down to choosing between Will and Maya again…no…it wouldn’t come to that again, would it?
Shit.
Of course it would.
“What do you say, Jack?” Stella’s voice dragged her face back into focus. A weak smile twitched against her mouth as her gray eyes searched his face. “Can you give us a chance? For Will’s sake?”
“ ’Course.” He finally nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Thank God,” she gushed. “Because if it came down to a choice between you and me, I’m not entirely sure I’d still be standing here tomorrow.”
She was right on that, Jack mused, because as stupid as it was, Will actually believed the whole “bros before hos” thing.
Chapter 4
“Pivot! Pivot! Pivot!”
Ross Geller,
Friends,
“The One with the Cop”
The Stalk Market, halfway down Main Street, was tucked between a café with a cactus painted on the window and a barbershop complete with the spinning red, white, and blue pole.
An old metal trolley covered in all sorts of different flower arrangements, each one in a different kind of vase, none of which was regular old glass, stood outside Maya’s shop. There were arrangements in pieces of hollowed-out birch branches; a couple were wrapped up in burlap and ribbon, and the one with the yellow roses and funky twigs was set inside a big bird nest.
How the hell did she come up with these ideas?
Jack stepped through the open door just as Snip came out from the back room looking even prettier than she had the other night. Her blond hair hung loose over her shoulders, the front bit held back by one of those little metal clips, and her blue eyes, deep in concentration as she stared down at the bunch of greenery in her hand, sparkled when she looked up at him.
And that smile…
Whew
.
It made him stupid. Plain and simple, that’s what it did, every single time.
“Hey, Snip.”
“You’re early. I thought we said five-thirty.”
“We did, but I, uh…” Clearing his throat, Jack took a couple steps closer, bumped the corner of a display, and had to scramble to save half a dozen ceramic mushrooms from crashing to the floor.
Laughing quietly, she hurried over to help, then took the ones he’d caught and set them all up again. “I still need to close up; can you give me a couple minutes?”
“Yeah. I’ll just…hang out.” Hang out, right. Like he hadn’t been doing that all day at the hotel, hanging out and counting down the minutes.
“Where’s Pete?”
“In the Jeep. Top’s down, so he’s all right.”
“I wonder if he’ll remember me.” Frowning over that, she headed back to the counter to answer the ringing phone. “Thank you for calling The Stalk Market, this is Maya.”
While she took the order, Jack wandered around the shop, making sure he kept a good distance from anything else that might tip.
The back half of the south wall was a massive cooler filled with all sorts of flowers; the roses and carnations he could pick out, but most of the other stuff was a complete mystery. And who knew roses came in so many colors?
The store itself was full of bright and colorful arrangements, crazy-looking cacti, and all sorts of knickknack things like garden ornaments and…
really?
…mesh bags filled with rocks. Sure, they were all clean and smooth and they looked good over in that glass vase with the bamboo stalk, but they were still just rocks, and he couldn’t imagine buying them when he could walk down to the river and get them for free.
All the shelving and display tables had been made from old pallets she’d found and refinished herself. He remembered Will saying it would look dumpy, but it didn’t; it gave the place a cool kind of rustic look that seemed to blend in perfectly with the rest of the store.
Maya stood behind the counter surrounded by what Jack would only describe as an explosion of creativity. Her work table lay buried under plant clippings, flower petals, scraps of thick brown paper, plastic sticks, a couple stalks of
Shit.
Of course it would.
“What do you say, Jack?” Stella’s voice dragged her face back into focus. A weak smile twitched against her mouth as her gray eyes searched his face. “Can you give us a chance? For Will’s sake?”
“ ’Course.” He finally nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Thank God,” she gushed. “Because if it came down to a choice between you and me, I’m not entirely sure I’d still be standing here tomorrow.”
She was right on that, Jack mused, because as stupid as it was, Will actually believed the whole “bros before hos” thing.
Chapter 4
“Pivot! Pivot! Pivot!”
Ross Geller,
Friends,
“The One with the Cop”
The Stalk Market, halfway down Main Street, was tucked between a café with a cactus painted on the window and a barbershop complete with the spinning red, white, and blue pole.
An old metal trolley covered in all sorts of different flower arrangements, each one in a different kind of vase, none of which was regular old glass, stood outside Maya’s shop. There were arrangements in pieces of hollowed-out birch branches; a couple were wrapped up in burlap and ribbon, and the one with the yellow roses and funky twigs was set inside a big bird nest.
How the hell did she come up with these ideas?
Jack stepped through the open door just as Snip came out from the back room looking even prettier than she had the other night. Her blond hair hung loose over her shoulders, the front bit held back by one of those little metal clips, and her blue eyes, deep in concentration as she stared down at the bunch of greenery in her hand, sparkled when she looked up at him.
And that smile…
Whew
.
It made him stupid. Plain and simple, that’s what it did, every single time.
“Hey, Snip.”
“You’re early. I thought we said five-thirty.”
“We did, but I, uh…” Clearing his throat, Jack took a couple steps closer, bumped the corner of a display, and had to scramble to save half a dozen ceramic mushrooms from crashing to the floor.
Laughing quietly, she hurried over to help, then took the ones he’d caught and set them all up again. “I still need to close up; can you give me a couple minutes?”
“Yeah. I’ll just…hang out.” Hang out, right. Like he hadn’t been doing that all day at the hotel, hanging out and counting down the minutes.
“Where’s Pete?”
“In the Jeep. Top’s down, so he’s all right.”
“I wonder if he’ll remember me.” Frowning over that, she headed back to the counter to answer the ringing phone. “Thank you for calling The Stalk Market, this is Maya.”
While she took the order, Jack wandered around the shop, making sure he kept a good distance from anything else that might tip.
The back half of the south wall was a massive cooler filled with all sorts of flowers; the roses and carnations he could pick out, but most of the other stuff was a complete mystery. And who knew roses came in so many colors?
The store itself was full of bright and colorful arrangements, crazy-looking cacti, and all sorts of knickknack things like garden ornaments and…
really?
…mesh bags filled with rocks. Sure, they were all clean and smooth and they looked good over in that glass vase with the bamboo stalk, but they were still just rocks, and he couldn’t imagine buying them when he could walk down to the river and get them for free.
All the shelving and display tables had been made from old pallets she’d found and refinished herself. He remembered Will saying it would look dumpy, but it didn’t; it gave the place a cool kind of rustic look that seemed to blend in perfectly with the rest of the store.
Maya stood behind the counter surrounded by what Jack would only describe as an explosion of creativity. Her work table lay buried under plant clippings, flower petals, scraps of thick brown paper, plastic sticks, a couple stalks of
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