Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Her mother was rearranging the flower shop again.
‘Mom, I put those there for a reason.’
Her mother, Daisy May, put a hand on her hip and huffed a breath to blow the wispy hairs away from her face. She was wearing the same daisy-print apron she’d worn since Daisy was a little girl, the one Daisy had been wearing just the other day. She was left with a plain black one today.
‘But they’re blocking these smaller plants in the back.’
‘Am I in charge of the shop now, or what?’ Daisy snapped back.
‘Fine, fine,’ she said, throwing her hands up in surrender. ‘God forbid I try to pass on some of my hard-earned wisdom.’
Daisy sighed. ‘Just move the damn flowers if you want to.’
Her mother was supposed to be retired. When Daisy moved back to town with nothing but a shattered heart and puffy face from crying all the time, they’d decided that she should take over day-to-day operations.
Her mom was clearly trying to make sure she had a purpose and a reason to get dressed every day.
It worked. Having the shop to run had kept Daisy going.
But her mother’s version of ‘retired’ involved checking in on the shop at least a few times a week.
Most of the time Daisy didn’t mind, but lately she felt like she was failing at everything and having her mom here just stressed her out, like having someone witness her failure made it that much worse.
‘You’re in a bit of a mood today, Daisy-girl. Do you need me to bring over more of those selenite crystals? They’re supposed to be excellent for sleep.’
‘I’m sleeping fine. And crystals don’t help with sleep. They’re just rocks.’
Her mother snorted. ‘Tell that to your father. I put a bunch of clear quartz around the house, and his memory is better than ever.’
‘Was Dad even having memory problems?’
‘No, but I certainly don’t want him to start!’
Daisy rested her head in her hands where she was leaning on the counter.
She did not have the patience for her mother’s particular brand of quirky today.
She’d just gone over their books for the fourth time this week, and she didn’t know how they were going to keep the lights on this month.
Could she make shopping for flowers in the dark a new trend?
‘Do you have any crystals that will earn us more money? Because that’s what we really need,’ she mumbled, getting back to adding more calla lilies to the casket spray for the dearly departed.
Isabel was right. Her ninety-eight-year-old great-uncle had taken his leave of the earthly plane two days ago.
And The Daisy Chain Flower Shop had been his family’s first stop.
Daisy supposed she should be grateful.
‘Oh!’ her mom snapped her fingers. ‘Good idea! I should get us some citrines. That would help.’
‘It definitely won’t help, Mom.’
‘My little skeptic.’ She patted her hand like being skeptical was a tragic quality to have. ‘Are you worried about the curse?’ Her mother lowered her voice to a whisper.
Daisy lifted her head from her work. ‘There’s no curse.’
Her mom opened her mouth to argue but apparently one look at Daisy’s face had her changing her mind. ‘Okay, love. But I’m still going to bring over some citrines and maybe some amethyst, just in case. They couldn’t hurt anyway!’
‘Sure, Mom.’
What she didn’t tell her mom was of course she was worried about the curse.
Worried that the town would never let it go.
If she didn’t start booking some weddings, she was really screwed.
The whole shop was screwed. She was on the brink of letting down generations of Daisies.
Daisies who’d survived the great depression, a world war, and the invasive rose fungus of 1987, and now the whole damn business was going to go under if she couldn’t get her love life under control.
It was absurd.
Speaking of absurdity and her love life, her fake boyfriend came walking through the door at that exact moment and Daisy was not at all prepared for him to meet her mother.
‘Um … hi,’ he said, freezing in the doorway, clearly expecting her to be alone. This was a test. The first time they’d encountered each other out in the world in front of someone else since they officially decided to do this, and of course it had to be in front of her mom.
‘Hey, Elliot,’ Daisy said, dropping the lilies and coming around the counter.
Her mother’s face lit up at the name. Daisy had had to tell her mom about him after the whole Elliot-proclaiming-their-relationship-at-the-town-meeting situation.
She was sure to hear about it from someone, and Daisy figured it might as well be her.
‘Oh, this is Elliot!’ Beaming at him, she held out a hand. ‘I’m Daisy’s mom, Daisy May Scott but you can call me May.’
Elliot stepped further into the shop and took her hand. ‘It’s so nice to meet you, May.’ His gaze flicked over her shoulder at Daisy while her mother went on about how she was so happy to hear that they were dating.
Daisy just shrugged and Elliot gave her a lopsided smile.
‘I’m glad we’re dating, too,’ he said.
‘Such a sweet man,’ her mom cooed. ‘I have a really good feeling about you two. What’s your star sign, Elliot?’
‘Uh … my star sign?’
‘Yeah, you know, for example, Daisy is a Scorpio.’
‘I’m not sure…’
‘When’s your birthday? If you know the time and location of your birth, we can also get your moon and rising signs, that would really help…’ Her mother was already pulling out her phone to look at her horoscope app when Daisy practically hip-checked her out of the way.
‘Nope, not right now, Mom.’
‘Okay, just your birthday then.’ Her mother was relentless when it came to the zodiac.
‘September second.’
‘A Virgo!’ her mother crowed. ‘An earth sign. You two will get along great.’
‘Oh … uh …good?’ Elliot smiled at Daisy again like he’d accomplished something by being born in the correct month, which was total nonsense, but she had to admit it was pretty cute that he was pleased.
‘Okay, Mom, that’s enough for one day. Don’t you have to go pick up Dad from racket ball?’
‘That’s right! I nearly forgot.’ She pulled off her apron, looking forlornly at Elliot, just dying to dig more into his whole astrological chart.
