by Marisa Logan
“You look beautiful Chleo,” he said when he walked over to her, and planted a kiss on her lips. He took her by the hand and led her to the kitchen.
“Mama.”
His mother grunted a reply. She was too focused on her cooking to pay much attention. Arjun cleared his throat and tried again.
“Chleo this is my mother, Resham.”
Chleo waved and squeaked a hello, but her voice came out so low that she wasn’t sure if his mother heard.
“And mama this is my girlfriend, Chleo,” he said. He gave Chleo’s hand a reassuring squeeze. The towel he had was now tossed over his shoulder.
“Girlfriend?” Resham said. She finally paused to give both of them a look. She looked at his face, and then down to Chleo’s face, and then her eyes traveled lower still to their intertwined fingers. “This is your girlfriend and you never told me before.”
“I didn’t know how to tell you,” Arjun said sheepishly.
“I see. Well, this one is very pretty” Resham said. She tilted her head back and studied the two of them. She looked like she hadn’t smiled in years. Chleo blushed and thanked her.
“So Chleo, you’ve been with my son. Try to convince him to cut off his hair eh?”
Chleo’s eyes widened.
“I think his hair is beautiful,” Chleo said. She touched it gently with the tips of her fingers.
“I like my hair the way it is,” Arjun groaned. His mother shrugged, muttered something under her breath and went back to cooking.
“Are those flowers for me?” his mother asked. She walked over to Chleo and held out her hand. Chleo thrust the bouquet towards her and grinned.
“Yes, Mrs. Vaswani…”
“Oh please. Resham will do,” she said, taking the bouquet out of Chleo’s hand. She took a small crystal vase from a corner of the kitchen and put the bouquet inside. She filled the vase with water and set it down.
“And am I cooking by myself? Are you going to be statues by the door? No no no. Arjun, check on the stove. Chleo, help me with this sauce. Can you cook?” she didn’t wait for a reply, “it doesn’t matter. Come. Come come. Before it clots.”
Chleo and Arjun sprang into action. Chleo took off her jacket and went to put it and Arjun’s towel on the couch before going back in the kitchen to help Resham.
“Everyone should know how to cook. I taught Arjun and his two sisters, but they’re all skinny like twigs. You, Chleo…I see you’re a woman who eats. Tell my son to put more meat on his bones, ok?”
“Uhhh, Ok…”
Resham spoke so quickly, it seemed more like she was talking to herself than to anyone else. She never paused long enough to wait for a reply. She was too focused on the task at hand to pay attention to what anyone else was saying. She moved to the other side of the kitchen to collect some herbs that were in a cupboard.
“I’m sorry,” Arjun mouthed the words to Chleo so that his mother couldn’t hear.
“It’s ok,” she mouthed back. “I love you.”
He smiled. That seemed to calm his nerves a bit. He moved over to where she was standing and squeezed her hand.
“I love you too,” he whispered. This time, Resham did hear.
“Love love love. All this talk about love. Cook!” she said. That made Chleo laugh out loud, and seeing her laugh made Arjun laugh too. Resham looked at her son and then at Chleo and rolled her eyes.
Chleo wondered if this was what Arjun had been afraid of. She took a handful of fresh herbs and started to cut them up on a cutting board. She was so lost in thought thinking about cooking with her boyfriend and his mother. She was nervous, but it was still nice. He was letting her into a part of his world, and he didn’t even realize it. She hoped it would be like this when he met her family too.
She looked up and turned to watch Arjun. He put some food on the palm of his hand to taste test it. He smiled and hummed to himself. He started doing a little dance as he cooked and Chleo loved to watch him.
“And another thing!” Resham said, breaking Chleo out of her trance. Arjun looked at Chleo and she smiled back at him. He rolled his eyes and then winked at her, bracing himself for whatever it was that his mother was about to say. Chleo giggled to herself.
“You talk of love and I’ve never heard of you. Are you pregnant? Huh? Tell me. When is the wedding?”
