Page 21 of Love Letter Lost
“That one’s nice.” Ridge reached over and fingered the petals of the flower I held, pulling my attention away from my silent phone towards his amazing scent.
Was that cedarwood? Maybe some kind of spice, like cinnamon?I shook my head. It didn’t matter what he smelled like. We had a job to do.
“What if we paired them with some white roses?” I moved to grab the flowers, desperate for a distraction from his scent. “I read that having different shapes and sizes is good for a fuller bouquet.” Not that I knew what that meant, but I needed to think about something besides Ridge as I clutched the haphazard bouquet in a death grip. “But I think it’s missing something.” Glancing around, I saw a bunch of flowers similar to the roses but red and flatter. I checked their label and a snicker caught in my throat at the name, making me sound like I was choking.
“What is it?” Ridge asked. Concern filled his tone, probably at my sounding like a dying drill.
“I don’t know about you, but I find this whole situationranunculus,” I sniggered, showing him the label.
He grinned. “Well, not everything is going to come uproses.” He reached for the stem of white roses I was holding and waved them in front of me. I groaned before another laugh escaped, this one coming out in a snorting burst of sound. At that moment a worker walked by, giving us dirty looks, making me laugh harder and causing Ridge to join in. It took a few minutes for us to calm down.
I wracked my brain, trying to think of a comeback. However, my lack of floral knowledge made it difficult. Spying some small white buds that I happened to recognize, I reached behind Ridge and snagged them. “Don’t hold yourbreathwaiting for everything to come together.”
“That was bad,” he said, shaking with laughter.
“Maybe, but it was better than yours, and it’s given me an idea.” I walked back over to the peach section of flowers, noticing that it also contained some ranunculus. “What if we did an all peach bouquet for Livvy? It could have peonies, roses, and ranunculus. Then we could add some white baby’s breath for a change in color and texture.” I grabbed bunches of each flower as I spoke, careful to avoid the tangle of roses from earlier, and held the mass up for inspection. It was elegant and beautiful, if a little lopsided.
“Looks good to me.” Ridge gestured to the flowers in my hand with a shrug. “Are you sure Livvy doesn’t have a flower preference?”
As if conjured by his words, my phone buzzed with an incoming text. I glanced down, hoping to see Livvy’s name on my screen but was disappointed.
MOTHER: Your brother said you turned down a date with his friend. Why? You need a date for the wedding! You might have just turned down your soulmate.
I ignored the text, deciding that I would respond later.
“Livvy hasn’t given me any specifics on flowers. I guess anything goes as long as it fits the color scheme.”
“Peonies, ranunculus, roses, and baby’s breath sounds good. Though maybe I should take a picture and send it to Amber. She’s really good at this kind of thing.”
I shrugged. Of course Amber would be good at flower arranging. She seemed like the kind of person who could use glitter without it infecting her home for the rest of eternity. I tried not to think about how it bothered me to have Amber brought into the moment, instead trying to be grateful to have help from someone who might have done this before.
Ridge snapped a picture and typed out a few words.
“Hopefully, she’s more responsive than Livvy.” Ridge lowered his phone. “Anything else we need?”
“Lots of stuff.”
Ridge’s phone buzzed and he smiled as he looked at the response. “She said the arrangement would be simple, but it should work.”
“What a relief.” I tried to keep my tone neutral, but thought I sounded a bit like a robot.
“How do we make it all stick together? Glue?” Ridge examined the flowers, his face scrunched in concentration.
“According to Pinterest, we use some kind of funky green tape.” I glanced around trying to find it. “We’re also going to need wire and ribbon.” I had wire cutters and pliers in my toolbox at home.
“And what about the other arrangements? You said there were a lot.”
I considered the flowers in my hands. Ideally the corsages, boutonnieres, and centerpieces would somehow tie back into the bridal bouquet. However, I worried that the result would be too much peach, especially where we didn’t know what the bridesmaid dresses would look like.
After a moment, Ridge picked up another bunch of peach roses. “I feel like all the flower things I wore to dances had roses in them.”
“Those would be boutonnieres.” I reached out to finger the petals of the roses he held. The one I’d given him for prom had definitely contained a rose, though it had been red instead of peach. I continued to ponder as an idea formed. “What if we used the peach roses to tie everything together?” I grabbed a few more bunches, not caring if they tangled together now. “We could do a single rose with baby’s breath for the boutonnieres. It would be simple and, hopefully, easy.”
“I like easy,” Ridge agreed, adding the roses he was holding to the ones I’d placed in the cart.
“That just leaves the corsages and centerpieces.”
“The corsages are those things girls wear on their wrists to prom, right?” Ridge questioned, his forehead furrowing.
