“Yeah, work it out!” Brooklyn cheered, “He loves you so much.”
“You were strong for two years, what’s twenty more?” Kaylee added, admiring her ring again.
Jesse tapped Collette’s shoulder and mouthed, “Need help?” He winked, ensuring he would make for a convincing five-second fake boyfriend. He suspected Collette hadn’t shared the full story with them, and seeing how they loved the jerk so much, he could sympathize to why Collette responded how she did. Also, he would enjoy the thrill of a fake relationship, abusing all the powers that came with it.
“No,” she mouthed back but her face was pale as she looked up to her family, “So, did you want a tour or did you have a list of supplies you need?”
“I wouldn’t mind a tour,” her sister interjected, stepping closer to Jesse. She thought she was being inconspicuous when she pointed at him, whispering, “O-M-G, so hot.” Batting her eyes, “You know... we’re going to need all the help we can get setting up the decorations.”
Collette’s face turned pink. Jesse grinned, enjoying sitting back and allowing the relatives to embarrass her for a change.
André caught Kaylee staring.
“Love you, boo.” She pinched her fiancé’s tie. Turning her lips, she leaned into him on her toes, planting a soft kiss on his chin. “Collette, actually, now that we’re here, I was wondering. Earlier you ticked off the plus one on your RSVP, and I wanted to check if that’s a go... like if you’re bringing a friend instead?” Her eyes shifted to Jesse, “Or are you still uncertain to, like, could there be a chance you and Bryson might kiss and make up?”
Collette clenched the pen in her hand. “Jesse, where’s that gas receipt?”
“I stuck it on your desk.” Jesse smirked and for a moment, Collette forgot about the awkward reminder her family brought. “Ezekiel will show you the wedding decor supplies, but the cedar arch is gone. We had a wedding on Monday and—”
“I looked all over for it. Can you check the truck again, are you sure you placed it on my desk?”
“Nope, it’s there,” Jesse said opening the door for her family. The slip was definitely on her desk and he wouldn’t leave her until she found it. He hollered into the warehouse, “Yo Zeke, I found you a new girlfriend.”
Ezekiel crooked his head to the crowd.
“I like the one I have.”
“Are you sure?” Jesse poked Brooklyn’s cheek like she were five years old, “She’s a cutie.”
“You’re the one who’s single.”
Jesse pursed his lips together. He wasn’t interested. Collette’s sister seemed significantly younger, and besides being a natural beauty, didn’t seem to attract him. His silent scowl was enough for Ezekiel to smarten up and take over, showing the group around the place.
Kaylee snickered to Brooklyn, “Why would anyone get married on a Monday?” Jesse shut the door on them, checking up on Collette. She blotted her eyes with a tissue with her right hand as her left roamed the desk surface inspecting every loose paper.
“Keep looking. I clearly remember sticking it on here somewhere.” He winked. Dropping to the floor, on her knees, she searched more thoroughly. Her eyes widened, lips puckered, and she was seconds from turning his name into the latest cuss—nothing new. Reaching underneath her desk, Collette slid her hand around the surface until she found it, the gas receipt taped underneath the keyboard tray.
“Thanks,” she growled. Placing the receipt by her keyboard, she minimized the tabs on her computer screen, “So the damage report can wait, could you send those tents off to the outdoor stage? That was Bridezilla on the phone, freaking out because her version of drop off in the morning was six AM not close to lunch. What is with all these weddings during the week? So weird.”
“Anything else?” He nodded towards her relatives in the warehouse.
“No, I think I have it handled from here.”
“You want to talk about non-work related things?” Jesse jerked his thumb to the warehouse behind them.”
“Not really.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m here to work, not goof around.”
“You want a hug?” Jesse planted both feet, extending his arms wide.
Collette bit her lip. “Maybe later.”
“You need one now.”
“Maybe.” She smiled, but when Jesse stepped towards her, she held her hand out, blocking him from approaching any closer. “But I don’t want them to walk in on us. I know you don’t mean anything of it, and I wouldn’t assume anything either. But they don’t know that we’re just friends.”
