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“Isn’t that more of a Hallmark thing?”
“The Lifetime Channel’s Christmas movies are better. But back to Carmen. Did she remember you?”
“Oh yeah. And not fondly. I hurt her, Grace. I don’t know how much you remember, but we used to talk almost every day, and then I up and cut ties without telling her why.”
“I remember you being testy about it, the couple times I asked about her.”
“Yeah.”
“Then why do you look… I don’t know. So hopeful. So dreamy?”
“I look dreamy?” I teased.
“Shut up. Never mind. I don’t want to know about your date anymore.” Grace took the floral tape rolls out of my hand and shoved them into a drawer. Then she woke up the computer and studied our upcoming orders.
“Oh, come on.” I drummed my fingers across the counter. “If I’m acting hopeful and dreamy, it’s because Carmen and I are friends again. That’s the reason I can’t stop smiling.”
Grace reached over and ruffled my hair. “Aw, that’s adorable. So, what are you two doing tonight?”
“We’re volunteering at a church bingo night.”
“Of course you are. So… if I’m hearing this right, if you pursue her, you might lose her.”
That was one way to put it. “Yes. She specifically said she wants us to be friends. And only friends.”
“And you’re good with that?” Grace’s eyes narrowed while she scanned my face. I had never been good at hiding things from her. “Be careful, Isaac.”
“I’m careful,” I protested. Okay, so maybe I’d teased Carmen a little bit too much about her rules last night, butif we couldn’t talk openly about things, what kind of friendship was it? Teasing didn’t mean I thought I had any chance of changing her mind. I would not hurt Carmen. Even if it meant a lot of hurt for me in the end.
As if sensing what I was willing to sacrifice, Grace frowned. “I don’t want to see you pour yourself into someone for another three years.”
“Carmen is not Toni.” I knew Grace held a lot of resentment towards my ex-fiancée for breaking off our engagement, but I didn’t anymore. We’d both known it wasn’t working. Toni was just the first to say it. And we had never been friends. Not in the comfortable, effortless way I knew Carmen and I could be again.
Grace was still frowning at me, so I put my hand to my heart. “I promise I will keep my hopes in check.”
“Good.”
Piper ran up with a paper fluttering in her hands, and Grace leaned down to have a look. “What did you draw, Pipercorn?”
“They’re having a party.” Piper explained. She’d drawn a bunch of happy flowers with all their leaf “hands” up in the air. Like they were celebrating.
I leaned over and studied it. “I don’t know how you do it, Piper. This is incredible.” I could picture it sized down to fit on the tiny cards we tucked into our bouquets.
“You like it?” she looked so pleased.
“Of course, I like it.” Over her head I muttered to Grace, “She’s going to be running her own empire before you know it.”
Grace smiled at me. “She’ll have plenty of time for that. For now, I want her to focus on being a kid.”
Like she couldn’t have both. I hoped I wasn’t projecting too much with this card endeavor. Anywhere I saw potential, I wanted to feed it.
Grace looked down at Piper. “I agree with Uncle Isaac. This one is a winner. I’m going to put it in my folder, and we’ll take it home and scan it, okay?”
“Okay.” Piper bit her lip. “Can you text a picture of it to Dean?”
“Um.” Grace pressed her lips together and glanced at me, as if I could save her from her daughter’s adoration of Dean. I could not, nor did I necessarily want to. He was a solid guy.
Grace sighed. “He’s busy with work right now. But he’ll see it on the cards when he comes in the shop, and I bet he buys one to keep. Don’t you think?”
