It took quite a bit to break Manon's concentration and today was no exception. She was precise and on point, everything in its correct place as she worked bundling up the blossoms very carefully in their cellophane wrapper. The bow was a deep rust color, perfectly accenting the pink azaleas but not overwhelming what was supposed to be the start of the bouquet. After some careful thought she added a couple smaller white blossoms to the mix and considered it done, carefully lowering it into the thin vase full of water to be put out for display.
This was her tenth bouquet of the day but it was nearly closing time, and she could almost hear the numbers crunching in her brother's head as he went over the ledger. It had been a productive day for them both, she noted with a smile, exiting the back room where she prepared the arrangements and placing her newest creation on one of the display tables. She took a step back to admire it, her hands on her hips and a very pleased smile on her face. Making lovely bouquets was a little bit of a passion for her, though no one would have ever guessed it was her brother who started the flower shop. "Manon, closing time. Lock the door?"
"Sure thing, Ned," she agreed with a chuckle as she realized he didn't even look up from his book. She skipped to the door to turn the lock, just as someone was reaching for the handle to walk in. Manon wanted to turn them away, until she realized who it was. "Tony!" she squealed and pulled the door wide open to let him inside, the pleasant chiming of the bell filling the shop for a moment. She tossed herself into his arms and kissed his cheeks, one on each side, before beaming over to Ned. Antonio Fernandez Carriedo stood with an easy nonchalance in the middle of the shop, his grin bright and his green eyes sparkling happily as he graciously accepted her kisses and squeezed her back. That was what Manon liked best about Antonio, how happy he was all the time. "Ned, Antonio is here," she pointed out to her brother though it was pretty obvious from her earlier outburst.
"Hola, Manon, Ned," he greeted cheerfully, pushing his straw hat back from his head and wiping a bit of dirt from his brow. Ned, after writing one more number down in his ledger and placing it in the register for safekeeping, finally acknowledged Antonio's entrance.
"Hello, Antonio. Did you need something?" he asked stiffly, scooting around the front counter and walking towards the man and his sister. The two shook hands, Ned with his usual stoic face and Antonio with his grin, and the sight made Manon smile like crazy. They were her two favorite guys in the whole world.
His question threw Antonio slightly off guard but he caught himself with an embarrassed laugh. "Actually yes! Dear, sweet Gil is still not out of the hospital so I thought I'd get him something to cheer him up and since you guys are on the way I figured I'd stop by and get something from you, since a nice keg of beer is out of the question." Manon chuckled and Antonio shrugged, trying to contain his laughter. Gilbert had been in the hospital for nearly two weeks now due to, what Manon liked to affectionately call, his inordinate stupidity.
She said with a grin, "Anything for poor, darling Gilbert. Of course, of course." She linked arms with Antonio and pulled him over to her favorite section of the shop, near the front where Ned liked the tulips to be. That particular arrangement was his only request in the shop that he had ever made of her and she took to it with delight; the tulips were the prettiest, most eye catching flowers and deserved a special place in the front window. Especially if they were her brother's favorites. Ned followed close behind them, watching them search for the perfect arrangement. "Tulips, Tonio, tulips are the best flower for hospitals. They don't have much of a scent, they're bright and happy, and Gil will be happy because they're easy to take care of!"
She pulled a bouquet of yellow, white and pink tulips from the display and handed it to him. "Oh yeah?" Antonio said with a laugh. "I'm sure Gil will appreciate anything that's easy to take care of." Before Manon could answer, the bell from the door rang again and Ned frowned, raising an eyebrow at her just as she realized she forgot to lock it when Antonio walked in. The man at the door seemed shell shocked for a moment, staring back at them nervously as they all stared at him.
His cheeks flushed red and he looked around the shop for a moment as if trying to find someone to save him. "Are you, uh, closed?" he asked nervously, his brows furrowed together and his stance set to flee from the shop. Manon examined him for a moment, his dark reddish hair with an awkward sort of cowlick poking from his bangs, his tanned skin and hazel eyes that were bright but wary of the situation. Manon looked to Ned to silently assess if she should help the new guest, and he nodded very slightly his agreement to her unspoken question.
"I'm more than happy to help you," she said smoothly, inching around Antonio who hadn't moved or stopped staring at the new customer since the man walked in. "What are you looking for, honey?" The young man looked at her for a second to answer, his eyes flickering back warily to Antonio before turning his back on him. Manon raised an eyebrow at Antonio who shrugged awkwardly and began perusing through the tulips again, Ned pointing out some of Manon's nicer arrangments.
The young man scratched the back of his head, his cheeks a little ruddy as he searched for an answer that he didn't seem to have. "Special occasion? Get well? Sorry for your loss? Graduation? Date night?" she prompted, tucking some of her blond hair behind her ear and trying not to laugh at his obvious discomfort. What a cute kid.
"Oh, yeah," he nodded, fumbling over a piece of paper in his hand. "My little brother, he, uh, asked me to pick something up for him for a girl he's going to ask out or something." His voice was slightly accented, Italian maybe, and Manon nodded, taking the paper from him with scribbles that were probably from the younger brother. It was a very sloppy drawing of what the younger brother probably imagined for the arrangement and she appreciated the use of color. "I guess she likes red roses, so he wanted me to get some for him on my way home." His cheeks got only redder with each word, and Manon patted his arm comfortingly.
