Freelance Flirt (Sworn to Loathe You #5)

Chapter 1 – Grace

“Piper-doll.” I shut off my daughter’s favorite show before Netflix could roll to the next episode and scooped her up from the couch. Her arms were inside her nightgown, so she couldn’t even fight me. I would never tuck my arms inside my shirt for the heck of it. That trait definitely didn’t come from me. “It’s bedtime.”

Piper scrunched up her nose. “Bedtimes should be fixable.”

“Do you mean flexible?”

“I don’t know. Can I have five more minutes?”

“How about I’ll give you five songs after you brush your teeth and you’re tucked in bed?”

She considered this with the seriousness of a business negotiation before sighing. “Okay, fine.”

It wasn’t much of a sacrifice on my part. I loved our nighttime routine, songs and all. With her dad in and out of her life, Piper needed someone steady and reliable, and I would always be that for her. With everything I had.

Piper ended up getting seven songs out of me, since we also had a teeth-brushing song and a potty song we should have long abandoned now that she’d turned seven. But we liked to sing, so I’d probably still be embarrassing her with it as a teen. And she’d probably secretly love it.

By eight-thirty, the couch was mine. I plopped down with my super-secret sketch book and my other guilty pleasure, the GoWithFriends dating app on my phone.

My sister-in-law had talked me into going through all their personality quizzes, and after a vetting process where I’d half hoped they’d weed me out, I was now one of the privileged few who got to pay GoWithFriends money every month.

As a single mom, meeting people in a vetted chat room was actually pretty darn convenient. I could be social without having to go anywhere. And nobody was creepy because the hope was to eventually meet in person. Not that I was ready for that part yet.

Lacey saw my profile check-in and responded immediately. Nobody was allowed to lurk, which I supposed was a good thing.

Lacey: Grace! Hey, sista.

Grace: Hi, Lace.

Lacey: It’s just Jackson, Knead, and me right now, talking about shows like Married at First Sight . Knead says it’s the ultimate fantasy. Being able to skip the dating part and just having your soulmate hand-delivered.

Grace: There’s no such thing as a soulmate. Also, that show’s divorce rate is outrageous.

I didn’t even have to look it up to know. But I double-checked, just to make sure. Yep, breakup city. As for the no-soulmates part? My response was automatic. I couldn’t help it any more than I could help scrolling up and reading everything Knead had to say on the matter. A new response from him came in while I was catching up .

Knead: That’s why it’s a fantasy, Grace. In real life, you have to put in the work to get to know a person.

Grace: Like chatting with them in a dating app using a fictitious name, Dough Boy?

Lacey: Oh, here they go.

Knead: No. Preferably in person, and over the course of a couple years.

Then what was he doing on this dating site? And why did I care?

Grace: You sound like you know this from experience.

Knead: Wouldn’t you like to know.

I would like to know. I’d thought about him way too much in the three weeks I’d been on here. Was he a baker? A massage therapist? Or, was his profile name an inside joke? He wouldn’t say. The GoWithFriends policy was that you couldn’t lie about yourself, but you could be vague. Knead was the definition of vague. I knew he was twenty-eight because the app verified ages. I knew he lived in Phoenix. Also verified. But his occupation was listed as Business Owner. Vague. His profile picture was a closeup of his shoulder and neck in a white t-shirt. It wasn’t even a muscle shot, though he did look… substantial and nicely tanned. Not that I’d studied it or anything.

Jackson: Are you guys meeting up with us this Friday then? Neither of you have RSVP’d.

Knead: I will if Grace will .

I stared at my phone, not surprised at all that he called me out. But meeting them this soon was a bad idea. It would change everything I liked about using the app. These wouldn’t be casual chats with friendly strangers anymore. Or casual spats, in my and Knead’s case. But putting it off wouldn’t change the inevitable. Even if I never went out, the rest of them would, and then eventually they’d pair up and leave the app. It had already happened. Yesterday, we had an online farewell party for a couple who were canceling their subscriptions together.

Grace: I’m a firm maybe.

Knead: Me too.

Grrr. I couldn’t deal with this right now, especially with more people from our group pouring in to have their say since their notifications must have been pinging like crazy. I’d turned off notifications about three seconds into joining. I’d chat when I felt like it.

I dealt with enough notifications from work. My flower shop had automated ordering software that allowed people to purchase after hours, either directly from us or through a larger chain that took a cut before having my shop fulfill the order. The magic of technology. The software even sent an automated change order request to my wholesaler, so I always had exactly what I needed.

I left the GoWithFriends app and scrolled through the dozen or so flower orders that had come through in the last few hours, mentally planning for tomorrow. I’d need to go in early.

Owning a business meant work never left me, but I could do this. I had to. Because admitting I sometimes dreamed of walking away from it was pretty much admitting I craved failure.

You weren’t allowed to burn out on a dream. Not when so much money, time, and effort had gone into getting you there. And not just my effort, or my time, or my money. No. My poor brother worked on the business with me until he finally admitted he wanted out. My godfather had given me a trust fund that paid for my education, and then the start-up for the business. Even Dean, my godfather’s son, pitched in early money.

Dean now ran a small business consulting firm. He would probably have a lot of opinions on what I should do. I was supposed to have ongoing business goals or life goals or whatever. Right now, my goals were to make sure my daughter ate enough fruits and vegetables to avoid scurvy and to find a little joy in everything.

I liked working with flowers. They were beautiful, and fragrant, and the look on a customer’s face when I exceeded their expectations? There was nothing greater than that. See? Joy.

