“It’s about time we finally had ourselves a flower shop out here in the country,” said a lovely blonde, perhaps sixty, wearing a tan suede jacket with fringe, a tan cowboy hat, and tan cowboy boots to match. A cold breeze blew in as she shut the door. “Welcome, Pretty Petals!”
“This shop is so beautiful!” the gray-haired lady with her, clad in denim, gushed with a smile as she gazed here and there around the shop full of delights and goodies.
“Yes, leave it to Triple C Ranch to do things up right,” the first woman said and smiled at Charley. “My name is Henrietta Culpepper. I go by Henri.”
“I’m Charlotte Cooper, and I go by Charley,” she said, walking to them and extending her hand. They all shook hands, and the second woman introduced herself as Gloria Roberts.
Henri said, “Your signs readTriple C Ranch-SouthandPretty Petals. Since your last name is Cooper, I take it you’re family to Chase, Chloe, and Cash.”
“Yes,” Charley said. “Clarence Cooper was my father.”
“Clarence was a good man,” Henri said as Gloria nodded her agreement.
“All of the Coopers rank high with my husband and me,” Gloria commented.
Charley belatedly noticed Leon lurking nearby and figured he felt out of place. Turning to include him, she said, “This is my friend, Leon, who stopped by to wish me well on my grandopening.” She thought that might be a subtle hint to Leon that she was serious about not expecting him to work in her shop now that she was located out in the country.
“I worked for Charley in her Old Colorado City shop,” Leon said, by way of introducing himself. “Now, I’ll be getting some fresh country air.”
“You let me know if the drive gets to be too much for Leon,” Henri said. “Because I live down the road past the ranch owned by that handsome devil, Owen Custis, and I would enjoy helping out anytime, Charley.”
“Thank you, Henri.” Charley smiled. “Be sure to leave me your phone number.”
Charley invited the ladies to browse just as Chase, Jade, their kids, and Carly entered the shop. The Coopers knew Henri and Gloria and chatting ensued. Henri and Gloria said they were planning on lunch at Coopers’ Lodge and asked if Cash and Tracy’s baby had been born.
Sully! Charley had forgotten to text Sully about baby boy Dalton Cooper. She pulled out her phone just as he walked in the door. He’d taken Wyatt to the gun store with him, and the puppy bounded into the flower shop beside him. Sully smiled across the shop at her and shook hands with Chase. Charley noticed a slight frown replacing the smile on Sully’s handsome face upon seeing Leon. Colton, Courtney, and Carly were thrilled to meet the puppy, and Charley smiled at the sweet children. When her eyes met Sully’s green ones again, he winked at her. She saw that he had a brown bag in his hand as he walked around the screens to the kitchen.
“I can’t wait to see the new baby,” Charley agreed with Jade, who had said they had heard from Cash.
“You can each pick out one thing,” Chase said to the three children.
As the adults visited back and forth, the kids busily looked at the endless Christmas items on display. Leon, however, slunk into a corner. Colton soon found a ceramic Santa riding a horse, Courtney picked out a Christmas cactus in a flowerpot shaped like a cat wearing a Santa hat, and Carly knocked over a small, potted Christmas tree on the floor.
“Watch out, rugrat!” Leon shrilled, stomping out of the corner toward the child.
“Leon!” Charley snapped. She hurried to Carly, whose little chin quivered and assured her, “It’s okay, sweetheart.” Charley noticed Leon had stopped abruptly, most likely because both Chase and Sully were scowling at him as Jade made her way to the small tree lying on its side. Charley ignored the tree and scooped up Carly with a smile. “Carly, sweetheart, what is your favorite thing in the whole shop?” Charley asked as Jade easily returned the undamaged tree to its upright position.
“Reindeer,” Carly said and pointed to the plush toy, with a red nose and a red bow to match, on the display table right above the tree she’d accidentally knocked over.
“Rudolph would love to go home with you,” Charley said, and picking up the reindeer, handed the soft, furry toy to little Carly. Carly hugged Rudolph to her heart and smiled.
“Let’s settle up with Charley and grab some lunch at the Lodge,” Chase said.
Charley tried to wave them out of the store with their items bestowed as gifts. But Chase nor Jade would hear of it. Not charging them for Rudolph, Charley gave them the Cooper family discount for the other two items. Chase cocked a knowing brow over the discount, but peeled off several bills and handed her the payment. Charley thanked and hugged them. Sully opened the door for them, giving Colton a fist bump and Chase a clap on the back. When Sully shut the door and turned, Charley was behind the counter ringing up sales of red, pink, and whitepoinsettias to Henri and Gloria, but she didn’t miss the glare he directed at Leon.
“Sully, please say hello to your father from Henri,” Henrietta Culpepper said with two red poinsettias in hand as she stopped near the front door. Charley was right behind her, carrying two white poinsettias she had also purchased. “In fact, you tell that handsome devil to stop by my house and I’ll make him a fancy cocoa hot toddy.”
“Will do, Henri,” Sully chuckled. “Let me help you ladies to your car,” he offered and took the poinsettias from Charley. He escorted Henri and Gloria, who was carrying two pink poinsettias, out to Henri’s SUV. Wyatt followed Sully and stayed close to him as Sully helped the ladies carefully place the plants in the back of the vehicle. From the porch, Charley waved goodbye to the sweet ladies and then called Wyatt. When Sully came back into the shop, Charley closed the front door behind him and the puppy. “I brought us a hot lunch.”
“I’m starved,” Charley admitted.
As to why Sully hadn’t brought something for Leon, he said, “I wasn’t expecting to see you here, Lerfeld.”
“That’s the consensus,” Leon mumbled, sulking in a corner of the shop.
Sully strode down the middle of the shop, turned back to Leon, and said, “Feel free to take off, I’m going to help Charley the rest of the afternoon.”
“Oh.” Leon was clearly shocked.
