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She looked puzzled for just a moment, and then her eyes widened as they lit up.
“Oh. Oh! Right! Oh my God, I can’t believe I didn’t even think about it before. The Anderson-Beachman Wedding!”
She bent down and looked over my shoulder at the computer screen.
“Yeah, those are all for the biggest wedding Castle Falls has ever seen. We put in for the supplies early, so there won’t be any surprises when the big day gets closer. Your dad was always adamant about that, and there’s a lot more coming. Those things from last week are just the beginning. If there’s one thing you don’t want to mess up as a flower shop, it’s someone’s wedding.”
I sat back in my chair and nodded. “Okay. That makes sense. But… do we reallyneedthat much stuff? I mean, if I’m just gonna sell the place, does it even matter that much?”
Joanne blinked, then cocked her head to the side.
“Wait, no. I’m sorry, but… no. You can’t sell before the Anderson-Beachman Wedding. You justcan’t. First of all, it’s…a wedding. The day for showing love and affection and… faith in humanity. And maybe I’m sappy or cheesy or…whatever.” She waved a hand in the air. “In my opinion, though, it’s the best day of someone’s life.”
Joanne took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
“But even if you disregard all ofthat, you still can’t sell before then. Not if you want to show a profit for the quarter, anyway. We started designing orders weeks ago, and there’s still a month left before the actual wedding. It’s literally going to be a huge day. Not only would it be disastrous for your profit and loss statements to just… justskipit, but you’d be letting down dozens—hundreds—of people in the process. This weddinghasto happen.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face and let out a long, slow breath.
I knew Joanne was right, of course, but it was just so frustrating.
I’d already been in town for over a week, and it felt like things were moving at a glacial pace. The very last thing I wanted was to spend anothermonthin Castle Falls, just waiting for a wedding, but what choice did I have?
I needed to show a profit if I was going to get the best deal possible in my negotiations with the New York chain, and Joanne certainly had a point about letting down the people who depended on the shop to make their day special.
I might not have much love for the town I’d grown up in, but the flower shop had obligations to those people who had already placed orders, and I would follow through with those obligations. I simply had to.
“You’re right,” I said, nodding slowly. “The Anderson-Beachman wedding has to happen. Itwillhappen. And I’ll be here to help.”
I stopped myself before I could ask the very next question that had popped into my mind—whether or not Joanne had someone to attend the wedding with. I didn’t think so, and of course it wasn’t any of my business, but… I was still tempted to ask.
As passionate as she seemed to feel about the event, she certainly deserved to have someone to spend it with.
I tried to ignore the little pang of something—jealousy?—that I felt whenever I tried to picture her getting wined and dined by some mystery man.
No, best to shut down that line of thinking before it could even take off. If Joannedidhave someone to spend that day with, then great. She deserved to be treated well.
And if she didn’t…
“So, you’re going to hold off on selling until after the wedding?” Joanne’s question pulled me from my thoughts.
“Yes,” I said, nodding quickly and hoping the heat that was rising to my cheeks hadn’t given away the direction my mind had taken. “You win. I won’t sell until after that event.”
Joanne sighed and sank back into the chair she’d been sitting in before, clearly relieved that she wasn’t going to have to argue her point anymore.
Again, it was one of the things that I admired about the woman. Someone else in her position might have just shrugged and let me mess everything up, simply out of spite. But no matter what Joanne’s personal feelings were about me—or the fact that I was selling the shop—she’d remained professional and shown that her love of the business won out over anything else.
It was enough to confirm the goodness that I had recognized in Joanne almost from the moment we’d met, and it was more than enough to earn my respect… on top of everything else.
“And I’ll also be here to help, with whatever you need,” Joanne said. “Naomi will, too. Above all else, we want the store to do well, no matter what happens down the road.”
“I appreciate that, and—” I swallowed hard, the words almost dying in my throat before I was able to get them out. I needed to say it, though. “And I know my dad would’ve appreciated it, too.”
Joanne smiled.
Finally, that bright, wide, thousand-watt smile that I hadn’t seen nearly enough of since that first day we’d met. It made me want to see it more, want todeserveto see it more, especially since I knew I was the reason it had been mostly absent for the past several days.
“Thank you,” she said, quietly. “That means a lot to me.” She cleared her throat and stood up abruptly. I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I saw Joanne quickly swipe at her eyes as she walked toward the office door. “Unless you need anything else, I should probably get to work.”
