AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Four hours later, I stretched my arms toward the sky from the stool behind the counter, cracking my sore back as I thought about Clive and regretted what I’d done with the flowers. It’s not like his money was the reason I cared about him, but three-hundred-dollar flower arrangements—and I knew because I checked the florist’s website for similar arrangements—weren’t an everyday thing for me, and I felt bad about throwing the gift away. They were stunning. Thoughtful, if a little bit flashy. And I threw them in the garbage.
“You look…low,” Kresley observed a little while later. She plunked a sweater on the counter and reached down to grab a stain removing pen, then scratched gently at a mark near the collar. “Want to talk about it?”
“I kinda regret throwing away the flowers,” I admitted. “They were…nice.”
Abruptly, Kresley’s fingers stilled. She capped the stain remover pen and set it down on the desk again, then whirled around and disappeared.
I just shook my head and got back to work researching last season’s handbags.
“Okay, Kres,” I muttered. And I was barely even getting started—just making some notes on the resale value of vegan leather products—when a soft thunk on the counter interrupted my thoughts.
“What’s—oh.” I didn’t know what to say at first. Kresley had managed to resurrect the flowers, tucking them back inside the vase in a pretty good approximation of their original shape. A few of the flowers sported crushed petals, but she pushed those toward the middle to hide them.
“We only lost a few,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’ve been working on it here and there all day, so I was hoping you’d come around.”
The gesture was so sweet—so Kresley—that I felt like my heart might crack right in half with gratitude for my friend’s generosity and thoughtfulness.
“Kres, you weirdo.” A slight tremor shook my voice, and tears welled up again—happy this time. “I can…absolutely believe you did this.”
With a flick of her blond hair, she leaned over the counter and placed a warm hand on my shoulder.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but obviously somebody’s got his hooks in you.” She paused and took a deep breath, her eyes flicking away for just a second, like something else crossed her mind. “It seems like it’s causing you some real pain. Like it’s not working for you. And I just—I just want you to be happy, okay?”
Her soft hand with its manicured fingers felt good—steadying, like it might have kept me from hitting the ceiling with all the feelings rocketing around inside me. I placed a hand on top of hers and squeeze. Just hanging on to my friend, the sweet and empathetic person who saw my pain clearly and still gave me the time and privacy to handle it.
“You’re amazing, Kresley, you know that?” I said with a sniffle. “One in a million.”
The shadow on her face cleared, and she smiled—sweet and sunny, just like her. “I know. But the thing is, so are you.”
