by Maggie Way
I quirked an eyebrow at him. “You want me to open the shop on my own?” I didn’t think this was necessary considering he lived upstairs. And from what I learned from Nica, he’d never taken a vacation, gotten sick, or had an afternoon off.
“No,” he said again.
My chin raised a smidgen while I waited for him to say more. He extended his hand, palm open. “If you don’t want them, I’ll take them back.”
I tightened my grip on the keys and pulled my hand away. “No. I’ll keep them.”
He left his hand hanging between us as we stared at each other. When he saw I wouldn’t give them up, he grumbled his way out of the back room and to the front of the shop.
“What an odd, odd man,” I muttered, lifting the keys up to the light. There were three of them. One looked heavy duty, which I gathered would open the front door of the shop. The second could be for the door in the back. But what was the third one for?
I contemplated this for a while. Then Darwin walked back in, not bothering to say anything to me, and ran back up the stairs. I looked at the keys again. Could he have given me a key to his apartment?
I threw the keys in a box I kept on a shelf as soon as I entered my cozy apartment. The last time I lived in anything this small was when I was in college, but I made it something to call my own, my space, and kept the clutter to a minimum.
I had a line of herbs on the windowsill in the tiny kitchen and kept an orchid hanging by a bookshelf. Bob loved excess, and even though he had too much of everything, he never had a second thought of sharing anything with me, not that I dared ask.
After showering, I filled a pot with water and started on dinner. I had become proficient in cooking for one. Tonight, with all the rain and the wet cold that caused my joints a deep ache, a hearty vegetable soup was on the menu.
People said life begins at forty. That would be an understatement for where I found myself two years ago, just a few months after I celebrated my fortieth birthday. I had an overhaul. But I was happy…for the most part. Bob had travelled quite a bit for his job and I’d gotten used to being alone for years. Being alone hadn’t been a challenge. The fight was with the loneliness that sometimes weighed heavily in my gut.
My work relationship with Darwin was less than ideal, and despite him constantly leaving me by myself in front of the shop, the thought of knowing there was another warm body nearby would sometimes be enough for me. And working with flowers and plants was a delight. The first time my Lady Slipper orchids bloomed, I had the urge to call someone and tell them of my good news. My parents had been gone for years and the only family I had left was a sister who could care less about me, much less so a flower.
The keys caught my attention as I murmured sweet nothings to my orchids, and I picked it up, wondering what had urged him to give them to me. And couldn’t help but ask if loneliness got to him too.
Chapter Three
Monday…
The bell above the door signaled the arrival of two men, both carrying full garbage bags. Placing the garden gloves after slipping them off my hands, I put on my best customer service smile. “How can I help you today?”
I slid the pencil off my bun and flipped a fresh Valentine’s Day order form on the counter. Darwin told me to expect last minute orders, not panicked—those should come tomorrow.
One man opened his bag and raised a funeral wreath. “We brought these back.”
My smile slowly faded on my face. “Brought what back?” I asked, tapping the pencil on the counter.
“We paid for them. Thousands of dollars,” the other man replied, “They’re for the funeral.”
“Two thousand dollars,” the other man
I narrowed my eyes at the both of them then dragged my gaze down to the bags they’d dumped on the shop floor. “I don’t understand. Is there something wrong with the flowers?”
“Well…” One man shook his head sideways. “They’re a little wilted. Some still look better than others. Like this one.” He lifted the wreath again.
I smiled flatly and pushed away from the counter. “I still don’t understand. You paid for them. When’s the funeral?”
“Saturday.”
“This Saturday coming up?”
“No, two days ago.”
“Oh!” I nodded, confused as all hell, then shook my head. “So the funerals over. You want us to throw them out?”
The two men looked at each other for a few seconds, like they were having a secret communication without words. The bigger one, most likely the older brother since they could be twins except this one had more sunspots and wrinkles on his face, spoke first. “We want our money back.”
