Chapter 11
Mae
This is probably the eight hundredth time I’ve questioned my life decisions while I drive to the shop. I came up with ideas to gain more business, and the handful of deliveries I made helped, which was encouraging but short-lived.
I haven’t had a customer in three days. Flowers, rather, the product has died. Things can’t keep going this way. I can’t disappoint my aunt like this.
At first, the thought of being on my own and having all this time to myself would be good.
It would help me see things a little clearer.
What I didn’t anticipate was how lonely it is.
The only people I’ve talked to were the ones who came in a few days ago.
However, the silence is telling. I haven’t heard a peep from my so-called friends back in Colorado.
Maybe I should call June. She might like a girls’ night, or maybe even dinner. Anything would help right now.
I stop at the Booked Bean to get a coffee and walk back down the street to the shop. After filling buckets with more water, I grab a couple vases to build a few arrangements, and find some music to lift the mood. I need it. I need something good to happen today.
Kiss, by Prince comes on, and I can’t help myself swaying my hips to the beat as I grab a few sprigs of eucalyptus and sing under my breath.
Then a throat clears and I freeze turning around.
Cooper, the cowboy, is back in my shop smiling instead of laughing at me.
My cheeks get hot, and if I could run out the door, I would. Please kill me. Lord strike me dead right here and now.
I’m still frozen in place as the song changes and Love Is A Battlefield by Pat Benatar comes on.
“Hi,” Cooper says.
“Hi,” I say, reaching for my phone to turn the volume down.
I don’t know what he could need in my shop, but he’s a customer, so I have to swallow my pride regardless of the disgust he makes me feel.
“So I take it you like eighties music since this is the second time I’ve heard it playing?” Cooper asks.
I shrug. “How can I help you?” I ask him evenly.
He grabs the top of his hat, adjusting it before setting it back on his head. My eyes drop down to his mustache.
“Well, I’m not here for flowers…”
“Then why are you here?” I ask him.
His smile drops and his lips twist as he shifts on his feet.
I want to scream. I wish I knew people in this town better. Then I could ask who his wife is. I’m not a ‘look for confrontation’ kind of girl, but girl code rules here. I will go and tell her. I should text June, she’d know.
Why is it always me who gets the short end of the stick?
Stop thinking like that, Mae. It’s not like you went on a couple of dates and he dodged your attempt to kiss him. This is not that situation. He is married. This is different.
“The last few times I was here to buy flowers. But today, I’m here to see you.” He coughs nervously.
I wonder why. Maybe to cover your tracks?
I snort. “Why would you be here to see me except to buy flowers?” I ask him as anger builds in my stomach.
Cooper frowns and starts to open his mouth, but I continue speaking, “No, seriously, please explain to me why you would come in here to flirt with me? You’re married. You have a child. Do I have an ‘I’m easy’ sign on my forehead I don’t know about?”
Cooper’s eyes widen and he shakes his head.
Yeah, caught you red-handed asshole.
“I’m not married,” he says.
If the music playing was on a record, it would have scratched so hard you could see a gash in it a mile away.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” I ask him.
That confident grin is back on his face, and he leans forward on the counter. “I’m not married. I just happen to have a kid.”
“But how…” I pause, tongue-tied. “Wait, you came all the way in here to … flirt with me?” I ask him.
He chuckles. “Yes, I did.”
“Why?” I ask him. Partially out of shock because why me, but also because I’m still processing that he’s not married.
But is he being honest?
“Because I think you’re gorgeous, you seem really nice, and I’d like to get to know you,” he says.
“And you’re seriously not married?” I ask him.
He shakes his head. “No, I’d like to have that chance one day, of course, but if you don’t believe me, text June, she’s my cousin.”
“June Hayes?” I ask him.
He nods. “It’s a small town, Mae.”
“I guess it is,” I whisper, looking into his green eyes that captured me the moment ours first snapped together.
What do I do? Do I apologize? Do I tell him to go stick it where the sun don’t shine?
“Okay then, I guess I’ll give you some space to confirm,” Cooper says.
“What makes you think I want confirmation?” I ask him.
Men have flirted with me, made me think they were actually interested in the past. But not men that look like Cooper, or are as genuine.
Can I trust this? Myself? Am I reading this all wrong? Clearly, I struggle to do that.
He grins. “I’m hoping curiosity will catch the cat.”
“Uh, okay,” I mutter.
His head tilts thoughtfully as if he’s about to say something else, but instead stands up straight and knocks his knuckles on the counter. “Good. You have a good day now, Ms. Mae,” he says, tipping his hat to me.
I watch him leave and release a big breath before whipping out my phone to text June.
Mae: Hey, is Cooper your cousin?
June: Does this Cooper have an adorable little girl named Naomi?
Mae: That’s the one
June: Yep, he might be my cousin, but he’s like a brother to me.
June: Why?
Mae: Is he married?
June: lol no, why?
Mae: He admitted to coming into the shop purely to flirt with me.
June: LOL. How did you respond to that?
Mae: I told him I needed to talk to you to confirm.
June: AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA
June: Not once in the history of Cooper have I heard of a woman skeptically flirt with him. HA!
June: Don’t misunderstand me. He’s not some playboy, but I don’t think a woman has ever turned him down.
Mae: But I didn’t turn him down… I wanted to think about it. But also he didn’t directly ask me out.
June: Fair enough, but are you opposed to the flirting?
I stare at the text. I like June a lot, but we don’t know each other that well. It’s not like I want to give her my life’s story over text. Then again, she’s my only friend here.
June: I get off work in about an hour. I’ll meet you at the Crawford property with a bottle of wine. I have a feeling you need it.
Mae: That sounds great. I’ll make dinner.
June: Deal