"Understood, sir."
Viktor drives us to a small cafe near Iris's building and I carry a sleepy Anya inside where we settle into a booth by the window. She perks up a little when I order her a hot chocolate with extra whipped cream, and she sips it slowly while watching the people walk by outside.
"Papa," she says. "Is it almost time to get Mama?"
I check my watch. "Almost, we have fifteen more minutes."
"Good." She takes another sip of her hot chocolate. "I miss Mama."
"Me too, princess."
Viktor returns and parks outside the cafe, and when the clock hits 4 PM I scoop Anya up and carry her across the street to Iris's office building.
Time to pick up my wife.
Author’s Note:
This chapter is written in third person because honestly, it was just too fun not to. I couldn’t resist showing you the chaos from Pavel’s perspective. Don’t worry, we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming soon.
CHAPTER 5
DAY ONE
The delivery driver named Pavel had been working for the flower shop for three years and he had seen many orders come and go, but he had never seen an order quite like this one.
One hundred yellow roses, fifty sunflowers, and thirty pink peonies, arranged in ceramic vases of varying sizes, for delivery to a law office on the fourth floor of a building downtown.
Simple enough.
He loaded the flowers into his van and drove to the address, and when he arrived he carried the first batch of vases through the front entrance where a security guard barely glanced at him before waving him through.
“Delivery for Iris Ivanovich,” Pavel said to the receptionist on the fourth floor.
The receptionist’s eyes went wide at the sight of the flowers. “Oh my God, those are beautiful, let me show you to her office.”
She led him down a hallway to a corner office where a redheaded woman sat behind a desk covered in papers and files, and when she looked up and saw the flowers her mouth fell open.
“What is this?” she asked.
“Delivery for you, ma’am,” Pavel said while setting down the first vase on her desk. “There’s more in the van.”
“More?”
By the time Pavel finished bringing up the last of the vases, Iris Ivanovich’s office looked like a garden had exploded inside it.Flowers covered her desk, her windowsill, her bookshelf, and a small table in the corner.
“Who sent these?” she asked while pulling the card from one of the arrangements.
She read it and laughed, shaking her head with a smile on her face.
“That man,” she muttered to herself. “That ridiculous man.”
Pavel left feeling good about his job.
This was going to be an easy week.
DAY TWO
One hundred and fifty roses, fifty sunflowers, and thirty pink peonies.
