Page 19 of Handy

I stare at the flower shop for another second, a weird twist of nerves in my stomach. Maybe I don’t actually want to go in there and have it confirmed that those flowers were meant for someone else. Even if I don’t really believe it, it’s nice to pretend that I might have a secret admirer. I hesitate with my hand on the door handle until my curiosity finally gets the better of me. In the very unlikely event that the gifts were actually sent to me on purpose, it would be nice to know who’s sending them.

I sigh and hop out. Stone is already way ahead of me, stepping into the flower shop.

“You’d better not be here to fill my flower shop with goats as revenge,” the blond twink behind the counter says as soon as he spots Stone.

I hesitate with one foot inside the shop.

“Does it look like I brought the kids?” Stone gestures to the goat-less space around himself and the twink narrows his eyes suspiciously, then nods.

“Okay,” he says slowly. “Seriously, I don’t care what Jag offers you, it would cost methousandsof dollars if you let a bunch of goats in here to eat my entire stock of flowers, so please, please don’t.”

Stone scoffs and puts a hand over his heart. “I wouldnever. If I was going to prank a flower shop, I’d get Ren to bring a hive of bees.”

The twink, whose name tag reads ‘Lewis’ now that I’m close enough to see it, snorts a laugh and nods like he’s finally satisfied with Stone’s answer.

“Alright, what can I help you guys with?” Lewis glances over at me. “You’re Griff, right?”

I frown again. Should I know him? I grunt in response, and he grins.

“I’ve seen you around at a couple of the big cookouts. I’m dating the silver fox biker.” He jerks his head to the left. “He works over at Ink Slingers and drives a purple Harley.” He preens proudly and I just keep staring, not sure what he expects me to say to all that.

I’ve gotten roped into a couple of parties I couldn’t manage to come up with a good enough excuse to get out of. I guess I’ve probably seen him around and I suppose I have a vague memory of the boyfriend he’s describing, but I couldn’t pick him out of a lineup. I’m not sure whether I should be proud of how well I’ve been pulling off the hermit thing or embarrassed about it.

I can imagine Riley shaking his head at me, giving me that soft, resigned smile and kissing my cheek. He didn’t want to change me, but he worried about me. He said more than a few times that if he was gone, I would probably cut the rest of the world off entirely and move to a cabin in the woods. He was half right, I guess. My gut tightens and a wave of guilt washes over me. I haven’t thought about him in days. I’ve been too busy thinking about other things. Thinking about Ledger and some mysterious secret admirer.

I stuff my hands into my pockets, hunching my shoulders, and I grunt at whatever Lewis is still saying that I’ve mostly tuned out.

I don’t have anything to feel guilty about. If anything, Riley would be more annoyed with me that it’s taken me so long to summon even a sliver of interest in anyone else. I huff and push the thoughts aside.

“Someone sent me flowers a couple of days ago. They were from this shop, but they didn’t have a name on them. I’m not even sure they were for me, actually. They were probably supposed to go to one of my neighbors or something. Maybe you can look up the order to see if a mistake was made?” I say.

“There wasn’t a mistake,” Stone insists. “We just want to figure out who his secret admirer is so he can take them to pound town.” He claps me on the shoulder, and I scowl, hoping neither of them notice the heat rising in my face.

Lewis cocks his head and grins a little wider.

“Hmm.” He turns to his computer and clicks away at the keyboard for a minute. “I have an order to be delivered to Griff,” he says, then he rattles off my address.

I give a sharp nod, and butterflies take up residence in my gut. “So, do you know who sent them then?”

He bites his lip and drums his fingers on the countertop.

“I do.”

I swallow hard and lean forward. Do I want to know?

“Come on, don’t leave us hanging,” Stone says impatiently.

“I… don’t know if I should. They must have left their name off the card for a reason, and I think I should respect that.” He clicks to close the order screen on the computer. “Florist-client confidentiality is something I take very seriously.”

“Don’t make me get the bees,” Stone deadpans.

Lewis narrows his eyes and puts his hands on his hips, straightening up to his full height, which honestly still isn’t all that impressive. “Don’t makemesic Jag on you.”

They glare at each other in a several-second standoff before Stone caves and sighs. He turns back to me and gives me a lopsided smile.

“Hey, at least we confirmed they were for you. That’s progress.”

Lewis gives me an apologetic smile. “Sorry.”

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