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“That’s part of it.” When Skyler didn’t fill in the silence, Hope took a drink of the coffee she still needed. “I don’t fit in his world.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Why would it be? You do fit his profile. What would happen if you stopped doubting yourself? Would a weekend away be so bad? I mean, you’d find out more, right? About him. About you. Then you’d have more information.” Skyler nodded, as if she’d reached a decision. “Consider it a fact-finding mission. You can decide after it whether or not dating would be a good idea. It will help you decide.”
The front door opened. “Delivery for Hope Malloy!”
“Again?”
“How much money is in petty cash?” Skyler asked. “I can’t continue to fund your suitor’s flat-out romantic assault.”
“Potential suitor,” Hope contradicted, more out of obligation than anything. She didn’t, however, correct the romantic-assault part.
“Right.” Skyler stood. “Potential suitor.” She headed for the door, then glanced back. “Conference room for these?”
Since the previous day’s bouquet was still there, Hope said, “Let’s donate them to the doctor’s office next door.”
Skyler nodded. “Oh, and I’ll want all the details on Monday morning.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“May I help you, sir?”
Exhaling his gratitude, Rafe turned toward the clerk. Christ, he hoped so. “I had no idea it would be so difficult.” Rafe had pictured getting out of the car, strolling into Uptown Flower Power, selecting a nice arrangement, then walking back out. Instead, the small, stuffed-to-the-ceiling store overwhelmed him. There were tulips and sunflowers and little purple blooms. Tiered circular displays held potted plants. Bamboo. Cactuses. Five-foot-tall trees.
Mylar balloons floated everywhere. Get well. Happy birthday. Congratulations. Then there were the characters from movies and cartoons. Superheroes and princesses.
Perplexed, he wandered to one of the multiple refrigerators filled with cut flowers in all kinds of vases—large, some shaped like baby carriages, in pink, blue, even yellow. There was a glass container shaped like heart. The biggest refrigerator held roses. Red, yellow, white, pale pink, from a single tight bloom in a tiny vase to one holding thirty red roses in a bowl big enough that it should have fish swimming in it. For a moment he considered purchasing it. All those thorns…
“Is this your first visit to a flower shop?”
Her lime-green apron was so glaringly bright that he had trouble making out her features. “Am I that obvious?”
The clerk grinned. Instead of answering his question, she said, “Let’s start with the basics. What’s the occasion?”
Seduction. Convincing a woman to marry me and submit to my authority.
“Anniversary?”
He shook his head.
“Birthday?”
“No. I just want something…nice.”
“How nice? Are they for an apology?”
Again, he said no. “Something nice for the table. I’m making dinner. For someone special.” He continued to look around. Who the hell guessed it could be this complicated?
“Ah! Date night.”
A date? Rafe didn’t go on dates. “You could say that,” he allowed.
“Does she like any specific color?”
No idea. Then he thought of her handbag. “Pink.” Then the shoes she’d worn to the event last night.
As if she dealt with this kind of confusion all day long, the clerk came around the counter. “Does she prefer brights or pastels?”
If he knew the answer to that, he wouldn’t need help. “Yes.”
She smiled. “Where are you dining? Inside? On a patio?”
He hadn’t even considered the options. He’d assumed they’d eat at the kitchen island. But that wasn’t romantic. “Can you excuse me a moment?”
“Uhm. Sure.”
He stepped off to the side to send a message to his housekeeper, hoping she hadn’t left yet, asking her to set the dining room table for two.
Sienna replied that she’d already done so.
