Oh, no. No distractions. No temptation. No room for doubt. In the months since getting engaged, Candy had changed her mind about her flowers at least six times, and Gabby knew that Brooke had to tweak her wedding dress design at least as much. If not more.
“How was it?” Gabby and her mother exchanged a subtle glance. No doubt the next person through the door would be Brooke, needing to vent.
Some days Gabby didn’t know who was looking forward to Candy and Dennis’s wedding the most. The Conway girls or the bride herself.
“Lovely, lovely! Just perfect!”
Gabby felt her shoulders relax until she sensed a pause.
“Just a few minor tweaks,” Candy continued with a smile.
Gabby held her breath, knowing that the dress was separate from the flowers, and of course, everything looked different on the hanger. She smiled reassuringly and said, “I’m sure that it will be perfect, no matter what.”
“Now, you’re probably thinking that I’m here to discuss the flowers,” Candy said.
Gabby’s heart skipped a beat. “Actually, I think I’ve got all the information I need. All that’s left is the sample bouquet.”
Candy’s eyes flicked to the roses that Gabby’s mother held. “Those are lovely, Miriam. So sweet and dainty. And pink. Oh, I feel like I’m describing myself!” She laughed loudly, and Gabby had to bite her lip. Candy could be sweet, and she did love pink, but she was not what anyone would describe as dainty, neither in stature nor in personality. “Gabby, I don’t recall seeing this variety of rose last time I was here.”
Which had been about four days ago…
Gabby watched her mother bite her lip and mutter something about limited stock. With a knowing glance at Gabby, she then quickly set the arrangement on the workbench behind the counter, away from Candy’s prying eyes.
“What can I help you with today then?” Gabby didn’t have the energy to think about another design concept just now, and she wasn’t surprised that Candy would have changes for her so soon, either. It was one of the reasons she had held off on the sample bouquet. While normally she assembled a scaled-down version of the final design weeks in advance, this part of the process was meant to only give the bride a visual, and usually only included a discussion about adding a ribbon or removing one variety of flower. But Candy put even the highest maintenance of brides to shame, and the less time Candy had to doubt herself again the better.
“Well, I was going over the guest list,” Candy said, pulling what Gabby had come to recognize as her “wedding binder” (pink, of course) from her oversized handbag. “And I see that you have only RSVP’d with one.”
As if she needed the reminder. Gabby nodded. “That’s right. Singles table.” But at least she’d be in good company with her sister Jenna at her side, along with a few of her cousins on her mother’s side of the family, who had always been embraced by the Conways.
“I just wanted to let you know that if you would like to bring Jackson Bradford as your plus one, I can seat you two at a different table…” Candy blinked at her so earnestly that Gabby burst out laughing.
“Why does everyone in this town think I have something going on with Jackson?” Sure, the man was attractive, but he was also a complete cad. As the bartender of the popular pub at the Carriage House Inn, he was in his element flashing smiles, pouring drinks, and chatting with the ladies. Jackson was fun, but she was looking for…well, forever.
“It’s just that you two would make such beautiful babies,” Candy lamented, and now it was Gabby’s mother’s turn to laugh.
“Candy,” she said, stepping forward to take over the situation. “While I agree that Gabby and Jackson might make a beautiful couple, I think that it’s best to let Gabby’s heart find its own path. As longstanding family friends, all the Bradfords will be at the wedding anyway. No need to push things.”
Candy pushed her lips together. She had considered herself something of a local matchmaker in recent months, meddling in her future stepdaughters’ love lives to her own heart’s content. Granted, now all of Gabby’s cousins on her father’s side were happily settled into relationships, whereas Gabby…
Gabby was at the singles table.
“I was just about to deliver this lovely arrangement to Helena over at the library. She’s hosting a small event today for the benefactors and I don’t want this centerpiece for the refreshments table to be late.” Gabby’s mother lifted the vase of tea roses again and came around the counter. “I’ll walk you out,” she said to Candy, in a way that was friendly but firm enough to leave no room for argument.
Candy looked back at Gabby with a disappointed sigh. “If you change your mind…”
“I won’t,” Gabby said pleasantly. “But thank you.”
She chuckled to herself as her mother and future aunt finally left the store, the door closing behind them, leaving her in peace. She finished clipping the stems of the snapdragons and placed them in a bucket of water, then went to the sink to rinse her shears. There was an entire bucket of yellow roses to de-thorn and clip, and she reached for the first one, stopping to smell it first. She smiled, as she always did, because it never got old. What did get old was that the only man who had sent her flowers in her entire lifetime was her father, bless his heart.
She carefully set the first rose in a bucket she’d filled with fresh water when the door chimed again.
She glanced up, only mildly surprised to see that it was a man. Usually, the men called orders in over the phone, but some of the older gents in town still stopped in to pick out something personally, and she loved them for it. Chivalry was sadly a dying practice, at least in her world.
But here, she noticed,
