The Summer Proposal

by Keeland, Vi

  “Wow. You really grew this from mom and pop to something big.”

  “Yeah, we did. It wasn’t just me. Maggie helped a lot. When I first started, she was working as a marketing manager for a cosmetics company. I didn’t have the money to pay her for a long time, but I gave her twenty-five percent equity in the company as compensation. It could have amounted to nothing, of course. Eventually, when I could afford a salary, she quit her job to work with me full time. But she took a risk, and I’m glad it paid off for her, too.” I looked around and smiled. “We had a lot of good times here, even when things started to take off and we were working eighteen hours a day.” I laughed, remembering the shit we used to do. “One afternoon, we had a customer come in and place two flower orders. I asked him what he wanted to spend on the first order, and he said there was no limit—he just wanted them to be really nice. When I asked what color he wanted, he said whichever I liked best. I told him I favored a mix of bright colors because they’re so vibrant, and they made me smile. He said that’s what he needed, because the woman he was sending them to hadn’t exactly been smiling when he’d left her earlier. I still remember, the woman’s name was Amanda, but he’d told us he’d accidentally called her Chloe at an inopportune time. When we got to the card, he filled it out, and I saw that he’d written, I’m sorry, Amanda. I suggested that if he’d left his girlfriend thinking he had another person on his mind, that maybe his note should let her know that wasn’t the case. I thought something a little more romantic might be in order, but the guy rewrote the card to say something like, I’m sorry for today, Amanda. I can’t stop thinking of you in that red teddy.” I shook my head, still remembering what the guy had looked like.

  “Anyway, he gave me Amanda’s address, and when he was done, I’d almost forgotten he’d said he wanted to send two arrangements. Turned out, the second one was for Chloe. He picked out the least-expensive piece we sold and one color. You know what that card said?”

  “What?”

  “Happy 10th wedding anniversary, Chloe.”

  “Shit.” Max chuckled. “I had a feeling that’s where this was going.”

  “The guy wasn’t even embarrassed to be sending flowers to his wife and mistress from the same shop. And it really pissed me off that he was so cheap about what he picked out for his wife, yet the sky was the limit for his girlfriend. So I…accidentally delivered the wrong card with the arrangements.”

  Max’s brows shot up. “Accidentally?”

  I grinned. “Well, as far as he knew it was an accident. He was not happy about it. He came in the next day, demanding a full refund. I was out, but he got Maggie. She told him we’d be happy to refund him, but that we’d mail the check payable to Chloe.”

  Max laughed. “You two are some team.”

  “We do work well together. She takes my ideas, multiplies them a hundred times, and creates unique marketing plans from them. Like when I opened my first store, I used to keep a few annotated books I loved by the register. If someone struggled with what to write on the card to send with the flowers, I’d show them passages that were relevant for the occasion. F. Scott Fitzgerald was my favorite. I could find a million simple quotes in his books. When Maggie worked with the designer on our website, she surprised me by adding all the annotated quotes from those books to our website, plus hundreds more from different authors. So when customers get to the card, they’re asked if they need assistance, and if they do, a database selects quotes based on their responses. So many people have used the quotes I picked that she added a feature where the customer can buy a special edition of the book the quote is from to be delivered with their flower order. It’s done really well.”

  Max smiled. “Your eyes light up when you talk about your business. It’s sexy.”

  Gabriel had always had a problem with me working too much. In fact, I’d come to question my own priorities because he made me feel flawed for being as dedicated as I was. I suppose Max understood dedication more, since he’d had to give up so much for his own career.

  I smiled back. “Do you ever regret the things you might’ve missed out on for your career?”

  He shook his head. “Regret? No. Have I missed out on things because I spend half my life at the rink? Yeah, of course. But it’s easy for me to say I don’t have regret because the things I did, the chances I took, have paid off. Not everyone is so lucky. If I were standing here today having given up so much over the years only to not make the cut, maybe my answer would be different. But I had to try, because while I might have regrets if things hadn’t worked out the way they did, the one thing I know for sure is that I would definitely regret not having taken the chance to go for it.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense.” I moved closer and wrapped my arms around his neck. “By the way, do you know what I find sexy?”

  “What?”

  “A sweet man, and that’s what you are.”

  “Oh yeah? Why is that?”

  “I love your friendship with Otto. When you said you wanted to stop by and check on a friend, I didn’t realize it was an older man who worked there.”

  “Not sure you’d think our friendship was sweet if you heard the way we usually talk to each other. He was just on his best behavior this morning because you were with me.”

  “How did you two become friends?”

  Max shrugged. “He called me out about the chip I had on my shoulder when I first joined the team. I’d never tell him, but he actually reminds me a lot of my dad. He has the ability to see through clutter and simplify things, if that makes any sense. He’s grounded and gives good advice. But if you ever tell him I said that, I’ll deny it.”

  I smiled. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

  Susanna, the store manager, walked into the back. “Sorry to interrupt. But we’re going to order some lunch. Do you want us to order you guys something?”

