Chapter 12
Elsie
“I was thinking something to go along with the colors of our branding, lots of green and white, maybe a bit of blue sprinkled in.”
I nod along while I jot down notes, not wanting to forget anything that Carolynn Whitman, chair of the annual charity gala for one of the local hospitals, is saying.
Port Myles doesn’t have its own hospital.
We’re in between two, and both are a couple towns over.
I’m thrilled that it’s opening day and I’m already drumming up some business from outside of town.
Carolynn heard the head of the Chamber of Commerce talking on one of the local radio shows about new businesses throughout the county and decided to come check out The Floral Chic.
Apparently the gala board members were unhappy with the table centerpieces at last year’s event and they’ve been on the hunt for a new florist ever since.
I’m excited about the challenge. It won’t be my first event – Olivia and Cam’s wedding is next month, and the gala isn’t until the fall – but it’ll be the first one that I earned from my own merit, instead of being the bride’s best friend.
“We can absolutely do that,” I assure Carolynn.
I lean onto the workspace in the center of the room while I take notes, trying to alleviate some of the weight off my feet.
I’d chosen style over comfort this morning, opting for a pair of caramel-colored flats instead of sneakers, and my feet are killing me after an entire day on them.
Lesson learned. I’m going to shoot Grace a text as soon as I close for the day, asking her to help me find some sneakers that are both cute and comfortable.
I’ve always put effort into my appearance, mostly just because I feel good when I’m wearing things that I like.
Grace describes my style as girly meets coastal chic – lots of dresses and bows in my hair, linen pants with a blouse or a sweater, and what Grace says is “a concerning amount of gingham.” I’ve got the clothing part down, but I’ve never had to work on my feet before, and my closet is mostly full of flats and sandals for this time of year.
After today, I can tell that’s not going to cut it.
Carolynn and I chat for a while, tossing ideas around about types of flowers she might want for her centerpieces, and what she’d like to avoid. As we’re wrapping up the conversation, she glances down at her watch and realizes we’ve gone five minutes past closing.
“I’m so sorry,” she apologizes. “Here I am gabbing on when you probably want to get this place closed up and relax. You’ve had a long day, by the sounds of it.”
“It’s no problem at all.” And it really isn’t, because how lucky am I to be living out my dreams like this?
I just spent a whole day selling flowers in my very own shop.
All I’ve ever wanted is to be doing exactly this, and I’ll happily take all of the long days and sore feet that come along with it.
I walk Carolynn to the door, promising to call her later in the week to run some ideas and costs by her once I’ve had a chance to think about the gala some more.
I’m just locking up the Ocean Drive entrance behind her when the Main Street door is thrown open, a cacophony of voices and laughter filtering in with my closest friends.
“There she is!” a voice I haven’t heard in too long yells.
Before I have a chance to respond, Ty – best friend of Cam, Olivia’s fiancé – pulls me into a bone-crushing hug.
We had hit it off immediately when we met at Olivia and Cam’s engagement party at the end of last summer, becoming fast friends.
We text and video chat regularly, but I’ve been so busy preparing for the shop’s opening, and he travels so often for his job as a flight attendant that we haven’t been face-to-face in at least a few months.
“I’ve missed you,” I tell him, squeezing him around his middle.
“My turn,” Grace declares, elbowing her way in between us. She engulfs me in a hug and I feel that familiar extra squeeze when Olivia piles on.
“You did it,” Olivia squeals in my ear.
“I did it,” I laugh, still incredulous. My friends release me and Grace loops her arm through Ty’s, dragging him on a tour of the shop. He’s the only one who hasn’t seen it yet.
“We’re going out for dinner and drinks,” Olivia says. “To celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?”
“A successful opening day,” Cam says. “You killed it today.”
I try and fail to contain my smile. “I kind of did, didn’t I?”
“Sure did,” Grace calls from the other side of the room, where she’s showing Ty the hand-painted sign behind the checkout counter that says “Just Keep Growing” with flower blooms beneath it. She found it at a thrift store a few weeks ago and was so excited to give it to me.
“Every time we stopped by, you were busy with customers,” Olivia says proudly.
They’d stopped by two or three times throughout the day, checking on how things were going and making sure I didn’t need anything.
I made it through today okay, but I will need to hire some help soon if I want to keep this momentum going.
