AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You are an independent woman, but when something like that happens, you need to call me. I was scared shitless when I went to the station and was hit with that bomb, and I didn’t know if you were safe or what even happened.”
“I’m sorry.” I look up at him, and Lily climbs out of our laps to curl up on the other side of the couch. “You’re right, that wasn’t fair. I thought for sure you’d come here first, and I’d fill you in. It wasn’t my intention to scare you.”
“Okay.” He takes a long, deep breath, kisses my head again, and then sets me aside so we can face each other and talk. “Let’s think about this. I’m going to ask you again, who have you recently pissed off?”
I bite my lip and frown, thinking it over. “Honestly, I can’t think of anyone. There haven’t been any unhappy customers. I don’t have any beef with any of the other shop owners in town. No arguments or hard feelings of any kind, Chase.”
He sighs and narrows his eyes, staring over my shoulder as he thinks about it. “You don’t think it could be your ex? The one you ghosted?”
“No. Definitely not. He moved on before he realized I’d left, and he’s pursuing his own career in Helena. Trust me, he doesn’t think about me. I was never that important to him.”
And thinking about that doesn’t even hurt my feelings. Because he wasn’t very important to me, either.
“Someone pissed off at your parents?”
I frown, but I don’t immediately deny it. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t think so. My dad’s been retired for a couple of years now, so he doesn’t have any influence as far as laws and such go. He kind of flies under the radar, mostly working as a consultant. Besides, most people didn’t even realize that he had a daughter because I didn’t like being in the spotlight with them. I pretty much just showed up when I couldn’t get out of it.”
“I’m not writing that off,” he replies and reaches out to tuck my hair behind my ear. “You haven’t received any correspondence from anyone that felt weird? Emails, messages on social media, random calls or texts?”
“No, nothing. Not even at the shop. Which is why I keep circling back around to it being kids or something random. Maybe it’s some kids who started out choosing my house randomly, but then decided to continue targeting me for the fun of it.”
Chase narrows his eyes at that thought and nods slowly. “That could be the case. I’ll ask around tomorrow. What’s your schedule like this week?”
“I’m gearing up for your brother’s wedding. I still have to fulfill my weekly commitment to the resort—I do all of their flowers every week—but other than that, it’s all hands on deck for the Wild wedding. I’m not even taking any more orders for deliveries and such.” I grin at him, so freaking happy to see him, and take his hand, linking our fingers. “What about you?”
“I’m working the next three days, and then I’m off until the following Tuesday, so I can help out at the ranch. Looks like I’m one of the hands that’s on deck.”
I laugh and then sigh with contentment now that he’s with me and I can enjoy a quiet moment with him. “I think this week is going to fly by.”
I’m not wrong. The week flies by, and now my team is gathered at Paula’s Poseys, all bleary-eyed and yawning, but they’ve made it on time.
“We’re all here,” Ida says, blinking sleepily. I asked my whole staff to arrive at the flower shop at six this morning because it’s finally the weekend of the Wild wedding, and that’s our only focus for the next two days.
“I appreciate you all coming in so early,” I reply, passing out coffees from Bitterroot Valley Coffee Co. “I have breakfast sandwiches here, along with some donuts, because we might need a little bonus sugar energy today. Let’s run down the plan.”
As we all sip coffee, I pull up the notes on my iPad.
“Okay, all the bouquets for both today and tomorrow are done. Centerpieces, boutonnieres, petals, all ready. I also have all the flowers in the cooler for the arbor tomorrow.”
“That arbor is going to rock,” Sharla says around a bite of breakfast sandwich.
I grin at her and take a bite of my own. “I know. I rented a van for the weekend so we don’t have to drive back and forth from the ranch as much. Today is the rehearsal dinner. We have ten centerpieces, a bouquet for the bar, and all the vines to hang around the edges of the tent. Erin wants it to look like we’re walking into a faerie garden.”
“You know,” Vickie says with a frown, “I was originally under the impression that this was going to be a small-ish family wedding out at the ranch.”
“There’s nothing small about those two families,” I remind her. “And they’re wealthy. They want beautiful, and that’s what it’ll be. I want you all to stay hydrated today. It’s going to be hot, so be sure to drink lots of water. And I have snacks in the van, as well. I’ll keep you fed and watered because it’s going to be a long, hard day, and then we’re going to tear it all down tonight after the party and start from scratch again tomorrow.”
“I might venture to say,” Ida says, “that this could be the poshest wedding to ever be held in this town.”
“And aren’t we lucky that it’s our flower shop they hired?” I wink at the older woman, who grins back at me. “We can do this, you guys. I’ve closed the shop down through Sunday, so all hands are on deck with me out at the ranch.”
“Of course, we have this,” Sharla agrees. “Are we going to wake everyone up when we get there?”
“Probably not. They know we’re coming early. I want to see how the setup actually works out, with the tents and tables and everything. Charlie Lexington should be out there as we speak, ready to greet vendors and make sure everything runs smoothly. We’re going to make sure that she has no need to even think about our side of things.”
“How are we going to keep the flowers from wilting?” Vickie wants to know. “If we set up too early, they’ll die in the heat.”
“We’re starting with the vines,” I inform her. “That’ll take us half the day, and they’re heartier. Then we’ll work on the more delicate flowers. We’ll bring the van back here to load up the flowers mid-day.”