THE END
***
Bonus books start after excerpt of
Trusting Your Heart, the 4th book in the Flower Shop Romance series.
Excerpt: Trusting Your Heart
A Sweet Contemporary Romance Novella
Flower Shop Romance Book Four
MARISA LOGAN
Book Description
Science teacher, Stanley March, is intelligent, kind, and extremely shy. He’s not the type to steal someone else’s thunder. But the assistant principal encourages him to make some thunder of his own.
Helena McCoy is a wild and beautiful art teacher with pink-flecked hair and a playful personality who's popular with her students.
When Stanley saves Helena from being asked out by a self-absorbed boor, he misinterprets her playful response for an invitation to go on a date.
Their chemistry is interesting, to say the least.
Chapter 1
The cool cup of juice was just starting to turn luke warm in Stanley’s hand. He was going to have to walk up to the woman across the gymnasium eventually. Or maybe not…he wasn’t sure yet. His mind was constantly weighing the pros and cons of all situations. What would happen if he said hello? What would happen if he didn’t? He knew if he went up to her and said something there was a chance that she could dismiss and embarrass him. But if he didn’t speak to her, then he knew that he would always wonder, and probably berate himself internally for a long time.
The woman across the gym looked so beautiful to him. She wasn’t too tall, but she was lanky and that gave her the illusion of added height. Her skin was lighter than caramel but not quite pale. Her hair was large loose curls and most strands had pink streaks here there and everywhere. Her eyes were turned up at the outer corner, and she looked a bit like a mischievous cat. Her eyes were a light green, and they darted this way and that when she spoke. There were a few moles above one corner of her mouth that looked like little brown stars on the sky of her face.
It was a giant room full of students and teachers and admin from different districts and this lanky art teacher in all black with pink streaks in her hair was the person who had captured his attention and kept it.
He’d never have a chance with her, he thought to himself and shook his head. She was one of those cool teachers. Her middle school was a few miles away, but she was already interacting with the artsy students from the different schools. They had gravitated to her because of her hair and sense of style. Some of the math and science kids had even gone up to talk to her. It was like she was commanding the large gymnasium without even having to put in any effort.
Stanley was transfixed, but also rooted to his spot that was close to the booth where his students were. On the other side of him was a table with all the snacks and soda and punch bowls.
He put his finger on the bridge of his nose to adjust his glasses.
“Would you get a load of her?”
Mr. Sandusky, a math teacher from a neighboring school sidled up to Stanley and got himself a cup of juice too. Stanley didn’t like him much. He was a misogynist and it was obvious he had either been a bully when he was in school, or he had been bullied enough back then to now take it out on his students and other faculty members.
“Who’s that, Sam?” Stanley sputtered. He pretended to take interest in the snacks that were on the table. He picked up a small Styrofoam plate and put pretzels and a handful of Doritos on it.
“Like you don’t know. I mean that hot Latina chick over there. She’s from Wellington Middle School for Gifted Students. She’s new apparently, and everybody’s in love with her. The kids she’s got are already painting like pros,” M
r. Sandusky picked up a few cashews and put them straight into his mouth. He chewed with his mouth open and never took his eyes off of the art teacher.
“She is smokin’ hot,” he whispered more to himself than to anyone else, but he was still loud enough for Stanley to hear. Stanley took a sip of his punch and cleared his throat while Mr. Sandusky spoke.
“She looks like a very interesting person,” Stanley said simply. Sandusky scoffed at that.
“Yeah right, I’m interested in knowing what she looks like without those clothes on,” Sandusky said. He seemed to think he was extremely funny because he was the only one laughing at his tasteless jokes.
Stanley sighed and looked away from Sandusky and back at the art teacher. He wondered what her name was, and what she was like. He wished he was the courageous type to walk up to a woman and just talk to them and get to know them. But he wasn’t. He was shy and too in love with his work to put much of his focus on anything else.
