“Birdie, it’s Florence and Arlene,” Arlene said. “We’ve brought you a surprise. A very good-looking man who comes bearing flowers for you.”
“Oh, how lovely. I can smell them from here.”
The bouquet was colorful and fragrant. He suddenly knew without a doubt that wasn’t accidental. Holly had deliberately chosen particularly bright and odiferous flowers for Birdie’s arrangement.
Her thoughtfulness and knowledge of her customers left him oddly touched.
“What is your name, young man?” Her voice sounded raspy and she coughed into a handkerchief.
“Hello, Ms. Lovell. My name is Ryan Caldwell and I’m making deliveries for Holly Moore at Evergreen and Ivy.”
“That’sLieutenant CommanderRyan Caldwell,” Florence put in. “He’s a helicopter pilot, like my James.”
“Hello, young man. How nice to meet you.”
“Someone sent you a get-well bouquet,” he said. “I’m sorry you’ve been feeling under the weather.”
She gave a dismissive gesture. “I’ve had a nasty bug for the past few weeks but fortunately I’m on the mend. Who sent them? Is it that rascal Paulo? I told him I was feeling better.”
“He misses you,” Florence said with a smile.
“That man is crazy about you,” Arlene added. “I’m sure he’s upset that he wasn’t able to be here when you’ve been feeling so poorly.”
“That’s what he gets for going off without you to Mexico for ten days with his daughter,” Arlene said tartly.
“You should have gone with him. I know he asked you,” Florence said.
Birdie made a face. “I know. I wish I had said yes but the timing wasn’t the best, with the holidays and the market and everything. I’m glad I didn’t go with him now. I came down with this bug the day after he left and I would have been sick with the flu the whole time and ruined it for everyone.”
She made no move to take the flowers from him and Ryan wasn’t quite sure how to deliver them and make his escape.
“Um, there’s a card here. Would you like one of the ladies here to read it to you?”
She tilted her head and seemed to study him. He wondered how much she could see.
“No,” she said with a mischievous smile. “You have a sexy deep voice. Why don’t you read it?”
“If you like his voice that much, it’s too bad you can’t see the rest of him,” Florence said with the same kind of mischievous smile.
What was it about women of a certain age that made them so uninhibited—and so eminently likable?
He pulled the card out, cleared his throat and began to read.
To my dearest love,
Wishing you strength and sunshine to chase away the clouds. You are always in my heart.
With all my love, your Paulo
“Here you go,” he said, holding out the card close to her hand. She reached for it and clutched it to her heart with a happy sound.
“You need to put that poor man out of his misery and marry him already,” Arlene said gruffly.
Ryan laughed. “He doesn’t seem miserable to me. Seems like this Paulo is doing just fine, wearing his heart on his sleeve.”
“Don’t kid yourself, young man,” Florence said. “True love doesn’t come around often. If you’re lucky enough to find it, you grab hold and don’t let go. Otherwise, you blink, and life is gone.”
Her words landed heavier than Ryan expected. A quiet ache stirred in his chest, a flicker of awareness he couldn’t quite shake.
