by Laila Kelly
“I mean, it’s simple. Look at him Amber, he’s gorgeous. He belongs with some blonde haired, blue eyed Texas pageant queen. Not a short, brown haired florist from Georgia,” she crossed her arms and looked at the television in the living room. Amber scoffed at her remarks and scooted her chair closer to her. “Joleigh, that man is filthy rich, has influence, and seems to know exactly what he wants out of this life. Don’t you think that if he wanted a blonde-haired pageant queen? Has it not occurred to you that maybe Graham doesn’t want someone like that?” she paused and waited for Joleigh to answer. She shrugged, and Amber continued. “I’m more than sure that he would’ve had one by now if that was indeed what he wanted, but clearly it isn’t if he’s over here in Georgia and has asked that beautiful curly haired florist out on a date, maybe that’s what he wants,” she reached out and tugged at one of the loose pieces of hair surrounding her face. Joleigh turned her head to the side and bit her lip.
Again, she had nothing to say. A piece of her wanted to believe that Amber might be right, but there was a big road sign telling her that she should still avoid him at all costs. “I still can’t,” she whispered and got up to turn off the television and fold the two blankets that her Amber and her father always used. Amber got up and followed her to the living room. “And why can’t you? Is it because you’re too scared to get back into dating?” she reached out and rubbed her back. “I just think it’s good for you to spend some time outside of the flower shop and the house. You’re still really young, Joleigh. You can’t spend the rest of your life cooped up at work or at home. I just want you to be happy, and if you getting out and doing things like dating, then that’s what you should do.” Joleigh put down the remote on top of the blankets and turned to face Amber.
“I get how you want that for me, but I still have to make sure that my father is alright, and I can’t be out on fifty dates while I leave you here to care for him. That’s not fair to either of you.” She reached behind the couch and turned off the lamp. “That’s a really poor excuse, Joleigh. I love you and your father, so of course I wouldn’t mind staying with him while you go out and take care of yourself. You do know that it’s just as important for the caregiver to take care of themselves the same way that they take care of their loved one.” Joleigh took a deep breath and walked back into the kitchen. “Look, I’ll see if he asks me out on another date, and if he does then I’ll go. Does that make you feel better?” She decided against telling Amber that he had already asked her out on their second date. Just the thought of seeing Graham Brentwood gave her butterflies in her stomach, a feeling that she hadn’t felt since she was in high school. “It’s not about if it makes me feel better, it’s about how you feel, Joleigh.” The more Amber said it, the more she began to believe her. It would make her a better caregiver to her dad if she spent just a little time to herself.
She ran her fingers through her hair and pulled out the rubber band holding half of it together. “Yeah, it does seem like something that I need to try out.” The bathroom door opened, and her dad walked out and waved down the hallway at her. “Goodnight, Joleigh, I love you.” She waved back at him, “I love you, too, Dad.” She watched as he closed the door and turned to face Amber again. She wanted to ask her how she was supposed to feel good about going out and having a good time when her father wasn’t getting any better and there wasn’t a cure in sight, but she knew she would give her some methodical answer that would make sense. There were already too many things that didn’t make sense in Joleigh’s life and one thing that would was one thing too many. She had found familiarity in not understanding things and beginning to understand them now was not something that she was interested in.
“It’s getting late, Amber. Are you going to camp out here, or are you going to head home for the night?” She looked up at the clock and saw that it was close to eleven o’clock. “Ehh, I think I’ll take the couch tonight,” and grabbed one of the blankets that Joleigh just folded and spread it out. Joleigh walked to the kitchen and turned off the light and headed down the hallway. She grabbed a pillow off her bed and took it back to Amber who was already getting undressed in the middle of the living room. Joleigh laughed to herself and shook her head and threw it on the couch.
“Goodnight, Amber,” she said over her shoulder as she walked down the hallway. “Goodnight, Joleigh. Think about what we talked about,” Amber loudly whispered. She stopped and rubbed her eyes, too tired to think in depth about what she said. Joleigh stopped by her dad’s door, opened it and peaked in. “Goodnight, Dad,” and closed the door softly. She walked into her room and got undressed, put on her pajamas and sank under her covers. It had been a long day and she was finally back in her happy place. She turned off the light and closed her eyes, but nothing happened. Her mind was going a thousand miles a minute and despite being physically tired, her mind wasn’t ready to go to sleep just yet. After three hours of tossing and turning, her mind finally slowed down enough to jump onto the sleep train, all her dreams were of Graham Brentwood.
Chapter Eight: Graham
Graham looked down at his phone, waiting for it to vibrate, letting him know that he had a message from Joleigh. It had already been a whole day since their first date, and he was hoping that they would be able to go on one more before he was scheduled to fly back to Houston. He got up from the desk in his hotel room and decided that he should get out. Sitting around and waiting for her to text him was going to drive him crazy and he didn’t have time for that. He had to propose a deal to the board to expand the company to Georgia. His mind had already been made up that he was going to do it regardless of what he said, but he liked to at least be a little courteous and take their thoughts and opinions into consideration.