My mouth popped open. “I don’t think I can do that.”
“Why not? We don’t want them. The funeral is over.”
“Yes, I know you told me it is. But we don’t do flower rentals. You paid for them, and you keep them, or you throw them out.”
“But we don’t want them.”
“Sir, we don’t do refunds. These are perishable items. If you bought milk from the grocery store and it goes bad after you’ve purchased it, you can’t return it and ask for your money back.”
The bigger man pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “I can’t drink milk. I’m lactose intolerant.”
Oh son of all that’s holy. I’m not going to win this war. “Why don’t I get the owner?” I raised a hand. “Just a second.” I rushed to the back room, where I found Darwin fiddling with a heavy-gauge wire. “Could you come out for a little bit? There’s a…ahm…an unusual request.”
He dropped the wire on the table, removed his gloves and stuffed them in the front pockets of his apron. I smiled a little seeing him put it on earlier. All of Eva’s Garden Flower Shop aprons are pink and floral. It was such a contrast to his dark denims and blue and green plaid shirt.
“Nica will be here soon with Alison,” he said as he made his way out.
I nodded, guessing Alison was the bride to be who was coming in for consultation. “These gentlemen are hoping to get a refund for the flowers they ordered.” I waved my hand at the two men, who, then, both showed Darwin two pairs of wreath.
“You came in last week and ordered them for your mother’s funeral,” Darwin told them, matter-of-factly. He walked to the front of the cash register and studied the wreaths. “You’re Dorothea’s sons.”
“Yes,” they answered in unison.
Not a hint of a smile changed Darwin’s expression. “She was a good woman.”
“That’s why we came for nice flowers.”
“And you expect me to say yes to your request?”
“Yes.”
Darwin took a deep breath, his chest puffing out. I was glued to the floor, not knowing if I should duck, call 911 or just let the men have at it. My eyes flitted to the Dendobrium orchids in a large pot sitting by the windows. I’d been taking care of that plant for the right customer who would buy it look after it like I had. I worried about each and every live plants and flowering blooms around the area—innocent bystanders if these men decided to use their fists instead of their minds.
Nica opened the door and led a young blonde woman in to the shop. Sensing the tension in the air, her smile faltered and her yes darted to me, asking me silently what in the hell had she walked into.
“Hi, Nica, why don’t you and Alison come to the office?” I said around the lump in my throat that had formed. I waved them over, and they tiptoed around the men.
I was practically pushing them to the back when Darwin spoke again, touching one of the flowers on the wreath. “Lilium longiflorum. Commonly known as Easter lily…a symbol of purity, hope, innocence and peace.” His fingers skated over the other blooms. “White carnation for pure love and innocence. Chrysanthemum, a symbol of lamentation and grief.” He took another deep inhale and turned his attention to the two men in front of him. “Each flower has a meaning, to evoke emotions, our love for our dearly departed. These flowers are expressions of o
ur love, sympathy and respect. You asked me to create something for your mother, a beautiful soul taken from us too soon, and now you mock her by doing this?”
The older of the two men cleared his throat and tugged at his collar. “I was thinking…” he muttered, eyes directed to the floor. When he looked up, he didn’t dare continue whatever else he wanted to say. Darwin’s expression was enough to make him change his mind. All three of them stood there, not saying a word to each other, then the two men stuffed the wreaths back, grumbling amongst themselves while Darwin didn’t move except to cross his arms over the expanse of his chest.
When the men left, Darwin brushed his hair back, squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. He turned toward me and Nica, who had a death grip on my arm.
“You must be Alison,” he said, hand stretched out, ready to shake the young bride-to-be’s hand. “Why don’t we sit up there.” He pointed at the small grouping of chairs around a low table, a spot we normally used for consultations.
“Sure,” Alison said, smiling, not seemingly perturbed by the bizarre and uncomfortable situation she had witnessed.
“Would you like some tea or water?” Darwin offered.
