As we work, Todd’s words keep nagging at the back of my mind.
She’s the girl with the flowers.
I’ve never received a flower in my life, never given a single fuck about them. But from Elsie? This ache in my chest tells me I’d do some questionable things to have her thinking about me, let alone enough to give me a hand-picked bouquet from her garden.
I may be nothing but thorns, but I’d happily take flowers from Elsie if she ever saw fit to give them to me.
Despite knowing I should stay away from her, being worthy of the sweet brunette who gifts flowers like pieces of her soul to everyone she cares about just bumped to the top of my to-do list.
CHAPTER 12
Elsie
“I was thinking something to go along with the colors of our branding, lots of green and white, maybe a bit of blue sprinkled in.”
I nod along while I jot down notes, not wanting to forget anything that Carolynn Whitman, chair of the annual charity gala for one of the local hospitals, is saying. Port Myles doesn’t have its own hospital. We’re in between two, and both are a couple towns over. I’m thrilled that it’s opening day and I’m already drumming up some business from outside of town. Carolynn heard the head of the Chamber of Commerce talking on one of the local radio shows about new businesses throughout the county and decided to come check out The Floral Chic. Apparently the gala board members were unhappy with the table centerpieces at last year’s event and they’ve been on the hunt for a new florist ever since.
I’m excited about the challenge. It won’t be my first event – Olivia and Cam’s wedding is next month, and the gala isn’t until thefall – but it’ll be the first one that I earned from my own merit, instead of being the bride’s best friend.
“We can absolutely do that,” I assure Carolynn. I lean onto the workspace in the center of the room while I take notes, trying to alleviate some of the weight off my feet. I’d chosen style over comfort this morning, opting for a pair of caramel-colored flats instead of sneakers, and my feet arekillingme after an entire day on them.
Lesson learned. I’m going to shoot Grace a text as soon as I close for the day, asking her to help me find some sneakers that are both cuteandcomfortable.
I’ve always put effort into my appearance, mostly just because I feel good when I’m wearing things that I like. Grace describes my style as girly meets coastal chic – lots of dresses and bows in my hair, linen pants with a blouse or a sweater, and what Grace says is “a concerning amount of gingham.” I’ve got the clothing part down, but I’ve never had to work on my feet before, and my closet is mostly full of flats and sandals for this time of year. After today, I can tell that’s not going to cut it.
Carolynn and I chat for a while, tossing ideas around about types of flowers she might want for her centerpieces, and what she’d like to avoid. As we’re wrapping up the conversation, she glances down at her watch and realizes we’ve gone five minutes past closing.
“I’m so sorry,” she apologizes. “Here I am gabbing on when you probably want to get this place closed up and relax. You’ve had a long day, by the sounds of it.”
“It’s no problem at all.” And it really isn’t, because how lucky am I to be living out my dreams like this? I just spent a whole day selling flowers in my very own shop. All I’ve ever wanted is to be doing exactly this, and I’ll happily take all of the long days and sore feet that come along with it.
I walk Carolynn to the door, promising to call her later in the week to run some ideas and costs by her once I’ve had a chance to think about the gala some more. I’m just locking up the Ocean Drive entrance behind her when the Main Street door is thrown open, a cacophony of voices and laughter filtering in with my closest friends.
“There she is!” a voice I haven’t heard in too long yells. Before I have a chance to respond, Ty – best friend of Cam, Olivia’s fiancé – pulls me into a bone-crushing hug. We had hit it off immediately when we met at Olivia and Cam’s engagement party at the end of last summer, becoming fast friends. We text and video chat regularly, but I’ve been so busy preparing for the shop’s opening, and he travels so often for his job as a flight attendant that we haven’t been face-to-face in at least a few months.
“I’ve missed you,” I tell him, squeezing him around his middle.
“My turn,” Grace declares, elbowing her way in between us. She engulfs me in a hug and I feel that familiar extra squeeze when Olivia piles on.
“You did it,” Olivia squeals in my ear.
“I did it,” I laugh, still incredulous. My friends release me and Grace loops her arm through Ty’s, dragging him on a tour of the shop. He’s the only one who hasn’t seen it yet.
“We’re going out for dinner and drinks,” Olivia says. “To celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?”
“A successful opening day,” Cam says. “You killed it today.”
I try and fail to contain my smile. “I kind of did, didn’t I?”
“Sure did,” Grace calls from the other side of the room, where she’s showing Ty the hand-painted sign behind the checkout counter that says “Just Keep Growing” with flower blooms beneath it. She found it at a thrift store a few weeks ago and was so excited to give it to me.
“Every time we stopped by, you were busy with customers,” Olivia says proudly. They’d stopped by two or three times throughout the day, checking on how things were going and making sure I didn’t need anything. I made it through today okay, but Iwillneed to hire some help soon if I want to keep this momentum going.
“I even saw Beverly Mavis showing off the bouquet Martin got her,” Cam says. “That man hasn’t given her flowers since 1975, when their youngest was born.”
Olivia and I both stare at Cam for a moment, then catch each other’s eye and start laughing.
