The Art of War
The Day You Deserve
Sumi
ChaoticConcertina: I have the most amazing kid.
Have I told you that already?
Every day I’m astounded by her kindness & her perception for being so young
I have to stop and wonder where she learned it.
Because it sure as shit wasn’t from me or her mother.
Neither of us were ever that good at reading people.
Including each other.
Every night we go to the coffee shop together and people watch,
and every night she picks up on something that I ignore completely.
There was a minotaur sitting alone for the longest time, and that means nothing to me.
ChaoticConcertina: You know, just some guy sitting alone, big deal.
She said no daddy, he’s waiting for someone.
You can tell that he’s anxious.
It’s probably someone he wants to impress, look at how nicely his hooves are shined.
Who notices that? I pass 10 minotaurs a day.
I don’t think I’ve ever looked at their hooves a single time.
Sure enough, a woman comes in and she goes straight to that bull’s table.
See daddy? I told you he was waiting.
ChaoticConcertina: I miss her so much when she’s not here.
And I’m only ever extremely cognizant of that when she is.
Isn’t that silly?
When she’s gone, my life is just this blur of work and responsibility.
making sure everyone is keeping their head above water.
and then she arrives and all of that noise just stops.
Every minute feels precious and priceless.
and I’m hyper-aware that we have far too few of them.
I have stuff going on right now professionally that’s eating a lot of my brain space,
& I hate it.
I hate it so much.
I don’t want to think about anything other than enjoying every second she’s here
Every day I have her within arm’s reach.
ChaoticConcertina: She asked why I don’t have a serious girlfriend, LOL.
I feel like she’s my best advertisement.
I should start wearing a sign around my neck.
Questionable at relationships, but I make great kids.
That’s sure to attract someone’s eye, right?
“This is it! We are officially live, ladies!”
The gnomes cheered and Hedda lifted her water bottle.
Sumi had been surprised when the troll had come back with the names of two middle-aged identical twins, but Hedda had been adamant.
“They were fast, like crazy fast.
They’ve been working in the industry their whole lives, and we know they’re not going to get into a knock down drag out fight because they’re family and have to see each other over holidays. “
“Isn’t that more of a reason why they would get into a knock down drag out fight?!”
The troll had just laughed.
“Trust me.
These are the two we want.
If we need to hire more, the dragonborn and the goblin with the blue hair.”
She had nodded, making a note to herself, but she was confident they were as staffed as they would ever need to be.
Seff and her sister Doona would rotate between design and delivery, depending on the needs of the business.
They had another potential driver waiting in the wings, a responsible-seeming troll whose youngest had just started primary school, but Sumi had a feeling they were adequate for the time being.
That was, at least, until she flipped down the computer, connecting to the Bloomerang wire system.
“I’m putting it on auto accept.
At least for the first week or two, just to get our shop populating in the order queue, you know?” Her nerves were jangling.
This was it.
Her dream, her long held dream, finally a reality.
Who cares what that handsome jerk thinks. You worked hard for this. You had a deal with middle schoolers for years for this. You lost a tooth for this. What has he done?
Sumi was halfway across the shop, getting ready to unlock the door for the first time when she paused.
Her head cocked, listening intently.
There was something wrong.
There was something wrong with the printer, the feed running and running and running.
“Shit.
Fucking printer .
.
.” She’d fixed the printer in the school office on more than one occasion, she wasn’t going to let this slow her down.
She arrived back in the design room prepared to restart the damn thing when she stopped short, finding all three of her staff members huddled around the computer with wide eyes. The printer wasn’t malfunctioning, Sumi realized.
It was printing.
Order after order, an endless stack.
More orders than they have flowers, she realized, squealing.
“Turn it off, turn off!”
Hedda fell forward, quickly tapping open the Bloomerang screen.
She and Sumi huddled, each order that spit out ratcheting up her pulse a bit more, until she finally found the option to turn orders completely off.
She whirled around, staring at the stack of paper as though it might bite.
“Holy shit.”
“Alright girls,” Hedda said, laughing weakly, “let’s get to work! Are–are you going to unlock—“
“No,” Sumi choked out.
So much for your first big day open to the public.
“No, I don’t see how we can.
I’m not sure if we’ll even be able to—“
“You call the truck and tell them you need more.
Don’t worry, this used to happen all the time at my old shop.
They’re used to it.”
“I-I’m sure this is just because it’s the first day.
It won’t stay this way .
. . Right?”
Seff pulled a face.
“There are no other Bloomerang shops in town.
I mean, Ranar, but he’s not getting any of these orders, not now.
There might be one in Starling Heights, but—“
“There’s not,” Sumi supplied, her stomach twisting over the gnome’s words, at the sound of his name.
She’d already looked in Starling Heights, back when she wasn’t sure if Cambric Creek would work out, determining there was no Bloomerang branded partner store.
What did she mean about his orders?
“Oh, well .
.
.
Yeah, I wouldn’t count on it slowing down too much.
You’re it. We’re not going to get too much Bridgeton business, but we won’t need it.”
“What .
.
.
What do you mean about Ranar’s orders? How would we know what kind of orders he gets?”
The gnomes exchanged a fast look.
“Well, if this is anything like the last Bloomerang shop we worked in—“
”—And it is, they’re all the same.”
“The company sends their online orders to their branded stores first, as long as the system is on.
“But don’t turn it off, because you’ll get in trouble.”
