“Ah, my bad. Sorry, guys.” Garrett cringed at his realization of interrupting something. But was there something between Calvin and me, or was my fragile heart just making a fool of me? I had no idea. There were still so many pieces of myself I was trying to put back together.
Garrett continued talking, trying to walk past us. “I just need to take this out to the trash.”
“I can do it. I’m just heading out to see Melody,” I said, quickly taking the box with the broken vase from Garrett’s hands. “Please tell your grandma I’m really so sorry about this, I promise I’ll make it up to her.”
I quickly rushed out the door before either of them could say anything else. I was already shaken up; I didn’t also want to be late to meet with Melody.
After experiencing the torture of watching Stella walk away from me again, I stalked back into the kitchen on a fucking mission. Work would have to wait this morning.
“Sorry about the mess, Gram.” My tone softened as I took the wet towels from her to throw in the laundry.
“Oh, sweetie, this isn’t a mess,” Grandma Trixie responded, her voice just as consoling as her hand on mine. “The mess is whatever that girl is running away from.”
“We need to find out who sent those flowers,” I growled at Patrick. The feeling of jealousy I had for Stella receiving flowers quickly switched to a feeling of protectiveness because of her reaction. I didn’t know where these feelings were coming from, but they were too strong to fight so I just gave in. I didn’t often use the fact that my best friend was the head of the police force for my own benefit, but today I had no reservations.
He ran a hand through his dark, almost black, hair. “And do what, man? You’re not a cop. What are you going to do if you find out who sent them? There’s nothing against the law about sendingflowersto someone.”
“That wasn’t a normal reaction to someone receiving flowers,” I argued.
Logically, I knew he was right. But I wasn’t thinking logically right now. The only other time I had ever seen someone so terrified was when Melody came home from Vancouver. She hadn’t told us much, but what she did say—somemansent notes to her apartment, eventually progressing to pictures, making that the final straw to drop out of school and come home—was enough to make me want to kill someone.
“Melody,” Garrett whispered softly. He understood.
That caused Patrick to reconsider his thoughts, too, and the anger-charged atmosphere quickly dissipated into something much more somber. “Okay, we can go ask some questions, but there really isn’t much more we can do than have a conversation.”
“I know.” I breathed out a sigh. I knew it wouldn’t be much, but I was still grateful for his help.
Garrett’s hand clasped me on the shoulder, bringing my gaze to his. “I’ve got to head to work, but keep me in the loop, okay?” he said seriously, before his demeanor became playful once again and he gave me a good-natured shove. “You know I’m always willing and ready to throw down for my big bro!” he added, jumping back and forth with his fists up and ready to throw a punch.
I laughed and rolled my eyes at my brother’s successful attempt to lighten the mood as Patrick scoffed. “Probably shouldn’t talk about starting a fight in front of the chief of police.”
“Sorry, boys, that order was phoned in, it didn’t come from anyone local.” Gloria’s brows furrowed at the card written in her own handwriting. “They just said they wanted to surprise the new guest staying at the bed and breakfast, and because I talked with Trixie, I knew her name was Stella. But I’ll pull up the receipt, the payment information will have a name on it.”
“Thanks so much, Gloria. We really appreciate you going out of your way,” Patrick expressed our gratitude as I nodded along in agreement.
“Oh gosh, this isn’t out of my way, you silly boys. Especially not after you fixed up our deck this summer!” Gloria and her husband, Simon, were Grandma’s best friends, basically like an extra set of grandparents to us at this point. They owned Love in Bloom—Gloria’s pride and joy—and The Tool Box, the hardware shop across the street—which Simon ran.
Gloria’s green thumb was unmatched, growing plants that weren’t known to survive in our climate and making them thrive.The success of her store showed it, too. People travelled from all over Saskatchewan to place orders with Love in Bloom, where they were able to get unique flowers and colour variations they couldn’t get anywhere else. So it wasn’t unusual for Gloria to fulfill an order by phone.
“Goodness, this is strange.” Gloria came back out from her office, holding a receipt.
“What is it?” Impatience fueled me.
“The order was paid for with a prepaid credit card. They would’ve purchased it like any other gift card, so it doesn’t give me any information on who or where it came from.”
I clenched my fists and couldn’t stop the ringing in my ears.
“That’s okay, thanks for checking, ma’am,” Patrick responded while giving me a cautious side eye.
“Well, excuse me, mister, but I am not ma’am toyou.Now, why don’t you go ahead and tell me what this is all about?” As kind as she was, no one messed with Gloria when she meantbusiness. I think that was why she and Grandma got along so well, they were two peas in the same pod. But where you’d see my grandma wearing bright colours, Gloria wore neutrals and browns. “To hide the dirt” she would say.
“A friend received those flowers, and I don’t think they were a welcomed gift,” I explained. “Could you please let us know—or well…let Patrick know if any other orders like that come in?”
A knowing smile graced Gloria’s face for a moment before she once again responded with absolute certainty. “You can count on it.”
“Thank you, Gloria.”
“A friend, hey?” Patrick nudged me playfully as we left Gloria’s flower shop to walk the block back to the police station where I parked my truck. “It’s about time you started making friends likethat.”
