Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
‘Sorry I’m late!’ Iris said, rushing over to their table at the pub.
Daisy and Kira were already working their way through a plate of nachos and their first round of margaritas.
‘Owen was fussing and Olive was not at all convinced that I needed a night out with only other grown-ups. She said that sounded boring.’ Iris blew out a long breath.
‘But Archer practically shoved me out the door, so … here I am.’
‘We are very glad you made it,’ Kira said, scooting over in the booth to make space for Iris.
‘And I only cried a little bit on the way here.’ Iris grabbed a cheesy chip and stuffed it in her mouth.
‘We’re proud of you,’ Daisy said and Iris smiled.
‘Thank you. Okay, now, what did I miss?’
‘Kira was just telling me that David and Hailey decided to go with a destination wedding, after all. So, they won’t be getting married in Dream Harbor.’
‘Good. We didn’t want them here anyway,’ Iris said and Daisy couldn’t help her laugh.
‘And now she’s showing me my new and improved Instagram account. Look at how gorgeous this is,’ Daisy said, passing her phone to Iris.
‘They’re all your designs. I just curated them,’ Kira said with a smile.
It was more than that. Kira had taken beautiful photos of her flowers all over town.
Daisy had donated free bouquets and centerpieces to any business in Dream Harbor that wanted one.
She’d themed them for each shop, and the owners and customers had loved them.
But the real luck had come when Kira booked a 50th wedding anniversary party at the farm.
Apparently, no one was worried about Daisy breaking up a couple that had been together for a lifetime, so Kira managed to get her the job.
Daisy replicated the couple’s flowers from their wedding day right down to the bride’s cream-colored roses and the woman was so happy she cried. And then Daisy cried.
Now she had to keep up the momentum.
‘Wait, I didn’t show you the best part.’ Kira took the phone back and tapped on some of the comments. ‘Look at this one.’
‘Read it out loud!’ Iris insisted as Daisy’s eyes scanned the comments.
‘Is this who I think it is?’
‘Out loud!’
Daisy laughed. ‘Okay, okay. It says, “Daisy did the flowers for my wedding, and even though the groom ended up being a cheating bastard, the flowers were stunning. I donated them to a nursing home after finding my ex in bed with my cousin! Thanks, Daisy, for being the bright spot on a shitty day!”’
‘That’s incredible!’ Iris said.
‘I know, right?!’ Kira said, giddily. ‘And don’t worry, I confirmed with the nursing home that no cute little old people couples split up that day.’
‘You didn’t.’
‘Of course I did! And there’s another one.’
Scroll, tap, and Daisy was looking at another comment on a different post, one of a glowing Annie when Mac surprised her with a bouquet of peonies, her favorites.
‘“My marriage didn’t last but the wedding flowers provided by The Daisy Chain Flower Shop looked beautiful for weeks! My husband never bought me flowers but now I buy bouquets for myself and my friends whenever I’m in town.”’
Daisy could feel the tears burning at the back of her eyes. ‘This is crazy,’ she whispered. ‘How did this happen?’
Kira shrugged. ‘I may have reached out to some of your past customers.’
‘You did?’
‘Yep. None of them blame you, Daisy. Obviously.’
‘Obviously,’ she repeated, a little breathless. But it wasn’t obvious. By the way people had been avoiding her shop, she thought the poor couples who broke up must surely blame her bad luck. At least a little bit.
‘People don’t break up because of flowers, Daisy,’ Kira reiterated like she needed to hear it. Because she did. ‘People break up for a million reasons, but not flowers. I promise.’
‘Thanks, guys. I really needed this, I guess.’
‘Me, too,’ said Iris with a grin. Her copper hair was piled on top of her head, and her cheeks were flushed with happiness. She looked like herself again. Or like a new stronger version of herself, and Daisy was so glad she came tonight. ‘It feels good to be out.’
‘Another round, ladies?’ Mac asked, appearing at their table.
‘One more couldn’t hurt,’ Kira said with a wink.
‘A virgin for me,’ Iris said.
‘Of course. How is the little man?’ Mac asked. ‘Good sleeper?’
Iris scoffed. ‘He’ll sleep anywhere if he’s strapped to me. His crib? No way.’
Mac winced. ‘I hear it gets better.’
‘We’ll see.’
‘How about another plate of nachos?’
‘Now you’re talking!’
Mac laughed. ‘Anything else?’
‘Yeah,’ Kira said. ‘Tell Annie she owes me twenty bucks.’
‘For what?’
‘Elliot and Daisy broke up.’
Mac’s gaze swung to Daisy, who did her best to keep a neutral face.
He smirked. ‘Well, Annie is never going to buy that, but I’ll give her the message.’
‘I told you!’ Iris said as Mac walked away. ‘No one is going to believe you two broke up.’
‘Why not!’ Daisy said, sipping her drink. She found it oddly romantic that Elliot wanted the town to see she didn’t need a man to break her curse. But apparently, no one was convinced.
‘It’s the way he looks at you,’ Kira said.
‘How does he look at me?’
‘Are you kidding me right now? Daisy, he looks at you like you are his entire reason for being. He has since long before you two were dating or fake-dating or whatever.’ Kira waved a hand at her before grabbing another chip. ‘That man has had it bad since day one and he’s terrible at hiding it.’
Iris nodded. ‘That’s true.’
Daisy couldn’t help her smile, the heat washing over her face. He did look at her like that. She knew he did. And she was sure she looked at him like a lovesick idiot, too, but it was really nobody’s business but their own.
‘Oh, well,’ she said. ‘I’m sticking to my story. We decided to be just friends.’
‘Whatever you say,’ Kira said with a smile. ‘But let’s get down to the real reason why we’re here.’
‘A brainstorming session,’ Daisy said, pushing her empty margarita aside. ‘Screw weddings.’
Iris and Kira’s eyebrows rose.
‘I need your help figuring out how we emphasize other big life events. And how to market that. Weddings are not the be-all-end-all of people’s lives, right? I want to help people celebrate all the other stuff, too.’
‘You are speaking to two happily un-married ladies,’ Iris said with a smirk. ‘We can definitely figure this out.’
Kira leaned in, her mind clearly already working. ‘I liked what that one commenter said about buying her friends flowers. Maybe we could do something with that?’
‘Ooh, yeah, and what about some kind of subscription service? Like monthly bouquets?’ Iris chimed in.
‘Yes, perfect, this is all good.’ Daisy took out her phone again and started filling her notes app with all the ideas her friends were spilling out.
By the end of the night, they’d polished off two plates of nachos, several rounds of margaritas, and renewed Daisy’s faith in herself to pull this off.
The Daisy Chain Flower Shop was not going down without a fight.
A real one this time.
Daisy wasn’t hiding behind a fake relationship anymore.
Or a probably fictional generational curse.
It was time she made the long line of Daisies proud.