AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is it so hard to believe I want to spend time with you?” Isaac had the audacity to pull out the smolder and use it on me while I was still panic-chewing. I had never considered eyebrows sexy until that moment. But they perfectly set off the twinkling in his eyes and that little cocky half-smile he was throwing my way. Outrageous.
I was melting again, dang it. But I refused to let his pretty words or his pretty face get to me. He wanted details? Fine.
“Yes, it’s a little hard to believe you’re good with picking up a bunch of senior citizens on a Saturday night and then paying for most of them to get into bingo because the mean lady at the door makes no exceptions for people on fixed incomes. Also, she refuses to quit her volunteer position, so my parents help with the rest of it, and try to make it as fun and exciting as possible. Isaac, you have no idea what you’re getting into.”
His smile only got bigger. “I’m in.”
Chapter 10 - Isaac
After working all day, my wait was almost over. In a few hours, I’d be rolling in a fifteen-passenger van with a bunch of senior citizens and Carmen. I. Could. Not. Wait.
“Okay, either stop smiling like that, or give me some details about your date last night. Did you kiss her?” Grace swept past me with an arrangement and set it carefully on the counter next to the register, already smug in her assumptions.
Not that I could blame her. Every time I thought about Carmen I smiled. Even when I thought about the awkward moments. Especially the awkward moments. Carmen had given me a fist bump and a playful shove in parting. I could work from there.
Before I answered Grace, I glanced over at my niece, but she wasn’t paying us any attention. Piper was busy working at the tiny desk we’d set up for her. A few months back, I had suggested Piper try designing cards for us as a way to stay busy. She loved art, and she studied our customers so carefully. Little did I know how successful she’d be for something that was meant to be a fun activity. The bestseller so far? A greeting card featuring her drawing of a man leaning down to look at flower bouquets. We put the words,Picked with Love,across the top.
Grace nudged me again. “Well?”
“I didn’t kiss her.” I pulled out a box of floral tape and ripped each roll free of its tight plastic wrapping. I swear, the manufacturer packed them to withstand a nuclear blast. “But we have plans for tonight.”
“Already? That’s great news.” Grace leaned into me, as if sensing what I wasn’t saying. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing’s the matter. The date went great. It’s just complicated.”
“You say that like it will make me less interested. I love complicated.”
I raised an eyebrow. Grace’s life had been a series of complications, and she was a person who craved control.
“Okay, I love complicated when it’s not me.”
There was the truth. Now it was time for me to share mine. “She’s not interested in dating anyone right now.”
Grace’s eyes widened. “Oh.”
“What do you mean, ‘oh?’”
“Hold on. I have one more arrangement to bring up for this customer. It’s a set for a bridal shower table.” She jogged to the back. Grace had a sense for these things. Four seconds after she brought out the second arrangement, the customer pulled into the small parking lot in front of our store and rushed in.
After listening to the woman gush over the excellent job Grace did and helping her out to her car with the flowers, I came back in and stared down Grace. “What are you not telling me? What does ‘oh,’ mean?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re a liar.”
Grace cringed. “Sorry. It’s just, when women say they’re not interested in dating anyone, what they really mean is, they’re not interested in datingyou. Well, that, or they’re hung up on someone else and need to stay available, just in case. Or maybe they have other priorities in their life. Like a Piper. So, I guess there could be lots of reasons. But most likely, she was letting you down easy.”
“No, that’s not...” Okay, she wasn’t wrong in theory, but Grace was working off of limited information. Continuing to pretend I’d gone out with a complete stranger would only lead to bad advice from her, and I desperately needed good advice. “She’s Carmen. The girl I used to write to as a kid.”
“You went out with Carmen? Pen pal girl?”
“Yes.”
“Huh. What are the odds?”
“Better than you would think. I saw her name in Maria’s little book and asked for her.”
Grace clutched her chest. “You little scoundrel. I’m dying. You two are like a cute little Lifetime Christmas movie come to life. Except, in the movie version, you’re secretly Kris Kringle’s long-lost son with amnesia.”