Jesse snorted, why was she so worked up over one little gesture? She needed comfort but she was too embarrassed to accept help. Strange girl.
“Later,” he whispered. Opening the warehouse side door for her to catch up with her family, they split paths. He had to fire up the delivery truck again.
Ezekiel assisted him with loading the cast iron wedding arch. It was a beast to carry. With anyone else it would be a three maybe four person job, easy. Why had that one been the popular choice this month?
Collette hollered over the loft railing, “Bridezilla called again.”
“On it, your highness,” Ezekiel griped.
“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger,” Jesse mumbled under his breath. Ezekiel turned and scanned him skeptically. He should have said nothing. They rushed to roll on the circle tables. He looked up at Collette in the loft. She had a forced smile towards her cousin’s lively banter. “Did they want crème or white tablecloths?”
“How am I supposed to remember?” she gripped the railing, taking any excuse to leave the conversation, “What does the form say?”
“A name we can’t pronounce.” Ezekiel smiled, waiting by the shelf holding the various bins of circle tablecloths organized by colour. “Bala-something...”
Jesse ran back into the office, for his clipboard checking over the details.
“White tablecloths for Bali...sub-ramen?” People’s names these days were becoming more ridiculous. Each time he figured she found the weirdest one, someone had to go ahead and smash their face against the keyboard. Surely this wasn’t his actual name. Would it fit on their driver’s license?
“Balasubramanian,” Collette corrects. “But the groom is cool with Mr. B.”
“Thanks, Lottie,” Jesse opened the garage door. With the last bin in the back of the delivery truck, Ezekiel slammed the door shut then hopped into the passenger side.
“Lottie?” Ezekiel repeated with an amused grin.
Jesse ignored his comment, driving to the location. Future Mrs. B was fuming around the site and by the way she was treating Collette, she was living up to her new name. They unloaded the equipment and left the site as early as possible to avoid the need to file a workplace injury report.
Ezekiel shivered in his seat, back in the truck. “If I were her, I’d keep the maiden name. What is it anyway?” He peeked at the clipboard buried in a box full of trash between their seats. “A. Choo?”
“Gesundheit.” Jesse took a left where he should have taken a right. The Christmas lights were up on every building, some more than others. There were wreaths on nearly every door. Passing through a familiar neighbourhood, a couple kids recognized them and threw snowballs at the truck. One hit the passenger window and made Ezekiel jump.
“Where are we going?”
“Quick pit stop, I’ll be quick,” Jesse said, parking the delivery truck in the alley behind the locally owned florist. Climbing out of the vehicle, the door squealed. He slammed it, then swung the rusty hunk of metal again. Close enough.
The jingle bell tapped the glass as he entered the shop. Floral fragrances encompassed him in all directions as he ventured into the groomed jungle. The storefront couldn’t have been any larger than a few parking stalls, so he navigated carefully so he wouldn’t knock down the vase displays. One sign noted the option to purchase locally crafted pottery for nearly twice the price.
“Hi.” Jesse pin
ched the acrylic counter looking around. A frail woman with frizzy curls to her waist rushed out from the back room, smelling like fresh cut grass. Green liquid staining the tips of her fingers, she waved then flicked a leaf off her knitted sweater.
“Hello. How may I help you?”
“I need a bouquet that says, I’m thinking about you. Something very romantic.”
The woman nodded. “Does she have a favourite flower?”
Unless it was baking flour, he hadn’t a clue. She chuckled, not surprised at all by his wordless disclosure. “Roses are a common choice. If a full dozen is too pricey, we could pull a few out, filling it with other more affordable options.”
“No!” Jesse smirked, “This needs to be grand. Red. Give me a dozen red roses and make it unforgettable.”
“Since they are common, we have quite a few in stock. When would you like them, today or—”
“The sooner the better, yes.” Jesse gulped, his grin stretching wider by the second. This would definitely catch Collette by surprise.
“One moment.” The florist stepped away, returning with a large bouquet a few minutes later. “Would you like a vase to put them in?”
Jesse nodded, picking the most affordable option for the size required. It was out of season with red hearts all over it, all the merrier.
“Your total will be...”
