Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
Daisy was feeling significantly less cursed in some ways, some very specific in-the-bedroom-type ways, but unfortunately that hadn’t transferred into business-type ways.
It was the beginning of July, and she still hadn’t booked a single wedding. She’d never been more in love or felt more secure with a man than she did with Elliot. They’d moved from fake to real without a hitch, but apparently, the town gossip chain hadn’t gotten the memo.
Or they didn’t believe that Daisy having a boyfriend for a few months was enough to trust her with their weddings.
She had been feeling so optimistic when she’d left his house that first morning she’d stayed over, so full of sweet breakfast treats and sporting a brand new orgasmic glow, but then she got to work and remembered her little curse wasn’t just about her own love life, it was about how she was going to keep this damn shop running if everyone still thought she was going to destroy their love lives.
What the hell was a cursed florist supposed to do?!
Having her mother here today, drifting around the shop, replacing crystals and blowing cinnamon through every damn doorway was not helping.
‘Mom, you’re getting cinnamon all over the floor.’
‘That’s kinda the point, Daisy.’ Her mother rolled her eyes like she was being ridiculous, closed the front door of the shop and wandered back in.
It was hot outside, and the old shop didn’t have the best track record with air-conditioning.
The current window unit was making an awful lot of noise but not making much cool air.
The tropical flowers loved it, but Daisy was melting.
‘How’s Elliot?’ her mom asked, changing the subject entirely.
‘Elliot is fine.’
‘I heard you were in a hurry to get over there last week. I didn’t know if there was some kind of emergency.’
Daisy winced. Of course her late-night jog in the rain to Elliot’s house hadn’t gone unnoticed. This damn town. Her mom knew there was no emergency.
‘Elliot’s good. I just needed…’ To get thoroughly fucked by a sweet man who loves me? Nope, not gonna say that. ‘I just needed to see him. And I felt like taking a … walk.’
‘In a storm?’ Her mother waited with raised brows.
‘I like the rain.’
Mom laughed.
‘We had a nice night,’ Daisy insisted. ‘And that’s all I’m telling you, mother.’
Her mom rolled her eyes again. ‘We’re all adults here, Daisy-girl. A few details wouldn’t kill you.’
Daisy just shook her head and went back to poring over the books.
She wasn’t in the mood to spill her guts to her mom.
Especially not about everything she and Elliot had done that night.
And nearly every night since. And most mornings.
And yesterday afternoon… They’d been making up for lost time.
And it had been amazing and wonderful and so freaking perfect that Daisy had been pinching herself every day.
She wasn’t going to panic. She wasn’t going to assume Elliot would eventually tire of her and leave. She was going to take what the universe was giving her.
Or at least that was what she told herself in the mirror every morning. Even when, deep down, this thing with Elliot felt so new and fragile that she didn’t even want to breathe around it. She didn’t want to talk about it for fear of jinxing it.
Breaking the curse was still a work in progress.
But Elliot showed up every day for her, and she was going to do the same for him.
Maybe she had to trust the universe more. It had brought her Elliot, maybe it would bring new business too. She just hoped it happened soon.
‘Mom, give me some of those crystals.’
Her mother’s face lit up as she reached into the deep pockets of her dress and pulled out a few crystals.
‘I picked these for prosperity,’ she said and Daisy couldn’t help but return her smile.
The women in her family had been running this shop for decades.
Maybe it was time she trusted the process.
‘Thanks, Mom.’
‘Love you, Daisy-girl.’ Her mom planted a kiss on her cheek.
‘Love you, too.’
‘Okay now let’s think of the best placement for these.’
‘Sure.’ Daisy wiped the sweat from her brow and got to work.
* * *
‘I can finally visualize everything!’ Mary said as she wandered through the newly framed motel-style rooms. They’d gotten the asbestos taken care of, which had set them back about a week, but now they were actually starting to make progress.
‘I’m glad,’ Elliot said, following along behind Mary and Joseph.
He wanted to point out that he’d shown them multiple 3D renderings of what everything would look like, but he was just happy that the owners were happy.
He’d learned over the past few months that Mary had a tendency to spend a lot of time second-guessing herself while watching home reno shows.
It was a bad combination. And Joseph agreed with whatever she wanted, even when she didn’t know what she wanted.
It hadn’t exactly made things easy, but Elliot was excited to see his plans begin to come to fruition.
‘I agree,’ Joseph added, surprising no one. ‘Things are really shaping up.’
