18. Millie
CHAPTER 18
Millie
A fter we got dressed and poured our coffee into travel mugs, we walked over to the flower shop from his apartment. It’s a lot closer than my house, so we weren’t much later than six.
“Don’t mind the mess,” I say as we walk through the back door.
Will comes behind me and wraps his arms around my shoulder. “It looks perfect here.”
“You have to say that,” I whisper.
“Why would you assume that?”
“Because you’re…” I hesitate finishing that sentence.
“Because I’m…” Will hugs me tighter.
“Never mind,” I rush out, not knowing how to define what we are. We are friends, but more? Not officially together, but lovers? No label describes our relationship.
Will chuckles and unwraps his arms. “What do we do first?”
I walk over to the computer to turn it on, grateful he changed the subject. “I’ll print off what we have to do this morning, then we’ll write the tasks on the white board. We can go one by one and check them off so we don’t miss anything.”
“You and your task lists.” Will smirks.
“Shush.” I log on to my task app and filter to today, giving it a once over before I print it. “Wait a minute…” I trail off as I scan the items on today’s checklist.
“What?”
“Fuck.” I’m panicking.
“What, Millie?” Will looks at the computer over my shoulder, but he’s not going to see the obvious error.
“There’s a wedding today. An early-afternoon wedding. When I was thinking about what time I needed to be here today, I got my events mixed up in my head, thinking I had an evening wedding. I should have double checked. I always double check.”
How could I have missed this?
“We can do it.”
I laugh. “Yeah, right. Will, there’s no way. I’m going to be late to deliver, and the wedding will be delayed because of me. I’ve been distracted. I shouldn’t have gone to the party last night. I shouldn’t have drank so damn much. This wouldn’t have happened if I stayed home.”
“Millie, I’m going to say something, and I need you to hear me.” Will turns me around in my chair and grabs both my hands. “You are the most stunning woman I’ve ever met.”
“Are you saying this because I was in your bed this morning?”
He chuckles and shakes his head. “No, jeez, Millie. For my entire life you’ve been there for me, even when it wasn’t intentional. Your drive is unbelievably hot, and you have done such an incredible job running two businesses. You deserve to give yourself some grace.”
“You don’t know that, Will. You’ve only been in town for like, a week,” I say, averting my gaze.
“Okay, fair,” he says, putting a thumb under my chin and lifting my eyes to meet his. “But I’ve known you for a long time Rose, and I know you’re not one to back down from a challenge. Right? ”
I agree the best I can. The way he’s talking to me is turning me on, and now is not the right time to do anything, but damn, I want to.
“We got this. Okay? Trust me. You can write the tasks while I make some calls. After that, we’ll get working. We have three hours until the delivery. That’s plenty of time, love, okay? It’ll be okay.”
He kisses my forehead and is on the phone with someone by the time he walks into the front room.
I, on the other hand, am frozen in place. Every time he calls me love, I melt . Will has never been like this before, for all the other times we were intimate. Granted, those times weren’t as frequent, and it was always an “in the heat of the moment” kind of thing.
I shake any feelings from my chest about Will, because although how he’s acting is boyfriend-material and something I’ve always wanted, it’s not real. It’s all in-the-moment, and he’s being sweet, and that’s it.
There’s work to be done. That’s what I need to focus on. If I deliver to this wedding late, that’s on me. People trust me to be on top of everything and deliver on time. So, taking my black marker, I leave my office and walk to the whiteboard to write out the tasks.
We need to make table centerpieces, bouquets for the bridal party, and damn, they need an arch. Okay, no problem, we got this. One thing at a time.
If I’ve learned one thing from managing multiple projects, it’s to take it one task at a time. Don’t try to rush, complete each task, and always check it off when you’re done. And sometimes, if I have a lot to do, I’ll reward myself with a coffee or pastry run after every two hours of completed work. It doubles as fuel to keep me going.
I loop the apron over my head and tie a knot around the back. I stick a pencil, pen, scissors, tape, and a pad of paper in the front pocket. Next, I take stock of the flowers. We have plenty of roses, tulips, and ivy. I take their containers and place them by the table to assemble for the bouquets .
Flowers organized, check .
Next is to gather vases for the centerpieces.
Okay, fifty vases means I need five boxes of ten. And I might as well grab gold chargers to place under the vases.
Gather vases, check .
Gather chargers, check.
