The Summer Proposal by Vi Keeland

“If we’re in the neighborhood, I’d like to stop by the Garden for a few minutes to check in on my friend Otto. His health isn’t great, and I haven’t seen him in a few weeks.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear your friend’s sick. We can definitely do that.”

I nodded. “Great. So what is it you have planned?”

She smiled. “You’ll see.”

“Alright. Unlike you, I like surprises. So I won’t be trying to figure it out and asking for hints.” I kissed her. “Everything okay at the office?”

“Yeah. Well, except for Maggie considering seducing a nineteen-year-old.”

“What happened to her ex’s lawyer?”

“They finished the last conference and have all the terms of the divorce agreed to finally. There’s no more chance that Aaron will walk in on them, so I guess she got bored. Plus, the nineteen-year-old is apparently her neighbor’s little brother—the neighbor she used to be friends with who slept with her husband. So this is a new and exciting way of getting back at them.”

“Remind me never to get on Maggie’s bad side.”

“You’re not kidding.” She laughed. “So the place we’re going today is a long walk, but it’s nice out, and the Garden is on the way. Why don’t we stop by to see your friend and then if we have time, I’d love to also stop by my flower shop that’s right near there. It’s the first one I opened. I like to pop in from time to time. Would you mind if we left a little early and did both?”

“Not at all. I’d love to see your shop. We just need to be back by seven.”

“Oh, okay. Do we have plans tonight?”

“Only me. Doing you. I want to make sure we break that record.”

Georgia bit down on her bottom lip. “We could…bank one now with a quickie before we go?”

“Oh yeah?” I grinned. “What’s the fastest you’ve ever come?”

Georgia’s eyes lit up. “I don’t know. But I’m sure we can beat it.”

I lifted her off her feet and tossed her over my shoulder. “Damn right we can.”





CHAPTER 14




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Georgia



“This used to be the prep room, where we dipped the flowers and put them through the preservation process.” I pointed to an area that was now wall-to-wall refrigeration. “We had folding tables I’d bought at garage sales lined up against this wall, and thick plastic bags laid out over flattened cardboard boxes under them to catch any leaking chemicals. Now I have big, fancy machines that were custom made to do what I did by hand.”

I was showing Max around one of my flower showrooms. Back when we’d started, this was my first expansion—taking Eternity Roses from my apartment to this little shop.

“Where are the machines now?”

“In our production facilities. I have one in Jersey City and one out on the West Coast. None of the flowers are made here anymore. These refrigerators just keep the humidity out and keep premade pieces at optimal temperature. We sell stock pieces from the showrooms and take orders for anything customers want custom made. New deliveries come in from the distribution center every day, and all of the orders that are made online, which is the majority of them, are processed from whichever warehouse is closest.”

“Wow. You really grew this from mom and pop to something big.”

“Yeah, we did. It wasn’t just me. Maggie helped a lot. When I first started, she was working as a marketing manager for a cosmetics company. I didn’t have the money to pay her for a long time, but I gave her twenty-five percent equity in the company as compensation. It could have amounted to nothing, of course. Eventually, when I could afford a salary, she quit her job to work with me full time. But she took a risk, and I’m glad it paid off for her, too.” I looked around and smiled. “We had a lot of good times here, even when things started to take off and we were working eighteen hours a day.” I laughed, remembering the shit we used to do. “One afternoon, we had a customer come in and place two flower orders. I asked him what he wanted to spend on the first order, and he said there was no limit—he just wanted them to be really nice. When I asked what color he wanted, he said whichever I liked best. I told him I favored a mix of bright colors because they’re so vibrant, and they made me smile. He said that’s what he needed, because the woman he was sending them to hadn’t exactly been smiling when he’d left her earlier. I still remember, the woman’s name was Amanda, but he’d told us he’d accidentally called her Chloe at an inopportune time. When we got to the card, he filled it out, and I saw that he’d written, I’m sorry, Amanda. I suggested that if he’d left his girlfriend thinking he had another person on his mind, that maybe his note should let her know that wasn’t the case. I thought something a little more romantic might be in order, but the guy rewrote the card to say something like, I’m sorry for today, Amanda. I can’t stop thinking of you in that red teddy.” I shook my head, still remembering what the guy had looked like.

“Anyway, he gave me Amanda’s address, and when he was done, I’d almost forgotten he’d said he wanted to send two arrangements. Turned out, the second one was for Chloe. He picked out the least-expensive piece we sold and one color. You know what that card said?”