Jesse choked, pulling out his credit card. Worth it, he told himself. The tattoo on his arm reminded him to stop being a coward. Carrying the bouquet out to the truck, he snickered as he handed it off to Ezekiel for safe keeping.
“Uh... who is the lucky lady?” Ezekiel pinched the note card. “Dearest Collette... Love D. Wright.” He blinked again, “D. Wright?”
“As in D Wright man. Mr. Wright?” Jesse burst into guffaws, shifting the vehicle into gear. Ezekiel didn’t join in, rather stared at him blankly, placing the card back into the flowers. Despite being the younger half of their duo, Ezekiel often acted like the mature one, the big brother, except in this moment he was dampening the mood.
“You’re Damien?” He sucked in an apprehensive breath. “You do know what happened? You shouldn’t toy with a girl’s heart—whether or not she broke up with Bryson. If you have feelings for her just tell her.”
“I don’t have feelings, it’s a joke.”
“How? I don’t see what’s funny here.”
“Isn’t it obvious? Bryson was an awful boyfriend, so I thought I’d show him up... but he—they ended things so... she was supposed to find it creepy, but it turned out that much better. She fell for it. There is no Mr. Wright!” he slapped the steering wheel, “I have her in the palm of my hand.”
“So you’re lying about being Damien for what?”
“I’m not lying. Jesse Damien Thorne.” He winked at his co-worker, pulling the truck back into the warehouse, “And I understand it looks bad, and I will end this soon... at the opportune time, now just isn’t it.”
“Because you enjoy flirting with her?”
“I’m only teasing her.” He hushed Ezekiel as they entered the building through the warehouse’s back entrance, not caring about the clumps of snow they were tracking indoors. “I would do nothing to hurt her. Damien makes her happy, and she needs that right now. If I was hiding her office supplies again, that would be bad. It’s not like I could say these things to her face. It would only make her more upset, but I think she needs this. She just needs to know that some guys are nice and not lying cheats. It’s a few kind words. There isn’t any harm in that.”
“Whoa man, I didn’t need a whole Shakespearean monologue.” Ezekiel peeked at the flowers again, “Would you describe her as pretty?”
“Who wouldn’t?”
“Mm-hmm. And what happens if you want to date her but she wants this Damien guy instead?”
“Won’t happen, bruh. We’ve been working side by side this long, nothing is going to change between us.”
“No bruh, people do change. You of all people should know that.”
Why did Ezekiel have to be the killjoy of his silly little prank? Couldn’t he just play along instead of guilt-tripping him, like he had every other time?
Jesse sucked in his lips, “She’s having another bad day. These,” he snatched the flowers, “will cheer her up.”
Ezekiel unbuckled, meeting him outside the vehicle. “You bought ‘Lottie’ flowers to cheer her up? Not to catch the rebound?”
Jesse paused, his other hand on the doorknob leading to her office.
“Yes?”
Chapter 4
“Oh good, you’re back. Rowan wants to have a quick chat with everyone and, whoa!” Collette didn’t have to check to confirm Jesse’s footsteps. Her gaze lifted from the computer screen to the thick bouquet of roses in Jesse’s hands, rich in a ruby red color. “Are those a grandiose thank you or did Rowan forget his wedding anniversary?” She bit her lip hoping it was a thank you gift considering how awful this Alice bride was. But red? That was somewhat on the romantic side, wasn’t it? Jesse would never in a million years, unless he poisoned them. What was it this time? Filling the petals with black pepper so she would sneeze? This had to be a trick.
“They’re for you.” Jesse placed the vase in her hands. She tilted her head, baffled, accepting the gift with caution. “He wanted me to drop them off.”
“He?” she blurted, snatching the note card. “Dearest Collette, Love...” squealing, she held the roses to her chest, inhaling the sweet candy-like fragrance. Roses! How romantic! she thought, admiring the petals in pristine condition, and Jesse didn’t ruin them. By golly, it was a pre-Christmas miracle. Using her foot, she slid the desk drawer open, “Take ‘em while you can.”
Jesse reached into it and gobbled the cookies down.