Just then, the art teacher looked up at him and flashed him a smile and a wink. Stanley smiled back and looked away. He knew that he was blushing, and he didn’t want to make it too obvious. When he looked back, the art teacher was still looking at him. Her eyes darted about momentarily because she was still surrounded by students and other teachers, but when her gaze landed on him, she kept it there for a while.
“I think she’s looking over here,” Sandusky said. “Think it’s time to make my move.”
“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea,” Stanley replied, still looking at the art teacher. Sandusky cackled and playfully hit Stanley in the chest. He put his cup down on the table and walked over to the art teacher. He had a slight swagger in his step, and his slicked down black hair made him look more like a 50's conman than a math teacher.
“Are you really letting Sandusky go over there, March?”
Startled, Stanley whipped his head around. It was the Vice Principal of his school, Lisa Henriques. Her arms were folded and she had an eyebrow raised. Stanley always liked her. She was the type of person to say what was what whether it was popular or otherwise.
“It’s a free country,” Stanley said, looking down at the ice melting in his cup of juice. He added, “I figure Sam can do whatever he likes.”
Lisa let out a sound that was a mixture of a scoff and genuine disgust.
“Free country or not, everyone knows the kind of man Sandusky is. I didn’t know you two were friends,” Lisa said.
Sam Sandusky and Stanley March were certainly not friends. Sandusky just liked to hear himself talk so much that he didn’t care who was listening. Stanley was timid and polite enough to entertain Sam, but their conversations were mostly one sided. In fact, Stanley always dreaded when Sandusky’s school came for a visit. Sandusky always sought Stanley out because he knew that Stanley would be too kind to tell him to shut his trap.
“We’re not exactly friends,” Stanley said. He was also usually honest unless it meant potentially hurting someone else’s feelings. He pushed his glasses higher up on his nose.
“I like you March. You’ve always been a sweetheart. And I notice that you’ve been looking at Ms. McCoy practically the entire morning. Hell, your students have even noticed. You should be the one over there talking to her,” Lisa said.
“I don’t think she’d want to talk to a man like me,” Stanley said. He finally turned to look at Lisa in the eyes. The way he spoke made her frown just then. It was a compassionate frown. She shook her head but didn’t say anything for a while.
“You’re too hard on yourself. You believe in your students, and maybe it’s about time you started believing in you too. I know Helena McCoy. She’s so smart and kind and you’re the same way.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Henriques,” Stanley said.
“You’re welcome. Even if you don’t go over there…I hope you work up the courage to stand up and stay true to who you really are,” Lisa said as she began to walk away. “Oh,” she paused, almost lost in thought and continued, “and everyone knows that Sandusky is a colossal prick. You’d be doing Helena a favor.”
Lisa smirked, took a glance at Helena, who did in fact look put off by Sandusky’s presence, and then gave Stanley a quick once over before moving away to talk to other members of the board.
Stanley stood by himself for a while. He wanted to go over and say hello, but in his mind, he thought that it would be rude to interrupt, and it could have been that Helena the art teacher just wanted to be left alone.
Stanley talked to a few science students from the neighboring schools. He would shoot quick glances up at the art teacher, and almost every time, she wouldn’t be looking at Sandusky. She seemed almost repulsed by him. There were even a few times when she looked up at Stanley, and raised a small corner of her mouth in a neat little smile. Stanley would always smile back, but would blush and look away.
Lisa was right, he was practically hopeless. He wanted nothing more than to at least introduce himself and hear her say her own name. But he was a dedicated teacher, and a fair wasn’t the right place to go about getting dates, even though that was what Sam Sandusky was now trying to do. The thought made Stanley cringe. He didn’t even know the art teacher, but he knew that if she could possibly seem interested in Sandusky, then maybe she wasn’t the right person for him. Luckily for Stanley, she didn’t look even remotely intrigued by Sam, no matter how tall and good looking he made himself out to be.
Almost ten minutes had passed and Stanley was getting anxious. Then he had an idea. He hadn’t fully worked it out yet, but he started walking over towards Sam and the art teacher.
