She gaped like a fish before her face turned bright red. “This is appalling treatment! I’ll tell everyone what you’re really like. You just wait.”
“And we will put a sign on the door with a picture of your face on it to warn other local proprietors away from your scams.”
I winced but didn’t interfere.
The woman paled. She took a step backward. “You wouldn’t.”
Ash crossed his arms over his chest. “I certainly would. In fact, I bet if I went out right now and asked around about you, I’d find at least two other businesses tired of seeing you come into their shop, too.”
Her eyes slid my way, her face taking on a beseeching look.
She’d get no help from our corner. I hardened my expression and stayed silent.
“Fine,” she snarled. “Wait until you see my online review.”
“Oh no,” Ash said with mock horror. “Wait until you see our rebuttal.”
Moira covered her face but couldn’t stop the sound of her snicker.
The woman turned on her heel and sailed out the door, two spots of color high on her cheeks. Ash’s shoulders slumped.
I walked over to him and slipped my arm around his waist, giving him a gentle squeeze. “She deserved it.”
“Yeah,” he said with a sigh.
“You alright?”
“I’m fine,” he mumbled. “Mostly annoyed.”
I studied his face, the tight jaw and tired eyes. Concern flared in me. I’d seen Ash tired, but never at this level of bone-deep exhaustion. “Need a break?”
“No, but I may work in the back for a while if you don’t mind.” He relaxed a bit and leaned into my embrace. “How are you?”
“I’m good. How about you head there, and I’ll make you some tea?”
“Don’t bring me anything without milk and sugar,” he said with a shudder.
“I did that one time,” I groaned.
“And may you never live it down.” He scooted out of my embrace and headed to the back. Moira’s eyes trailed him until he disappeared behind the doors.
“You think he’s okay?” she asked.
“He will be.”
“He’s better than he was. Things with him and Tess are close to normal again.” Their breakup wasn’t as disastrous as it could have been, but Ash had taken it much harder than Tess, resulting in some disruptions for the shop, and to our interpersonal relationships. We were slowly getting back on track, though I doubted Ash and Tess would ever fully recover the friendship they had before.
“Maybe he’s lonely.”
Moira uncrossed her lean, slender legs and rose, stretching and yawning. “I’ll check on him in a little while. In the meantime, I’ll drop off Hattie’s delivery.”
We upped our game for her regular order. This week’s bouquet was a red, white, and green extravaganza, complete with glitter, bells, and candy canes. “Think it will give her a heart attack?”
“Nah,” she said with a laugh. “Hattie is a feisty thing. I don’t think anything we did would be too outrageous for her.”
“Good.” Hattie was a spry elderly woman and one of our favorite regulars. She had a standing weekly order for seasonal flowers, with the instruction to be as creative as we wanted. Keeping in mind her age and the style of her house, we dialed our antics down some, but we always made sure we went for creativity and flair.
Hattie had never made a single complaint. The opposite, in fact.
