Edith’s expression was unreadable. “I’m not going to fold. I told you I was with you and had your back. I meant it.”
I swallowed and hooked my thumbs in the belt loops on my jeans. “Sorry. I think I got a bit ahead of myself. No wonder Lily has noticed things.”
“Noticed things?”
“Yeah. She asked if you were going to be okay today. And she pointed out that I’ve been angry a lot lately.”
“That kid is going to rule the country one day.”
“Or be a really good therapist,” I said.
Edith giggled and nodded. “I wouldn’t be surprised. Your girl is empathetic through and through. What did you tell her?”
“That you were nervous about business because everything is still new and fresh, and that I seem angry because I’m stressed.”
“Are you?”
“Am I what?”
Edith gave me a deadpan look. “Stressed? Or angry?”
I couldn’t help but look at the mall. I sighed and hung my head. “Angry. Definitely angry.”
Edith wrapped an arm around my shoulders and rested her head on me. “I know, girl. Me too. But hey, we’ve got each other. And we’ve got Lily. It will all work out in the end, whatever the end looks like, right?”
I nodded, but I couldn’t bring myself to verbally agree.
Not yet. Not when we were still stuck in the eye of the storm.
Chapter 11
Zach
The owner of the flower shop was a portly woman with unnaturally red hair. Streaks of blonde ran through it, and she had it tied up in a messy knot on top of her head and held off her forehead with a bright blue bandana.
She was presently bent over a piece of paper behind the counter, hurrying to write down the details of my order. “So you need the delivery today, sir?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
That was the third time I’d told her so, and I was starting to think it might have been a bad idea coming to this particular shop. It had looked promising from the outside with a line halfway to the door and people milling around, collecting pre-arranged bouquets from metal buckets outside the shop window.
But this woman seemed a bit scattered.
I tapped the counter lightly with my knuckles. “I need it delivered within the next thirty minutes. Did you write that down?”
She scanned the page and pointed the tip of her pen at a note near the bottom. “Yes. Delivery in thirty minutes. Don’t worry. It’ll be there. Did you want to send a card with a note as well?”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Okay,” she said, swiping the pen across the bottom of the page in a messy signature. Then she turned and put the paper on the back counter before facing me once more. She told me my total for the order, and I handed her my credit card. Once she’d processed the transaction, she slid it back to me and gave me a warm, cheery smile. “Thank you for your business. We’ll have those delivered at eleven thirty.”
“Eleven,” I corrected her.
Her green eyes darted to the clock on the wall. “Oh. Yes. Apologies. I’m such a mess this morning. Usually, we don’t have this much business on a Tuesday morning. Must be something in the air.”
“Must be,” I said, my confidence in this florist waning.
She leaned over the counter. “Don’t worry, sir. Everything will be just as you ordered it. You paid an arm and a leg, and we take customer satisfaction very seriously here. It’s a small business. Every order counts. We won’t let you down.”
I slid my wallet back into the pocket of my jeans. I’d almost worn a suit again today, but all that shit with Jonah at the park had me questioning my clothing decisions altogether for this job. The suit seemed to have rubbed Senna the wrong way too. Maybe I shouldn’t try so hard.
I’d opted for jeans and a blazer over a white button up. It was a little more casual than I was used to for this sort of day, but that was just fine, and if it helped make me more approachable, then so be it. Anything was worth trying in the pursuit of closing this deal for Woodbury.
“I appreciate it,” I paused and glanced at the florist’s nametag, “Clarice.”
Her smile broadened, and her cheeks flushed. I was more than aware of the effect I had on women. “Have a good day, Mr. Hammel.”
“You too,” I said before plucking my sunglasses from their perch on the collar of my shirt and sliding them on. I ducked out of the shop and into the late morning sun, where Bob was waiting for me in the Land Rover.
I slid into the back, and he looked over his shoulder at me with a mouth full of morning pastries. He washed it down with a sip of coffee. “Where to, boss?”
“Apricot Lane.”
“Would you like an apple turnover?” he asked, holding up a half-open white box with apple filling stuck to the lid. He shook it back and forth, sending the two pastries he hadn’t inhaled jostling back and forth to slap against the edges of the box. He ceased his shaking.
I shook my head. “No thank you.”
“More of a green smoothie sort of breakfast guy, aren’t ya?”
“Not at all.”
“Bullshit.” Bob barked out a laugh.
I couldn’t help but grin. His good humor was infectious.
We pulled away from the curb, and I sat back for the duration of the twenty-minute drive, hoping Clarice didn’t let me down. This was a move I hadn’t pulled on a client before, and I hoped it didn’t bite me in the ass. All it would take was for one major setback to get between Senna Camden and me. I simply could not afford to look more like a villain than she already thought I was. I would stand no chance of changing her mind if anything else was added to her “cons list” in my regard.
I leaned forward to grip the back of Bob’s seat as he came to a stop at a red light around the corner from Apricot Lane. “On second thought, I will take those pastries off your hands.”