“Mr. Sandusky, Vice Principal Henriques would like a word with you,” Stanley said in a low voice. He cleared his throat, but it wasn’t even necessary because Sandusky heard him.
“I didn’t see her,” Sandusky said. He smiled through gritted teeth and panned the gymnasium for Lisa.
“I don’t know if it’s urgent, she just said that if I saw you, I should let you know that she needs you,” Stanley said. Sandusky grunted and eyed him. He looked back at the art teacher and offered her a phony smile, and then he went off in search of Lisa.
“The Vice Principal didn’t want to see him did she?” were the first words the art teacher said. She looked more amused than anything. The fact that she could tell is what surprised Stanley.
“What gave it away?” Stanley said. He decided not to lie. It wasn’t his thing, and he wouldn’t know what lie to tell even if he did think to do it.
“The fact that you were talking to that guy right before she went up to you. And she hasn’t been around you for like fifteen minutes. And you kept looking over here, so I was waiting for you to come and rescue me,” she said. She had a beautiful husky voice, but her giggle was soft and slow. She ended it with an “Mmmm”.
“You really did look like you needed saving,” Stanley said. He laughed too, but his was low and unsure.
“Helena,” she stretched out a hand to shake his. “Helena McCoy. I teach art at Wellington.”
Stanley shook her hand. It was warm and her grip was the right kind of firm.
“I’m Stanley March. I teach science.”
“Really? I pegged you for an art teacher,” she grinned.
“Really?” Stanley’s eyes widened ever so slightly.
“No, I’m kidding. I knew you taught science. Or math. Basically I knew you had nothing to do with art,” Helena said.
“It almost sounds like you’re trying to insult me,” Stanley frowned.
“No! Oh gosh. Oh shit. Shoot I mean. I’m sorry,” Helena looked extremely apologetic and winced as she spoke. She pat Stanley on the shoulder.
“I’m not offended. I was joking,” Stanley smiled. “I guess I need to work on my sense of humor.”
“And on your timing. That other guy just would not stop talking. He didn’t mention his students once. I don’t even know if he teaches here,” she said. She looked exasperated and she let out a sigh to confirm her frustration.
> “He actually teaches at another school. Math. He’s really great with numbers, but not too great with English language,” Stanley said.
“Or comprehension. I told him I wasn’t interested like 5 times.”
Stanley smiled at how easy this was. He was relaxing more and more with each word he spoke. Helena was extremely easy to talk to, and it was now very clear to him why it was that people had been flocking to her all morning.
Stanley opened his mouth to speak again, but that was when Sandusky had come back.
“So, Lisa said she’d talk to me later and that it wasn’t too important,” Sandusky said. He playfully nudged Stanley on the shoulder, but the nudge was harder than it appeared. “Thanks for keeping my seat warm for me.”
“We’re standing,” Stanley said. Helena covered her mouth with both hands, and she giggled into them.
Sandusky glared at Stanley.
“I know that. It’s just an expression. Anyway, Ms. McCoy, where were we?” Sandusky said.
“We were right here…standing,” she said. She snorted into her hands and giggled again. Stanley tried not to laugh, and instead swirled the remnants of the now melted ice around in his cup.
“Yes. Yes we were. I was wondering Ms. McCoy, if I could get to know you a little better,” Sandusky said. He acted as if Stanley wasn’t standing less than 2 feet away from him. “I know you just moved to the state, and I figured you wanted someone to show you around and give you a tour of the city.”
“Oh. Mr. Sandusky that is so so nice of you,” Helena said, exaggerating her words and her look of disappointment. “But Mr. March here already invited me out later this week, and he was so kind that I just couldn’t say no.”
Stanley didn’t know if his eyes were as wide as Sandusky’s. He looked back and forth between them. Helena was smiling and Sandusky looked flustered. Helena was looking back and forth at the two men, trying not to giggle again now that both looked positively bewildered. Sandusky was also looking back and forth at Stanley and Helena.