Stepping back, I take stock of the table. I check off a few more items: gather ribbons, tape, and filler. Okay, great, that only took twenty minutes. When my mind wanders to where Will went, he walks through the back door.
“What are you doing? Did you go around the block?” I ask, confused because I expected him to come back through the front.
He’s about to say something, but the door opens behind him.
“Hi, honey,” Mom says. She’s here. And Ava, Riley, Florence. And Grant. Oh my gosh, and Jeremy.
“What’s going on?” I ask, tears welling in my eyes.
“You got help, Rose,” Will says, throwing an arm around my shoulder and pressing a kiss to my forehead.
“Okay, okay, I can’t handle any more PDA after last night,” Jeremy groans. “This fucker dragged me out of bed, so there better be coffee.”
I grimace. It’s still too early for Miss Jane’s to be open. “Sorry Jere, I don’t?—”
“I’m here, I’m here,” the one and only Miss Jane bursts through the back door.
And with her, she has a bag full of pastries and two full carafes of coffee.
“What is happening right now?” I ask. I don’t expect an answer.
Mom walks over to the white board behind me and takes stock of the tasks.
“How long do we have?” she asks.
“Less than three hours now,” I wince .
She surveys the room, likely thinking about our course of action. If anyone knows this shop better than me, it’s her.
I don’t know how Will got everyone here so quickly, but it helps that everyone lives close to town. This is another reason why living in a small town is perfect and why I’d never want to leave. Everyone helps one another, regardless of what time of day it is. You don’t have to give reasons or beg, they simply show up and lend a hand.
“Okay, you all ready?” Mom asks, proceeding to divvy out the jobs.
She puts Florence, Ava, and Riley on the centerpieces with her. That’s the biggest job, and it requires the most consistency, so I trust them to get it done right.
Will and I pair up to gather the flowers needed for the arch, organizing them for when it’s ready to be assembled at the wedding.
Grant and Jeremy work on the bouquets for the bridal party, which adds to the humor for the morning.
“Damn, these flowers hurt,” Grant complains for the fifth time after getting stabbed with thorns.
“I don’t get how these are supposed to all come together.” Jeremy grimaces, his nose wrinkling, as he holds assembled flowers in front of him. “This looks like my high school art projects all over again.”
I laugh and am about to go over there to help, but Riley beats me to it, helping them put the ten bouquets together.
For two hours, we focus. Will put music on the bluetooth speaker, so randomly someone will break into song. But for the most part, everyone is hard at work.
“Okay, boss.” Will comes to stand beside me with his signature smirk. He’s exchanged his leather jacket for an apron, and if there weren't other people in this room, I’d be the one to slam him against the wall and have my way with him. I let my eyes trail his body, to view his toned, tattooed arms and enjoy him in my work uniform. “Millie…” He drawls, and I blush, snapping my eyes to his.
“Yes?”
He chuckles. “It’s delivery time.”
“Okay, okay. I can double-check everything as we load it to help save time, then I’ll drive it to The Shed.”
“I got it, sweetie,” Mom calls. “I’ll drive it over there and Flo will help me.”
“Let them help,” Will whispers into my ear. He’s right.
I need to let other people help. There can’t be more days like this. It’s clear this is starting to be too much for me to handle.
Mom takes the clipboard from me.
“Thank you all. Seriously. I would be lost without each and every one of you.” I survey the room, taking stock of all my friends and how they all gave up their morning after having a late night to help me. I’m not shocked, because they would do this for me regardless of the time of day, but it’s amazing the bond you build with someone when you’ve known them for as long as we have.
Everyone besides Will leaves, and it’s quiet. We don’t open for another few minutes, so I plop on a stool in the back and hang my head between my hands.
“You good?” Will sits beside me and places a palm on my back.
I turn my head to the side. “Yeah, I am. Thank you. Seriously. You didn’t have to do that, but you did.”
“I got your back, Rose.” Will leans in and presses his lips to mine. “I’m going to run and grab us some breakfast, and when I get back we can talk about the spring festival. We have more planning to do.”
“Sounds good. Get me a scone or something, please.”
He smiles, puts his jacket on, and heads out the door.
It’s going to be challenging to let him go. I’m getting used to him being around the longer he is here. Will he stay? Not even stay for me, but for everyone and everything else. His home is here, whether or not he wants to accept that. Even if it has been a while since he’s called it home.
How do I show him that it’s possible to move back here and still keep the life he’s grown to love?