“I even saw Beverly Mavis showing off the bouquet Martin got her,” Cam says. “That man hasn’t given her flowers since 1975, when their youngest was born.”
Olivia and I both stare at Cam for a moment, then catch each other’s eye and start laughing.
“What?” Cam asks, confused.
“You know so much of the town’s lore,” I laugh. “I think you’re officially one of us.”
Cam rolls his eyes, but he looks pleased nonetheless. He slides an arm around Olivia’s waist and tugs her close, planting a kiss on the side of her head. “This town has a way of pulling you in and making you feel like you’ve been here all along.”
“Even I might be tempted to settle down here,” Ty says as he and Grace rejoin us, and I can’t tell if he means it as a joke or not.
“You know, Elsie,” he says thoughtfully, eyeing the big window that’s been responsible for more than the occasional eye twitch today.
“I don’t completely hate this setup you’ve got going on.
It’s bold, it’s unique. It’s giving people something to talk about. ”
And people have been talking about it. I must’ve explained two dozen times why we “decided” to keep the window between our businesses intact.
I didn’t tell people that we’re hoping to close it up soon, because I have no idea when that might be a possibility.
I also didn’t mention that I’d ordered a set of massive curtains and paid extra to have them delivered overnight, only to have my order cancelled and refunded two days later with no explanation.
Instead, I tell customers we’re trying something different and I leave it at that. Only one person – Mabel Anderson, who teaches Sunday school at one of the churches in town – seemed put off by it, so I’ll consider it a win.
For my part, I tried to ignore the window, and the people on the other side of it, entirely.
Which wasn’t hard to do with people in and out all day, from open until close.
Okay, sure, I might have peeked over occasionally.
I might have noticed Declan wasn’t wearing all black today, for the first time since we met.
His fitted white T-shirt made the tattoos on his arms stand out even more, and I found myself itching to get a good look at them up close.
I spend so much time trying to avoid him when he’s near, I have no idea what the designs snaking up his arms even are.
“Their place was swamped today,” Cam says. “Olivia here was gnawing at the bars of her enclosure, just itching to get in there and get inked.”
“C’mon, not you too,” Olivia whines. “It was one little tattoo.”
“Ah, good times,” Ty says wistfully. He’d been with Olivia and Cam on their Vegas adventure, and the stories he tells from those couple days are hilarious.
Cam was an absolute goner for our girl even then, and I love hearing Ty talk about it.
There’s something extra special about seeing my best friend find her person, even if part of me thought she, Grace and I would always be each other’s in a way that nobody else could ever measure up to.
And we still are, in a way. She might have found her soulmate, but if there’s anything I learned from all those “Sex and the City” reruns we watched in high school, it’s that friends can be soulmates, too. Maybe in a different way, but equally important.
“Hey,” Grace says suddenly, her face lighting up. “Let’s ask the guys next door if they want to join us. They need to celebrate, too.”
“We don’t need to do that,” I say quickly. “They’re probably busy, anyway.”
Grace glances to the shop next door and everyone’s eyes follow.
Declan, Sean and another tattoo artist I haven’t met are all busy cleaning their work stations, while the guy who I think is their piercer sweeps the floor.
The woman I saw working the front desk is bagging up garbage at each of their stations.
“They’re not busy busy,” Grace says. “They’re just closing up for the day.”
“Let’s do it,” Ty says. “Might as well get friendly with your neighbors.”
“Oh, Elsie would love to get friendly with Declan,” Grace quips.
“Grace!” I can feel my cheeks flaming, burning even hotter under the weight of everyone’s stares.
“Alright, I’m going to need storytime immediately,” Ty says.
“I’ll fill you in while the girls go invite them to celebrate,” Cam says, grinning wickedly at me.
“Traitor,” I hiss at him while Grace grabs my arm, dragging me toward the door connecting our shops. Olivia trails behind us, laughing.
Grace knocks on the door twice and opens it partway. “Hello,” she calls out. She’s greeted with a chorus of “hey” and “what’s up.”
“Congrats on your opening day,” she says, stepping into the shop and tugging me along with her.
I suddenly feel like a preteen again, that weird time when you’re terrified to look your crush in the eye.
The days when you’d instant message them all night long, but god forbid they try to actually talk to you in person.