CHAPTER 1
“Romance is dead, and so is chivalry.”
Valentina Compton watched as her sister rolled her eyes, sighing heavily at her. She stomped her way around the small stock room of their flower shop,Three Blossom Haven.
“He boughttwo bouquets,” she grated out, rounding on Noelle. “And we’re just supposed to ignore the fact that one is for his wife and the other is for his secretary?”
“Val,” Noelle groaned, setting the floral scissors down with a metallic thunk on the counter in front of her. “Calvin Jons has bought two bouquets every Valentine’s Day for the last ten years. His secretary is twenty years his senior and he and his wife just celebrated their seventeenth wedding anniversary.”
“I don’t need you to use logic on me, Noelle,” she snapped, stomping over to the giant wall of refrigerated coolers that housed thousands of florals. Grabbing out a dozen red roses and a handful of bright pink peonies, she brought them back over to the counter, standing opposite her sister. “I still think it’s suspicious.”
Rolling her eyes again, Noelle went back to arranging abouquet of deep red, blush pink, and white roses, gathering them together with sprigs of baby’s breath and eucalyptus.
“Just because you’re on a man hating journey doesn’t make every man a douche bag,” she muttered, giving her a side eye as they worked. Noelle’s dark hair was pulled up into a high, messy topknot, an elastic headband keeping her flyaways away from her face. Purple shadows rimmed her dark green eyes, a testament to the little sleep she’d gotten the night before. Neither one of them had slept more than a couple hours. Her own eyes felt gritty from lack of sleep… and crying.
“Yeah, well, I’m not in a very generous mood right now,” Val mumbled bitterly, slicing into the peonies. The soft tinkling of a bell could be heard from the front, as a new customer walked in.
Noelle reached out her hand and covered hers, stilling her hand. She squeezed gently, which made Val raise her eyes to hers finally. “It’s his loss, you know that right?”
Val rolled her eyes. “Don’t start with the ‘he didn’t deserve you’ and ‘he didn’t know what he had’ bullshit, please. Right now, I just want to wallow in self-pity at being dumped the night before Valentine’s Day and hate on every single man that walks through those doors to buy flowers and chocolates. Can you let me have that, please?”
“Okay, but just back here. I expect to see a big ol smile on your face if you’re in front of a customer. Got it?” Noelle said sternly, but a smile tugged at her mouth. “As soon as they walk back out the door, you’re welcome to do all the man hating your little heart can hold.”
“Deal.”
Val turned as their youngest sister, Willow, breezed through the stock room door from the front, heading for the cooler. Her long blonde hair fell over her shoulder as she leaned down to peer into the glass door, a large red satin bow tied up where her hair was pulled into a half ponytail in celebration of the holiday. Valentine’s Day was usually Val’s favorite day of the year; howcould it not be her favorite with a name likeValentina, but today seemed like a cosmic slap in the face. “Is Ethan Harris’ bouquet ready? He’s here.”
Val pointed with the scissors toward one side of the giant cooler. “Second shelf, third on the right. The blue butterfly orchid.” Spinning around, she checked the list behind her, then called over her shoulder, “And he gets a chocolate covered strawberry bouquet, too.”
“Got it!” Willow called back as she breezed back toward the front, the gorgeous blue orchid in her hands. They could hear her from the front, her voice carrying as she laughed and spoke with the customer at the counter.
Val looked around the stock room, filled to the brim with all things Valentine’s Day. Helium filled heart balloons, thousands of roses in every shade of pink and red imaginable. Along the other wall, an assortment of glass and crystal vases were stacked on shelves. She and her sisters had inherited the small-town flower shop from their Aunt Jackie when she retired the year before and had rebranded it to represent the three sisters. This was their first Valentine’s Day as the new owners. Anxiety over failing in their first big holiday had kept Val awake for two days straight… and the fact she’d been dumped the night before.
Thank the lord for triple espressos.
The bell tinkled again, followed by another jingle seconds later, and a male voice called through the stock room door, “Ladies! I come bearing gifts!”
And thank the lord for longtime family friends coming in clutch with coffee and muffins from the coffee shop next door.
Theo Collins strolled through the stockroom door, a recyclable drink carrier in one hand laden with cups of coffee, and a brown paper sack in the other. Stepping forward, he set both on the counter between herself and Noelle with a flourish.
“Beau sent me over with these, said he saw your light on at about two this morning,” he said and smiled at her.
“Your brother is a saint,” Val sighed with a smile and plucked the coffee with a V on the lid, taking a deep swallow of the triple espresso Americano. “I’m so tired I could sleep for a week. Tell him thank you for us.”
Theo stood next to Noelle, their shoulders almost touching. He was tall and thin, built like a basketball player with long legs and narrow hips encased in jeans. Strong shoulders were hidden beneath a red and blue flannel shirt and a quilted gray vest that was left open. A gray ball cap covered his blonde head, the long ends sticking out from the bottom where they curled at his nape.
The Compton’s and the Collins’ had grown up next door to each other. Beau was the oldest at thirty-nine, several years older than herself, with her thirty-third birthday in two weeks. Theo and Noelle stuck in the middle, both twenty-nine, with Willow bringing up the caboose as the youngest at twenty-four. Theo and Noelle had been in the same class since kindergarten.
“You know he’s going to send over lunch later if you three don’t take a break by this afternoon,” he said, picking up a sprig of baby’s breath and rolling it between his fingers before Noelle snatched it out of his hand. He flicked the end of her nose, and she stuck her tongue out at him. “Don’t make him go all ‘big brother’ on you girls.”
“I promise we will head over for lunch,” Noelle promised.
“I’m not hungry.”
Theo pinned her with a stare. “That sounded more like ‘I’d rather gargle shards of glass’ than a simple ‘I’m not hungry’.”
Val shrugged, taking another drink of her coffee.
