Page 49 of Flowers Near Me

The dog scratched at her door now and she greeted him before heading towards the kitchen. Satisfied with a few pets behind his ear, Cerberus lay down on a rug by the couches.

“There she is. Good morning, Sephy. Ready for a well-deserved day off?” Hades beamed at her. The sleeves of his black dress shirt bunched at his elbows and strained against muscles as he wiped his hands on a rag. Was he flexing?

Tailored charcoal gray pants and a matte black belt finished his ensemble, and Persephone hid her perusal with a feigned cough.

“Good morning. According to my calendar, I’m spending the day with my future husband.” She pretended to scan the apartment, trying to hold in her grin. “When will I meet him?”

Hades smirked and poured her a cup of coffee. “I’ll introduce you to him at lunch. He’s quite the catch. You ought to embrace him with a passionate kiss when you meet.”

She took the mug gratefully. “Thank you and I will not be doing that,” she said before blowing steam and taking a tentative sip. “I hope he’s someone normal like a teacher… or a professor. And that he’s soft spoken.”

Hades’ brows shot up. “A common man? Sephy, in what world would that be an appropriate match for you?”

She shrugged and sat in one of the chairs at the kitchen counter. “Why wouldn’t it be an appropriate match? I’m quiet and reserved.” The richness of the coffee tasted like heaven on her tongue. Taking a long sip, she held Hades’ wide eyes.

He placed both palms on the countertop across from her and dropped his shoulders with a playful sigh. “You’re no wallflower. Whether you like it or not, you’re part of the elite now. There’s nothing plain about you.”

Her stomach grew wings. The dryness in her mouth alerted her to her parted lips which she closed immediately. It sounded so good coming from him and although she thought to argue, she was learning it was better to accept his compliments and move on. “That’s kind. Thank you.”

“Besides. You’re meant to be with me and I’m not a teacher or a professor and have no lack of words. And right now, I want to tell you all about our fake-for-you-but-real-for-me date.”

Persephone went to speak, drawing in an incredulous breath of air, but Hades continued on. “I’m stating facts. I still understand your reasoning for considering it fake but wanted to remind you of my interest.” One corner of his mouth quirked up in a half smile. “We’re going to a Teppanyaki restaurant.”

She was always down for a hibachi restaurant. “That sounds good. What time are we going?”

“We have reservations at two. There’ll be a few columnists there but otherwise we’ll still have some semblance of privacy.” He winked.

Before Persephone could reply, the elevator doors to the apartment chimed and Hermes stumbled in. The brim of his baseball cap stood up from his head, but he righted it as he approached. She stared at him, unsure if she was seeing a ghost or was seeing her former assistant for the first time since their fateful parting in Laura’s townhouse.

Lacking all warmth, Hades greeted, “How did you get in, Hermes?”

Hermes threw an apologetic look at Hades then said, “Zeus sent me.”

“Ah,” Hades replied and went to sit at the kitchen counter.

“Persephone,” Hermes drew close, “your mom’s taken down the grocery app and halted all food deliveries to stores.”

Persephone’s eye twitched. It’d felt so long ago since she’d spoken with Hermes. And now, after months of silence, her mom shut down the grocery app. It didn’t make any sense. “What? How do you mean? I—uh. Why? So there are no deliveries arriving? Distribution is completely stalled?”

Hermes glanced at Hades before returning to look at Persephone. “Your team was told to cease operations.”

Things must be very bad.Whipping her phone from her pocket, she opened the Demeter’s Bounty app and clicked on grocery delivery.

“For how long?” she asked.

“Indefinitely. Most of the DB staff are worried they’re going to be laid off and now customers are buying up everything they can in the stores before the supply is gone.”

The app displayed an error message even after restarting her phone. Pressing her fingers to her mouth, Persephone debated whether to call Laura so she could settle her nerves or her mom so she could try to get the app back online. Would her mom even pick up the phone? This needed to be fixed immediately. Thousands of employees depended on that app’s existence.

Demeter was calculating and purposeful, so why shut down the app now? She tried to put herself in her mom’s shoes but struggled to make sense of the timing. She suspected the reason had something to do with the extremely annoyed god currently leaning on the counter.

“Did she say why?” She hoped his answer would remove the sting of her mom’s silence during the past two months. Maybe her mom hadn’t been ignoring her out of spite, but instead had been plotting how to get her out of the contract with Hades.

Hermes bobbed his head. “No, but she’s demanded a meeting with Zeus and Hades.”

With a tight-lipped sneer, Hades said, “Ah, yes. Let’s not keep them waiting.”

Persephone cleared her throat. “I’m coming too.”

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