He took Mary’s hand and the two of them stood in what would someday be room number 7, beaming at Elliot.
They were both younger than what he’d been expecting when he took the job.
He’d pictured an elderly couple, but neither of them were over fifty and both considered running half marathons to be a good use of their time.
A sentiment Elliot could not relate to. But they were full of energy and buying the inn had been their big new adventure when their kids went off to college.
They’d only been running it for a few years now, and Elliot knew they were putting a lot of their hopes and funds into this renovation.
‘I’m really glad you guys are pleased,’ he said. ‘It’ll only get better from here.’
‘Thank you for taking us through it,’ Mary said. ‘I’ll sleep better now,’ she added with a chuckle.
‘Of course.’ Elliot walked them out, feeling more than a little proud of himself for the successful meeting. He was still in a good mood when Caleb showed up an hour later.
‘How’d the walk through go this morning?’ he asked.
‘Joseph and Mary are happy which is not something I get to say a lot, so nice work.’ Elliot clapped his brother on the shoulder, and Caleb stopped in his tracks.
‘What’s going on with you?’ Caleb asked.
‘What do you mean?’
Caleb tipped his head like he was studying him. ‘You seem different.’
‘Different how?’
‘Happy, I guess? Even more so in the past few days. Like something changed.’
Something like Daisy telling him she loved him. Something like officially going from a fake relationship to a real one. But he wasn’t about to admit to his brother that this whole thing started out as a ruse concocted at least in part to keep him off Elliot’s back.
‘I am happy,’ he said instead.
‘Confident, too.’
A woman screaming his name every night did wonders for his self-esteem. Another thing he wasn’t confessing. He was close with his brother, but maybe not that close.
Instead, he just shrugged and kept walking toward the front of the inn. He was ready to be done for the day so he could go see the woman responsible for this newfound happy confidence.
‘Daisy must be good for you,’ Caleb went on. ‘You weren’t like this when you were with Leigh.’
‘Really?’ That gave Elliot pause. He’d been happy with Leigh, hadn’t he? But had she made him feel confident?
‘Yeah, I mean I liked Leigh, but you seem … better now than you have been in a long time.’
Maybe he’d been happy with Leigh at first, but his brother was right, it had been a long time since he’d felt like this. Those last few years of his marriage, he felt like he’d been clinging to something that just wasn’t working.
‘Thanks, I feel better.’
‘Good.’ It was Caleb’s turn to land a hearty pat on Elliot’s back.
‘So, you can stop acting like a mother hen around me now.’
Caleb laughed. ‘Maybe. But I’m not making any promises. Old habits die hard.’
Elliot just shook his head. He didn’t really expect his brother to ever stop being a nosy bastard about his life, but maybe he could return the favor. ‘What about you?’
‘What about me?’
‘You gonna ask Vivienne out?’
Caleb stumbled over his feet before shaking it off and feigning disinterest. Elliot was having a very hard time keeping a straight face.
‘I don’t think so.’
‘Why not? She’s cute.’
‘She’s fucking gorgeous.’
Elliot’s eyebrows rose as a furious blush worked its way up Caleb’s face. His brother never blushed. He didn’t get flustered over women. Elliot was dying to tease him about it, but the man actually looked too pitiful to mock at the moment.
‘But that’s beside the point,’ Caleb said, attempting to school his features and failing terribly. ‘She wasn’t interested and there’s plenty of gorgeous women out there.’
‘Mmm.’
If his brother felt like he had the first time he’d seen Daisy, then avoiding Vivienne would be a lost cause. He just hoped Caleb didn’t fight it too hard. He was as stubborn as he was charming.
But a perk of being the younger brother was that Elliot didn’t make a habit of worrying about his brother’s love life.
‘What does that mean? Why are you looking at me like that?’
‘No reason,’ Elliot said, heading out the front doors. ‘Mom’s wondering when you’re going to settle down, though.’
Caleb followed him out, looking stricken. ‘You’re talking to mom about me?’
‘Yep.’ Elliot grinned. ‘She’s planning another visit for this fall.’
‘She is?’
‘She sure is.’
‘Why?’
Elliot laughed. ‘I don’t know, to see us I would imagine. And’—he couldn’t help adding—‘probably to check up on you.’
Caleb scoffed. ‘Why would she need to check up on me?’
‘I told you, she wants to see you settle down with a nice girl. Or boy. Or any consenting adult, really. Your pick.’
Caleb snorted again, puffing out his chest like he was a big, bad man. ‘That’s not really up to her.’