CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“I think that seems like a fair deal, don’t you?” Izzy was closing a large binder as she spoke, and April stood, following her friend out of the back office.
“Izzy, are you insane?” April was unable to keep the shock out of her voice. “You can’t seriously be offering to pay me that much to supply flowers to all the competitors in the Spring Flower Festival? You’re going to be done for government corruption at this rate.”
“Ah, but it isn’t just for the flowers,” Izzy said, holding up her finger to silence April.
“You’re also running the floristry workshops, which is a lot of extra work to take on, and you’re having to order in extra flowers last minute, which will make them more expensive, so I’ve had to take that into account, too.
Besides, I’ve got the budget signed off by Walston; it’s up to me how I allocate the money. ”
It was lunchtime on Tuesday, a week since April Blooms had opened.
The first week since opening the store had flown by in a pleasant, but exhausting, haze.
The flow of customers had been steady, not quite as busy as her first day but enough that April was no longer worrying about the store not being viable.
Izzy had texted April that morning to say she had an urgent business matter to discuss, and when she had turned up with a huge binder and a serious look on her face, April had feared the worst. Had Izzy heard back from the authentication committee to learn that the buildings on Main Street weren’t protected?
Was her little store barely going to survive until the summer with construction work starting back up next door?
It had turned out that Izzy actually wanted to enlist April’s help with the Spring Flower Festival, which was due to start that Friday and run over the weekend.
The relief April had felt as Izzy explained her plan was undeniable, but she also couldn’t help but think that Izzy was pulling strings to give her the best chance at success.
“You’re devious, Isobel,” April teased as they headed toward the door.
“Devious and brilliant,” Izzy corrected, and April chuckled.
“Single-handedly keeping this place afloat,” she joked, giving her friend a hug and hoping Izzy could sense the immense gratitude she was putting into the embrace.
“Oh my God, it’s my two favorite people!” Emma breezed into the store, the small bell that Noah had placed above the door over the weekend tinkling sweetly as she did.
“Hey, you.” April smiled. She’d been expecting Emma, as they’d planned to film some more content for the Instagram page that afternoon. She’d been by several times since the opening to make more content, including one video that had gone semi-viral, much to April’s surprise.
“April, the views on that video are still going up! I think the story must really be resonating with people.” Emma waved her phone in April’s direction, delight in her voice at the video’s success.
“I can’t watch it without getting a little bit teary,” Izzy added, squeezing April’s arm.
It was actually a video that April had been most reluctant to make.
The first half had been fine, showing off the shop in the sunlight, but the second half was apparently what had resonated with a lot of people.
Emma had asked her to talk about the history of the store before she’d moved in.
April had been expecting the question, but it had still taken her a moment to gather her thoughts before replying.
“Well, the store was originally my dad’s, Martin Jones.
Everyone loved him. He made everything around him feel more colorful, more vibrant.
” April didn’t often speak so openly about her dad, but had found that as she did, with Emma nodding encouragingly behind the camera, it became easier.
“This place was actually a bar—The Last Call—and it was his baby. He loved it so much; he really poured his heart and soul into it. I’m sure lots of Magnolia Springs locals still miss it—I know I do.
” She’d smiled wistfully before continuing.
“Sadly, business got tougher over the years, and the bar was on its last legs when he passed, about eight months ago now.
“My family and I weren’t really sure what to do with it at first, and we even debated selling up but decided against it.
I realized eventually, with a lot of encouragement from the people around me—my mom and my brother in particular—that I wanted to do something to honor my dad.
He loved this place, and I know he’d have wanted us to use it to bring some joy into our lives.
So I figured, what better way to keep his memory alive than to bring some more color into the world?
” At this point, she’d become too choked up by emotion to keep going, but apparently she had said enough to resonate with viewers.
“I still can’t believe how many people have seen it,” April said, scrolling through the comments on Emma’s phone.
People from far beyond Magnolia Springs were saying how wonderful it was to see her dad’s memory kept alive, and how important it was to support small businesses.
