Leah hesitated, seeming to wrestle with herself for a long moment. “I’m recently divorced. My husband…ex-husband, is a wealthy real estate developer. Nine years of marriage left me with an amazing wardrobe, an old bomb of a car and just enough money to buy Henderson’s shack. Honestly, I’m not that fancy, but I do love clothes.”
“That sucks. The husband bit I mean, not the clothes,” Mikayla said with a frown.
“It sure does. But I’ll be okay. I’m planning to do up the shack. I’ve got a bit of experience with that sort of thing, although I’ve never done it on a shoestring budget, but it’ll be fun.”
“Good on you!” Mikayla reached across and rubbed her hand on Leah’s shoulder.
“Thanks.”
Mikayla grabbed her wineglass and raising it in the air, grinned at them both. “Come on girls, a toast. You too, Billy.” Billy reached for his juice cup and held it high. “To Leah!”
“To Leah!”
“Oh, wow, thanks.” Leah smiled shyly before taking a sip of wine.
At that moment, the front door buzzed again. “I’ve got to go get that. Leah, keep going with those flowers. Mikayla…have a snack.”
“Right you are,” Mikayla responded, reaching for the cheese knife. “Cracker, Leah?”
“Sure, thanks.”
Juniper pushed the beaded curtain aside and stepped into the shop.
“William! Hi!”
“Hi.”
His presence seemed to suck up all the air in the room, leaving her breathless. “I, ah…”
“This is a great shop you’ve got here.”
“Oh, ah, thanks.” She couldn’t seem to gather her scattered wits enough to form a coherent sentence.
“I’m wondering if you can help me. I’m looking for a gift.”
“A gift?”
“Yes, for my mother.”
“Your mother?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, right. Okay.” She moved behind the counter, hoping to put some space between them, to calm her suddenly frazzled nerves. She felt warm all over, and her heart was stuttering uncomfortably.
He smiled at her, causing the stutter to turn into a heavy beat. His warm brown eyes surveyed her, with a glint of amusement lurking there. “You okay?”
“Me? Yeah, sure. Of course.” She was not okay. He was too gorgeous for words and he was taking up a lot of space in her small shop. “You’re welcome to take a look around.” She waved her hand, gesturing vaguely to the shelving that lined the side wall of the shop.
“Great. Thanks.” He moved to a display cabinet of ceramic bowls, picking up one in a deep sapphire blue and turning it in his hands.He studied it for what seemed to Juniper an unnecessarily long time. “You’re very good at this.”
His comment took her by surprise. She was good at it, had worked very hard to become so, but she hadn’t expected him to recognize that fact. “Yes.”
He looked up at her, assessing her for a moment. “It’s for her birthday.”
“Sorry?”
“The gift. For my mother. It’s for her birthday.”