“Yeah, you have to make your quota.
The other shops . . .”
She trailed off, not needing to continue.
Sumi nodded, turning away.
He won’t get any, because they’re sending them all to you.
She understood now.
Understood why he was so angry with her.
Understood what was going to happen to his compact and efficient little shop. Understood why her monthly repayment to Bloomerang was so fucking high. They need you to be able to pay it back, and this is how they get you to do so.
She could pay back the Bloomerang loan with the inheritance, she reminded herself, or with the money from her condo.
She could expedite this whole process and cut them out of the picture entirely.
After all, that had been her original plan, before she’d learned about the weekly shop quota for orders.
And then where will you be? Broke, with no guarantee this place is going to turn a profit without the system you bought into.
He’ll still hate you. How will that help anything? This is your dream too. This is your page refresh. You’re not going to get another one. Sumi pursed her lips, not liking the twist she felt, low in her belly. It’s fine. There’s enough business for both of us.
“It’s a good thing there’s enough business for us both,” she voiced out loud, ignoring the way the gnomes exchanged another quick look.
Even though she attempted to push them away, Sumi turned Seff’s words over in her mind as they worked that morning, over and over, and she had just about arrived at feeling horrible for what she had done to him, simply by existing, when there came a knock at the door.
Hurrying out to the sales floor, preparing an apology for whatever hapless customer was trying to get in, she arrived just in time to see the delivery driver leaving.
The orc woman had placed the long, paper wrap on the pavement against the door, and was already loping away down the sidewalk when Sumi pulled it open with a frown.
The bouquet was beautiful.
Orange and yellow lilies exploded from the paper, long points of purple dame’s rocket, yellow and white and purple striped carnations, big, showy daffodils with brilliant orange trumpets, and clusters of tight button tansies, like little balls of sunshine.
She recognized The Perfect Petal‘s card instantly.
He really was a very talented florist, she acknowledged, looking over the wrap of flowers a bit closer.
It was already arranged.
All she needed to do was drop it into a vase and add water.
Brilliant orange and yellow and showy purple, bright and cheerful .
. . and strangely ominous.
“Oh, that was so nice of them,” Hedda hummed, passing by Sumi to pull a bucket from the cooler.
“That will look beautiful on the counter!”
She had already narrowed her eyes, examining the flowers closely.
Dame’s rocket and daffodil, yellow and striped carnations.
Deceit and ego, disdain and disgust.
The lilies’ meaning was painfully clear — passionate hatred.
The button tansies, so cute and cheerful, were a declaration of war.
Sumi flipped over the card with a trembling hand.
His handwriting was bold and spiky, with a heavy downward stroke.
Have the day you deserve.
“Oh, he’s such a pompous asshole rude motherfucker!” Her hands were trembling when she dropped the flowers into the vase, refusing to throw them away.
Let them remind you, just like you told him.
The promise she’d made him that day in his shop had been a bluff, but now .
.
. now he was forcing her hand. Hedda raised her eyebrows at Sumi’s outburst, while the gnomes were exchanging looks at the speed of sound.
“No, Hedda.
I don’t think it’s meant to be nice at all.”
Stomping to the printer, Sumi took a moment to compose herself, rolling her neck, reminding herself that this was a million times better than dealing with pubescent children all day.
Who cares how fucking handsome he is.
He’s ugly where it counts.
She didn’t need to waste another second thinking about Ranar and his eyelashes, not when there were actually good men in the world, men like ChaoticConcertina, wherever he was.
Not when she should have been more focused on burying The Perfect Petal.
She jabbed at the screen, keeping on the auto accept, but resetting the dollar minimum.
Forty-five dollars.
It might not be good enough for Urban Stems, but it’s good enough for me.
At least for now.
“All right ladies, let’s regroup. I’m going to call the truck for more flowers. We’ll get the other two designers in here, I’ll see if they can start today, and the other driver. Once we hit the halfway point of this stack, I’m turning the orders back on.”
Hedda whooped.
“You know, if it stays like this, we might never need to unlock the door! That really is the dream!”
Sumi walked to the front of the shop with a tight smile, lest any of them see the tears welling in her eyes.
Is that what you’re going to do? You have this beautiful shop, and you’re just going to keep the door locked all the time, churning out online vases and baskets? She took a deep breath, attempting to steady herself as she picked up the phone to call the blue-haired goblin.
Before she lifted it to her ear, Ranar’s voice hissed through her head.
You’re nothing but a bouquet sweatshop.
The tears overflowed.
It was someone’s dream, maybe.
But it certainly wasn’t what she had envisioned for herself.
PinksPosies&Pearls: I’m so happy you’re having a good visit with her.
It’s amazing how perceptive kids that age are, isn’t it?
Sometimes students would be even more hooked into the staff gossip than some teachers.
Just based on body language and tone of voice!
They could tell who got along and who didin’t and who was fucking the gym teacher.
And they were always right.
Fwiw, I would totally hit on you if you were wearing that sign.
It actually telegraphs a lot.
For starters, you love your kid, and that’s the sexiest thing a single dad can do.
PinksPosies&Pearls: It shows you have good self awareness
Questionable at relationships isn’t necessarily BAD at them
That’s workable, women love a challenge.
And like, you made a kid so obviously everything is in good working order below the belt.
It shows you’ve had sex with another person before
That’s more than some of these guys can say
so you probably have realistic standards.
I’d give you my number for sure.