Bob handed the box between the seats to me. I flipped it open. The pastries were still fully intact, despite his mindless shaking of them moments before. He handed me a stack of crisp white napkins. I set one on the seat and took the apple turnovers out to place them on the napkin, and I put the other napkins neatly along the bottom of the box. Then I placed the two pastries back inside, and it looked like the two of them had been ordered like this, rather than the set of four I was sure Bob had ordered and already eaten halfway through.
I closed the lid as we came to a stop outside Lily Living.
“Thanks for the ride and breakfast,” I said before hopping out of the SUV. Bob nodded, and I closed the door behind me and turned to face the shop with the box in my hands. “Here goes nothing.”
I approached the door, tugged it open, and stepped under the chiming bell. The door closed silently behind me, and I cast my gaze around the shop. There was no sign of Senna anywhere.
“Hello?” I called, craning my neck to the side to peer down the skinny hall to the left of the changing rooms. Maybe she was in the back.
Instead of Senna popping her head around the corner, I was confronted by a little girl with shocking black hair and big crystal-blue eyes. She had a bow at the top of her ponytail, which seemed to be her signature look. It wasn’t red today, however. It was white, and it matched the dress she had on.
The little girl, Lily, beamed up at me. “Mr. Suit,” she said. Then she looked me up and down and clasped her hands in front of her chest. “You look different.”
I looked down at myself. “No suit today. Is your mom here?”
Lily looked over her shoulder toward the back room. Then she peered back up at me with an almost suspicious glint to her eye. “Yes.”
“Could you go get her for me?”
“She won’t want to talk to you.”
I almost laughed. Almost. “Well, I will wait then.”
Lily shrugged one little shoulder and then padded over to a display of shelves to the right of the sales counter. She stretched to the tips of her toes to straighten out several handbags. As she r
eached for the third shelf, which was most definitely out of her reach, she let out a little grunt as she stretched herself to her maximum height.
“Can I help?” I asked.
“Yes, please.”
I moved forward and pointed at one of the bright red bags on the third shelf. “Do you just want them straighter?”
Lily nodded. “And put the red one in the middle. It will be better there.”
“All right, boss. Whatever you say.” I obliged the little girl and moved the bags around to place the red one in the middle. She micromanaged me like Ryan did back at the office in Orlando and had me switch bags around a half-dozen times before she stood back and gave me a satisfied nod.
“Much better, Mr. Suit. Thank you.”
“Do you remember my name?” I asked.
Lily rubbed her lips together. “Yes.”
“But you prefer Mr. Suit?”
“It’s what Momma and Auntie Edi call you.”
“Ah, I see. Well, what will they call me now that I’m not wearing a suit?” The little girl amused me. She was a clever little thing, the sort of child who would run circles around an adult before they even caught on.
Senna had her hands full with this one.
“I don’t know. Maybe they’ll call you Zach?”
“That would be nice,” I said.
“I can tell Momma you like Zach better.”
I gave her a big smile. “I would appreciate that a lot, Lily. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome Mr. Suit. I mean—Zach.” She beamed at me, flashing a smile of crooked teeth of varying sizes.
I laughed, and she giggled, then let out a small yelp when a stern female voice spoke her name. “Lily Amelia Camden.”
Lily and I both turned toward the back room. Senna was there with her hands on her hips, glaring at her daughter. “What have I told you about talking to strangers?”
Lily looked at me like I could help her. I held up both hands innocently. “You’re on your own, kid.”
Lily rubbed her lips together. “He’s not a stranger, Momma. He’s Zach.”
Senna nodded over her shoulder. “In the back room, please. Zach and I need to talk. Just adults.”
The little girl frowned, and her shoulders slumped forward. But she trudged away nonetheless, her white sandals slapping against the hardwood floors all the way down the hall. She disappeared into the back room, and I shifted my attention to Senna, who let out an exasperated sigh before marching forward then retreating to what I presumed was a position of safety behind the sales counter.
I stood on the other side and braced myself with my hands on the counter. “She’s a cool kid. Pretty funny. Smart, too.”
“I know.”
I moved ahead, sensing this line of conversation would get me nowhere. “I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to talk to you.” I held up my hands when she opened her mouth to tell me to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine. “Just talk. Nothing about business.”
Senna let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, sure. I know the games you’re playing at.”
“No games. I just want a chance to change your mind about me. Not the mall. Me. And I’d like to take you to dinner in order to do so.”
She gave me a deadpan stare, and the blue of her eyes seemed to darken. “I don’t think so, Suit.”
And then like angels from above, the door opened behind me, and a familiar female voice said, “I have a delivery for Ms. Camden?”
Senna leaned sideways to peer around me. Her eyes widened. “I didn’t order any flowers.”
I kept my back to the florist and bowed my head to hide my smile.
Clarice was quiet for a minute behind me. “You are Senna Camden, yes?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“Then these are definitely for you. Signed and paid for.”
Senna’s brow creased with a frown. Then she looked at me, caught my smile, and grumbled. “I thought you said you weren’t playing games?”
“This isn’t a game. Just a kind gesture. No?”
“No,” Senna said shortly. She pinched her bottom lip between her teeth. “How did you know I liked lilies, anyway?”
