Page 35 of Recklessly Yours

I shrugged. Online dating hadn’t worked out like I wanted it to. “They were all guppies.”

His lips curled up as he headed for the bank. “Okay, fine. How long have you known Michael’s friends, then?”

“A few years, I guess.”

“Really? Josh said he moved here early last year, and Paul said he moved here a few months ago. When he got hired to work on the hospital construction.”

Huh. Felt like longer than that. Eyes squinted, I thought back, searching for my earliest memories of them. “That can’t be right. I remember all three of them coming in together over the summer.”

“Yeah. Paul said he visited Michael a couple of times a year until Michael got him the job three months ago.”

A chime sounded through the car, indicating that Dylan had a new text from Aiden. Dylan tapped the notification on the screen, and a robotic voice read the message out loud.

“The company that sells the rare blue lady orchids is sending us a list of buyers. So far, they haven’t asked for a warrant, but we’ll see.”

Confused, I tilted my head and studied Dylan. “Blue lady orchids?”

“Yeah. One of our techs looked into the orchids left at your place. They’re rare and native to Australia. The only company we’ve found that sells them is there.”

Australia?“So what does that mean?”

“It means that if someone on that list is local, the information will be a huge help.”

I stared out the window, digesting the information. Why would someone go through so much trouble to get such a rare type of flower for me? I didn’t think they were that uncommon. I swore I’d seen them before.

“Aren’t blue orchids sold in most flower shops?”

He shook his head. “I wondered the same thing at first. Turns out that the blue orchids sold here in the US are dyed, not naturally blue. The blue lady orchid is naturally blue.”

“You know all this?”

He didn’t seem like the type to have a hidden passion for flowers, but maybe I’d misjudged him.

His laugh echoed through the car. “Nope. Violet explained all of this to Aiden and me this morning.”

I pressed my lips together and racked my brain for a woman with that name. I knew just about everyone in Half Moon Lake. Or so I’d thought. “Violet?”

“Our tech. She’s impressive. Finds the wildest things.”

Oh. I was pretty sure I knew who he was talking about. She was fairly new to town. “Blond hair with black highlights?”

Or was it the opposite? Did she have naturally black hair with blond highlights?

“Yeah. Has a bit of that goth look to her.”

“I think it’s called hipster goth now.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “What?”

“It’s like a cool, modern goth look.”

“Huh.” He shrugged. “What do you want for dinner?”

On cue, my stomach growled. “Do you like sushi?”

“Love it. We can stop by Asian Palace on the way home and pick up carryout.”

“Can we finishPerfect Wifewhile we eat?”

---