“Please do.” He heaved the last pallet of flowers out of his van and tipped his head at me. “Can I help you carry these in before I go?”
My brows wanted to climb into my hair, but I hid my surprise. “That would be lovely. Thank you.”
As I was watching him drive away about fifteen minutes later, a smile formed at the side of my mouth. I couldn’t believe he’d even carried the delivery into the shop for me. In all the years I’d been ordering from that company, it had never happened.
The entire encounter had been empowering actually. A sense of victory hummed in my veins, the smile staying on my face as I went inside. While I didn’t condone his threats, there seemed to be a method to Cyrus’s madness.
I might actually just owe him for jumping in like he had. Whoever would have thunk it? I knew I certainly hadn’t.
Chapter 8
Cyrus
As I pushed down on the rusted metal doorjamb to enter the flower shop, I noticed Luna’s fingers flying over the keyboard in front of her ancient computer. The pink tip of her tongue was only just visible between her plump lips, her brow creased in thought.
Her eyes slid away from the screen even as she continued typing, skipping along the buckets on the walls before her mouth spread into a brilliant smile and her expression of intent concentration eased.
It dawned on me that I probably looked like a creep, my hand on the doorjamb without actually opening it as I peeked at her through the window. It was a very good thing I didn’t give a fuck what other people thought, though, because I just couldn’t quite force my gaze to leave her yet.
She really was fucking gorgeous in a wholesome, whimsical kind of way that—
Did I really just think the word whimsical?
I was so shocked that I finally pushed down on the handle and the bell above the door jingled to alert her of my presence, making it so I couldn’t stare at her anymore anyway.
“Hi,” I said. Thank fuck I’m an expert at hiding my thoughts. “How’s it going? You hear anything from our mutual friend yet?”
“Yeah, I did actually.” The smile hadn’t completely left her lips when she looked up, her warm blue eyes twinkling like precious fucking gems as they met mine. “He came early. Told me to let you know. I think he was rather relieved when he found out you weren’t here.”
“Did he ask where I was?”
She shrugged, the loose black curtain of her hair shifting around her shoulders as she did. “I said you were off exploring other options for us.”
“You did, huh?” I was honestly a bit surprised to hear it. Pleasantly so.
This woman had that butter-couldn’t-melt-in-her-mouth thing going and knowing that she’d played along with my little white lie was kind of hot. I offered her a smirk, but it was closer to a smile than it usually was. “It was a pleasure doing business with you, Luna.”
“Likewise.” The corners of her lips were still turned up as she rounded the concrete slab of the counter. “Speaking of business, should we get down to yours? What’s the color palette for the wedding? I’ve checked and I think I have all the major types of flowers in that arrangement you showed me, but I’ll obviously need to know what else you had in mind if you want it exactly like that or if that’s just a point of departure and we’ll need to get the colors right, obviously.”
“Obviously,” I said, but I felt the smile-smirk slipping. “Right. Let’s get on that.”
Luna rubbed her palms together like an evil genius getting ready for a plan to take over the world, then spread her arms wide. “Okay, well, think of the shop as your playground. I’ve already set the stars of the show out in the back room so I can mock something up for you, but we need to pick fillers. We’re probably also going to need a variety of different arrangements. The pictures you showed me yesterday were of what the bride wanted on the tables, I’m assuming? So we’re also going to need to think of the church, any outside areas, the main table, the bathrooms.”
It was then that I realized I had no idea what the fuck I was doing. A rare moment for me.
I drew in a deep breath, my eyes narrowing as I surveyed the walls of flowers. “Yeah. I’m going to need your help.”
“No problem.” She smiled brightly. “That’s what I’m here for. Let’s start with the colors you need. That’ll narrow it down a bit.”
“The color palette?” I cocked my head and tried to remember if Peter had said anything about that, but nothing came to mind. “I’m not sure.”
Luna’s eyes flared and brows lifted. “Um, okay. Those pictures you showed me then. Let’s start with those. Are those arrangements set in stone or are they just an idea of the style the bride wants?”
Again, I drew a blank. “I don’t know.”
She paused for a second, her gaze sliding across my features like she was trying to decide if I was serious. When she must have seen that I was, she released a slow breath. “Okay. Do you have any information at all that we can use?”
“No.” I had the pictures, which she knew about, and Peter had told me Jenny wanted to use the Watering Can. That’s it. “I can speak to the bride, but as of right now, I don’t have anything else.”
“Do you want to give her a call?” she asked, moving back to her counter.
I shook my head. “She’s a shift worker. She won’t be able to speak to me right now.”
Luna’s eyes softened as she nodded. “I think you’ll need to speak to her before we can really do anything here then. I’m going to need at least a little bit of information before I can help you. Just a question though. How are you planning a wedding you know nothing about?”
Fuck. This was already day two of having to deal with this wedding bullshit. I didn’t mind spending my time helping Peter like I’d promised, but evidently, it was going to take a lot more time than I’d bargained for.
“I’m doing it as a favor. The bride and groom can’t really get away during the day, so they asked me to step in for them with vendors who need to be consulted during working hours.”
“As in, all the vendors?” Her chin lowered and her head dipped slightly to one side. “Do you have any idea how much work that’s going to be? Just about everyone involved in any wedding, except for the venues and their people, pretty much stick to office hours. Especially during the week.”
“I’m just starting to realize that, yeah.” My hands found my hips as I tilted my head back and glared at the ceiling. “Fuck.”
In my peripheral vision, I saw her chewing the inside of her cheek. “I can help you, if you want. I’m sure you have lots of friends who would be willing to help as well, but I know this industry. You did me a solid favor and I owe you.”
“You don’t owe me anything.” I scoffed, bringing my head forward again to meet her eyes. “I stepped in because what that guy was doing was bullshit. I can’t stand it when people just shrug their shoulders in business, is all. That’s not how it works. If you’ve got a job to do, you fucking do it or you move over so someone else can.”