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Ah. I knew that place. Very upmarket, and the owner was a douche. I assumed we were talking about the same guy. “Right, yes. I am familiar with it. From memory, I think there was one large arrangement for the reception and one smaller arrangement for the waiting area.”
He produced a credit card from his pocket. “Probably. It doesn’t matter. Charge him double.”
I chuckled. “Well, I won’t do that. But how about we work out some more details on the flowers?”
“Sure. As long as it’s a clear message.”
I couldn’t help but like this guy. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry he hurt you.”
His face softened for a second, and in that moment, the hardness in his eyes melted and I saw maybe a glimpse of the real him. “I am too,” he murmured. Then his gaze hardened again. “And I’d like him to bereallysorry, but you won’t let me buy the murder flowers.”
I laughed. “Okay, but I’m thinking something like this might work.” I began putting a few flowers together. “What about some hydrangea, which is supposed to meanheartless,” I said. “Surrounded by black basil leaves, which according to old Victorian times meansI hate you.”
Now he smiled. “I think we’re onto something here.”
“Then for the larger piece, we can reverse the colours,” I suggested. “Green carnations on the outside with black roses in the centre.”
He scanned the list on his phone again, then looked up and smiled at me with his hand to his heart. “Green carnations meanhomosexualityand black roses meanyou’re dead to me. So black roses surrounded by green carnations would meanyou’re dead to me, you big old homosexual, and I think that’s beautiful.” He sighed. “Poetry with flowers.”
I laughed. “Are you sure he’ll get the reference?”
“He will. Maybe not straight away, but he will google it.”
“And he’s paying for this?”
He grinned then. “That’s the best part.”
“Are we having them delivered? Or did you want to deliver them yourself?”
He hummed as he considered this. “I think I should like to deliver them myself.”
“They’ll be heavy. I can have one of the guys help you carry them if you want.” The Vintage Emporium was only up the block. “Or maybe I could even help you deliver them, just to see his face.”
He brightened at that. “It would be only fair that you do.”
“They’ll take a short while to be prepared,” I said. “Did you want to come back?”
“I might duck next door and grab a coffee.” He waved his ex’s credit card. “Want one?”
I laughed again. “No, I couldn’t. But thanks.”
“Okay, I’ll be back,” he said, disappearing out the door.
“Lina,” I called, and she came straight out. I explained the two bouquets we wanted and the budget, and we got straight to work. We couldn’t always accommodate rush orders but this one was unusual. And fun. And he was cute, so...
When I’d thought earlier that today was going to be a great day, I didn’t have this in mind. It wasn’t every day we got orders for revenge arrangements.
“Uh, these are some bold choices,” Lina mused.
“And it’s exactly what you think it means,” I said with a laugh. “His boyfriend cheated on him.”
She laughed as she fixed the black basil leaves. “Well, that would explain these.”
I had most of the larger arrangement done by the time he came back in, large iced coffee in his hand. He slid his expensive sunglasses up onto the top of his head. “Oh, these are looking perfect,” he said.
I left mine in Lina’s very capable hands.
I nodded to the customer, whose name I still didn’t even know. “Come over to the desk and we’ll sort out the paperwork.” I took the iPad and opened the order form. “Customer name. Am I writing in his name or yours?”