“Aww, how sweet,” Kaylee chirped as she reunited with Collette at her desk. Her hands clasped in awe. Honestly, how did it take her that long to pick out a wedding arch? She assumed they’d left already, but they must have been swept into another lengthy conversation. Kaylee’s eyes flicked between Collette, Jesse, and the bouquet.
“Oh no!” Collette held her hands up defensively, knocking it over. Jesse crouched, catching it last second, placing it on the tier, far from her reach. “Thanks. No, these are from Damien.”
Brooklyn brushed Jesse’s arm intentionally as she peeked at the note, simultaneous to Rowan stepping out of his private office.
“Collette, Jesse? Meeting in five.”
“Sorry, I’d love to chat, but we have work to do.” They took Collette’s comment as their cue to leave. The moment the front door shut, she exhaled a tight breath.
“Damien, huh?” Rowan said, elbowing Jesse. Were they mocking her? Rowan was cheap and Jesse had been single for quite some time. If anything, they should have been taking notes. Collette wanted to interrogate them, but Ezekiel and Sophia were already in his office waiting for them, so she followed the boys promptly.
“What did he look like?” she whispered taking the seat next to Jesse.
He shrugged ignorantly with one shoulder, “How am I supposed to know?”
“You saw him. You took the flowers.”
“So?”
Collette chewed her lip, picking at her nails impatiently. So? How difficult was it to answer a question? Better yet, why was he incapable of noticing details? Why was Jesse intentionally frustrating her? She was stressed enough as is. If this Damien guy was the real deal, the last thing she wanted was a jerk like Jesse getting in the way of her second shot at love.
“What did he have to say?” she asked, returning to her interrogation.
“I don’t remember.”
“What’s his hair colour?”
“He didn’t have one.”
“How does... that doesn’t make any sense.”
Jesse shrugged again. Looking over to Ezekiel, who pursed his lips, Jesse slid him a fiver, and he looked away.
“He was wearing a jacket.”
Collette rolled her eyes, “Unbelievable. Leave
it to a nimrod like you to identify... was he handsome, fit, was it a fancy jacket?”
“It had pockets.”
She growled.
“What? What do you want me to say, I find this Damien guy handsome? I’m sorry to burst your bubble, Lottie, but I’m into chicks.”
“Preferably blondes,” Ezekiel added, to which Jesse kicked his foot. Oh, she figured that out long ago. She had seen him around town with the occasional woman by his side, and there was clearly something bubbling between him and her little sister. Ugh! Couldn’t she keep her paws to herself? Did she have to flirt with every single guy that crossed her path and why, out of all the men in the world, was she drooling over her co-worker? Imagine if they became an item, she would have to sit through all their kissy-kissy barf moments and what little privacy she had left would be destroyed. He would find ways to prank her out of the office too.
“Damien who?” Sophia asked, pinching her chin.
“Collette’s secret admirer, Mr. Wright.” Jesse grinned wide. Why was he so proud of himself? Collette should have been more suspicious, especially when he wore that smug expression, “And by the look on that pretty face, the feelings might not be one-sided.”
She swatted his shoulder, but it had no effect. Those were rock hard biceps.
“What if he’s not who you think he is?” Sophia pressed. “What if he’s incredibly old and/or married. This guy could be a convict or maybe he’s not a guy at all, a woman targeting you for an elaborate identity theft scam.”
“Sophia dear.” Rowan patted his hand on hers, momentarily flicking his glance towards her, or was it Jesse? They were sitting close, but it was a small office and seating was limited.
“I’m only asking out of concern. You just left a long-term relationship and you’re a beautiful young woman—”
“Are we going to talk about work at some point?” Ezekiel asked, picking at his nails. “I have twenty tables to bleach, and two of them need repairs.”
“He’s for real.” Collette clamped her hands together, pressing them into her lap. “His comments weren’t generic and those roses weren’t cheap.” She turned to Jesse, staring directly into his chocolate eyes. “If he was creepy, Jesse wouldn’t have accepted the flowers.” He might prank her on a regular basis, but he would never put her life in any real mortal danger.
'Tis the Season for Love: A Charity Box Set Page 94