Page 7 of Somebody Else Will

Will was kind and considerate in the beginning. The amount of affection and attention he showed me reeled me in. Now that the qualities I loved most were MIA majority of the time, I found myself being unsatisfied. That was what made room for Ezekiel to penetrate my thoughts the way he was. It had nothing to do with money, but it had a lot to do with effort. However, because of how Will and I started, it made it harder to let go.

He didn’t even seem to be trying to do any better than what he was doing. When I left for work, he was home, and when I came back from work, he was home. The only plus was that my house stayed clean, and more often than not, there was a cooked meal when I got home. The affection and attention were lacking though.

I huffed as I looked over the pictures from the venue, memorizing the areas and visualizing what I thought it would look like with certain flowers, before I started sketching. His event planner said it would be elegant, so I did my first sketch with Helleborus. I loved how elegant they looked. The second sketch would be with red Calla Lilies. I added some Salvia to that one. I wanted long stem flowers for the vases I had in mind.

I knew I would have to get with Jackie to see if the vases I chose would be acceptable or if she had already picked vases out. I was extremely flexible and had a lot of inventory when it came to accessories. I stayed on different warehouse sites, searching for perfect pieces to add to my collection. When I did parties like this, I oftentimes included vases and such in their invoices. I didn’t dare request them back.

As I sketched, a sense of happiness swept over me. Being able to draw was something I always valued. It helped me present my ideas better. If people could physically see my vision, it made it easier to sell. A smile spread across my lips as I remembered how my grandmother raved over my pictures of her gardens and flower beds. She was instrumental in nurturing my gift. My mama was shocked that I even took an interest in it.

She told me she thought it was just a thing that I would grow out of. I was in my grandmother’s gardens as early as I could remember, but it never got old. If anything, it got more interesting. Seeing the flowers bloom simply from a seed I planted and the care I put into it was beautiful to me. It was something I always knew I would love.

When I heard the bell ring, indicating someone had come inside the shop, I went up front. There was a man standing there with a huge bouquet of roses. It was beautiful, but all flowers were beautiful to me. I frowned slightly, though, because I was wondering who would order flowers from somewhere else to deliver here? That was like a slap in the face.

“Hello. I have a delivery for Denishia Boswell.”

The slight frown left and a small smile replaced it. I supposed that was why they didn’t order them here. It didn’t make sense for me to design my own bouquet. I nodded and said, “Hello. I’m Denishia.”

I signed his clipboard and scanned the bouquet. It was so gorgeous. After doing a couple things on his computer thingy, he said, “Have a great day, ma’am.”

“Thank you. You too.”

I pulled the card from the stem. I knew who these were from without reading it. There was no way they were from Will. The man had never sent me flowers. It should have been obvious how much I loved them, but I supposed he thought since I was around them all day, I wouldn’t want them. Flowers were just a symbol of romance that I’d always craved. I had yet to be with a man that noticed. I slowly shook my head at the thought as I pulled the card from the envelope.

Denishia,

I wanted to order the bouquet from you, but I wanted you to be surprised. I know you said to respect that you are in a relationship, but damn, girl. I’m an impatient nigga. I know my advances aren’t in vain. I’m ready to do all the things your man won’t do. Yeah, I stole that from Joe. LOL. I just don’t want there to be no mistaking how I feel. I want to get to know you.

I hope these flowers are to your standards, because from what I can tell from your site, you play no games. I look forward to getting to know you and flaunting you for the world to see. See you soon, baby girl.

I brought the card to my chest and closed my eyes. This man refused to give up. I low-key liked that, but at the same time, I hated it. He was going to get me caught up before I could analyze the relationship I was in with Will.Ugh!

I went back to my office with the bouquet in hand. It was heavy as hell. I set it on the desk, then grabbed my phone and took a picture of it. I sent the picture to him along with a message.

Thank you, Mister Wheeler…

I couldn’t respond to anything else he said. Actually, Irefusedto respond. He knew what the deal was. He didn’t need me to keep reiterating that. He immediately responded with an emoji giving the one-cheeked smile. I slowly shook my head again and got back to work, sketching.

WhenI finally decided to get out of bed, I handled my hygiene, then made my way downstairs. I could smell the bacon, and it had my stomach growling. My mama was always cooking. Even after partying well into the night, she was up with the damn chickens. My eyes didn’t pop open until eight, but I’d stayed in bed until nine.

Seeing the picture of the bouquet Denishia sent had brought a smile to my face. While I was satisfied with how it looked, I knew she would have done a much better job. It wouldn’t have made sense to have her design her own bouquet. I knew she was a one-woman show when it came to that. She had two or three employees that took orders and handled administrative things, but she was the sole designer.

I didn’t know how she found time to put bouquets together with her volume. Whenever I Googled florists in Beaumont, she was the first one to pop up. I had to research her a little bit,because I knew that she was aware of who I was. That was the challenge with getting to know people. They typically didn’t ask as many questions, because they already knew the answers to the get-to-you questions. That made the conversations one-sided like an interview.

Once I got to the kitchen, my mama said, “Hey, sleepy head.”

I smiled. “Good morning.” I gave her a one-sided hug as she scrambled eggs. “You enjoy your birthday party last night?”

“Absolutely! The food was good and so was the fellowship.”

I chuckled. She made it sound like a church service. “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”

“Anytime my baby is in town is enjoyable for me.”

I smiled and glanced at my phone. I could see from my peripheral that she was all in my business though.

“Are you expecting some news? Almost every time I looked at you last night, your head was in your phone.”

I smiled again as I looked up at her. “I guess you can say that. I was doing research last night and made my pitch this morning.”

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