Moving part of his operations to Georgia would give him some much-needed alone time. Houston will always be his home, but a new change of scenery was what he craved. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and he pulled it out, hoping that it was from Joleigh, but it was just Stephanie.
Stephanie: Hey boss, just letting you know that I’ve emailed you all of your flight information for tomorrow night. Let me know if there’s anything else that I can do. *Smiley face emoji*
Graham sighed and rolled his eyes, she knew that he didn’t like it when she called him boss, it was weird to him, but he wasn’t upset with Stephanie. She was just doing her job and making sure that all of his arrangements were in order was one of them. Thinking about going back home without at least seeing Joleigh again made his stomach hurt. He typed a quick reply to Stephanie and went to his camera roll and looked at the pictures that he saved of Joleigh to his phone. If she knew that he had those pictures of her she’d probably never go on another date with him again, but he just couldn’t resist looking at her smiling face a few times a day. He clicked out of his pictures and returned to his text messages. He tapped on Joleigh’s name. Joleigh was a busy woman, and she didn’t seem like she was one for texting first, and he wasn’t going to let whatever ego he had deprive him of being with the woman that he couldn’t get off his mind.
He remembered the moment that he first saw Joleigh’s face. Graham was a sensible man who didn’t believe in the cliché love at first sight, but the moment he opened up that picture from Jamie, he knew he had to have her. Her sweet face just smiling, brightening parts of his world that he didn’t even know were dark. It also didn’t help that none of her social media profiles were private, giving him all the information that he could ever want to know about her. The way that she updated her friends and family on the things that were going on in her life made him feel like he was watching a beautiful princess go throughout her daily life, and he wanted to be a part of it. Her posts were long and well put together, more like diary entries than social media posts. He imagined her sitting at home and typing away all of her daily tasks, filling those who cared about her in on how she felt. Graham had looked at the past six months of her posts, and he felt like he already knew her so well. The only thing that saddened him is
how over time she was posting less and less. From their date the other night he could tell that she had a lot on her mind. One human behavior class in college taught him that a person that spends a lot of their time looking down or in their lap had a lot going on in their life. He wanted to reach out and help her, but he knew that it would take a while for her to let him in. It wouldn’t be something that he held against her, because he was the same way when it came to new people, but one thing that she didn’t know yet was that he would be there and was more than willing to wait however long it would take until she was ready to let him in.
Graham: Hey Joleigh, I was just checking in to see how you’re doing this morning. I hope you slept well last night.
He sat the phone down and rubbed his face, hoping that she got a better night’s sleep than he did. All he did was think about her the entire night and it left him tossing and turning, not getting a wink. Graham got up and walked into the bathroom, picking up his dirty towels and placing them in a pile in the corner. He walked back to the desk and looked down at the phone, still waiting for it to vibrate. It had only been a day since their first date and he desperately wanted for them to go on their second date before it was time for him to go back to Houston.
After their first date he didn’t want to leave her. All he wanted to do was to stay in Georgia and get to know her more. The few hours that they spent together flew by in what felt like minutes, and the most painful thing that he had to do was to take her back to her shop so that she could go home. Graham didn’t know everything, but what he did know is that he wanted her with him. Forever. He just had to find a way to make sure that happened.
He pulled out his laptop and began typing away at the email that he was going to send his board requesting that they had a meeting in 72 hours. Little did anyone know had already began planning the next time that he would be flying back to Georgia to see Joleigh in the next two weeks. Graham wiped his hands onto his pants, hoping that his hands would stop sweating from being so nervous. I’ll just do a little work to get my mind off of everything, he thought to himself. He began looking at more properties to add to the laundry list of places that he was going to be sending to the real estate agent that he had hired. If he was going to be spending time in Georgia persuading Joleigh to fall in love with him and proving to her that she was the only woman for him, then he had to have something going on with his business to pass the time.
As soon as he got into a rhythm of looking at properties that he wanted to buy and land that he wanted to build on, his phone vibrated. He jumped up and ran over to the night stand where it was charging.
Joleigh: Good morning!! *blushed smiley face emoji* I slept well. I went to bed kind of late, but I feel really energized today. How did you sleep last night? What are your plans for today?
He smiled and sat down on the bed to think of something clever to say back to her. He imagined her at work and making others smile with the arrangements that she created. From the design book that he saw in her shop, she was most certainly the most talented florist that he had ever seen. Not that he was much of an expert, he did remember how the flowers that his father would have delivered to his mother and sister looked like and they had nothing on Joleigh’s creativity.
He looked out the window and thought about what he would say next, something conversational, but original. Graham thought of the things that Sophia said that she didn’t like hearing from men when they texted her, but she was never clear on what she wanted either. Of course, he didn’t want to go with the first thing that came to his mind, because it would probably come off as him being too aggressive to see her again. There had to be a way that he could relay to her that he really enjoyed spending time with her without running her off. Graham felt like a beast and she was the beautiful Belle. She was entirely too sweet, and when he was around her, he seemed to feel like maybe he wasn’t so bad.