“Tea would be nice.”
Nica let go of my arm and walked with Darwin and Alison to the chairs. “Dar makes his own tea concoction. Did you make madeleines?” He nodded, and Nica hooked her hand around his arm and pressed the side of her head on his upper arm. “He makes the best lavender madeleines too.”
The two young women cooed at how talented Darwin was while I stayed put on my spot, a few feet from the counter, pretending to wipe dirt off of it, when in fact, I was eavesdropping. Tea concoctions? Lavender madeleins? Why have I never been offered those?
Over the next half hour, as Darwin made the two girls giggle by the sunny windows, drinking fragrant tea and eating delicate French cookies, I attended to customers flowing in and out of the store. He was right; we would be bombarded by people—men and women—all hoping that we could fulfill their Valentine’s Day orders.
Darwin had hired a couple of college students to do the deliveries the entire day. The whole back room was filled to the brim with vases and flowers, which he had been working on all morning.
“How’s it going, Morgan?” Nica propped her elbow on the counter and leaned her chin on her upturned hand as I was inputting an order in the computer.
I sent her a quick side glance. “Not bad. How are you? How’s it going there?” I nodded at Darwin and Alison who were still chatting at the corner.
Nica looked over her shoulder then back at me again, licking her lip. “Great. You know, Darwin showing off his magnificence and knowledge.”
“Hmm.” I pushed my glasses higher up on my nose and focused on the monitor.
“What was that thing earlier?”
I sighed. Clearly she wasn’t going to let me work. I rotated my wrists. “Men being men.”
“They were trying to get a refund on funeral flowers they had for their mother.” I tsked at the thought.
“That’s odd.”
“Yes, I know. I think he handled it well.”
“Darwin handles everything well. And death and funerals are sensitive topics for him.”
“How do you mean?”
She threw a quick glance over her shoulder before saying, “How much had he told you about his wife?” Despite her voice being low, it didn’t settle the nervous idea that Darwin would hear us talk about him and his late wife.
I had been curious and if I truly wanted to understand the man, I hoped to know more about him. He wouldn’t be forth-coming, and I knew this was the best I could do. “Not much at all. He’s a closed book.”
“That doesn’t surprise me at all. I’ve been trying to get him out of his funk for a while. I don’t like seeing him like this, all sad and lonely. Eva was his life.”
I nodded. Darwin was they type of man, who struck me as dedicated and loving husband. Despite not having the best marriage, Bob leaving me still caused me pain. Not insurmountable, but something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I could only imagine loss like Darwin had experienced.
“You should have seen her funeral. He filled the room with all her favourite flowers. It was quite beautiful.” Nica sighed, with a far-off glance in her eyes.
Her phone rang and she excused herself. When it ended, she tilted her head on one side and focused once again on me. “Morgan, when was the last time you went out on a date?”
On cue, Darwin had just walked down, his steps faltering a little when he passed behind Nica, but he continued.
“Last date?” My shoulders sagging, I dropped my hands on my lap. “I think I was your age.” I turned to her, pouting. She did the same. Then we laughed.
“Well, you seem to have caught someone’s eye.” Nica winked.
My heart beat faster. I refused to check if Darwin was around the corner, eavesdropping. What a silly notion. He respected people’s privacy even if it was in his shop. But I couldn’t ignore how it secretly delighted me. “Really? Dear old me?”
“What? You’re not old, Morgan.” She slapped my hand playfully. “But yes. Do you remember the father of the bride, Mr. Ricci, from yesterday?”
“Oh, yeah.” Hand flattened on my chest, I inhaled. “He’s a sweet man.”
Her eyebrows waggled. “What do you think?”
“What do I think?” I wasn’t often out of words, but Nica’s question stumped me. “I…I..” I stammered.
“Morgan, did you see my notebook?” Darwin appeared out of nowhere and his baritone voice startled me almost off my seat. I held on to the counter and steadied myself.