"Of course, we'll get you hooked up. I'll be right back okay?" The young man nodded as she headed past the register to the back room, looking for something very nice to get for him. He seemed so uncomfortable and shy, and Manon felt almost a little bad for him having to do something like this for his brother. She dug around their shipment of vases until she found a white one decorated with tiny pink and red polka dot details, prancing around the backroom with the drawing until she had gotten the arrangement almost exactly like the picture asked for.
She primped it a little bit as she walked towards the front of the shop, and saw that Antonio was talking to the young man while Ned was preparing to charge him for the arrangement. "Be nice to him, Ned, I feel bad for him," Manon said seriously, placing the arrangement down. Typically with the vase included it would be at least forty dollars, but she didn't want to charge him all that, especially since it was no trouble to get him in at the last second. "Hey, sweetheart, you ready?" she asked with a grin as he jumped, obviously invested in what Antonio was saying even though he was almost trying to appear not to be.
"His name is Lovino," Antonio said with a dazed smile as Manon locked the door behind the young man as he left, his ears red and the vase clamped in his hands. "Lovino Vargas from Italy." Manon laughed at him and leaned against the counter.
Manon asked, "Get his number Tony?" He blanched and nearly dropped his flowers, stammering over excuses for a moment before she finally took pity and interrupted him. "You really didn't? Usually you're such a smooth operator Antonio! What happened?" He stammered through about three more sentences before excusing himself from the shop and she firmly locked the door behind him and dimmed the lights. "What an exciting night," she said to her brother, spinning around to face him and confused that his face was back in the ledger again. "I thought you already did that for today?"
"I need to add Antonio and Lovino as well," he said with a quiet smile and Manon leaned over the counter to look him in the face, a little suspicious.
"Usually you add last minute costumers to the next day," she said with a frown, her eyebrows furrowed and her arms crossed over her chest. "What gives, Ned?" He looked up at her and she looked at the scar on his forehead for a moment before meeting his blue eyes. Ned just shook his head and she huffed, setting about to close the shop.
…
"Hello, Alfred!" Manon greeted their first guest of the day as he walked into the shop. Alfred F. Jones was a handsome, muscular, all American hunk of man that she loved the company of every second she got the chance to see him. He had a splash of blond hair over his sun-kissed skin, his blue eyes bright behind his spectacles. He had a helmet under one arm and was pulling his gloves off with his teeth, greeting her with a wave.
"Hey pretty lady, where's your bro?" Manon frowned, not because she was offended by the question, but because she actually wasn't sure. He'd come in only for a moment that morning and left again before she arrived, and she only knew because he had unlocked the register for her and left a note to keep track of the sales in the ledger. It was so odd.
Two weeks had passed since Antonio visited the shop and Manon noticed two things. The first of which was several of her nicer arrangements of azaleas as well as the roses had gone missing, and second, Ned was becoming increasingly more elusive. "Anything I can help you with, Al?"
He waved his hand. "Nah, Manon, he's been having me help with odd jobs the past couple weeks, like deliveries and I was just checking if he needed me today. I guess he doesn't!" Manon watched him leave with a gaping mouth, because they never did flower deliveries before in the history of their shop, and she didn't know what to think. She knew this had something to do with Ned late to work these days, when usually he was the epitome of professionalism. With no customers in sight, Manon reached for her cellphone but paused when she saw a familiar face walk by the window.
Antonio, dressed in his usual country bumpkin attire, was walking down the sidewalk hand in hand with a very shy looking Lovino Vargas. Manon stared, her mouth in a small 'o' shape as they walked by and nearly squealed when she saw Antonio lean over and kiss him square on the mouth. He stopped him outside for a moment and rushed in, his face pink and happiness filling every corner of the room. "Manon! Azaleas. Please." She rushed over, still stunned, taking one of the pre-made bouquets from the rack and ringing them up on the register.
"What's going on?" she asked quietly as Lovino stood outside the door, texting as he waiting for Antonio to finish what he was doing.
"After we met the other day, Lovi started sending me flowers through your shop," he said with a laugh, holding the azaleas in his arms as he paid Manon for them. "Roses, twice a week to the farm, it was the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me." Manon wanted to protest even seeing Lovino around, but Antonio didn't give her the chance to. "And he told me he likes azaleas like the ones I've sent him. I think I might have accidentally said something to Ned, because I don't remember ordering them at all! But here we are. Thanks Manon!"
Energetic as Alfred and not letting her say a word, Antonio was out the door and she was doubly confused between him, Alfred and Lovino and their stories not seeming to match up at all from what she has seen around the shop. Things were getting a little fishy and Ned still wasn't around...
"How is the shop?" Manon jumped a foot in the air and turned to see her brother looking over the ledger she had placed haphazardly under the counter before catching her eyes. Suddenly everything came together in her head, all the pieces of the puzzles fitting side by side perfectly.
"You set them up didn't you, Ned?" Manon said suspiciously, sitting on the counter and pursing her lips at him. The idea sounded insane in her head, let alone as thought to be said out loud but it was already out in the open before she could stop it.
"Lovino and Antonio had a really long conversation while we were waiting on you," he said as an answer, closing the book and kissing his sister on the cheek before heading to the back to unload some of their shipment from that morning.