AN: Here's to those of you who love and wanted another multi-chapter fic. Enjoy!
These days are wild and crazy. I can't remember the last time we were this busy except for last year, of course. February always takes me by surprise but I kinda like it…a lot. It's these days I live for because that means I get food on my table. But most of all it's because so many people are expressing their emotions through my work. I'm the middleman in making someone happy or surprised or excited. I'm even the middleman in making someone promise forever. That's something I feel so very honorable and frankly very giddy about. And this month, especially on the 14th, I remember why I went into this business in the first place. It's the love and the beauty…and the possibility of creating a homely environment. And naturally the scent and the peace my shop holds. What can I say? I breathe what I do.
"Arizona? What are you thinking about? You look like a moron organizing flowers with your eyes closed."
"Oh, you shut up," I tell my employee when I'm dragged out of my reminiscing, sending her a friendly grimace. "Why don't you give your attention to the customers instead?" I smirk.
"I would but it looks like your new buddy out there has got them all under his spell," she chuckles. "Where did you find him anyway?"
"I didn't find him, Teddy. He's my old friend from back home. He needed the money and I had the possibility of giving him a full time job 'till he's got enough to go seek his dream job," I tell her as I finish the bouquet with a red ribbon around the stems. I'm very confident and satisfied with this one…or actually, I'm always very confident with my work. I've got the artistic skills while being able to mix that with the art of visible and tangible beauty…at least I've been told so more than I can count. And I choose to rely on that fact because the business is reaching heights I never imagined.
"And hiring that boy-toy out there is your way of being a hero these days? You're a very unusual woman, Arizona Robbins," Teddy gives me a mischievous look and then grins.
"You can say that," I smirk. "And he's not a boy-toy. He's just good with people when he wants to be. That façade he's got going on most of the time, it's just a tough act. He's really soft as butter in the sun."
"Yeah, yeah. That's easy for you to say. All I see is women coming into the shop, swooning and then leaving with their hands full of flowers."
"And why is that a problem?" I grin. "As long as the business is going around, I can't see a problem with him flirting with the ladies. He's good for the shop, and a good friend."
"When you say it like that…" Teddy drawls and the shakes her shoulders. "What's his dream job anyway?"
"Why the big interest in Alex? You've got the hots for him yourself, huh?" I chuckle because I wouldn't have pictured Teddy falling for Alex's charm. He's a young boy in a man's body, just trying to get through the day by working for me so he can raise enough money to med. school. He's going to be one awesome surgeon one day, I'm positive.
"Ha ha, not funny."
We are interrupted by the subject of our talk when Alex's head pops into the back of the store.
"I need help out here, Boss."
"Not something you can flirt yourself out of this time, huh?" Teddy teases with raised eyebrows and a click with her tongue.
"I don't know. Would it help if I tore my shirt off?" He fires back with a cocky tone.
Teddy sighs. "No, it really wouldn't." Then she goes back to the orders, starting on mixing long stemmed, red roses with smaller white ones.
"I'll be right there, Alex," I tell him with a smile. Alex disappears and I turn to my other friend who's doing a very fine job organizing the enormous bouquet. "He wants to be a surgeon."
"Interesting…you tell him he can come work in the back with me tomorrow…you know, cutting stems and that," Teddy smirks. "I'll show him the delicacy of cutting and the non-cutting in this field."
"I will…and thank you," I smile at her as I aim for the door into my shop. Teddy's a good woman and a good friend. I've had the pleasure of working with her for about three years or so. She's a dedicated florist and manpower, someone I admire very much for her skills and her general view of economy. This place wouldn't be up running if it wasn't for her. She's the blood in the veins making sure the heart beats. But hiring Alex wasn't a question. It was the only right thing to do. And I'm taught to do what's right especially when a storm hits.
When I enter the shop I'm greeted with the amazing scent of summer and beauty. They say beauty can't smell but I'm willing to prove whoever they are wrong…because it really does. Beauty is really measured in what makes the heart sing, and flowers can do that. They can make your heart sing. That's why my job feels like one big and never-ending musical. Some would hate it, I don't. I get high and it's not just the organizing flowers, the orders or the eternal breeze of good mood and summer…it's the whole lot. And I have something they don't have, I have joy. It's all of that and the joy. The joy my bouquets create both for the consignor and the receiver. It's what makes the long hours and the hard work worthwhile.
I see Alex trying to gesticulate something to a customer. He's kind of cute as he tries to teach and tell about flowers. I'm very impressed by his memory and the fact that he actually gets it. He isn't a flowergirl-or boy, if you must, he's frankly the complete opposite. But he's doing such a good job. When I get to them I'm instantly influenced by a new scent. Something new and unknown has spiked the curious woman in me. It's a very calm and fresh scent…I can't exactly differentiate it but I know I already love it.
"Here she is," Alex informs the dark haired customer. When the woman turns around I'm immediately hit…by a truck. I feel like all of my limbs are being cut off and my organs are being thrown to the floor except for my heart. It beats like crazy. The pace being wonderfully fast. I only need my heart and I feel like she's in the middle of stealing it…with me being glued to the floor, awe-struck and blind to everything besides her.
"Hello," she greets me with a flashing smile. Even her perfect created row of teeth is robbing me blind. She's drop dead gorgeous. I can't help the flutter in my stomach transforming into a wild hurricane. Her voice takes the control-freak within me for a spin, and boy, do I like it.
"Hi," I say with a voice trying to be all cool and calm. I doubt it's what I look like.
"Is it possible to mix a bouquet of blue roses and big ferns," Alex informs me matter-of-factly.
"Okay…" I can't take my eyes off of this beauty. This woman being surrounded by flowers and the scent of summer, it's just pure magic. I have to get it together. I'm the boss for crying out loud. I can't lose my face in here.
"And…can we do that?" Alex drawls not really getting why I'm not swooping in and solving this as I usually do.
The woman keeps smiling at me, her brown eyes taking a dip in my blue ones. It's captivating. "Uhm, yeah. Yeah, of course. We can do it," I manage to get out with a slight cough.
"Really?" she beams.
"Really?" Alex echoes. "I didn't think we had blue roses."
"I'll make sure that we do," because if I can make anything this woman want come true, I will certainly do it.
"Thank you. It means a lot to me," she exclaims with a big smile, placing her hand lightly on my shoulder for what feels like an eternity but only last for a few seconds. "And I'll be able to come pick them up on the 14th?"
"Of course. No problem," I state. "I will only need your name and number on this piece of paper," giving the beautiful woman my post-it pad and a pen, I smile back at her.
While she's writing on the post-it, Alex greets a couple entering the shop. I watch her as she writes, her hand meticulously creating her personal information. I'm about to sigh at the sight but her eyes meeting mine keeps me from even breathing. "Here you go," she says cheerfully as she hands me the pad back. "I'll look forward to see the flowers."
"Me too," I can't help the sheepish look on my face as I quickly turn into a mushy goof. What the hell was that for? What lame excuse for a communication was that? Me too? Christ. I'm mentally beating myself up when she chuckles. A chuckle that goes straight to my core. And suddenly the 14th can't come fast enough.
"Then I'll see you the on 14th, and thank you," she says and exits my shop with a grin, leaving me glued to the spot where my heart got stolen for good. And then it hits me…like a plane crash in a calm, blue sky. Why does she need flowers for the 14th?
Thank you for reading... Could you see this continuening?
Enjoy the week-end :-)