23. Zoe
TWENTY-THREE
Zoe
I wake up with early morning light spilling in through my window, and despite knowing I’m supposed to take the day off, my feet slam onto the floor like someone just shouted, Help ! Racing around my compact home I get dressed, brush my teeth, slap on light makeup, and pour enough kibble and water for Ralphie. “You have to stay here. Can’t risk your wild distractions today!”
Out the door I run in pink jeans and a branded T-shirt that reads Florist Shop on the front and Little Five Points on the back complete with a cartoon map of the neighborhood. Aloud as I jog to work, I egg myself on, “I can do this! I know I can do this! The opportunity wouldn’t have landed in my lap if I couldn’t! Oh, excuse me!” I cry out as I jump over a dog leash held taut between a woman and her black Labrador who’s lifting his leg on a tree.
She shouts, “I wish I caught that on video!”
I shout back, “Now you’ll have a good story you can tell people in person!”
The lights are on inside as I arrive, door still locked because we’re not officially open yet. I shove my key into the deadbolt and greet my roaring bell with a, “Yep yep yep ! That’s how I feel!”
Amelia bounces up from behind the counter where she was turning on the music, her eyes widening in surprise from behind fashionable glasses. “Zoe! You’re here!” she exclaims, a bright smile breaking free from her surprise. “I thought you were taking a break today!”
“I know, I know,” I nervously laugh, brushing a stray lock that fell from my ponytail to behind my ear. “Change of plans!”
Amelia’s expression shifts as I pull out my crumpled notepaper from my pink jeans pocket. “What’s that?” she asks, tilting her head.
I suck in an anxious breath. “I landed an event for fifty tables. See that!” I point to where I wrote and circled the number fifty. Two words are scribbled under it: no peonies . “We need to get started on the other orders that’ve come in right away! I hate to say this, but I might have to turn down everything else and maybe even just close up!”
Her eyes widen again, a mix of surprise and eagerness. “Fifty tables? Wow! Let’s do this!” She touches the scrawled word peonies in thought. “But I don’t think we have to cancel orders. Let’s call Perry and knock everything out, together! It’ll be a lot more than we’re used to but with all three of us working on it, and tackling everything else that comes in…”
I grab her and hug her. “You’re so wonderful! Have I told you lately that you’re wonderful?”
Amelia giggles, “You tell me at least once a week,” pushing her glasses up on her nose. “And please don’t stop.”
I throw one hand in the air, “Deal,” then cover my face with it. “I’m so overwhelmed. I don’t know what to do first. I woke up and felt utterly freaked out. I know I’m the boss, but you just tackled this problem with solutions so much faster than I could.”
“We’re a team. That’s what we do. What is this big event?”
“My future father-in-law’s retirement dinner.”
She blinks at me. “I’m sorry…what?!!”
I fill Amelia in on my engagement and she soaks in every brief detail I provide, with her mouth wide open. When I’m done she blankly stares at me, and I have no idea what her reaction is, so I give a curious half-shrug, trying to look casually interested. “Isn’t that…crazy?”
Amelia squeals, “So crazy! I love it!” and starts jumping up and down, the hem of her hip, 1950’s vintage blue dress bouncing. “That is insane! I love it so much! Wait, so when is the retirement dinner?”
“Saturday.”
“That’s tomorrow!”
“I know! I have no idea how my fiancé…” I laugh, “…gosh, it sounds so weird to say that. But I don’t know how he thought I could do it with so little notice or planning. He’s a very impulsive guy, I’ve been learning.”
“Didn’t he tell you when it was?”
“Yes, on the day I met him, but it didn’t really land in here.” I touch my head, think for a second and admit, “Oh. I guess it’s my fault. He probably just thought, she’s the expert. She’s got it under control. But I need to go to the Flower Mart. I need more vases! I need more ribbons!”
“One thing at a time,” Amelia nods.
We dive into the task of filling today’s orders, sorting through the vibrant array of flowers in the refrigerated room with my making notes of what needs replenishing, event or no event.