  “No, I think we’re okay. But thank you.” Though the mention of lunch made me check the time on my phone. “I didn’t realize it was so late.” I looked over at Max. “We should get going.”

  He held his hand out for me to walk first. “Lead the way.”

  The place I was taking Max was only a block away. When I stopped at the storefront, he looked up at the sign. Lift Aerial Yoga.

  “Shit,” he chuckled. “This is gonna be ugly.”

  I laughed. “I got us a private class, so you don’t have to worry about pictures of you getting out. Though I might snap some photos and use them to blackmail you into servitude as my sex slave later.”

  Max opened the door, but when I went to pass, he hooked an arm around my waist and pulled me flush against him, planting a kiss on my lips. “No blackmail needed. I voluntarily accept the position.”

  • • •

  I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed so hard. Max was absolutely a disaster at aerial yoga. At the moment, he’d gotten himself tangled in the silks for the third time and was hanging with one leg suspended in the air, holding his weight in a handstand as the instructor tried to unravel him. I shouldn’t have been laughing. Lord knows I wasn’t moving gracefully in this contraption either, but I couldn’t help myself. It wasn’t his inability to get into positions that amused me, it was how frustrated he got when he couldn’t conquer something.

  “I’m going to kick your ass if you don’t stop laughing,” he grumbled.

  His threat only made me cackle harder. I actually snorted. “You’d have to be able to get out of that lock the silks have you in.”

  “Why don’t you give the swan another try?” the yoga instructor said to Max as she untangled him. “You’re very good at that one.” Considering the swan was the most basic position—leaning forward and balancing across the fabric, without any twisting or turning—I thought that was a good idea.

  “Yeah,” I said grinning. “You do a mean swan, Yearwood.”

  He pointed at me. “You just wait.”

  By the end of the class, Max did start to get the hang of it. The instr
uctor had said he needed to make friends with the silks, instead of fighting them. And I had no doubt that given another class or two, he’d surpass the people who’d been practicing for years. His determination made him unstoppable.

  I wiped sweat from my neck as I walked over to the instructor, who was cleaning up at the front of the room.

  “Excuse me, Eden.”

  “Yes?”

  “I just want to confirm,” I glanced over at Max to make sure he was paying attention. “I did better than Max, correct?”

  She frowned. “It’s not really about who did better.”

  “Oh, it is to us. We’re a little bit…competitive.”

  Eden still seemed troubled as she looked over at Max.

  He rolled his eyes but nodded. “Just tell her she won.”

  “No,” I said. “She shouldn’t just tell me I won. She should provide her honest opinion.”

  Eden shook her head. “You both did very well. Max obviously struggled at the beginning, but he got the hang of it. He’s very strong, and that’s important as you move on to the more complicated poses.”

  “But today—just solely based on how we did today—who did better?”

  Max walked over. He slung his arm around my neck. “We’re going to work on getting her a counselor for her obsessiveness. But just so I don’t have to debate it with her all day, would you mind telling us who was better?”

  Eden sighed. “Georgia was able to pick up the poses more easily.”

  I fist pumped, which made Max chuckle.

  We thanked Eden and told her we’d definitely be back for more classes. Outside on the street, Max still had his arm around my neck.

  “You’re gloating,” he said. “Nobody likes a gloater.”

  “Really, is that a saying? Because I thought it was nobody likes a loser.”

  We were both laughing, and I almost completely forgot we were walking on the busy New York street, until…

  “Georgia?”

  The voice was familiar. I looked up to find a man who had been walking in the opposite direction had stopped on the street. He looked back and forth between Max and me.

  “Josh Zelman,” he said. “I’m an English professor with...” He glanced at Max’s arm around my shoulder and changed course. “…over at NYU.”

  Shoot. That’s right. I’d met him a few times at parties. I just couldn’t place him out of context. I forced a smile. “Yes, of course. Hi, Josh. It’s good to see you.”

  “You, too.” He turned his attention to Max. “You look very familiar. Have we met?”

  Max’s face was stern. “Nope.”

  Josh kept staring. It looked like he was going through his mental Rolodex, trying to figure it out. Eventually, he shifted his eyes back to me. “Ellen was just talking about you the other day. We were at the spring mixer, and she said she was bored without you there.”

  I forced a smile. “Please tell her I said hello.”

  He nodded. “Will do. I’m actually running late for class. I wasn’t sure if it was you, but I figured I’d say hello.”

  “Nice seeing you.”

  Max slipped his hand from around my shoulder and stayed quiet as we started to walk again.

  “That was… Josh is an English professor at NYU.”

  “So he said.”

  “He works with Gabriel. They’re good friends, actually.”

  “Okay.”

  I wasn’t sure what Gabriel had told his friends, or if he’d told them anything at all. So that might’ve explained the awkwardness. Regardless, I wasn’t sure what else needed to be said, so I let it go, hoping Max would, too.

  “So…I think a late lunch is on you since I beat you at aerial yoga.”

