CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
The Harriers played a few games at home before heading out on the road again, this time to St. Louis, Evanston, Chicago, and Columbus.
Sebastian was somewhat relieved because the shop was suddenly swamped with business.
He couldn’t figure out where the hell it was all coming from, until he spotted Rosaleen hugging one of the customers—an older woman with strawberry blonde hair and pale skin.
She looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t quite place her.
“How do you know her?” Sebastian asked after she’d left with a potted orchid and an order for several bouquets.
“Oh, that’s another one of my aunts,” she said with a smile. “Aunt Catherine has been raving about your stuff, and I guess the whole family’s been dropping by lately.”
“Huh,” Sebastian said. “Well, that explains it.”
He didn’t think much more about it until a few days later when Morgan called him to the front of the shop where a beautiful woman wearing a vibrantly colored dress waited.
“Hello,” he said with a friendly smile, holding out his hand. “Sebastian Breckon. I’m the owner. How may I help you?”
Her smile was warm and bright, lighting up her dark eyes. Her skin was a soft tawny shade of brown with a smattering of freckles over her nose and cheeks and she wore her hair in loose, voluminous coils.
“Krista Claybourn,” she said.
“Great to meet you,” Sebastian said.
“I love your work.” She glanced around. “Catherine was right. You have a beautiful place.”
“Thank you. I’m very proud of it,” Sebastian admitted. “And are you a member of the O’Shea family?”
She gave him a quizzical look. “No. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, several of them have dropped by recently,” Sebastian said with a laugh. “On Catherine’s recommendation.”
Krista laughed softly. “No, I am not related to the O’Sheas or even married to one, though I’ll take that as a compliment. My husband Tom Bass does play for the Harriers though. I kept my family name when we got married.”
“Oh!” Sebastian said, finally putting the pieces together. “Yes. Tom seems like a great guy. I met him when my niece had a day with the team.”
“Yes, he came home and told me all about her day with the team,” Krista said warmly. “And what I saw on social media was adorable.”
“Tom was very sweet with her,” Sebastian said. “All the guys were, really. It made her day. Possibly her year.”
“That’s honestly why I came in today,” Krista said. “Well, that and to buy myself some pretty flowers.”
“Sure,” Sebastian smiled, although he was a little confused about what she meant by the first part. “Although you should send your husband in to pick up some for you too.”
He winked, to let her know he was mostly kidding, and she laughed.
“Oh, he bought me a gorgeous bouquet for Valentine’s Day already,” she said. “I’m not sure if you’d remember it, but it was an online order for a tropical arrangement.”
“Oh! I do remember that,” Sebastian said. “It was beautiful. I remember thinking it was little unusual for Valentine’s Day, but I loved that he went the non-traditional route.”
Krista sighed. “He knows I miss California. The brightness was such a pick-me-up in the midst of all the dreary weather here.”
“It suits you,” he acknowledged, because her brightly colored dress looked stunning on her willowy figure, making her look like a gorgeous tropical flower herself.
“And if you’re here for a bouquet, I’d love to put together a custom one for you.
Within whatever budget you choose,” he hastily added because he didn’t want his customers to think he was trying to milk them for more money than they’d planned to spend.
Though her husband was a pro hockey player. They probably weren’t hurting for money.
She waved a hand. “No worries on budget. I trust your design skills. I’d love to see what you can do.”
“I’d need about fifteen, twenty minutes,” he said. “Would that be okay?”
“Yes. Could I talk to you while you work?”
“Sure,” he said, a little surprised. “What did you want to discuss?”
“Your niece,” she said.
Sebastian paused, frowning. “Uhh, what about her?”
“Well, forgive me if I’m overstepping, but I have kids about Harper’s age. Catherine mentioned that Harper isn’t in school yet and that childcare can sometimes be difficult for your sister …”
“Yes,” Sebastian agreed.
“I’d like to invite Harper over for a playdate.”
“Well, you’d have to talk to my sister about that,” Sebastian said. “I think she might be open to it, but you’d have to speak to her directly.”
“Of course,” Krista said with a smile. “I understand. How about I give you my number and you can pass that along. She can call or text, whatever she’d prefer.”
She pulled a pen and business card out of her purse and turned it over, writing her name and number in beautiful script. She handed the card to Sebastian and he flipped it over.
