“No, this is not what I ordered,” the woman with short bleached-blonde hair said. She wore a sleek pencil skirt and heels. “I asked fordeep blueirises. These are light blue at best.”
Mildred straightened, a lock of black hair falling into her eyes. “Ma’am, this is all that was available, and they look deep blue to me.”
“Are you saying I’m lying?”
Clara peeked around the woman to see the most beautiful bouquet of irises she’d ever seen. And yes, they were most definitely a deep blue color.
The customer crossed her arms. “I’m not buying those.”
Annoyance flared in Mildred’s eyes. “Ma’am, I ordered these for you.”
“Well, you should have ordered the right ones.” Then the woman turned and stormed out, her shoulder brushing against Clara’s.
Jesus. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
Mildred sighed and slid the bunch behind the counter. It was the first time Clara had seen the woman without a smile on her face.
“I’ll take them.”
Mildred’s brows rose. “Oh, Clara, you don’t need to do that. You like peonies.”
“No, I like beautiful flowers that smell nice, and that bouquet fits the bill.”
The smile returned to Mildred’s face. “I’ll discount them for you.”
“You absolutely will not. They look like they’re worth a lot. I’ll pay whatever she was going to pay.”
Mildred chuckled. “I won’t let you do that. But I will wrap them up for you.”
Clara looked over to the board to see Mildred’s flower joke of the week.
Why did the tulip refuse to speak to the daisy? It was a little stalk-y.
Clara grinned.Thiswas why she loved her town. Because ninety-nine percent of locals were Mildreds and not whoever that rude customer had been.
Mildred turned. “Here you go. Oh, and Jesse came in the other day to buy your mom some flowers.”
“He’s always showing me and Becket up.” She was half joking, of course. She reached across with her credit card to pay.
Mildred leaned forward and lowered her voice, even though there was no one else in the store. “He was with that cute friend of his.”
Her skin tingled. She was talking about Holden.
Holden, who now lived in Amber Ridge.
Holden, the man she’d once declared her love and in front of whom she now became a nervous wreck.
“Really?” That was good. She kind of sounded unaffected.
“Mm-hmm. I would mention that your brother’s cute too, but—”
“Nope. Don’t do that. As their sister, it is my duty to profusely deny either of my big brothers being even mildly hot.”
“Well, they’re both madly in love and off the market now anyway.”
It was true. In the last few months, Jesse had found Aspen, and Becket had found both Sky and Bella. Bella being the Chinese Crested dog they’d adopted. Which was a surprise in itself, seeing as Becket hated dogs.
“Here you go.”