“Your notebook?” All I could do was look at him funny. He was never without that notebook. It was attached to him all the time. A palm-size, leather-bound book he carried in his back pocket. Naturally, it was the only thing that came to mind. “Did you check your pockets?”
His expression didn’t change, lips tight, brows furrowed, and he was close enough that I could see the gray flecks in his ocean blue eyes.
“I did,” he replied.
“You mean the notebook you were writing on?” Nica joined in. “I think it’s still on the table.” Cocking her head to the side, she hitched a thumb over her shoulder. Darwin scratched the salt-and-pepper beard on his chin as he turned his gaze to where Nica directed, where Alison was chatting happily on her cell phone.
“Oh, yes. I must have left it there,” he said but he didn’t make a move to retrieve the notebook, instead he stood awkwardly between us.
“Dar…” He turned to Nica but she winked at me, and an unsettling gurgled in my belly. “What do you think of Morgan?”
Lips pressed together, eyes wide, I shook my head at her. This was not going to amount to anything good. Luckily, he was more uncomfortable with the question than I was. He stuffed his hands in his jeans and rocked back before saying, “I think Alison is done with her phone call.” He threw me what may have been an apologetic glance and hurried off back to his client.
Nica giggled at my side. “That’s cute.”
“You’re going to cost me my job.” I put my glasses back on my nose, ready to continue with work.
“No way. He likes you too much to fire you.” My throat clogged right up at the thought of how much Darwin liked me. As an employee, a hard-working one at that? Of course, but anything else was out of the question. Not that I would entertain such ideas.
“Like me or not, I still have a job to finish and you’re taking up my time.”
Nica straightened and crossed her arms over her navy blue and lemon yellow blouse. Shaking her head, she tsked. “You’re spending way too much time with him.” She leaned closer. “His grumpiness is starting to rub off on you.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be helping Alison make decisions?”
“Nah. She’s in good hands with Darwin. You know you didn’t answer my question.”
“What question?”
“What do you think of Mr
. Ricci?”
“I don’t know the man. He seemed sweet.”
“He lost his wife three years ago. Gracie told me her dad doesn’t date at all, but he asked her to ask me about you.” She nudged my side with her elbow. Wanting to seem unaffected by this, I rifled through the stack of paper in front of me. “I wanted to ask you first before I give him your number.”
“My number?”
“Yeah, I think he wants to ask you out on a date. And it’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow. I think it would be sweet if your first date is on Valentine’s Day.”
“Oh, I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I’m working tomorrow.”
“You’re working tomorrow?” Darwin climbed down the few steps and stopped in front of the cash register with Alison.
“Yes, I am.” I smiled at the young bride-to-be. “How did your consultation go, sweetheart?”
“Very well. I’m sure glad I have Nica and Darwin to help me out. I don’t anything about flowers.”
“We better go. I promised Jeremiah I’ll have you back before dinner.” Nica told her. She raised her arms and wrapped them around me. “Think about the date. I’ll give him the green light only with your permission.”
When she let me go, I patted her on the cheek. She was very much in love, and it showed in her eyes. “I’ll think about it.”
“Please do. You deserve to be happy.” She rounded the counter and gave Darwin a peck on the cheek before whispering something in his ear. He didn’t respond with anything obvious and it would be almost impossible to know what she’d told him.
She and Alison waved us goodbye. As I was about to clean up mismatched cups and saucers they’d left on a low table by the windows, Darwin asked me to leave them be.
“I don’t mind.” He didn’t listen, and neither did I. We went about clearing the table in silence.
“Would you like some madeleines and tea?”
I shot him a curious glance. “It’s almost lunch.”
“Of course. Here, let me grab those and I’ll give them a wash.” As he reached forward, taking the stack of plates from me, his pinkie finger touched the edge of my right hand. It electrified my skin. I withdrew my hand and the plates came crashing down to the floor.