Page 33 of Love in Bloom

“Decent, but it would be better without Spanish.”

“Sí,” Miller said and nodded. Jack snorted. With Miller in the room, the boy was relaxed and enthusiastic. His previous body language would have been more appropriate for a funeral.

“I hate to interrupt your reunion, gentlemen, but could we please get back to the business at hand?” Wren didn’t even try to hide her irritation. “What kind of blue? Blue-green? Blue-grey? Light blue? There’s lots of shades of blue.” The young man shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Does this really matter?” Jack asked, looking at Miller.

“It matters, trust me,” Miller said, leaning a hip against the counter.

Wren wanted to shove the order pad in Miller’s hand and have him deal with the teen, but she took a deep breath and tried a different approach. “What’s your budget?”

“Fifteen dollars?” Jack said, clearly not knowing how much a wrist corsage cost.

“Hey, Wren, can Jack use my great-helper discount this time?” Miller asked while pointing to himself, then rubbing his fingers together, and finally pointing to her. First a clueless teen and now charades with Miller. Heaven help her.

“Sure, no problem. Jack, do you know if she has a favorite color?”

“I don’t know, but she wears black a lot.”

One corsage for goth-girl coming up, Wren thought as she stepped into the cooler. She grabbed a stem of hot pink variegated spray roses. Her inclination had been pink miniature carnations, but if she’d understood Miller’s pantomime, he was planning to cover whatever Jack couldn’t. She went to the backroom and shamelessly listened in to their conversation as her fingers went to work.

“Rumor is the junior varsity coach is going to retire in the next few years. You should apply,” Jack said.

“I’ve heard that rumor, too, and thanks for the vote of confidence, but I don’t think my bosses would be too happy about it.”

“Lawyers have bosses?”

“Yep. When you get down to it, everyone has a boss or someone they toe the line for, like customers or shareholders.”

“That makes sense. Do you like being a lawyer?” Jack sounded so grown-up talking to Miller. Like they were having a man-to-man conversation.

“Some days I like more than others, but it pays the bills and I like the mental challenge. How’re your folks?” Wren chuckled at the obvious change of topic.

“Good. Dad got a job in the city public works department and Mom’s still working in the kitchen at the hospital. I even got a job.” It wasn’t hard to hear the pride in Jack’s voice.

“Really? What are you doing?”

“Bagging groceries. It’s part-time, but the manager says if I keep up the great work, he’ll be able to give me more hours this summer.”

“School’s still your top priority, right?”

“Yes, Coach.”

“So, who’s your date for the dance?” Miller asked.

“Ashley Gardener. She’s in my chem class. She plays volleyball and she’s super smart. I wasn’t going to ask her, but then I remembered all your little pep talks about taking a shot and that we’d always miss the ones we never took. So, I took a shot and asked her out.”

“And she said yes,” Miller finished for him. “Good job. Asking a girl out is tough.”

“No kidding. Does it get any easier?”

“No.” Both men looked at Wren when she walked into the room. Jack pulled fifteen dollars from his wallet and handed it to Wren, and she handed him the corsage and a small bouquet of wrapped flowers.

“What’s this?” he asked, looking at the tissue paper bundle like it might bite him.

“A few flowers for your mom, and they’re on the house. Don’t worry,” Wren said as she rang up the order and put the money in the cash register. Between Miller’s “great-helper” discount and the flowers for Jack’s mom, she’d barely covered her costs on this order.

“Thanks.” Jack looked at the pink corsage through the clear plastic box. “The corsage is real pretty, too. The flowers look tie-dyed.”

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