Page 99 of Accidentally in Bloom

Rose scanned the growing crowd for signs of Lenny. She spotted the unkempt, pissed-off man across the square as he shuffled toward them. They wanted to pay; he just wouldn’t listen to them. She hoped she ruined his night because he’d upended her life in such a stupid way.

“Hiya, sweet cheeks.” He took a hit on his vape and puffed out a cloud of sickeningly sweet cotton candy smoke toward her.

“Did you murder a unicorn and then smoke it?” Rose waved her hand at the cloud.

“Talkin’ real big for a girl about to lose her boyfriend’s business.”

“Wait, what?” Rose towered over the sweat stain of a man in front of her. “What do you mean ‘lose my boyfriend's business’?”

“Let’s just say I’m getting even.” He shrugged and grinned.

“He doesn’t have anything to do with this. That’s not what we agreed to.”

Lenny puffed out another cloud at her. “Grudges are a bitch. Just like you.”

Lily lunged at him, and Violet caught her around the waist. Nick and Aaron walked up, ready to step in.

“You’re right.” She’d been preparing for this moment her whole life. She articulated every syllable like shards of glass shooting into his forehead. “I am a bitch, Leonard.”

Rose stepped toward him with a threatening smile and saw his face fall. “A bossy, know-it-all bitch. I’m done apologizing for outsmarting and outworking lazy, incompetent,” she glanced down at him, “disgusting men around me. Our deal still stands, correct?”

He took another step back from her. “Yeah, whatever.” He waved a hand at her as he walked away. “Just don’t fuck it up, or the IRS’ll get a brand-new flower farm.” Lenny laughed.

Rose took a few steps back and rubbed her chest. He’d put his farm up as collateral for her. She felt like she was having a heart attack. It’d been so long since she had her last panic attack she forgot how much they could sneak up on you when you least needed them to.

“Rose, just breathe,” Violet said, letting go of Lily. She looked at her watch. “We’ll be fine. It’s time.”

Rose took a deep breath. “We can do this.” It was all going to be okay. Her crazy idea would probably work. She probably wouldn't destroy their businesses. She probably wouldn’t get her sister’s house taken away. She probably wouldn’t ruin everything.

She really fucking hoped people wanted to buy flowers today.

Rose scanned the crowd for Gray one more time. Why wasn’t he here? She needed him. She needed his calming presence and his charm working the crowd. Rose had business savvy, but she’d never be connected with the community like he was.

She took a deep breath and stood up on the bench. “Hi, everyone. Thank you for joining last minute. You know that we’re in a bind. You might have heard through the unofficial town newsletter, aka Mrs. Maroo,” everyone chuckled, surprising Rose, “that we have some large bills to pay today. I feel completely embarrassed coming to you after all the support you've given us, but we have nowhere else to turn.

“We have some friends joining us via the internet,” Rose sent a wave at the table of computers and phones currently live streaming, “and anything you all can offer would be much appreciated.”

A smattering of applause interrupted her, and she felt a sliver of hope. “Let’s start the bidding for Lily’s first amazing design: a Father’s Day arrangement.”

She looked over as Lily held up a large, gorgeous sketch of bright flowers interspersed with tropical greens and accents of roses. The peach roses Lily included were her father’s favorite, and Rose’s eyes welled up suddenly without warning.

Rose’s voice caught. “This,” she trailed off. Get it together, Parker. “This features my father’s favorite flowers: roses,” she said, sending a lopsided smile toward the crowd as she twisted her mouth, trying to keep it from turning into a sob that was hiding somewhere right behind her control.

“This arrangement is forty-five dollars. Any takers?”

Fifteen hands flew into the air, and Rose’s eyes widened in shock.

“All right.” She smiled back at the beaming faces she would have ignored only two months ago. These people had saved her time and time again with their friendship and their loyalty. She’d find some way to pay them back someday.

“I think that’s…” She punched the numbers in on her phone.

“Six hundred and seventy-five!” Nash called up from the back as he jogged toward her. “Here. Let me help.” He grabbed a marker from her and stood next to Lily, coloring in the large tracker.

“And we have an additional twenty orders between the live streams,” Violet called out.

“All right,” Rose said, rubbing her hands together. “Any last calls for the beautiful limited-edition Father’s Day arrangement?”

A few more hands shot into the air, and they moved on to the 4th of July picnic arrangements. An hour in, they were doing well. They’d miraculously raised forty-four thousand dollars between the live streams and the community but were running toward the end of their available designs.

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