A few thoughts ran through his head of the things that he had heard from his past relationships and regret filled his heart and clouded his mind. “Graham, you’re far too aggressive,” or “Graham I’m not ready for anything serious right now,”. Those thoughts haunted him, and he knew he would die if he were to hear those same words from Joleigh. For some reason, texting had never been his strong suite. He much preferred talking in person to people. At least in person he could see their reactions to the things that he said. It was far too easy to hide how you feel when you’re texting. He sighed, knowing that in order to enter into a successful relationship in the 21st century that he was going to have to get the hang of texting. He picked up the phone and read her text again. Just relax, all you have to do is just talk to her, he told himself.
Graham: I’m glad to hear that, beautiful, and I slept alright. I couldn’t get much sleep because I was still on a sugar high from our date last night. My plans for today are me finding more properties and land that I want to purchase here in Georgia, and then send a letter to the board to let them know that we have a meeting coming soon, but after that I hope to find something to eat. I’m kind of getting tired of ordering the room service from the hotel. I want to eat where the locals eat. Do you have any ideas?
He hoped that his message wasn’t too long, he didn’t want to bore her with reading the entire thing. Especially when he knew that she would probably be busy right now, but if he went back and tried to fix what he had already typed it would take him another twenty minutes to obsess over every word. He closed his eyes and pressed send. Hopefully she would receive it well. Shaking his head at how nervous he was thinking about what he would say to her, he laid back on the bed and ran his fingers along his chest. It wasn’t as defined as it usually was, and he made a mental note to head to the gym this afternoon and to reschedule his appointment with his personal trainer as soon as he landed back in Texas. The last thing that he would need is Sophia accusing him of letting himself go before her wedding. The thought of her getting into a hissy made Graham laugh, and he rolled over and looked out the window.
The way that Sophia described her relationship with Collin was exactly how he wanted Joleigh to dote after him, and he knew that talk was cheap. He needed to find a way to show Joleigh how much he enjoyed their date and how bad he wanted to go on another one. Grabbing his laptop off of the desk, he Googled a list of things to send a woman after a date. Clicking on the first list that he saw; a lightbulb went off in his head. Of course she would love to receive some flowers, especially when she does them for other people every day. Now I just have to find the perfect ones to send her, he thought to himself. In a matter of minutes, Graham had called a flower shop thirty minutes from Joleigh’s shop and placed and rushed an order to be delivered before she closed up for the day.
Feeling satisfied with his idea to send her flowers, he felt his nerves subside and the feelings in his stomach were replaced with his stomach growling. He looked at the time and realized that he had already missed the window for breakfast. Shaking his head, he realized how much Stephanie did for him on an everyday basis. It wasn’t a rare occasion that Graham forgot to eat, and it happened so often that it became second nature to Stephanie to make sure that Graham was eating enough. He grabbed his jacket and keys and headed out the door and down the hallway. He pressed the button to call the elevator and tapped his foot to the melody of his favorite song, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. The elevator arrived and he looked up a few places on his phone to eat when Joleigh texted. His face erupted into a smile and he flicked it away, wanting to read it in the privacy of his car. The doors opened and he made a beeline to the parking garage elevator. He was glad that the valet had already gone home for the evening when he came back last night. The anticipation of reading her response was eating away at him and he wanted desperately to sit in the car and grin like the fool he was. A fool for Joleigh it was.
Graham made a mental note to call Collin one day and ask him how he knew that his sister was the one for him, because despite only going on one date with Joleigh, he felt like he already knew. From the
past week and a half of him reading her social media posts, he felt like he knew her even before she agreed to go on the date with him, and after the night that they had, he was one hundred percent sure. He pressed the button to the elevator five times and looked behind him, hoping that no one else would come and need to get on, stopping him from getting to his car. The doors opened and he began pressing the floor that he was on and the close button. It seemed as though the elevator knew how anxious he was to get to his car, because it was moving at the same speed as molasses on dirt.
He rolled his eyes as the doors creeped close and he pulled his phone out of his pocket and searched for his keys. His phone vibrated again twice, and he looked down at it, hoping that Joleigh had text him back again. They were from Jamie and Sophia. They surely knew how to text in sequence with one another, and the same thing was clearly on both of their minds.
Jamie: Hey man, just checking in to see how your date with Joleigh went last night?
Sophia: Why haven’t you called me to tell me about your date yet?
Graham laughed, wondering why he was surrounded by people who were so caught up on what they wanted to know that they threw formalities out of the window. He couldn’t remember the last time his sister or Jamie were invested in hearing about a date that he went on. Granted, this was a new concept for all of them. At least Jamie began with a hello before asking. But Graham knew not to expect more out of his sister. No matter how old she got, she would always be the annoying little sister, and when there was something that she wanted to know about, she was worse than a dog with a bone. He laughed again as he stepped off the elevator and headed to his car. They would get their answers after he replied to Joleigh and decided where he was going to be eating. His stomach started growling so loud that he hoped that there was no one around to hear it. He unlocked the door to his car and jumped in, locking the door behind him, a habit that he learned from one of his high school buddies who’s a cop.