Page 13 of Accidentally in Bloom

Lily yanked her to a stop. “Uh, first we’re gonna talk about whatever that was.” She threw a thumb back toward the diner.

Violet caught up with them. “How did you manage to piss off the nicest guy in town?”

“Nicest?” Rose shook her head to clear it. “Are you shitting me? That man is a menace.”

“Gray is the best.” Violet sent Rose a smile. “He’s seriously so nice. You should’ve seen him at the Food Bank’s Valentine’s Date fundraiser. I thought one woman was going to swoon with how sweet he was with all the older ladies.”

Gray was the town's heartthrob? What planet were they on? “We have a lot to do today.” Rose shook her phone at them. “Gray is a bump in the road that I don’t have time to think about. He’ll be at the will reading, hear about whatever trinket Dad left him, then be gone forever.”

Violet shrugged. “I don’t know. He and Dad were close.”

Rose snorted as she lowered her head to her phone and swiped through her never-ending list of tasks.

“They could have dated for all I care. I just need us to get through my ‘Get the Fuck out of Fairwick Falls’ list as soon as possible.”

Lily shook Rose’s arm to get her attention. “But you said we’d hang today. My nails desperately need sparkles on them.” Her lip puffed out in a tortured pout.

Shit. That pout was Rose’s kryptonite.

“We’ll do nails later. I want to see Dad’s shop. We have to decide what to do with it while I’m here.”

“Okay, but we get thirty minutes of no list time.” Violet held her hand out.

Rose rolled her eyes to the heavens and dropped her phone into Violet’s hand. “Ugh, fine.”

They started toward their father’s flower shop on the other side of the square.

Having no distractions, Rose took in the greenery of the town square with surprise. Fairwick Falls had grown so much in the ten years she’d been gone. It was now, dare she say, adorable.

The town square was a patchwork of blooming grass and sidewalks. Early spring flowers showed bits of purple and pink as they fought to bloom in the early March chill. A new white gazebo sat in the middle of the town square lawn, and a young family sat in it, blowing bubbles. The soft glow of the early afternoon sun spilled over the building tops, illuminating the quaint little shops lining each side of the paved streets. Buildings that had been empty when she was a kid now had cheerful storefronts.

It was all very Instagrammable.

“How’s the shop?” Rose asked as if seeing her hometown for the first time.

“Lil and I haven’t gotten up the courage to go in yet since....” Violet bit her lip with worry. “Well, since.”

Lily had been in Fairwick Falls for a few weeks helping Violet sort through the junkyard that was their father’s house. Lily was a freelance designer based in Brooklyn and worked wherever suited her mood.

Violet had opted to stay in Fairwick Falls after college and was close with their father. His death had hit her the hardest. She was a landscape designer and supported their father’s flower shop with her small greenhouse.

Rose thought about the business that might be piling up. It had been three months since the funeral.

“I guess the shop never did brisk business, and everyone’s aware that he...that the shop is closed.” Rose cleared her throat.

They stopped on the sidewalk, looking up at the flower shop sign. No one wanted to walk in first.

Bluhm’s Flowers had been a Fairwick Falls institution for over a century. Their great-great-grandparents started the shop in the late 1800s, eventually passing to their mom and dad.

The building faced the town square, a prime location for foot traffic, and was nestled between the Fox & Forrest Cafe and a bookstore. The tall three-story building still had the original large display windows with ornately carved trim.

Piles of leaves and dirt collected at the front entrance. The dingy windows looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in years, and Rose felt a tickle of dread in her stomach.

Lily pulled her coat tighter around her to stave off the chill of the early-March wind. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

The brisk wind whipped at Rose’s legs, and she bit the bullet. She held out her hand to Violet for the key. “Now or never, ladies.”

“Just so you know, it’s not great.” Violet’s eyes were lined with worry.

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