Page 94 of This Moment

“Kian, are you taking your girlfriend, Cadie, who works at the bakery since it appears your mind is not working this morning, to the Moose Jam Festival. Inquiring minds want to know and I,” she glanced over her shoulder to Jayme, “have inquiring minds who are asking.”

I raised a brow. “Inquiring minds, huh?”

“Stop answering with a question!” Jayme cried out. It caused multiple people to turn and look at us.

“Yes, ladies, I am going to the Moose Jam festival, and yes, Cadie, my girlfriend, is going with me.”

Betty Lou smiled as Jayme crossed her arms over her chest. “She doesn’t seem like your type.”

I bit back a laugh. “And you would know my type how?”

“We dated, if you have forgotten.”

Betty Lou piped in. “No one has forgotten, dear, you remind everyone all the time.”

That time I did laugh. I hadn’t really realized how much I had missed this crazy town. “We dated when we were in high school. That was a long time ago. I’m pretty sure we’ve both changed quite a bit since then.”

“You’d be surprised,” Betty Lou stated, somewhat under her breath.

“Betty Lou, do you mind?” Jayme nearly shouted.

“I don’t, not at all.”

Facing Betty Lou, Jayme pointed to her. “You think you’re the only one who can spread a story? Well, let me tell you, I can do just as good…if not better…than you.”

Betty Lou put her hand to her chest. “Are you calling me a gossip?”

My mouth fell open. Had she really just asked that?

I felt someone tug on my hand and looked to see that it was Harper Browning, one of the daughters of the town’s mayor.

I was quickly pulled into Crazy Daisies Flower Shop, owned by none other than Harper herself.

“Thanks,” I said as I glanced over my shoulder to see the two women still arguing.

Harper laughed. “I saw you trapped and figured you needed a rescue, stat.”

I chuckled and faced my savior once again. Harper was a cute girl; well, she wasn’t a girl any longer. She was around my age; actually, a couple years younger. We had gone to high school at the same time, but she was a few grades behind me. Her dark brown hair was almost black, and now cut to her shoulders. She used to always wear it long and pulled back into a ponytail from what I could remember. She’d also lost a good amount of weight, nearly fifty pounds from what Macy had told me a few years back, and had started dating Sean Gallagher, if I was remembering right. Opal told me once that everyone was waiting for Sean to put a ring on her finger. At any rate, she had grown into a lovely young woman, and I was happy to see her following her dreams of taking over her mother’s store.

“You would be right. Do you know they are fighting about calling each other gossips?”

Looking past me to the two women, who only now realized I was gone, she smiled. “Jayme is trying to de-throne Betty Lou, who is not ready to give up the title of town gossip yet.”

With a shake of my head, I pulled my gaze off the women and looked at Harper. “That’s messed up.”

She laughed. “It is.”

I glanced around the flower shop. The walls of the shop were the exposed brick of the building. The furniture was all white vintage pieces. A large wooden table sat in the middle of the shop and held flowers, along with other items that were sold in the store. Frames, books, flowerpots, even jewelry. Along one wall was a large church pew that had been painted white and made to look old. It held flowers, of course, along with a few blankets. Scattered throughout the store were vintage suitcases that held, you guessed it, flowers. It was mostly a flower shop, but there were other items for sale as well, giving it a cozy feel instead of just having flowers for purchase.

“Wow, Harp, I haven’t been in here in a number of years, you’ve really changed it up. I like what you’ve done.”

She looked around the flower shop and smiled. Her mother had given it over to Harper when she decided to retire. She wasn’t really retired though. She helped run the visitor center in town to welcome the tourists.

“Thank you. It’s been a work in progress. I love going hunting for old vintage furniture and redoing it for the shop. That’s my latest piece,” she said, pointing to a piece of furniture. “I found it at an estate sale a few months ago. It’s a dresser, but it’s long and the drawers are different sizes, which makes it unique.”

We both looked at the piece. “I don’t think that’s a dresser, Harp. It looks like it might have been in an old apothecary shop.”

She gasped. “Do you think?”

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