Chapter Six

It’s been fifty-three days since Ryle walked out of my apartment that

morning. Which means it’s been fifty-three days since I’ve heard from

him.

But that’s okay, because for the last fifty-three days, I’ve been too

busy to really give him much thought as I prepared for this moment.

“Ready?” Allysa says.

I nod, and she flips the sign to Open and we both hug and squeal

like little kids.

We rush around the counter and wait for our first customer. It’s a

soft opening, so I haven’t really done a marketing push yet, but we

just want to make sure there aren’t any kinks before our grand

opening.

“It’s really pretty in here,” Allysa says, admiring our hard work. I

look around us, bursting with pride. Of course I want to succeed, but

at this point I’m not even sure if that matters. I had a dream and I

busted my *** to make it come true. Whatever happens after today is

just icing on the cake.

“It smells so good in here,” I say. “I love this smell.”

I don’t know if we’ll get any customers today, but we’re both acting

like this is the best thing that’s ever happened to us, so I don’t think

that matters. Besides, Marshall will come in at some point today and

my mother will come in after she gets off work. That’s two customers

for sure. That’s plenty.

Allysa squeezes my arm when the front door begins to open. I

suddenly grow a little panicked, because what if something goes

wrong?

And then I do panic, because something just went wrong. Terribly

wrong. My very first customer is none other than Ryle Kincaid.

He stops when the door closes behind him and he looks around in

awe. “What?” he says, turning in a circle. “How in the . . . ?” He looks over at me and Allysa. “This is incredible. It doesn’t even look like the

same building!”

Okay, maybe I’m fine with him being the first customer.

It takes him a few minutes to actually make it to the counter

because he can’t stop touching things and looking at things. When he

finally does reach us, Allysa runs around the counter and hugs him.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” she says. She waves her hand in my direction. “It

was all her idea. All of it. I just helped with the dirty work.”

Ryle laughs. “I find it hard to believe that your Pinterest skills

didn’t play a little part.”

I nod. “She’s being modest. Her skills were half of what brought

this vision to life.”

Ryle smiles at me and it might as well have been a knife to the

chest, because ouch.

He slaps his hands on the counter and says, “Am I the first official

customer?”

Allysa hands him one of our flyers. “You have to actually buy

something to be considered a customer.”

Ryle glances over the flyer and then sets it back down on the

counter. He walks to one of the displays and grabs a vase full of purple

lilies. “I want these,” he says, setting them on the counter.

I smile, wondering if he realizes he just picked lilies. Kind of ironic.

“Do you want us to deliver them somewhere?” Allysa says.

“You guys deliver?”

“Allysa and I don’t,” I reply. “We have a delivery driver on standby.

We weren’t sure if we’d actually need him today.”

“Are you actually buying these for a girl?” Allysa asks. She’s just

prying into her brother’s love life like a sister would naturally do, but

I catch myself stepping closer to her so I can hear his answer better.

“I am,” he says. His eyes meet mine and he adds, “I don’t think

about her very much, though. Hardly ever.”

Allysa grabs a card and slides it to him. “Poor girl,” she says. “You

are such a ****.” She taps her finger on the card. “Write your message

to her on the front and the address you want them delivered to on the

back.”

I watch him as he bends over the card and writes on both sides. I

know I don’t have a right, but I’m brimming with jealousy.“Are you bringing this girl to my birthday party Friday?” Allysa asks

him.

I watch his reaction closely. He just shakes his head and without

looking up he says, “No. Are you going, Lily?”

I can’t tell by his voice alone if he’s hoping I’ll be there or hoping I

won’t. Considering the stress I seem to cause him, I’m guessing it’s

the latter.

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“She’ll be there,” Allysa says, answering for me. She looks at me

and narrows her eyes. “You’re coming to my party whether you like it

or not. If you don’t show up, I’ll quit.”

When Ryle is finished writing, he tucks the card into the envelope

attached to the flowers. Allysa rings up his total and he pays in cash.

He looks at me while he’s counting out his money. “Lily, do you know

that it’s custom for a new business to frame the first dollar they

make?”

I nod. Of course I know that. He knows I know that. He’s just

rubbing it in my face that his dollar will be the one framed on my wall

for the life of this store. I almost encourage Allysa to give him a

refund, but this is business. I have to leave my wounded pride out of

it.

Once he has his receipt in hand, he taps his fist on the counter to

get my attention. He dips his head a little and, with a genuine smile,

he says, “Congratulations, Lily.”

He turns and walks out of the store. As soon as the door closes

behind him, Allysa is grabbing for the envelope. “Who in the hell is

he sending flowers to?” she says as she pulls the card out. “Ryle

doesn’t send flowers.”

She reads the front of the card out loud. “Make it stop.”

Holy shit.

She stares at it for a moment, repeating the phrase. “Make it stop?

What in the hell does that even mean?” she asks.

I can’t take it another second. I grab the card from her and flip it

over. She leans over and reads the back of it with me.

“He is such an idiot,” she says with a laugh. “He wrote the address

to our floral shop on the back.” She takes the card out of my hands.

Wow.

Ryle just bought me flowers. Not just any flower. He bought me a

bouquet of lilies.

Allysa picks up her phone. “I’ll text him and tell him he screwed

up.” She shoots him a text and then laughs as she stares at the flowers.

“How can a neurosurgeon be such an idiot?”

I can’t stop grinning. I’m relieved she’s staring at the flowers and

not at me or she may put two and two together. “I’ll keep them in my

office until we figure out where he intended for them to go.” I scoop

up the vase and whisk away my flowers.

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