Just as we’re finalizing our last centerpiece, the door swings open, and in walks Tom. My heart skips a beat. The way he looked at me last night. His eyes sparkling with more than friendship. What we said. How he looked without a shirt on. All of it smacks my brain, memory after memory, until I find myself not even able to say hello.
Amelia, oblivious, waves, “Hi Tom!”
His eyes are on me. “Zoe?” he asks, voice deep and smooth, surprise flickering. “I didn’t expect to see you here today.”
Outwardly I keep my composure, but his presence sends butterflies swirling in my stomach. In all the immediacy, and with how my mind works in general, I forgot I’d probably run into him today. “I um, had to come in. We’re working on that big event I think I told you about.” Is my voice higher than normal?
“Big event?”
“Caleb’s father’s retirement dinner.”
“Right,” Tom nods, yet from his reaction it isn’t clear if I told him about the event or not. The fact that I can’t remember isn’t a surprise to me, and I don’t have time to find out!
“A lot of people,” I lamely add. “Very busy.”
“Can we talk outside for a minute?”
My heart races at the thought, and I exchange a quick glance with Amelia, who wiggles her eyebrows in curiosity.
“Of course,” I reply, trying to sound casual as I walk toward the door.
“What are you guys talking about?” Amelia asks. She’s just out of high school and can’t help herself. Drama and gossip are huge draws for her, not for me.
“Nothing,” I reply with a finality that drops her smile.
“Wait,” she worries, “Tom, are you quitting?”
“No,” he answers, grabbing the door for me, both of us ignoring the roar of the bell since we’re so used to it.
Once outside, the crisp morning air fills my lungs. I take a huge breath as I turn to face him, heart pounding. “What’s up?”
Tom steps closer, expression serious. “I wanted to talk about what happened last night. I didn’t think you’d be here, and I wanted to catch you alone.”
My cheeks flush with him being so near. “Yes, we said a lot of things, and I?—”
“—I like you, Zoe,” he interrupts, his eyes locked with mine. Someone honks and we look over at Tom’s Jeep which is parallel parked illegally right in front of Florist Shop. “Drive around,” Tom shouts, and ignores the guy’s middle finger, returning to tell me, “I’ve liked you for a while now, and when you said you feel the same, I knew I had to say a lot more on the subject. But then you told me that Caleb was coming over.”
The world around us fades as I try and process his words. “I don’t have time to talk about this right now, Tom” I whisper.
“But you do want to talk about it?”
“I don’t know if I even have an answer for that. I’ve got so much pressing down on me right now. I do want to hear what you have to say, but there are fifty tables I have to dress, plus make arrangements for the entrance, for all of it, by tomorrow night!” My eyes go wide, heart stopping. “Oh no!”
Tom leans closer, worry on his face. “What? What is it?”
“I’m supposed to be at Four Seasons! What time is it?”
Digging his phone from his back pocket, Tom reads it and tells me, “Quarter to ten.”
“I’m supposed to be there at ten! Oh Tom, can you drive me! I didn’t bring my car!”
“Of course. Let’s go!”
I run inside. “Amelia! Help us load Tom’s car with today’s orders!” To Tom I cry out, “We’ll bring them with us and deliver everything on the way back!”
“You got it, Boss!”
The three of us dash back and forth, snagging the sturdy delivery boxes from his Jeep, then carefully filling them so no stems or blooms break, carrying them as fast as possible. “Did you call Perry?” I ask Amelia as I climb into the passenger seat, top gone off the Jeep, as usual.
“I’ll call him as soon as I run back in!”
“We could just stop the orders,” I suggest again. “I don’t want to put too much onto you guys!”
With a glint in her eyes like triumph is on the horizon, Amelia shakes her head. “You don’t want to turn down customers! Think of all the days you can make brighter, like you always say!”
Tom hits the gas, and I grab the oh-no handle as we leave Amelia waving after us on the gum-dotted sidewalk. I shout over the growing wind, “We can do this!”
She raises both her arms high. “We are invincible!”
Tom laughs, and I glance to him, a grin spreading on my face, too.
He calls out, “Good thing we packed those boxes right.”
And off we go!