“No, no. We’re just stopping in. My Sunny darling here was captivated by your florals outside and wanted to come in.” He gestures to me, still standing in confusion.
“Oh, Sunny! How wonderful to meet you!” She wraps her arms around me. “I’m Leslie.”
“It’s very nice to meet you,” I laugh in her neck.
“I’m so glad business is doing well. Even better that it’s everything you wanted,” says Tyler.
“Oh no, honey. It’s somuchmore because of you. More than I ever could’ve imagined.” She looks at me. “Tyler here is a dream maker, I swear. He’s been buying arrangements from me for years. I’d been working out of my home and selling my arrangements on the streets. He was a regular weekly, and offered up a business deal with me. And I’d barely call it that. His only requirement is that I continue to make his mother and sisters bouquets. An angel sent to me.”
He kneads a hand behind his neck while clutching his coffee in the other, that crooked smile still present. It’s a rare occasion to see a humbled Tyler. I don’t think this is a version he likes people to see, but he’s letting me.
“I did nothing, Leslie. You did all this. You are the creator behind the art. I was just a customer who knew you could do big things.”
“You are a miracle worker! Okay, I have to get back behind the counter, but please say bye before you leave! And don’t forget to get this pretty girl something! I really hope to see you here again soon, Sunny.” She gives me a genuine smile, squeezes my arm, and finds her place back behind the counter.
“Wait, so you helped her open this place?” I ask, looking at him.
“Kind of. She was the brains, and I was just the financial avenue to get her there.” Taking a sip of his coffee, he walks around the shop examining the florals.
“I never pictured Mitchell contracting a small business like this.”
“He wouldn’t. So that’s why I do. I try to give people a shot.Small businesses like this deserve the same chance as the big ones. We all start somewhere.”
“So, you do this? You help people open their small businesses without Mitchell knowing?” I clarify.
He’s picking and prodding through the array of flowers. “It’s really not that big a deal.”
“Tyler,” I stand next to him, meeting his face. “You are making people who have dreams become their reality. You are helping people who would never have had the help in the first place.”
How many more small businesses in the city has he helped?
“I’m just doing my job, Sunny. Investing, contracting.” He plucks a sunflower from a bunch.
“With nothing in return,” I add.
He’s trying to push aside this part of him to minimize such an incredible thing. The predator trampling the human. The darkness over taking the light. The one time he chooses to be humble, when normally he is kind of a cocky bastard.
“That’s not true. I have my stipulations. Like Leslie not forgetting about me when she becomes a famous wedding florist.” He smiles, handing me the sunflower.
Looking at it, I blink up at him. He’s watching me but it’s different now, somehow. I can’t quite put my finger on what exactly those eyes say.Admiration. I take the sunflower.
“Oh, and the smiles on people’s faces. That’s the best part,” he says with a wink and turns around, walking through the aisles of flowers.
“And how many do you do? Like, do you have a goal?”
“I try to aim for one or two a week. Sometimes more. Sometimes less. It all depends on who I meet, and if my other contracts are too consuming or not. These are the ones I actually care about. The ones that actually mean something.”
“Show me more.”
It’s funny, seeing a man like him prowl through the aisles offlowers. Darkness among light. The black thermal that clings to his body in all the best ways as proof he seems so out of place.
He turns around with a smile. “Like Italian food?”
“I love it.”
“Perfect. I’ll take you to Leo’s. We’re opening his second restaurant soon.”
“You know, recent scientific studies show that supporting small businesses makes your penis bigger,” I joke.
