Page 3 of Keep It Together
“No one’s called me that in a long time.” He straightened up from leaning against my desk and sat down in my desk chair instead, rolling towards me until our knees almost touched. And then they did touch. It was magical.
No. There was no magic going on here.
I pushed back in my glider, but then I had to hold that position with the tips of my toes pressed into the floor. Not that those few inches made any difference. He smelled like fresh air, greenery, and a hint of something deliciously masculine. It wasn’t fair. Nothing about this was fair.
“I won’t bite. Please don’t do that. It looks uncomfortable.” Isaac reached out and lightly pulled on the arms of my glider until it returned to its resting position with my legs touching his.
I crossed my arms. “You’re very forward for a flower delivery man.”
“That’s true. But like you said, we need to have a conversation.”
“You waited long enough.”
For the first time, he looked the tiniest bit vulnerable. “I did, and I’d like to explain why. Maybe we can talk about it when there’s more time, and it’s just us.”
I didn’t have to look around to know all those eyes that watched him walk in here were now trained on the two of us.
He pulled a business card out of the inside pocket of his jacket. “I’m going to leave my card here in case you want to call me later.”
“Don’t bother,” I murmured. Maybe it was silly to hold a grudge this long, but I wasn’t ready to trust him, even with something as simple as my time.
He put the card down anyway. Then he rolled back and stood up, before slowly walking away, glancing back once to see my reaction. I didn’t give him one. I just stared, making sure he actually left.
Once he did, I left his business card where it was, not sure yet what I planned to do with it. I could always pass it along to someone who needed to order flowers. Maybe then I wouldn’t feel so twisty inside for standing my ground. I was normally friendly with everyone. But when it came to Isaac, I needed walls. Tall ones.
Chapter 2 - Isaac
“Uncle Isaac is back!” My niece Piper was better than any bell over the door at announcing visitors to the flower shop.
“Hi, baby.” I met her halfway across the floor and swung her around. “Are you helping your mom?”
“Yes. I’m lots of help.”
“She sure is. I neededsomeoneas my backup.” Grace glared at me from behind the counter, although her eyes turned soft when Piper took my hand. As always, Piper’s tiny fingers were a little bit sticky from candy or pancake syrup or whatever she’d dipped them into, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. She wouldn’t be five forever. Soon, she’d be off to kindergarten instead of being our little shadow in this shop.
I couldn’t blame Grace for being irritated with me, though. Once again, I’d held back a few of the deliveries from our courier so I could take them myself. Sometimes it was nice to be a part of where the finished arrangements went. It brought everything full circle. Of course, I had another reason for making deliveries to GoWithFriends, but I wouldn’t be sharing that with my sister.
Did I think Carmen was going to keep my business card and call me? No. But at least I wasn’t biding my time and hiding in this shop thinking of her. We’d actually talked.
“Sorry for leaving you this morning. Was it busy? Where’s Natalie?”
“I didn’t schedule her for today. We’ve been busier than I expected, but nothing we couldn’t handle. However, you have a bridal consultation in five minutes.” Grace reached across the counter and handed me a tablet with the bride’s information pulled up. “She’s bringing her mother along, and while she didn’t say it, I can sense there’s conflict there.”
“No worries. I’ll take good care of them.”
Grace’s shoulders visibly relaxed. “I was afraid you wouldn’t be back in time.”
“I know. But I’m here. You and Piper go prep the next wave of orders.” I reached out and pulled a piece of fern from the top of Grace’s dark hair. She’d been playing with her hair color again. There were streaks of red in it that brightened at the ends.
“You hate it,” she said, picking up a chunk of her hair and waving the end at me. “I saw you scrunching your nose at me when you first saw my hair this morning.”
“Actually, I don’t hate it at all. It looks good.” I definitely preferred it to the blonde she used to have. Going blonde seemed like a lot of unnecessary work when she looked perfectly fine with the natural jet-black hair we’d both inherited from the Italian side of our family. I didn’t say any of that, though, because I valued my life more than I valued my opinions.
“Well, thank you.” Grace retied the strings on her apron and headed into the back, looking a lot less grumpy. Piper trailed after her, although she turned my way several times and gave me puppy dog eyes. I shook my head, no. Even at five, Piper was amazing with the clueless customers who came in looking for something special for an anniversary or birthday, but brides were a whole different ballgame. They didn’t want to be charmed, they wanted to be wowed.
That was probably the reason Grace didn’t like dealing with brides at all. If she had it her way, she would always be elbow deep in flowers and never take on consultations. She wasn’t bad at them, they just stressed her out.
I wished she’d take my advice and train our part-timers Natalie and Sam to do things like bridal consultations. I could see them itching to do more and learn more, get more hours and more experience. But Grace had a hard time trusting people. The shop was her baby, and because it was her baby, I deferred to her more than I should, even though we ran it together. I would do anything for Grace and Piper. I would always show up. But sometimes I let myself dream of other things. Other ideas. Just not right now.