And it wasn’t just people in the comments section, either.
On Thursday morning, a woman around her mom’s age had come into the store and immediately made a beeline for April.
“So lovely you kept the space in the family,” the woman had said, patting April’s hand as she scooped up the packets of seeds and large bouquet of flowers she’d bought.
“When my father passed, I had a similar opportunity and I’m sorry to say I let it pass me by.
” A faraway look had drifted across her face before she smiled.
“Well done you for making all this happen.”
Emma and Izzy exchanged a knowing look. “I don’t know why you’re surprised, April,” Emma said, shaking her head.
“You spoke about your Dad and the store with so much love and passion. It’s impossible for people not to get behind you when it’s so obvious how much care and energy you’ve poured into this place. ”
“Maybe you’re right,” April mused, and Izzy and Emma both sighed, exasperated at her continued caution.
“You know damn well we’re right!” Izzy’s forceful tone was undercut slightly by the laugh in her voice, and April couldn’t help but smile.
After saying bye to Izzy, April turned back to the store, where Emma was busy trying to find the best place to shoot in the early afternoon light. April breathed deeply, savoring the sweet smell of the flowers as it wrapped around her, a bubble of joy bursting in her chest.
Though the store was now fully her space, it felt like she could feel her dad’s presence more than ever in the sunlight that refracted through the catchers in the windows, the errant petals that drifted across the hard floor and brushed the tips of her shoes, the two sketches that hung over the register …
Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but with every customer who came in, supported her, congratulated her, she felt even more certain that this had been the right choice. She was just lucky she had friends and family who believed in her even when she didn’t believe in herself.
“Another busy day?”
The shop had closed at four, as April found it did best during sunlight hours and foot traffic became non-existent after that time anyway.
Now that she’d been open for over a week, patterns were starting to emerge to help her settle into a routine that worked best for both the shop and her.
It was a kind of work–life balance she could only have dreamed of in New York.
April smiled at Luke as she paused in her sweeping, leaning on the broom and smiling up at him as he moved closer and deposited a lingering kiss on her mouth. “Yeah, actually. I barely got a second to breathe today.”
He chuckled. “Well, if it keeps up, you might have to consider bringing in some help beyond your mom. Got to be careful not to burn yourself out.”
It was a thought that had been playing on her mind too, but she didn’t want to make any hasty decisions. It was possible this had been an outlier of a week thanks to the shop opening, a well-timed viral video, and the festival set-up getting everyone in the spring mood.
“My mom said she’s happy to keep helping in the mornings, and Emma’s getting pretty good at creating the bouquets, so I reckon she’ll be happy to help when she isn’t away on shoots. I just don’t know how long this wave of interest will last.”
“I don’t know why I even worried.” He smirked. “You weren’t Magnolia High’s co-valedictorian for nothing.”
She rolled her eyes but joined in with his laughter. “I appreciate the concern.”
“Well, you know I’m more than happy to help out, too—probably weekends or evenings because I have work … But maybe I could move some things around—”
She kissed him, enjoying the surprise on his face before his arms came around her and the kiss deepened.
There hadn’t been a single hint of reluctance in his voice, only pride and eagerness to help, and it struck her again how stark the differences were between Luke and Tyler.
Where one lifted her up, supported her, encouraged her, the other …
Well, Tyler had diminished her at every opportunity.
In fact, she could perfectly picture the expression he’d have worn if she’d even so much as hinted at needing some extra hands around the store.
The lightly curled lip—a sure sign of his disdain—the blank disinterest in his eyes, the small sigh under his breath to let her know she was an inconvenience …
Luke broke the kiss, their breathing heavy and his eyes burning into her with a warmth that made her toes curl. “What was that for?”
She shrugged. “Just being you.”
He smiled and their next kiss was slow, tender, and when April pulled away she knew her cheeks were pink.
“I, ah, have to finish cleaning up.”
Luke pulled off his suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt. “Put me to work.”