“Yes, and she’s taking over the shop!” she says excitedly.
The girls smile and clap. “That’s wonderful Francesca, what are you doing?” The other woman asks.
“Well, Ms. Gracie, Leo and I are retiring. We’re moving to Florida. We’ll be back periodically to visit, but it’s time for us to be old people for once.”
June scoffs. “Auntie F, you don’t look a day over thirty-five.”
My aunt throws her head back and laughs. “You’re just buttering me up. Build whatever you want, on the house,” she says and hugs Gracie and June.
“Mae can help you!” she says and goes back to the back.
Too stunned to talk and not sure that giving away free flowers was a good business decision, I smile because I think that’s my only option.
Gracie smiles and June chuckles. “Your aunt is a character.”
“That she is. Let me know if you need anything,” I tell them.
They mosey to the coolers, picking out the flowers they want out of the ones we do have, which are mostly roses, baby's breath, some marigolds, and other random flowers.
When they’re done, they come to the counter. “Can we grab some ribbon?” June asks.
I hand them the spool and some scissors.
“Hey, so Gracie and I and some other people are going out tonight. Do you want to come?” June asks.
I stare at her. I’m overwhelmed to the point of being nearly frozen.
“Honey, you’ve got that deer in the headlights look about you, which tells me you’re deeply overwhelmed or you’re not sure what to do about the fact Grace Goodwin is staring at you,” June says.
I gasp. “That’s how I recognize you.” She’s a major country star.
She smiles shyly and lifts a shoulder. “Here I’m simply Gracie Goodwin, June Bug’s best friend.”
“So, what do you say? Want to come? Let loose a little?” she asks.
“We’re a lot of fun,” Gracie says.
I snort and my eyes widen.
They both giggle.
“No pressure. We’ll be at the Wooden Cowboy at 8. Dancing usually kicks up right around then, okay?”
“Uh, yeah, okay,” I tell them.
“Really?” June says with a wide grin.
I don’t know why I agree, but why not?
“A drink sounds great. I just found out I’ll be living here for at least a year. I’d like to make some friends.”
“Awesome! We’ll see you then! And don’t worry about drinking too much. We can have one of the boys bring you home. Everyone knows where the Crawfords live,” June says.
“Sounds good, but I’m not much of a drinker.”
Gracie and June look at each other. “I have a feeling we’re going to have aCoyote Uglykind of night,” Gracie says.
June chuckles. “Yeah, I can see it.”
