Chapter 2
Ainsley
“Did you see the Lexus sitting in the Warlack’s driveway?”
“A Lexus?”
“Yeah. Pitch black, sleek, and expensive.”
I laughed and grabbed an empty bucket off the floor. “You think Hank is going through a midlife crisis?”
Melonie grabbed the bucket from me and pointed across the street. “Hank just walked into the hardware store. I don’t think it’s his.”
“Prep all the roses, and then we’ll work on unpacking the last of the poinsettias.”
“Do you think you could stop thinking about flowers for two minutes and discuss why the Warlack’s have a Lexus?”
I leaned against the workbench and crossed my arms over my chest. “You think you could say Lexus one more time? I didn’t hear you the first two times.”
“Lexus. Hear me now?”
I rolled my eyes. “I hear ya. What I don’t understand is why you’re so hung up on it.”
“Because I want to know who it is,” she whined.
“Maybe the Warlack’s got it for you as a wedding gift?”
Melonie’s eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands together. “I know you are completely wrong, but I’m still hopeful you’re right. It wasn’t on our registry, but I will gladly take it.”
“Pretty sure people don’t do their wedding registries at car dealerships,” I laughed.
“Well, I think that needs to become a thing,” she huffed. Melanie moved to the huge front window and stared across the street. “You would think if Hank got a new car, he would be driving it. Not have it sit in the driveway.”
I grabbed the last two buckets of roses and set them on the workbench. Melonie wasn’t going to be any help until she figured out who was driving the mysterious luxury sedan. “Maybe it’s a salesman or something.”
“Maybe,” she murmured. “Oh, here comes Hank, and he’s got another guy with him. I’ve never seen him before.” She pressed her nose against the glass, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh my, he’s handsome. Come look and see,” she called.
“I’m only coming to look so I can get you back to work.” Wiping my hands on my black apron we walked to the window. “I can’t see his face.” Hank was facing the flower shop and the guy Melonie was trying to figure out had his back to the shop. “I don’t know how you thought he was good looking just by his back.”
She elbowed me and splayed her hand on the glass. “I saw him walk out of the store before he turned around. He is gorgeous with a capital G.”
“You’re about to get married in two days, you might want to bring down your excitement over the mystery man a bit.”
“Corey is gorgeous, but there is something about a man in a suit that can melt any woman’s panties.”
Rolling my eyes so hard, I was sure I saw the back of my head. “Yeah, until the guy opens his mouth and all you want to do is run in the other direction.”
“Shh, you’re ruining the fantasy.”
I leaned against the window and kept my eyes trained on Hank and the mysterious stranger. “He’s probably some insurance salesman.”
“But why would Hank bring him to the hardware store?”
Because Hank was crazy. The good kind of crazy, but still crazy. “He probably convinced the guy to help him string up hi—” My words died in my throat and everything got hazy except for the mysterious stranger who turned around.
“Poof, there went my panties,” Melonie whispered.
My panties were still intact, but I couldn’t say the same about my heart.
Silas Warlack.
The prodigal son had returned.
Oh joy.
*
Silas
The old man was losing it.
Not even ten minutes after I had arrived at the house, he had insisted we needed to go to the hardware store to get more lights for the front yard.
To me, it was a waste of time because Christmas was three days away, and he would just be taking them down in a week anyway.
“Let’s run over to the flower shop and see if they have a poinsettia for your mom. You know how much she likes them.”
Like them? Hell, I was pretty sure she had at least ten of them in the kitchen alone.
Dad dropped the bag full of Christmas lights in the backseat and motioned across the street. “I bet you didn’t know we have a flower shop now, did you?”
I pulled my coat tight around me and shook my head. “Nope, wasn’t here before.”
Dad shook his head then looked left and right before crossing the street. “If you would come home more often, everything wouldn’t seem so different. The flower shop has been opened for six years. It’s one of your mom’s favorite places to go.”
A flower shop? I had no idea that people actually went to them other than Valentine’s Day. “I’ll just wait in the car, Dad.” I had a few emails I needed to check, and I told Janine I would check in before the end of the day.
“Nonsense,” he called. “Put that damn phone back in your pocket and come pick out some flowers for your mom. She would love knowing you were the one who picked them out.”
I rolled my eyes but shoved my phone in my pocket. “I’m sure she’d be happy with you picking them out,” I grumbled. We crossed the street, and my gaze fell on the dark brick building with a bright sign hanging over the door with the words “Crowne Floral” splashed on it.