Krista Claybourn, Event Planner.
“Oh interesting,” Sebastian said. “You’re an event planner?”
She grimaced. “I was back in California. I’ve thought about setting up a new business here but it’s so hard when the kids are this age. I don’t really feel like I have the time or energy to start from scratch again.”
“I get that,” Sebastian said.
“To be honest, wanting to set up a play date is a little bit of a selfish request on my part,” Krista said. “I love Tom and our life with the kids so much. I’m proud of him and his career and the Harriers are a great group. But it’s not easy being a SAP.”
“A what?” Sebastian asked, then remembered what Catherine had said. “The new term for people dating or married to players, right?”
“Yes, exactly. Like I said, I’m very happy Tom’s with the Harriers now. I’m bi, so it’s nice to see some of the teams being more inclusive.”
“L.A. wasn’t?” Sebastian guessed.
“Mmm,” Krista said. “Not as much as teams like Boston, Toronto, and Evanston.”
He nodded, seeing her point. New York was nowhere near as inclusive as Boston. Or, at least that was what Nicky had told him a few years ago.
“Unfortunately,” she said with a small laugh.
“Unlike L.A., this team doesn’t have a lot of families with kids.
The ones who do tend to be players who are in and out of the lineup a little more, so a lot of them are based in Concord.
My kids have done some playdates with Connor and Jesse’s kids and I’m getting quite close to Connor’s sisters-in-law, but I’d still like to connect with more young families in the area.
For my kids’ sakes, and my own. I could really use some friends. ”
Sebastian nodded. “I’ll definitely pass that along. My sister, Brie, can be a little stubborn about accepting help but if I can frame it as being mutually beneficial, she might be more receptive.”
“Perfect,” Krista said with a smile.
“So, tell me about your event planning business,” Sebastian said.
Krista brightened. “Let me pull up my portfolio. I took my website down when I closed the business but I still have the gallery hidden behind a password in case I ever wanted to get it up and running again.”
She did a few things on her phone before passing it over. He scrolled through the photos, impressed by her eye for design.
“These are gorgeous,” he said.
They were brighter and less monochromatic than most of his designs, but he’d also noticed that brighter colors sold better in Boston than in New York. He was starting to really see the differences in the market and was trying to adapt his offerings accordingly.
Krista sighed. “Ugh, I was just getting things to a good spot when we left. I always knew it was a possibility we’d have to move—that is the life of a SAP after all—but I had just started to really get my business established. I’d connected with reception locations and caterers and florists …”
Sebastian winced. “Yeah, that’s really tough having to start from scratch. I have two locations in New York and foot traffic here is finally starting to pick up but I don’t feel like I’ve made the connections I need to as far as events.”
“It’s tough,” she said sympathetically.
“Online orders are picking up nicely lately too, but I should have at least three times the number of summer weddings on the books already,” he explained with a sigh.
“I finally have a little more help in the shop, so I’m able to spend more time reaching out to other vendors about partnerships but I managed to miss a huge wedding expo in Boston this winter, so I’m probably not going to be as booked for this wedding season as I’d like to be. ”
“Yeah, owning your own business always feels like having at least three or four jobs at once, doesn’t it?”
“At least,” he said with a small laugh, glad she understood. “I could really use a dedicated person to handle all that, but finding knowledgeable, reliable people is always the challenge …”
He trailed off, narrowing his eyes at Krista as an idea formed in his head. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” he asked.
She gave him a curious look. “I don’t know, what are you thinking?”
“I understand you might not be interested in working for someone else when you’ve been a business owner,” he said slowly. “I won’t be offended if you say no. But would you ever consider working as an in-house event planner?”
Surprise crossed her face. “In-house as in working for Twig & Bloom?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Oh.” She tilted her head. “I’d never thought about something like that.”
“It’s just an idea,” Sebastian said hastily. “It literally just popped in my head now so I’d be lying if I said it was a fully fleshed out plan. But would you consider it? If we sat down and discussed terms and put together a proposal and—”
“It would have to be part-time,” she said, her tone a little cautious, but there was a brightness in her eyes that told him she was starting to get as excited about the idea as he was. “At least until my youngest is in school in the fall …”
“Yeah, that would be perfect,” Sebastian said, growing more and more enthusiastic about the idea. “I have no idea how much work there would be at first anyway.”