I chuckled. “Well, your daughter is named after them. And buying sennas for a girl named Senna seemed cliché.”
Senna made an irritated sound in the back of her throat, and her gaze flicked to the florist’s delivery truck, where lilies were still spilling out the back doors.
I leaned on the counter and watched over my shoulder as Clarice and one of her employees began bringing in bouquets of white lilies one after the other and setting them all over the shop. Senna bustled out from behind the counter and stared, horrified at the amount of flowers rolling into her store.
Then she spun sharply toward me. “Ask them to stop, please.”
“Agree to go to dinner with me.”
“No.”
I shrugged and began absently playing with the display of necklaces on the corner of her sales counter.
Lily came catapulting out of the back room. She raced around the flowers, stroking as many petals as she could get her hands on, and she giggled wildly as Clarice brought in two more armfuls of lilies.
“Pretty!” Lily cried. “Momma, look!”
“I see them,” Senna said as sweetly as she could manage through clenched teeth. Clarice marched back out to the truck to collect more flowers, and Senna met my eye with a begrudging sigh. “Fine. One dinner. And you stop the flowers. And we don’t talk any business. Okay?”
I straightened up and nodded. “Deal. I’ll pick you both up here tonight at seven.”
“Uh, hold on. Lily isn’t coming with us.”
Clarice had paused in the doorway. “Am I bringing in more flowers or not, Mr. Hammel?”
I motioned for her to carry more in. “Yes, please. Thank you, Clarice. It’s either both of you or my friend Clarice unpacks the entire backend of her delivery truck. Your call, Senna.”
“Nothing seems to be ‘my call’ these days,” she grumbled before throwing her arms in the air. “Fine. We’ll both go. Have it your way.”
Lily jumped up and down with excitement, and I winked at her, sending her into a cacophony of giggles.
I headed for the door. “See you two later this evening.”
“What am I supposed to do with all these lilies?” Senna called after me.
I paused in the doorway. “Leave them outside and give them away for free. Or sell them. They’re yours to do with as you wish.”
Based on the glare she gave me before I turned and left, I assumed she wished she could shove them straight up my ass.
Chapter 12
Senna
Lily was more excited for our impending dinner with Zach than she had been about going to the zoo for her last birthday.
I tried to be optimistic for her. I didn’t want to be one of those mothers who rained on their child’s parade all because of their own personal issues.
Sure, Zach was the devil. And sure, he was fighting on the wrong side of the war. But I didn’t get the sense that he was a bad person, and Lily sure seemed to like him. And if just the idea of him taking us out for one dinner put a smile on her face bigger than the one she wore when she got to pet a baby giraffe, then so be it.
The sacrifices we make for our kids, am I right?
After I closed the store for the day, my daughter and I spent the next hour in the shop getting ready for dinner. Edith popped in to ask how things were going, and when I told her about what Zach had done with the flowers, her eyes nearly popped out of her head. Then she’d laughed hysterically and warned me to be very, very careful.
I assured her that I would be.
Careful was my middle name now.
Motherhood made you see things differently. So did living with a man who liked to keep you on your toes because he was emotionally unstable and unpredictable, like a rhinoceros with schizophrenia.
“Momma?” Lily stood in front of the floor-length mirror betwee
n the two changing rooms, pinching the skirt of her dress as she twisted from side to side. “How much longer?”
“Only ten more minutes, bunny.” Unfortunately.
Zach showed up right on time. He parked his Land Rover at the curb, left it running, and hopped out to come to the door of the shop. Lily and I walked outside, and I locked the door behind us.
Lily beamed up at him. “Hi, Zach.”
“Hi, Lily. I hope you’re hungry.”
“Famished,” she said.
Zach looked from her to me. “Famished?”
“She’s passionate about the English language,” I explained.
“Ah, I see,” he said, sliding his hands into his jean pockets and rocking back on his heels. He fixed his attention on Lily once more as I dropped my keys into my purse. “Well, Miss Lily, where would you like to go for dinner? I don’t know what’s good around here.”
“Via 313!”
I patted Lily’s shoulder. “We just had pizza the other day.”
“But it’s so good,” Lily said hopefully.
“All right, pizza it is,” I said.
Zach rewarded us both with a big smile that caught me a little off guard. His rather severe demeanor disappeared entirely when his face stretched in that handsome, goofy grin. “Come on, girls. Let’s hit the road. Lily, you’re going to have to tell me how to get there.”
He opened the back door of the Land Rover, and Lily climbed up. I buckled her in and then took the passenger seat as he walked around the hood of the vehicle. He slid into his seat, buckled up, checked that we were both ready, and pulled a U-turn in the street to head out onto the main road.
“Where’s your fancy chauffeur?” I asked after a few minutes.
“Bob? He’s enjoying the amenities at my hotel while I have his car.”
“Right.” I could only imagine what the hotel was like. I would bet money it had a big pool and a fancy lounge with the option to order expensive bottles of wine at all hours of the night.
Good Luck Charm: A Single Mother Romance Page 7