Now, she cleaned her workspace, prepped the flowers for tomorrow, and flicked the lights before turning the sign and locking the door with one hand while carefully holding the arrangement with another.
She hurried along Main Street, dodging tourists who had made an early start on the weekend and seasonal visitors who came when school let out each summer and stayed through until the end of August. She kept her pace steady, weaving between a man on a bicycle and a child holding an ice cream cone, but she slowed her pace when she saw Doug Monroe stepping out of his office on the corner, with a woman.
Holding the arrangement a little higher to hide her face, she quietly neared, trying to gather a snippet of their conversation as she peeked through the petals. The woman was pretty, not much older than herself, and Doug walked her to the curb, where she unlocked her car. He said something that made her laugh, and she waved him goodbye before climbing into the sedan and quickly pulling away.
Doug pushed his hands into his pockets and watched her go and then, before Gabby had a chance to turn around and run the other way, he turned and looked right at her.
Or at least, right at the giant arrangement.
He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, barely fighting off a grin as he tipped his head from side to side, trying to determine if that was her, even though she was fairly sure this much was obvious.
“Gabby?”
She pulled the arrangement down too quickly, nearly whipping her face with an iris.
“Oh, hey, Doug. I didn’t see you there!” She gave an internal eye roll; that was hardly smooth, or convincing, judging by the lift of his eyebrow.
“You finished for the day?”
She nodded and adjusted the vase in her hands. “Last delivery.”
“Here, let me help you,” he said, lifting the arrangement from her hands before she could refuse.
Her hands felt lighter already as she righted the handbag straps on her shoulder. “Thanks. It’s just a few blocks over.”
“Lead the way.” He fell into step beside her, and Gabby used the opportunity to double-check the exact address on the order form.
“So,” she said when she’d tucked the order sheet back into her bag. “You’re done for the day too?”
He gave her a look that told her he saw through her lame effort for polite conversation. “Just walked my last client out.”
“Oh, a client!” She swallowed back the excitement in her voice. Really, who cared if she had just seen Doug with an attractive woman? “I’m surprised,” she added, covering her emotion.
“Surprised?”
“Well, she looked…so happy, I guess.” Shoot. Now he’d know for sure that she’d noticed him earlier.
He raised a knowing eyebrow. “You assume that everyone who seeks my services is miserable.”
She gave a little wince. “I suppose so.”
“Believe it or not, sometimes it’s better to be alone than in a bad relationship.”
Gabby considered this. “I guess you’re right.” She jutted her chin to the white house on the corner. It was one of the smaller inns in town, a little more rundown than the larger ones on Main Street. “This is my stop.”
She went to reach for the arrangement, but Doug simply pushed open the picket fence gate bearing a welcome sign and said, “After you.”
“Ah, you want to see how it’s done, do you?”
“I suppose I’m equally curious about your career,” he said.
She decided to feel flattered by that and took the stairs to the front porch and tried the door. Inside the small reception area, it was dark but cozy, and a woman with shoulder-length blond hair greeted them in surprise. Gabby vaguely knew her; she’d been a few years below her sister Jenna in school and this inn had been passed down from her parents.
“You have a delivery,” Gabby said with a smile.
The young woman’s face lit up as she stared at the flowers that Doug handed to her. “Oh my! For me?”
Her eyes welled with tears as she set the vase down and searched amongst the flowers for the card that Gabby had written earlier. Gabby, of course, already knew what it said. It was from her husband, who had been deployed overseas for one year as of today.
“Oh, this is the best thing I’ve seen all day. All week!” She held the card to her chest and smiled broadly at Gabby and Doug. “Thank you so much!”
Gabby shrugged. She was just the messenger, but she liked to still think she played a small part in this moment.
Doug waited until they were outside on the porch again to say, “Was it her birthday?”
“Nope. Not a special occasion, per se. But sometimes people just need to know they’re in someone’s thoughts.” She sighed happily, only frowning slightly when she caught Doug staring at her intensely.
“It must feel good, making people happy all the time.”
“Or at least cheering them up,” Gabby said, thinking of the sympathy bouquets she made. “But yes, it does feel good to know that I played a small part in making someone’s day a little better.”
“I guess I never thought about it like that.”
“So I’ve enlightened you?” She gave him a lock of mock surprise that pulled a grin out of him.
“In more ways than you know,” he said in a low voice, and then cleared his throat. They walked another half a block before he spoke again. “What are you doing with the rest of your evening?”
Gabby felt her heart speed up, not sure what he meant by this. “Oh, I might take a walk near the lake. I’ve been cooped up all day.”
“Mind some company?” he asked.
She fought back a smile. “Not at all.”
They walked down the gravel
