“It’s all thanks to you. I … I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you, Tess.” Her voice quivered, then broke.
And when my hands were free, I pulled her into a hug. “Mrs. Bennet, we would do anything for you and for this shop. All we did was spruce it up so people would notice it again.”
“You kids are too smart for this old lady. I never would have imagined to do all this.”
I leaned back to look at her. “Oh, you would have. You’re the most creative florist I’ve ever known, and I know a few. In fact, I was wondering … would you help me with the next installation?”
Her flush deepened. “I can’t do much anymore, Tess.”
“Why? Don’t tell me you’ve got dementia. I’m not ready for you to lose your marbles.”
A laugh, touched with sadness. “No, not yet. Though when I do, I can only imagine the conversations you’ll have to endure. I doubt losing my wits will stop me from talking, and if you ask Mr. Bennet, he’ll tell you that’s my superpower.”
A woman said from behind us, “Oh, these are beautiful. Are those zinnias?”
I moved out of the way so she could reach the bouquets we’d just loaded. “They are.”
“What a beautiful monochromatic bouquet. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Are you the florist?”
“She is,” Mrs. Bennet said proudly. “She designed the installations too. Did you see them?”
“That’s why I came in,” she admitted. “I swear I’ve walked by this shop a thousand times and never knew it was here. Looks like I’ll be getting all my flowers here.”
“Well then,” Mrs. Bennet said, “we’ll see you again soon.”
The second she turned to head to Jett at the counter, Mrs. Bennet grabbed my hand. “You! You, my sweet Tess, are a godsend.”
“Takes one to know one.” I kissed her cheek.
“You and Lucas are a good team, Tess. You ground him, and I think he loosens you up a little.” Her smile was coy, and she shifted, bumping me with her hip.
My cheeks caught fire as I laughed her off.
“He’s a good boy, Tess. I promise. Now, go! Shoo! Go make more witchcraft back there with our flowers.”
“And you keep hustling, Mrs. Bennet.”
She beamed, turning for a customer as I bounced to the back again.
Could she be right? Could it be me who’d inspired Luke’s newfound purpose?
But I brushed the thought away, laughing at my self-importance. He was here for the shop, for his family. I had nothing to do with it. Of that I was certain.
Ivy sighed, running the back of one hand across her forehead. The other hand reached for the small of her back and pushed. “This is madness. Jett just gave me three more orders!”
“Well, we’d better get started then,” I said with an unstoppable grin on my face as I reached for the orders. “You should sit,” I suggested. “Or if you need a break, I can handle it for a bit. Rest your feet, Ivy.”
Another sigh, and she pulled up a stool. “Oh, that feels nice,” she said once she was sitting.
I chuckled, making a recipe in my head for the orders. The table was covered in buckets of flowers, harvested in droves by poor Kash. Hibiscus and begonias, dahlias and ranunculus, orchids and snowberries.
“So are you going to tell me what the hell happened with Luke last night? Because we have been too busy to talk, and I’m busting at the seams to know.”
“You’re busting at the seams anyway,” I teased, choosing a vase from the shelves under the table.
“Ha-ha, Tess. Don’t you dare deny it again either. He’s been looking at you all day like he eyes a ham sandwich.”
I filled it with cold water from the farmhouse sink, scooped some preservative in. “You’ll be happy to know I told him about the kiss.”
Her mouth popped open. “You’re kidding. I didn’t think you actually had the stones to do it. I was going to have your headstone engraved with, Here lies Tess—He should have remembered.”
I shook my head, laughing.
“So what did he do? God, just spill it already.”
“He kissed me and promised me he’d make it up to me.” My eyes were on my hands as I chose a variety of dahlias and a couple of the big ranunculus.
“And did he?”
“He did. Twice, right over there.” I jerked my chin in the direction of the shop. “And once over there. Oh, and another time there.”
This time, her jaw came unhinged and hit the table. “Don’t toy with me, Tess. You don’t want to be responsible for putting me into preterm labor, do you?”
I shot a smirk at her.
“Oh my God. Oh my God,” she hissed. “You did not!”
I still didn’t answer, just kept on smirking as I snipped stems and filled the vase.
“You slept with Luke Bennet.” She whispered his name, glancing around like someone might be listening. “I think this is the most spontaneous thing you’ve ever done in your whole life.”
“Other than kissing him the first time.”
“Yes, other than that. What does that mean? Are you guys, like … dating?”
A laugh burst out of me. “God, no. I might be crazy, but I’m not stupid, Ivy. It was a one-time thing, a fling. For fun. To rewrite what happened before. I’m being adventurous like everyone loves to accuse me of not being.”
She eyed me with no small amount of skepticism. “You. A fling. With Luke.”
“Yeah. What’s the big problem? Literally everyone has had a fling with Luke. Why not me too?”
“Because you don’t know how to have sex without feelings.”
“Please. Luke and I are exactly wrong for each other. But man, that boy knows how to kiss.” I sighed, smiling at the flowers. “If there’s one person in the world to fling with, it’s a guy like him.”
Her suspicion deepened. “And what does Luke think of it being a one-time thing? Because I saw the way he was looking at you, just like I saw you follow him to storage.”
I kept my eyes down, saying matter-of-factly, “I’m telling him tonight.”
A bawdy ha shot out of her. “Oh, Tess.”
“What?”
“You’re going to meet him tonight, alone, to tell him you don’t want to climb him like a jungle gym ever again? Right. Sure. Whatever you say,” she said lightly.
“It can’t ever be anything more than that. You said yourself, I can’t have sex without feelings.”
“Which is exactly why going to see him tonight is a mistake. Unless you really do want to fling again.”
I frowned. “Of course I want to fling again—I’m not dead inside. But I shouldn’t. Honestly, I shouldn’t have last night, but I don’t regret it one bit.”
For a second, she watched me, her eyes assessing and sparkling with an idea. “Then do it again.”
My eyes narrowed. “Just like that?”
She shrugged innocently. “Sure, just like that. Maybe it’s time you learned to fling. Maybe you should exercise your wildness on Luke. I mean, he’s the perfect candidate.”
“What’s your angle, Ivy?”