Dad pulled open the door, stepped through, and held it open for me. “Hurry up, Si; you’re letting the heat out.”
I jogged the final steps into the shop and pulled the door shut behind me.
“Hello, Melonie and Ainsley!”
Ainsley? Holy shit.
This was a trap.
A familiar voice that I still heard in my dreams floated around me.
“Hey, Hank.”
I turned to my right and was face to face with Ainsley Crowne. The girl who, eight years ago, had wrecked my world and walked away without a care in the world.
“Hello, Silas,” she said quietly.
She looked the same. Dark red hair, perfectly plump and kissable lips. Crystal blue eyes that swear to God, could see right through me, and long legs I could still feel tangled with mine as we watched the fireworks every year.
How in the fuck was that possible?
I hadn’t seen this woman in over eight years, and yet, it felt like just yesterday she was mine.
I cleared my throat. “Hello, Ainsley.”
Something flashed in her eyes, but I couldn’t pinpoint what it was. Whether or not she was surprised to see me, I couldn’t tell.
I was surprised to see her. Hell, I was shocked.
“I’m Melonie. Minion extraordinaire.” The short woman next to Ainsley stepped forward and held her hand out to me.
I removed one of my leather gloves and gently shook her hand. “Silas,” I mumbled.
“Yeah, I figured that out,” she said with a wink of her eye.
Dad clapped his hands together and did a slow circle with his arms outstretched. “I need more flowers, A,” he called.
“You’ve come to the right place, Hank,” she laughed. “Although, I think you have half of my poinsettia stock in your kitchen right now.”
Dad laughed and moved around the overflowing pots of flowers to the back of the store. “Have anything with gold in it? I think that would make June happy. Something to go with all the red.”
“I’ll help you, Hank.” Melonie followed my dad and disappeared behind a huge rack in the back.
I took off my other glove and tucked them into the pocket of my jacket. “I didn’t know you worked here.” If I had, I would have never came in.
“I own it.”
I nodded. “I guess that really shouldn’t be a surprise. You always did have your hands in the dirt and your head in the clouds.”
Ainsley scoffed. “And you always had a stick up your ass. It’s nice to see some things never change.”
I laughed and turned to look at the flowers next to me. “Mother told me the same thing the other day.”
“You actually talked to your mother? I’m surprised.”
I looked over my shoulder. “I don’t know why that would surprise you.”
“Because she always complains about how she never talks to you.”
“I heard you see my mother often.”
A small smile touched her lips. “More than you.”
That was a cheap shot. “I’m a very busy man, Ainsley. If I spent all of my time on the phone, I would never get anything done.”
She nodded and sighed. “Then I better not keep you.” She untied her apron and tossed it on the window sill. “I’m taking a break, Melonie,” she called.
Melonie peeked her head around the shelf and smiled. “Um, okay,” she replied, confused.
Ainsley grabbed her purse from behind the counter and disappeared out the door.
That went about as well as could be expected.
“Where did Ainsley go?” Dad asked.
I hitched my thumb over my shoulder.
Melonie set a huge pot of roses on the counter and rested her hands on her hips. “I can’t tell you the last time the words ‘I’m taking a break’ came out of Ainsley’s mouth. Half the time, I think that woman sleeps here.” She shook her head and started pulling roses out of the pots.
Dad stood next to me. “They didn’t have anything gold, so I decided to go with a dozen roses. Your mother is a sucker for them.”
This, I knew. Growing up, there had always been roses on the table, and the rose bush by the front door perfumed the air every spring. “I thought I was the one who was supposed to pick out the flowers.”
Dad shook his head and put his hand on my shoulder. “No, son. You were supposed to not be an ass to Ainsley, but I see that old habits die hard.”
“I wasn’t an ass,” I gritted out. “She insinuated something in which she had no idea what she was talking about.”
“Twisted that stick you have up your ass, did she?”
I pulled my gloves out of my pocket and slapped them against my hand. “I’ll be waiting in the car.” I stormed out of the shop, slamming the door shut behind me.
Four more days, and I would be out of this town.
In those four days, I was going to avoid Ainsley Crowne like the plague. Because whenever she was around, I was always the one who was an ass, and she was the perfect angel.
Four days.
Four freakin’ days.
*