Page 10 of Split Screen Scream
“Oh, I didn’t tell you.” She stopped, putting her hand to her mouth. “I’m a florist. Flowers surround me all day. At work, here at home . . .”
He laughed. “So, you do enjoy flowers.”
“That’s a big understatement. I love flowers. And I love arranging them.”
“That’s great.” He grinned. Her excitement was good to see, and her happiness contagious. He’d also managed to take her mind off tonight’s live shooting event and onto a happier topic. “I’ll have to stop into your shop some time.”
“Oh yes, you should.” She nodded. “I work at Floral Blessings, the new shop by the library. I used to work for a wedding planner doing the big jobs, but now I’m in with Mrs. Brown, who really ought to be named Mrs. White, because she’s so pale. She’s a short, white haired sixty-year-old widow with light blue eyes. After her husband died she decided to start a new career selling flowers. She smiles all the time. You’d never know she was widowed less than two years ago.”
They’d reached her front door as they walked and talked, and she automatically reached into her purse for her keys. After about a minute of rifling through her purse, she pulled them out. The keys hung from a red and white polka dotted key chain.
He held the screen door for her while she fumbled with the key in the lock. All the while he watched her, he noted she showed symptom of shock.
“Come in for coffee?” she asked. “It’s the least I can do after all you’ve done for me.”
It was late and they both needed sleep, not coffee, but he suspected she wasn’t ready to be alone or ready to go to sleep. He certainly wasn’t. And maybe she’d quit thanking him every five minutes if he allowed her to thank him with coffee. It would also give them a chance to get to know each other better. “Sounds good,” he said.
“I have some Jamaican blue,” she said. “Got it on a cruise, and I save it for special occasions.”
“Sounds wonderful. Where did you cruise to?”
“Jamaica, of course. Grand Cayman and Saint Thomas. Have you ever been?”
“Nope. Been lots of places around the world but nothing in the Caribbean. No pleasure cruising.”
“The islands are wonderful. Very relaxing.”
“That sounds good right about now.”
“I agree.” She smiled and nodded.
As she busied herself making coffee, he took in the room. White lace curtains on the window over the sink and the window in the back door, a white lace tablecloth on a small round table, and padded cushions with a pale pink and white polka dotted print on the two chairs. The pale pink was picked up in accessories throughout the kitchen; accessories that could’ve stepped out of an old movie where the woman of the house wore an apron and a dress.
She noticed him looking and said, “I love anything retro, from the forties and fifties.”
Ah. So that’s why she’s dressed like that and why her house was decorated this way.
“It suits you.”
Those boys overseas would’ve had many a good dream about her if she were pinned in their locker.
“Thank you.” She rubbed her hands down her hips, in a self-conscious gesture; unaware she outlined her hips, drawing his gaze to those curves.
“I, well, this is why I’m dressed like this. Tanya and I were having a girl’s night out, retro style. I’d step back in time if I could and visit those days.”
“You look great.”
“Thank you.” Pink flooded her cheeks.
Is she embarrassed? Not used to compliments?“Who’s Tanya?”
“Tanya is my best friend.”
He frowned. “You were alone tonight. What happened to Tanya?”
“She had an emergency with her animals. Had to take them to the vet. I think her neighbor poisoned them.” She gasped. “Oh, no. I was supposed to call her after the show. I didn’t think to check my phone. Oh, I hope they’re all right.”
She hurried to her purse and pulled her phone out, turning it back on, and watching for it to turn on again.
