AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I have a million of them.”No, stop it, Hadley. Do not pull out your stupid florist jokes.“Did you hear about the flower that never bloomed? It was a bud omen.”This is your flight attendant. Please place the masks that are about to fall in front of your lame face. This plane is going down.
He stared at me for a long time, hazel gaze not at all amused. “Oh, right, Funny. That was funny.”
He was cute. Polite. And a terrible liar. “So flowers?”
“Huh?” His gaze flew up from my mouth. Shit! Did I have floral bits in my beard again? “Oh! Flowers. Yeah, I uhm...need some.”
“Okay, what’s the occasion?”
Please don’t let him say they’re for his girlfriend.
“Occasion?” He reached up and slid a finger under his toque to scratch his head. “Oh! Right. Uhm, my mother wanted more flowers. She loves flowers. Pink ones. Maybe those!” He whipped around and lunged at the pirouette tulips, his hip catching a stand with greeting cards and sending it spinning. “Shit! Dang. Sorry. I won’t move anymore. The pink and white ones. I’ll take those.”
“Okay. Address?” My brain was working for the moment. He lifted the flowers and cradled them to his chest as he gingerly returned to the checkout counter.
“16 West Parmenter.”
“That’s here in Albany. Does she live in Albany?”
“What? Oh. Her address! Why do you...right. Flowers. She lives in Toronto.”
“Okay, I can have a local shop wire that kind of arrangement to her.” I scribbled down his preference then looked up. His gaze met mine and there we stayed, locked, staring at each other like two dimwits.
He wet his lips. My heart rate tripled.
“Uhm, I’ll deliver these to her in person,” he murmured as I felt myself falling into those beautiful green-brown depths.
“In Toronto?”
He blinked rapidly.” What? I...oh no, doh! I mean...sure yeah, wire them to her.” He shoved the flowers at me, tugged a couple of crinkled twenties from his front pocket, passed them over, as well as his mother’s address, and then beat a hasty retreat, his cheeks flushed.
I watched him stumble past the front window, his eyes touching on me one final time before he disappeared from view. Midge poked me in the side—hard. I jumped, the tulip dish nearly flying from my grip.
“Who was that? Was that the ex-vice president?” She scurried to the steamy window and placed her cheek to it. “It looked like him. Did he get flowers for the White House?”
“Why would the ex-vice president come to Albany to buy flowers for the White House?” I asked, my thoughts sloppy. “He’s kind of adorable.”
“You know I don’t read them kind of books. Sounds dirty to me. What kind of person has Horn Blow for a last name.” Midge swiped at the condensation on the window to scope out the ex-vice president. “I think I see Secret Service men! Quick, grab my Polaroid!”
***
The next day at eleventhe bells jingled. I was placing pink tulips into the cooler and pulled back to see Bailey glancing around the shop. My belly did a flip-flop. I shoved the flowers into a large vase then quickly closed the cooler door. Two women over in the corner who were browsing the catalogs for an upcoming fundraiser looked up. Recognition lit their faces and they skedaddled to the handsome young man in the gray toque for autographs. I must’ve been the only person in Albany who didn’t follow Beavers hockey.
Bailey signed a couple of greeting cards for their sons then delicately made his way to me at the coolers.
“Hi,” he said as he neared. I nodded. He removed his toque. Static sparked to life, making his hair stand on end. He batted it down with his toque-free hand. “I, uhm...my sister’s cat just had kittens.”
“Congratulations.”
His hair was still a mess. It needed a dryer sheet. I had dryer sheets. I could rub one over his hair for him.
“Oh yeah, thanks. So, I need flowers.”
“For a kitten birth?”
“They’re very important kittens,” he announced while his gaze flittered all over the shop. Midge appeared at that moment, wearing an old apron of mine that readI’m into Pricksand had an image of a rose among the words.
“We don’t sell mittens. Try the thrift shop.” She opened the cooler, took out a handful of Calla lilies then returned to the back. We had no orders with lilies. My Midge Alert mental alarm began to peal.