I was fine. Everything would be fine.

My phone buzzed in my hand, and I smiled when I saw it was Jessica requesting a video call. Talking to her sounded a lot more fun than thinking about work. Everybody needed a friend in their life who occasionally dragged them out of their comfort zone. Jessica didn’t just drag. She strapped me into a catapult and pulled the lever. Well, when she could catch me. I hadn’t told her a thing about joining a dating app, and for good reason.

I wiped the corners of my mouth to make sure there were no Oreo crumbs left and accepted the video call. “Hi Jess. Whatcha doing?”

“I’m getting married!”

“Right now?” She was wearing a black tank top, and that was definitely not a Chapel-O-Love in the background. Nope, she was sitting on her orange couch in California, and above her, I spotted the painting of Mona Lisa in a cowboy hat with a curly mustache. I remembered the day she bought that.

“No, not right now, silly. But Simon and I have finally picked a date and a location, and don’t say you’re not sure if you can make it. ”

She knew me so well. It was already on the tip of my tongue to tell her I did not have the flexibility in life (or the fixability, as Piper would say) to drop everything and attend a destination wedding. Not even for my dearest college friend. “I’m not saying no. But, um, when is this?”

“Saturday, June tenth, and it’s on Prince Edward Island. I’m having an Anne of Green Gables wedding. We’ll get to walk down Lover’s Lane and take pictures on the Lake of Shining Waters. It’s going to be a-maz-ing.” That last part came out in sing-song.

That did sound amazing. Jessica even had the flaming red hair and the wild, romantic imagination to go with it. She and Anne Shirley were definitely kindred spirits. But June tenth was less than four months away. “How will you plan it that quickly?”

“With money, darling. I’m not sure if you’re aware. But Cookie Crimes and Donut Disasters, oh, and éclair Emergencies. They’re selling extremely well because the two of us make a brilliant team. We’re booked through the rest of the alphabet. I knew we should have started with Apple Crisp Accidents.”

“Wouldn’t have sold. Cookie Crimes was a solid starting place.”

“This is why I love you, and why I had to have you as my illustrator. You know, half the people at the publisher’s office think you’re made up. Your headshot is an avatar. You won’t do interviews. Your pen name is ridiculous.”

“I’m a florist.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“It means I have a business to run. I like keeping the illustrating thing separate.” And secret. I hadn’t known it would be so blazingly successful. It was just a thing she talked me into trying with her. I didn’t think I’d walk into a Barnes and Noble one day and see our graphic novels featured on their own table in the kid’s section. Every time it happened, it killed me not to tell Piper. But then the whole store would know, and also everyone we knew, including the mailman, and I just couldn’t do it .

Someday, I’d tell her.

For now, it was just this fun side hobby. The extra money certainly didn’t hurt. I’d been tucking it away, keeping it separate as though I couldn’t quite trust that it was real.

“What happened with that offer to buy Beautiful Blooms?” she asked.

“Oh, that wasn’t really an offer. They just sent an email to see if I’d ever be interested in selling. I doubt I’ll even hear from them again.”

“You never know. Floral United is huge! I bet they’d gobble you up if you let them.”

“I don’t want to be gobbled up.” It was Hallmark movie law. The small business owner was not supposed to get excited when the big corporate chain came along to buy her out. She was supposed to fall in love with the lawyer they sent as their representative, help him find his heart of gold within, and then save her business with the help of her plucky best friend, the town rallying in her defense, and a cheery picket line.

“Where is your mind right now?” Jessica asked, smirking at me.

I blinked. “Nowhere. So, June tenth? I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try to be there.”

“Bring Piper if you want. She can be a flower girl. Dean suggested it.”

“Wait, you talked about me with Dean?”

Jessica’s face told me all. Busted. “Well, it’s just, I told him you would try to get out of coming.”

“That means you called him first.”

Jessica frowned at me and tilted her head, and I knew I was in for a lecture I deserved. “You always talk about him like the two of you aren’t friends.”

“We’re friends.”

“Mm-hm. When was the last time you talked to him?”

With my free hand, I flipped open my sketch book, needing the images to ground me. I didn’t like talking about Dean with her. She might see what I didn’t want her to see .

“He came into the shop last week. Things are good between us. Totally friendly. Sorry for my jealousy, and for assuming you’d call me with news first over your cousin. Even if he is your favorite cousin.”

Jessica smiled like she was proud of me. “Apology accepted. Oh shoot, I gotta run. My alarm is going off to buy concert tickets. Long story. I’ll be expecting that RSVP for you and Piper, my friend. I’m renting out a bed-and-breakfast, so don’t worry about where to stay. And all the activities are covered. I just need you to get there. Wedding events start on June fourth, but I’ll take you whenever you can come. Save the date cards are in the mail. Keep an eye out.”

And with that, she was gone.

RSVP requests everywhere, mocking my introverted little heart. Being away from my business for a week was a lot to commit to. Plus, I didn’t even know if there were direct flights from Phoenix to Prince Edward Island. That was in Canada! I’d have to get Piper a passport. Shoot, was my passport even still good? I counted out years on my fingers. It was not. I hadn’t been out of the country since the summer after my senior year of high school.

To make myself feel better, I pulled up the GoWithFriends app again and hit the RSVP button for Friday’s activity. No passport needed. I could go to things. I was adventurous. I’d start there. I did not check to see if Knead RSVP’d after I did. That would be ridiculous.