Page 98 of Accidentally in Bloom

“I am fucking with you. That’s why this is so fun.” Lenny’s evil smile sent a chill down his back.

“Everyone is coming to the event tonight, and they’ll raise the money, so your little game is over.”

“Eh, we’ll see,” Lenny said. “But for now, watch your back.” He slammed the door in front of Gray’s face.

Of course, this would happen. Of course, Gray would take something so pure, so lovely—a small-town flower shop—and fuck it up. Could he do nothing right?

How could anybody love him? Just one fuck up after another.

Well, he considered, like I told Rose, when I fuck things up, I like to be thorough about it.

“Lenny, I’ll make you a deal,” Gray said, hoping his idea would work.

Chapter

Twenty-Five

ROSE

Several hours later, Rose stood on the patch of grass in the town square across from Bloom as their impromptu pledge drive came together.

She’d never felt nervous like this before any of her consulting presentations. She took her job seriously in corporate consulting, but the fallout of any bad decisions never hurt her personally.

This? This was so personal.

In the last seven hours, Lily sketched like a maniac, Violet told everyone she knew in town about the event, and Rose coordinated livestreams and posted online about their fundraiser that evening. A small crowd started congregating, and Rose waved to Nick and Aaron as they walked over from Fox & Forrest.

“Is this the appropriate dress code for an urgent flower fundraiser?” Aaron said, gesturing to his stylish outfit.

“You could wear a paper bag for all I care as long as you buy some flowers.” Rose gave him a quick hug.

“Here’s your shabby chic stage,” Nick said, setting down a small low bench for Rose to stand on.

“We also brought over leftovers from today.” Aaron nodded at the gazebo next to them filled with croissants, muffins, and coffee cake from the cafe that morning.

“You guys,” Violet said, putting her hand on her hips. “You didn't have to do that.”

“We need all the help we can get, Vi.” Rose sent her a chastising look. “Lily, are the live streams ready to go?” Rose hustled to where Lily had a bevy of devices propped up. They were stationed along the rickety card tables they'd borrowed from Mrs. Maroo’s law office.

“Yeah, I think they’ll be able to see me when I hold up my sketches.”

Lily had sketched designs for Valentine’s Day bouquets, Father’s Day arrangements, bridal shower centerpieces, Thanksgiving, and about a million other holidays, including National Houseplant Appreciation Day. They’d try to get enough pledges to make a deposit that night. Lenny had agreed that if they could prove they had over half the money - $147,000 by the end of day today, he’d unlock the store. After the greenhouse and house sale, and Rose throwing in her own savings, they had to get $70K from the fundraiser tonight, an unthinkable amount of money in flowers for a small town.

“Have you heard from Gray?” Violet pulled out folding chairs for guests.

Rose grabbed chairs from her and set them in front of the makeshift stage. “He was making the rounds to tell people about the event, but I haven’t heard from him since.”

People wandered in and started taking their seats, and their fundraiser would start any minute. Lily had sketched a flower-laden thermometer to track their pledges on the best poster board they could find at the last minute.

Rose huffed out a laugh thinking how amateurish it all was, how homespun. They would hold up pieces of paper and ask their friends and community to pay them on trust alone. Any other time, Rose would be completely mortified by what they were doing. She’d always needed things to be polished and top-of-the-line production quality.

The next hour wouldn’t look expensive and perfect, but this somehow felt better because it was honest. It was them, and it was authentic.

It was so much more nerve-wracking to be authentic.

Butterflies somehow multiplied in her stomach as she thought of possibly failing, of asking all the people she loved most in the world for help, and it still not being enough. It was terrifying to think she wasn’t enough; that she could do her very best and still fail.

Rose’s heart almost burst from how much she wanted this. Numbers turned over in her brain. $70,000 was just $50 1,400 times, right? That’s not so scary; 1,400. Everybody could use flowers a couple of times a year. That’s just a couple hundred people.

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