“Maybe some Sabrina?” Maya suggests. “Or Ariana? We don’t discriminate against pop goddesses here. I’ve got a whole playlist I can put on.”
“Both of you can fuck off,” I tell them, though I kind of want to hear Maya’s playlist.
I’m distracted as I grab my phone and start scrolling through my notifications. I have a handful of texts and a missed call. I’m surprised to see the call is from Mikey, an old buddy of mine from a shop in New York where I worked years ago. We kept in touch after I left, sending pics of tattoos back and forth, that kind of thing. He’s certainly never called me before.
I check my texts and find one from him.
Mikey:Hit me up when you get a chance. Got a proposition for ya.
Intrigued, I call him back. It rings twice before he picks up.
“Declan, buddy, how you doing? Great to hear from you.” Mikey always sounds excited to talk to you, no matter what the topic of conversation. I haven’t seen him in person in a few years, not since the last time I visited New York, but I’m happy to hear that hasn’t changed at all.
“I’m good,” I tell him. “How have you been?”
“Fuckin’ peachy,” he tells me, and he sounds like he means it. “I’m at this new shop in Brooklyn and it’s a fuckin’ dream. And get this, the boss is looking for another artist.”
My stomach drops as realization dawns on me. My next appointment hasn’t arrived yet, so I head to the back of the shop and slip through the door to the backyard. I ease myself down onto the bench between our door and Elsie’s before answering. “Oh yeah?”
Without any further ado, Mikey launches into his pitch. The couple who owned the shop we worked at together ended up getting divorced, and the guy paid her out for her half of the business. She used the money to open up her own shop in Brooklyn and hiredMikey and another artist she knows. They’re looking for a fourth to fill their other chair.
“I’m pretty settled here in Maine,” I tell him once his spiel is over. It’s not an outrightno, not yet.
“Buddy, trust me, I get it,” Mikey says. “I know you’re doing your friend a solid by working there, and you haven’t been there for very long. But I know you – you love city life, not whatever small-town bullshit they’ve got you doing up there. I mean, it’sNew York.”
I do love the city that never sleeps. But by a strange twist of fate, I think I might kind of love this town, too.
I should shut down the idea right here, right now. I know I should. I could just tell him thanks, but no thanks. Let him know I’ve got a good thing going here.
And yet – something about having another option appeals to me. It’s not that I want to actually consider his offer, not really. But knowing I have an out if Ineededit – if the pressure and confinements of small-town life got to be too much… it’s kind of nice. It eases some of that weight that sits on my chest at times.
“I’ll think about it,” I tell him.
“That’s all I ask, man.” Something crashes on his end of the line and he curses. “I gotta go. I’ll text you with the details.”
“Sounds good.”
“Later, Deck.”
Before I have the chance to think about his offer, my biggest reason to stay comes waltzing out of her shop. My heart stutter-steps, the way it always does when I first lay eyes on Elsie. It’s a jolt to my system every single time.
Her hair is thrown up in a high ponytail tonight and she’s wearing a green and white striped apron over her dress. She looks cute. She lookshappy, and her grin only widens when she spots me.
“Declan. Hi.” She begins walking my way and my heart kicks into a higher gear.
New York has a lot of things that could tempt me into returning: the nightlife, the diversity, the pizza slices larger than my head and the hot dogs on every corner. A guy could get used to living in a place like that and still never be bored.
There’s still one thing it’s missing, though.
New York doesn’t have Elsie Carmichael.
CHAPTER 36
Elsie
I’ve had a lot ofpinch-me-I-must-be-dreamingmoments since the day I opened the doors here at The Floral Chic, but this one might take the cake.
“You want to be careful not to overcrowd it,” I tell the attendees who signed up for my very first floral design class. It’s a beginner class to learn the basics about arranging a simple bouquet, from choosing the right flowers that complement each other to arranging them in a way that looks effortless.
