Close Your Eyes (25 page)

S
he looked at the heap of her party clothes lying crumpled on the bathroom floor. The blue dress that she had picked with so much care
in the
hopes
of
impress
ing
the
Harper
s would be
forever
linked to the horrid events
. S
he doubted she’d ever wear it again.

‘Well, you must know what you’re doing
.’ H
er mom shrugged, her beautiful
face
carefully composed into a mask of indifference. She could have fooled anyone but
Meg, who knew
how anxious her
mother
was to have her and Ry
an
together.

‘I do, really
.
’
She
smiled, dying to escape to her florist’s shop
, the
only place
that would
keep her sane at the moment
. S
he
’d come
to embrace
the comforting predictability of her
shop
duties
after
tense exchanges with her mother. It didn’t
m
att
er if the world
would
consider her insane for going there at such ungodly hour
and after such a turbulent evening.
It was her choice
,
after all, and there was always someth
ing to be done, especially with
Jenna
being preoccupied with her boyfriend.

Nothing a few hours of accounting and order sorting
won’t
solve
,
s
he thought half an hour later as she hopped
o
nto her
sport bike
and
rode
off, leaving her mom extremely dissatisfied
,
yet unable to
stop her
.

The store welcomed her like an old acquaintance
. T
he familiar settings and the
perpetually lingering
scent of flowers
were
pleasantly reassuring. She looked around, taking in the
somewhat
austere interior, and recalled
how
Jenna
had
tried to convince her to give it a
more
boutique-
like flair. They
had
actually almost got
ten
in
to a fight
about the decorating; it would have been the
first and only fight in the years of friendship they had shared.
Jenna
lamented that they would scare off any potential customers if they kept the décor to the bare minimum.
People expected a florist’s shop to be pleasant, and that
definitely involved more than what
Meg
had in mind. Still, in one of those rare moments of stubbornness, she persevered and put her foot down, winning the battle.

Flowers and arrangements should speak for themselves
without fluffing them up
with gaudy trinkets
or
fancy furniture. There were enough places like that already, where buying flowers came with the whole experience of healing crystals, dream catchers, candles
,
and
G
od knew what else. And if someone needed grandmother’s furniture, there was plenty of it out there, without them needing to
have
oversized sofas, flowery patterns
,
and lace lurking in every corner. They would stick to flowers, offering the best and the simplest, unless specifically asked for something more posh.

So the display room remained simple
:
the white walls, pale birch
-
colored floor
,
and
the
glass and chrome cabinets serv
ed
as unobtrusive accessories
that accentuated the artistry of the flower displays
. Flowers were their business, and flowers ruled the place, as
Meg
liked to say.
The gamble seemed to have paid off,
and after a slow start,
more and more satisfied customers
were
recommending them and their shop every day.

Meg
started
her computer, the screen buzzing to life
to display the
lush, tropical
screen saver
. The bell rang
unexpectedly, shattering the pleasant silence
.
Startled
,
she looked up, wondering
who
it could
be. It was late
,
and there was no way in hell it could be
Jenna
. Ever since hooking up with Eric
,
Jenna
had definitely given up
any work
after seven
p.m.
H
er evenings
were
generally filled
with their dates.

For a second
,
Meg
was
tempted to just ignore it
and wait
out whoever was trying to reach her. After all, maybe it was just a prank, some of those teenage kids riding their skateboards up and down the street.
On the way to the shop, s
he
had
passed a whole bunch of them
,
still hanging out around the little late
-
hour milkshake place just around the corner. They must have noticed her
bike
parked just outside the store and figured they might just as well
taunt the solitary woman
.

The bell r
a
ng again
,
and she sighed, rising to her feet and walking over to the glass door. She felt quite safe doing so
. T
he
break-
proof glass and alarm settings
made
it impossible for anyone to get in if
she didn’t want them
to
.
The man on the other side of the door was tall and dark in his black
t-shirt
and jeans
. H
is hair and face pale
were
circles
of light in the all
-
encompassing darkness.
The brightness of the light hanging over the door
cast
metallic sparks in his reddish hair.
She hurried to open the door
with
hands eager.

‘
Matt
, what happened?’
she
asked breathlessly, fear tugging at her heart.
Is
it something unexpected with
Ry
? It couldn’t
be
, because they would
have called
right away
.

‘I just needed to talk to someone,
Meg
.
’
H
e looked at her with those blue eyes, so much like Ry
an
’s and yet
so
different.
They held a bit of grey
, the color of a stormy summer sky, calm and dangerous at the same time. ‘
Is
it ok
ay if I
come in for a moment?’

‘
Sure thing
.
’
She
moved aside to let him in
. H
is jean
-
clad legs brush
ed
against her in the narrow entrance.

‘What’s going on?’
she
asked again, aware of the completely inappropriate tingle of awareness as they touched. Thank goodness he seemed to be oblivious to her
embarrassment as he walked
in
to the main room.

‘I really like it here
.
’
He
turned to face her, his face slightly more relaxed. ‘
It’s
calm and peaceful, just the way I like it.’

‘
Me
too, but don’t let my partner hear you, she
’
d pull your head right off
.’ S
he grinned,
leading him to the back room that served as a more intimate setting
where
customers
could sit down and go through the options for their arrangements.

‘I guess this will have to do
.
’
She
smiled,
gesturing to
corner where
the simple white sofa
was
placed
along
with two matching armchairs and a glass coffee table holding books and catalogues for
the
customers. She
thought fondly of
how many happy couples had already sat there, picking their wedding arrangements and agonizing over the details.