My Fake Husband by Black, L. (lightest ebook reader .TXT) 📗

to imagining he felt the same way I did. I was reading too much into a couple of really considerate gestures on his part. Michelle brought me a muffin sometimes for breakfast and I didn’t go around trying to French kiss her. This was probably like that, I told myself, so calm the fuck down.

I settled for texting: Thanks for breakfast that was so sweet!

Because I was a damn coward.

I heated my breakfast and was eating it when I got a reply: You better not put that kickass toast in the microwave.

I laughed and sent back: So yummy ty

You microwaved it didn’t you. You’re killing me.

I shook my head, grinning my face off, You will never know. Gotta keep the mystery alive.

RU flirting with me, wife???

Never. Too mysterious to flirt. Just eating toast and kicking ass.

He sent back a heart eye emoji. Did that mean he loved my sarcastic reply about flirting? Did that mean he loved texting me? That he loved the French toast? That he loved me? Did it mean I was fucking thirteen years old and trying to analyze an emoji? Yeah, that last one, definitely. I wanted to smack myself in the face. I dumped the rest of my toast and got ready for work.

Things were going great on that end. My post-coital panic had sent me into a frenzy of workaholic hiding out. So the repairs had been finished, and Nicole and my dad had helped me with the laminate flooring I got and helped me patch some drywall. I repainted it a soft sage green with white trim. I had gotten a slightly cheaper replacement cooler and used the rest of the insurance money to help cover the cost of the flooring. I put in a huge chalkboard I got at a yard sale and practiced some hand lettering off a YouTube video till I could manage some fancy-looking writing for a daily quote about flowers. It made the shop feel more like mine now that I owned the building and had redone it with a nice, clean fit and finish to my own taste.

I’d ordered new stock, advertised a grand re-opening special for the first week for buy one get one half off bouquets and potted plants. I was running a 10% off on grapevine wreaths with silk flowers and bows I’d made and 15% off artificial cemetery arrangements, too. I made some up in advance and got my part-time help rehired as well. The people in Rockford Falls and even as far away as Overton had been so good to me, placing orders as soon as they saw I was ready to open back up. It seemed like everyone I knew was ready for a new wreath for their door or a bouquet of flowers to cheer up a friend. I was thrilled to be flooded with orders, doing the math in my head as I wrote out instructions for each arrangement.

I loved getting to work with flowers again. I was crazy about the redecorated shop, but fixing it up wasn’t the kind of work I loved. I liked coaxing scrawny little plants to get stronger and bloom, loved arranging even the humblest stock flowers into a pretty arrangement that would brighten someone’s mood. I delved into my list of things to do and things to get ready. Michelle and Nicole were coming to help after they got off work around four, but it was just me and my part-timer, Cathy, racing around getting bouquets ready and ringing up customers. I had Cathy call her cousin to come make some deliveries because there were more orders than I had room to store! Every surface on the counter, worktable, and desk were covered, and I couldn’t risk putting them on the floor where they might get knocked over.

When Josh arrived, we loaded his car, each item tagged carefully with the name and address of the recipient. I sent Cathy in back to make more bows, and I manned the counter while I tried to multitask and arrange some roses in a vase. By the time Michelle and Nicole arrived, I practically tackled them with relief. Michelle handed me a great big Dr. Pepper from the convenience store with lots of ice in it, and I slurped it down gratefully.

My best friends got right down to work, with Nicole barking out instructions and Michelle gathering materials and setting them up for me to fill the orders. With Cathy’s bows and Nicole filling out cards, and Cathy wrapping in tissue or ringing up a receipt, we got an assembly line going and moved a lot of orders through quickly. I felt so relieved after a harrowing day. Business was great, and it wasn’t just a one-day surge. I had orders coming in on the phone and website for the rest of the week as well. I took a quick break to add more flowers to my fresh inventory that was arriving day after tomorrow.

When I placed my order, I tacked on a few stuffed animals, scented candles and homemade soaps, and angel knickknacks because several customers had asked if we had any plans to start having gifts as well. I’d have to get the little set of shelves from my parents’ garage that used to be in my bedroom as a kid and paint them to showcase the gift items on. I wasn’t going to invest in a display case or anything yet, but it seemed like a good idea to expand into small gifts as well as flowers. I usually only kept that stuff around Valentine’s Day, but there was a demand in town for it now. Part of me couldn’t wait to tell Damon how great things were going and how I’d ordered candles and stuff. I knew he’d have ideas on what to add to inventory and I wondered if we should ask our moms what they thought, since a lot of my customers were in their age group.

“Whew, it’s six-thirty,”