“Oh, yeah?”
“With a junior editor at Floral magazine.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re kidding.”
“She’s interested in featuring us.”
Her face shot open like a sunbeam. “Luke …” she breathed.
“I know. She took one look at the pictures you took and was sold. It’s all because of you.” My heart doubled in size as I gazed into her face. “You’ve found a way to show the whole world what this shop is, what it means to us. I can make Mom’s dream come true.”
Her hand untwined from my neck and cupped my jaw, her face soft and open.
“So get ready,” I said with a sideways smile. “Because I’m about to get us on the cover of the biggest floral magazine in America.”
She laughed, leaping to grab me around the neck, and I lifted her up and spun her around, just like I’d imagined. When her feet were on the ground, I snagged her hand to take her to my mother.
And we ran away with our hopes high and our dreams in tow.
16
Gold Digger
LUKE
The store was empty and quiet as Tess and I walked to the front that night, the day done and shop closed.
“You sure you don’t want to come to dinner?” I asked. “Mom won’t mind, especially after today. I’m sure she has a million things to talk to you about.”
“Another time. I’ve barely seen Dad, and I’d love to cook him a fresh meal instead of one he has to reheat.”
I pulled her to a stop, tugged her to bring her into the circle of my arms. “You’re a good daughter, you know that?”
She flushed, smiling. “Every once in a while, I figure I do something right.”
“Tell your dad I’ve got supplies being delivered tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow night we can have dinner at your place with your dad, and I can make sure everything’s in place to get started?”
A nod and a small smile were my only answer.
“You sure you’re okay with the renovation?”
An identical nod and smile told me the truth was no.
I frowned. “I really think you should tell your dad. He wouldn’t change the house if he knew it upset you.”
“I know he wouldn’t, which is why I can’t say anything.” She wrapped her arms around my waist and squeezed. “I trust you, Luke. And I want what Dad wants. Don’t worry … I’ll be fine.”
“You always are. But you don’t have to be. You know that, right?”
“I’ve heard it once or twice,” she said with a sidelong smile.
I chuckled and kissed her nose. “Meet you back here after dinner. Let’s get the installation brainstormed out so I can start building.”
“Deal. And bring your appetite.”
One of my brows rose. “You bringing dessert?”
“Yes, in the form of black lace.”
I kissed her smirking lips for a long moment before letting her go with regret. “Let’s go. Sooner we get this over, the sooner I get my treat.”
Out we went, locking up the shop behind us. With a fleeting kiss, we parted in front of my parents’ stoop. Well, she parted. I leaned against the rail and watched her, waving when she looked back.
I didn’t go inside until she was gone.
The din of my family met me as I closed the city noise out behind me. Marcus and Dad sat silently at the table—Dad with his paper, Marcus with his phone—and when I entered the room on my way to the noisy kitchen, they gave me identical nods. The kitchen was a bustle of motion and sound. Kanye rapped “Gold Digger” from the portable speaker next to Edie’s thigh on the counter as she shimmied her shoulders. Jett laughed from the stove, pushing dinner around in a pan as Kash and my mother engaged in a rap battle in the breakfast nook.
Mom was winning. And when she got to the prenup part and shouted, Eighteen years! Kash broke down laughing so hard, he lost on the spot.
“Thank you, thank you,” Mom said, curtsying before expectantly holding her knotted hand out to Kash.
He flipped through his wallet, retrieved a five, and laid it in her palm. “You earned that,” he said, kissing her on the cheek.
Mom flushed, giggling. “Beating you at rap battles since 2002.”
Kash shook his head. “You’re the reason we can’t play Sorry, you know.”
She shrugged, tucking the fiver in her back pocket. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Kassius Bennet.”
Laney laughed. “She gives a whole new meaning to the word.”
Jett snorted. “Her sorry comes when she flips the board.”
“You’re the reason we’re all so competitive,” I said with a smirk. “Except Dad. He’s thrown every game he ever played.”
“That’s because your father knows something very important,” Mom stated matter-of-factly, pausing for dramatic effect. “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”
Laughter filled the room. Mom stepped into me to give me a hug.
“My boy, how are you?” she asked sweetly. “I can’t believe you managed a meeting with Floral! You make magic without even trying, don’t you?”
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Anything for you.” I kissed the top of her head.
Jett transferred a pot of rice to a serving bowl and handed it to Laney. “You’ve pulled some stunts, but a prospect for a magazine article? I’m impressed.”
“They want to come by next week and scope the shop out. Tess and I are working on an installation tonight.”
“I bet you are.” Kash made a lewd gesture at me from behind Mom.
I gave him a look.
“You two are working so hard,” Mom fussed, letting me go to look up at me. “You’re at the shop every morning before it opens and every night after it’s closed. You really deserve some time off your feet.”
Laney snickered, heading to the dining room. “Oh, I’m sure they’re getting plenty of time on their backs.”
“I don’t see how,” Mom said, completely unaware. “I’m going to make you stay home to rest one of these days—you watch me.”
“Oh, don’t do that, Mom.” Jett handed another bowl, this one full of steaming broccoli, to Kash. “I think it might be more punishment than reward.”
Mom laughed, completely oblivious. I razed Jett to the ground solely with the power of my mind.
“I never imagined Luke would become a workaholic,” she said, laughing softly and reaching for my face. “And here I thought you didn’t even particularly like the flower shop. Now I can’t keep you out of it.”
A dish of meat was thrust in my direction, and Jett laid a smirking look on me. “He’s in it all right.”
I snatched the dish from his hand with an amiable smile. “What can I say? I love some good hammer-and-nail action.”
“Oh, we know,” he said on a laugh.
“Really,” Mom kept on, following us into the dining room, “I never knew you were such a carpenter.”
“Always was good with wood,” Kash said, tossing a broccoli floret into the air and catching it in his mouth.