Luckily for Daisy, her parents had gone down to one car when her dad retired and now her mom had to take him to his weekly racket ball games.
Thank God for her dad’s dedication to the sport.
‘We’ll have to talk more next time, Elliot,’ her mother said, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze.
‘Definitely. I’ll ask my mom for my birth time.’
‘Perfect!’ Her mother shot her a vindicated smile. Daisy just rolled her eyes. But man, if Elliot was her real boyfriend he was definitely nailing the ‘delight her mother’ portion of the relationship. David had never been a good sport about her mother’s astrology interests.
Plus, he had been a Gemini. A horrible match.
‘Sorry about that,’ Daisy said when her mom was out the door.
‘Sorry for what? She’s great.’
‘She can be a lot sometimes.’
Elliot shrugged. ‘I liked her.’
Daisy cocked her head, studying him, trying to make sense of a man that was so sweet. Surely, there was something wrong with him. She wondered what it was. What secret red flags was Elliot hiding?
Maybe he didn’t eat carbs? No, she’d seen him eat cookies.
Maybe he didn’t like animals? No, he loved dogs.
Maybe he left dirty dishes in the sink overnight? Oh, no, wait, that was her. Hmm…
He shifted a little on his feet. They were still standing in the middle of the flower shop, the late-day sun filtering in green through the leafy hanging plants in the window.
Even this late in the day, Elliot looked like he’d just woken up: his hair a floppy mess on his head.
Daisy had the sudden and strange urge to run her fingers through it.
‘What is it?’ he asked.
‘I just … you’re so agreeable.’
‘Um … thanks?’
‘I’m having a hard time figuring out why your wife left you.’
Elliot flushed red to the tips of ears. Daisy clapped a hand over her mouth with a wince. ‘I’m so sorry. That was a really shitty thing to say. I didn’t mean for it to come out that way.’
‘It’s okay.’ He shrugged, that shy grin returning. ‘Let me know if you figure it out.’
Daisy laughed. ‘Will do.’
‘So, I had a thought. Something that might help with uh … business.’
‘Is it us making out in front of the town hall?’ Oops … that just kinda slipped out. It was possible that not having sex for so long was making Daisy’s brain not function at full capacity.
Elliot’s eyes widened behind his glasses, his ears turning even redder.
‘I’m open to trying that,’ he said, his grin growing and Daisy flushed hot everywhere. ‘But I was thinking more about flowers for the inn.’
‘Oh?’ Daisy shook herself off. Focus, Daisy.
‘Yeah, I was there today, and Jack had muffins from the bakery, and I was thinking it would be nice if he had flowers at the front desk as well. He could put some in the sitting area in the lobby—and we’re hoping to turn the sunroom into a breakfast area, so maybe some flowers for the tables?
You’d need to keep them replenished somewhat regularly. It could be a decent amount of…’
He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence before Daisy threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.
‘Elliot, that’s brilliant,’ she breathed.
‘Oh … uh …good.’
She was so thrilled by this idea, this keep-the-lights-on idea, that she didn’t realize he wasn’t hugging her back. Until his arms wrapped around her, firm and solid and warm, and he was hugging her back. She noticed the heck out of that.
Daisy couldn’t help the sigh she gave; she couldn’t stop herself from tucking her face into the side of his neck. She breathed him in, and she could feel him doing the same. He smelled like soap and sunshine. She wanted to burrow into him. She wanted to live here pressed against him.
She wanted…
Uh-oh.
‘Sorry,’ she said, disentangling herself from a stunned-looking Elliot.
‘That’s … don’t be.’
He looked so flushed and mussed. Jesus, why did he look like they’d done so much more than hug? She scurried back behind the safety of the counter, keeping the big scarred wooden surface and several dozen calla lilies between them before she could do something crazy like fling herself at him again.
‘That’s a really good idea. Thank you,’ she said, tucking her hair behind her ear in an attempt to compose herself.
‘You’re welcome.’
He continued to stare at her until her face heated all over again.
‘Did you need anything else?’
Elliot blinked. ‘Oh, right. Yeah. I actually found some history about the shop… Uh, your shop. It’s one of the oldest buildings in Dream Harbor. Did you know that?’
‘No, I mean I knew it was old, but not really the specifics.’
‘I could tell you more about it. I found some old photos when I was doing research for the inn, and I just thought you might like to … uh, see them.’ He shook his head like he was being ridiculous. ‘But if you don’t want… You know what … you’re probably busy. I’ll just head out.’
‘Elliot,’ she stopped his sudden progress toward the door. ‘I’d love to see them.’
When he turned back, his smile did something to her heart that she refused to accept.
Her heart was an idiot.
Her heart had led her astray too many times.
She was not doing this again. She fell hard and she fell fast, and look where it had left her. Two times she’d found the love of her life, and two times they’d found someone else.
It didn’t matter that Elliot had a cute smile or that maybe she needed sex more than she’d previously thought. It didn’t matter that he was a good hugger or that she had yet to find a single red flag.
She was not going to latch on to Elliot like some lovesick barnacle. He was her friend. He was a nice guy helping her out.
He was a giant history nerd that wanted to show her some old pictures.
That was it.
‘Maybe there’s something in there that will help break the curse,’ she joked.
‘You’re not cursed, Daisy.’ He was serious, earnest, when he said it. But this curse was feeling more real every second she stood here looking at Elliot and wishing she could bury her face in his neck again.
Daisy was cursed.
But she was going to fight it this time.