the office desk onto the contact lists on the computer. There was still a part of me that felt guilty about leaving Matt in the lurch. Everyone at work had expressed their surprise when they’d learnt I was moving on. Matt had called me his right-hand woman and wondered how he would ever manage without me. A couple of times he’d asked if there was anything he could do to make me change my mind and had offered me considerably more money and a new role within the company to entice me to stay, but I knew if I didn’t leave now, I never would. I’d be collecting my pension from Browns. With nothing left to do in the office that day I picked up my gloves and headed outside to the nurseries. I wasn’t a natural horticulturist, but there was always something that needed doing in the department and after a quick word with Tim, the manager of the department, he pointed me in the direction of a pile of compost that had been spilt over by the hebe display.
