I almost laugh. Please. As if a single thing in the last six months of my life has ever been that convenient.
***
My hands strip thorns on autopilot, flicking them into the compost bucket one after another. I've been here since eight thirty. Over two hours of conditioning stock, prepping the cooler for Saturday's corsages, roughing in a sympathy spray for the Delgado family—white lilies, soft fern, a few lisianthus because Mrs. Delgado always said they looked like tiny wedding dresses.
I didn't charge rush pricing. Seemed wrong.
The bell jingles. Short steps, quick heel-clicks on the tile. That has to be Luna.
"Please tell me you brought good coffee," I say without turning around.
"I brought myself, which is arguably much better," Luna teases.
I turn.
She's in leggings and a zip-up, hair in a bun, holding two iced coffees. She hands me one with a smirk (I knew she knew better than to deprive me of iced caffeine) and drops into the chair by the register.
"So," she says. "How's pack life?"
"You know we're not a real pack," I say.
"But you still live with three alphas." She sips her coffee. "You're at least pack-adjacent."
"I see it more as a temporary living arrangement," I counter.
"Uh-huh." She crosses her legs. "How's the thermostat mystery?"
"Resolved." I snip at the base of a stem. "Turns out Mason's been turning it down every night because he thought it was broken."
"Broken, huh."
"But Knox made a ruling. It'll now stay at sixty-seven."
"Knox made aruling."
I pause with my floral shears mid-air, narrowing my eyes at her. "Are you just going to repeat every I say?"
She laughs. I strip another leaf and drop it in the compost bucket.
"Oh, and guess what?" I slap a free hand on my hip. "They drank half my oolong."
Luna gasps, hand to her chest. "Not theoolong."
"Okay, now you're just mocking me," I point a stem at her.
"I'm just happy to see you're all... bonding, that's all." I stare at her, my expression completely deadpan. A second of awkward silence ticks by. "How are they, though?"
"Fine," I say. "Arthur made pancakes today. Knox's been making lots of spreadsheets, like for the cleaning schedule and such. And Mason—well, he's been... around." I pick up another stem. "I heard work's been slower for him since the Grant thing."
Luna tilts her head. "I mean, tackling a guy whose family basically owns half the commercial leases in town... either that was very brave or very stupid."
"Yeah," I reach for the scissors. "It's so unfair that—"
The bell jingles.
"Oh mygod, your shop is adorable."
Hold on, Iknowthat voice. Unfortunately. I turn.