  Max smiled, though the playfulness that had been there a few minutes ago was gone. “You got it.”

  We stopped at a sushi place. The waitress came over with a little girl who was probably about five and set waters on the table. Both of them had black, pocketed aprons wrapped around their waists, and when the woman slipped a small pad and pencil out, the little girl watched her and did the same thing.

  “It’s bring-your-daughter-to-work day. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Of course not.” I leaned over to the little girl. “What’s your name?”

  “Grace.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Grace. I like your apron.”

  The girl reached into her pocket again. This time, she pulled out two small action figures. I thought they might be from a Disney movie. She held the one of a girl with long, brown, wavy hair out to me.

  I took her. “Who is this?”

  “Moana.”

  “Oh. Is she a princess?”

  The little girl nodded and held out another figure. This one was a crab. “Tamatoa.”

  “Tamatoa, huh?” I glanced over at Max. “Are these lucky? Is that why you carry these around?”

  She shook her head.

  I grinned. “Of course not, because you’re a big girl.” I leaned closer. “You want to know a secret?”

  She nodded.

  I pulled Max’s plastic Yoda from my purse. “This little guy.” I pointed to Max. “Belongs to this big guy.”

  The little girl covered her mouth and giggled.

  I nodded. “I know, right?”

  The waitress laughed. “What can I get you?”

  I ordered soup and one roll, and Max ordered four rolls. The little girl waved to me before following her mother away.

  I set Yoda in the middle of the table.

  “I didn’t know you carried him on you,” Max said.

  “It’s probably why I did so well at aerial yoga, and you, well, sucked.”

  Max laughed. “She was cute.”

  “Do you want kids someday?”

  Max sipped his water and shrugged. “I’m not sure. If you had asked me that five or ten years ago, I would have said no. But now I’m not sure.”

  “How come you would have said no?”

  “I watched what my mother went through when Austin died.”

  “That’s right. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Of course that would have an effect on you.”

  He shrugged. “Since my nieces were born, I guess it’s made me a little more open. Or maybe it’s that I’m getting older now. What about you?”

  “I definitely would like to have kids. A few, actually. I had a nice childhood, but it was just my mom and me, and I was always a little bit envious of my friends who have big families.” I paused. “Maggie and I always said we wanted to have our kids at the same time so they could grow up together. I remember when we were thirteen, saying we wanted to have three kids each and be done by thirty so we were young moms. I guess that’s not happening, considering she’s in the middle of a divorce and I’m…no longer engaged.”

  Max looked away. “Life doesn’t always go as planned.”

  CHAPTER 15

  * * *

  Max

  Ten years ago

  “This is different than what I expected.”

  “What did you expect, Animal House?”

  I’d taken Teagan to a party tonight, just not one I’d normally go to. All of my friends were a few blocks over, probably making Animal House look tame. Instead, I’d taken her to a party thrown by the architectural club my brother belonged to. He had said he’d be here, though he was nowhere to be found as of yet.

  Teagan sipped her beer and watched me. It felt like she was trying to put her finger on something that felt off, so I lifted my chin to a guy walking by. “Hey, what’s up? How ya been?”

  The guy looked over his shoulder to see who I could have been greeting. Teagan caught the exchange and narrowed her eyes.

  “Do you even know anyone here?”

  “Sure.” I pointed to a random guy across the room. “That’s Chandler over there.” I scanned the room and pointed to another guy. “That’s Joey.” A woman I’d never seen passed by and smiled at me. I offered a friendly wave. “Hey, Monica.”

&nbs
p; “Really, Max?”

  “What?”

  She pointed to a blond girl. “Is that Phoebe? I’ve seen Friends, too, you know.”

  I grinned. “Sorry. Do I at least get an E for effort?”

  She shook her head. “You get a D for dimples, and they are the only reason I’m still standing here. What’s the deal? Why did you bring me to a dull party where you don’t know anyone?”

  “You want the truth?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Max…”

  “Okay, okay…” I huffed. “These are my brother’s friends. Mine are at a different party.”

  “Did you just want to hang out with your brother?”

  “I thought his friends would make a better impression.”

  “Why?”

  “Because hanging out with my buddies ends one of two ways on a Saturday night: someone gets arrested, and occasionally that’s me, or someone starts a fight, which is also occasionally me, and then the entire hockey team jumps in. You said you could tell a lot about a person by the company they keep. I figured it would be safer to have you fall for me before bringing you around those clowns.”

  She raised a brow. “Oh, that’s the plan? Tell me, exactly how are you going to make me fall for you?”

  I smiled and pointed to my cheeks.

  Teagan laughed. “They are adorable. I’ll give you that. Though I think you’re going to need more than a great smile. How about we go to the other party, and I promise not to hold your friends against you? Believe it or not, I was in a sorority and went to a fraternity party or two.”

  “Thank fuck.” I dropped my head. “This party sucks.”

  We were both laughing as we headed to the door. I waved at the two guys I’d pretended to know. “Later, Joey. Later, Chandler.”