Page 16 of Saffron and Secrets

“How about next Friday? Before we pick up our flowers, we meet here again?” he asks with a wicked grin.

I blink, shocked at what I’m hearing. He’s asking me out again?

I already can't wait for the next week.

9

Ruby

I'm stirring the cake mixture in the bowl at Grandma’s. She stands beside me, watching intently to make sure I’m doing it right. No matter how many times I bake with her, she always hovers and corrects me.

“What's new, sweetheart?”

Here goes nothing.

A smile erupts on my face as I think about John. “Well, I've had a strange couple of weeks.”

“A couple of weeks, and I’m only hearing about this now?” Grandma asks.

“Well, I kind of had an incident today, and it's funny, but kind of not.”

“What do you mean?” She grabs a spoon to stir the already mixed batter. So, I lean my hip against the counter and fold my arms.

“Well, I've been going to the florist for a while now to pick up our saffron. And last month, I met this—”

She cuts me off. “Gentleman.”

I roll my eyes at her excitement. “Calm down. You could be wrong.”

“But I’m not, am I?” She gives me a dazzling grin, and I can’t help but laugh.

I shake my head. “No, you never are.”

She pauses mixing to face me and talk. “Sorry, but you never talk about a man. And the way your face is lighting up right now, I can tell he’s special. I need to know every single detail, Ruby.”

He is special, but I’m trying not to get ahead of myself.

“Okay, well, so we've been seeing each other on Fridays. He’s a driver for his friend but also a successful IT guy. I actually don't know all the details yet, but he picks up flowers for his boss and drops them off every Friday. So, I'd been seeing him at Sally's, but the other week I was leaving to come here, and I just felt off.” I cross my arms at the memory.

“What do you mean, sweetheart? What felt off? Were you sick?” She frowns before returning to mixing.

“No, nothing like that. How do I explain this? The air around me didn’t feel right. It was as if someone was watching me. After the note, I thought I was crazy. I kind of still think I'm just being paranoid for no reason.”

She goes to pour the mixture into the cake pan, so to help, I hold it for her. “Maybe, honey, but that's serious.”

I sigh. “I know, I know. Anyway, I'll get to the end of the story and then you can tell me what you think. Because I need your advice.” Grandma turns to take the tin to the oven.

“So, he walks me to the car after checking around. We found nothing that didn't look out of order or anyone lurking. And then I came here and forgot about it. In the meantime, I bought myself some pepper spray.”

Grandma prepares the tea kettle. “Good idea. Protect yourself.”

“Exactly, and today, before I walked into Sally's, he touched my shoulder, and I grabbed my pepper spray and sprayed him.”

Grandma laughs hysterically. “You pepper sprayed the lovely man? Oh my. What did you do that for?”

I place my hands on my hips. “In my defense, I didn't see him. He snuck up on me and grabbed my shoulder.”

She shakes her head, still chuckling. “Well, that's true. That's his fault.”

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