The Bridal Bouquet. Tara Randel

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СКАЧАТЬ different. She needed to be on her toes, not crushing over a handsome guy she’d just met.

      Her smile faded as she entered the workroom. Booming from the speakers, Elvis sang about a hound dog. Ugh. She admired the singer, but wasn’t a fan of fifties music. Her parents loved those songs, despite Kady’s suggestion they play a variety of music to appeal to their customers. In Kady’s vision of an elegant floral shop where brides-to-be came to discuss their arrangements, they’d be better served with soft jazz or classical music in the background. Not folks going on about rockin’ around the clock or waking up Susie.

      “Hi, guys,” she called out over the music, heading straight to the radio to lower the volume.

      “How did the delivery go?” her mother asked as she added hypericum berries to the arrangement she was assembling.

      “Everything went smoothly.” Kady leaned against the table. “That’s beautiful, Mom.”

      Her mother stepped back to scrutinize her creation. “Mr. Andrews will be in soon to pick this up. Would you mind placing it in the cooler while I clean up?”

      “Sure.”

      Mr. Andrews came by every Saturday at noon to purchase his preordered arrangement. His wife had recently moved into an assisted-living facility and the sweet man brought her flowers every week.

      Moving to the front of the shop, Kady placed the order in the cooler. Another cooler in the workroom held spare arrangements for sale to walk-ins. Kady had been in The Lavish Lily earlier, before the wedding, to put together some of the simple arrangements. She was glad to see three of them were gone.

      “Were we busy this morning?” she asked her dad. He was hovering by the cash register and glanced up but didn’t look directly at her. Pushing his glasses to the bridge of his nose, he stared down again. Kady got the distinct impression he’d intentionally avoided looking at her. “Where’s Will?”

      At her brother’s name, her dad’s head came up. “Ran down the street to buy lunch. Once Mr. Andrews collects his order, we’re closing down for the day.”

      “What? But it’s beautiful out and people are sure to stop in. We’ll lose business.”

      “We have things to discuss.”

      “Things more important than waiting on customers?”

      Her father frowned. “Depending on how this meeting goes, we may reopen later this afternoon.”

      “But—”

      “Not now, Kady.”

      Reprimanded, she returned to the workroom. Her mother hadn’t yet tidied up the table, so Kady did, returning the tools to their correct places. When Kady started here full-time, she’d organized the cluttered space. Her mother’s tendency to leave tools around drove Kady crazy, so she’d purchased medium-sized storage bins. With a labeler, she’d marked each bin—one for tape, another for glue sticks, wires, foam and the list went on.

      Her parents hadn’t been thrilled by the extra expense, since they ran the shop on a shoestring budget. Mark and Ruthie Lawrence operated a tight ship, financially speaking. The Lavish Lily had been in the Lawrence family for three decades. Lately, when Kady suggested ideas to spruce up the shop, her folks hesitated, like when she requested the storage bins. She’d finally broken down and bought the items herself.

      “Mom, what’s up with this meeting?”

      Her mother wiped her hands with a paper towel and tossed it in the garbage can in the corner. “You’ll find out when Will gets back.”

      “Is it about hiring storefront help? We could really use someone to take orders.”

      “I’m sure the topic will come up.”

      It did quite frequently. Her parents were notorious for not being able to keep good employees, but with Kady courting the wedding market, they needed a reliable assistant.

      “So what’s the big secret I don’t know about?”

      When her mother wouldn’t meet her eyes, Kady realized there was something huge going on. Something the three of them must have already discussed without her. Her stomach sank. She knew she was always the odd man out, but not being included in whatever the family had decided hurt more than she expected.

      “Kady, honey...”

      She held up her hand. “It’s fine, Mom. We’ll wait until Will gets back.”

      The bell over the front door chimed and Kady’s stomach twisted more. She heard her father speaking, then a softer male voice, and she knew it was Mr. Andrews. She swallowed. Will would return soon. She mentally prepared herself for the battle to come.

      While she girded her emotional defenses, her mother scurried about the workroom, gathering paper plates and utensils for their upcoming lunch. The bell sounded again and Will’s unmistakable voice boomed from the other room.

      “I’m back. Let’s all meet up front.”

      Her mother sent her a nervous glance and exited the room. Taking a deep breath, Kady followed, fisting her hands. She smoothed her facial expression to neutral and joined the others, determined to keep a level head no matter what happened.

      Standing amid open folding chairs, her brother handed out wrapped sandwiches as she walked in. Three years older, he had blond hair like their mother, along with intelligent blue eyes.

      “Hey, sis. How did the delivery go? The flowers were spectacular.”

      “Fine.” Her suspicions doubled. Will being nice after he’d been dogging her this morning? “This bride was easy to work with. I didn’t expect any problems.”

      “You remembered to set up a pick-up time to get the glass containers back, right?” her father asked. He handed out to-go cups of iced tea.

      “Yes, Dad. I spoke to the manager myself.”

      Kady delivered flowers to many functions at the Grand Cypress Hotel. She and the staff had developed a real camaraderie.

      “It’s not like I’ve left anything behind on purpose.”

      “There was a time when we had to keep tabs on you with the inventory and the van.”

      Kady wanted to shout. Would her parents ever let go of the past?

      “Everything is taken care of, Dad. No worries.”

      “Good. Then we can get started.” He passed Kady her food, which she hadn’t had a say in. Will probably got her a tuna fish sandwich when she would have preferred turkey. She pulled back the paper, and sure enough, the fishy smell made her wrinkle her nose. With her stomach already roiling, she set it aside. Tuna probably wasn’t a wise choice right now.

      Will bit into a pickle, chewed and took a sip of his tea. “Dad, would you like to start?”

      Her father cleared his throat. Why was he so nervous?

      “Kady, you know this shop has been in our family for generations.”

      She СКАЧАТЬ