“Yes,” the woman took a few steps back away from a very angry Hayley.
“This is the second sign,” Hayley told me. “That’s it!” She stormed around the counter and glared at the woman. “Don’t think we’re paying you for those flowers, and I want my full deposit for them back.”
“Hayley.” I felt so bad for the woman as it was not all her fault. “Calm down. We’ll figure this out.”
“What’s to figure out?” Hayley threw up her arms. Her eyes were watery and her voice wobbled as she was close to tears. “It’s off. The wedding is off!”
“What?” Drew and Damon had just walked into the flower shop. “What is going on here?” Drew looked from a distraught Hayley to me.
“The flower shop lost the order of flowers for the wedding,” I told Drew.
“How do you lose such a large order of flowers,” Drew frowned at the woman.
I quickly brought Drew up to speed while trying to console two hysterical women.
“I’ve had it,” Hayley wiped the stray tear off her cheek and her angry eyes turned on Damon. “And you!” She stalked toward Damon and poked her finger in a stunned Damon’s chest. “How dare you ruin my wedding by sabotaging Carla’s dress?”
“Me?” Damon stepped back so Hayley could not poke him in the chest again, “Carla is the one sabotaging me!” His stormy eyes turned on me.
“What?” I asked, stunned. “How on earth did I sabotage you?” I asked him as the anger bug spread to me. “You were the one who swapped out my wedding gown for an orange Bo Peep dress.” I hissed.
“I…” Damon’s brow creased as he looked at me completely confused. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” His voice started to rise. “I was the one who looked like I was trying to wear a tuxedo I’d outgrown years ago when you told the tailor to swap out my tuxedo.” He glared at me. “Speaking of my tuxedo, what did you do with it?”
“We never took your tuxedo, you big lug,” Hayley ran at Damon fists flying but Drew caught her and held her off. “You’ve been against this wedding from the start. You kept Drew on edge right up until the last minute, deciding if you were going to grace us with your presence.” She struggled against Drew’s grip.
A loud piercing whistle screeched through the air, making us all cover our ears and turn toward the florist.
“I can see there is a lot of wedding tension in the air,” she said. “While you were all attacking each other, I managed to pull up yesterday’s CCTV footage.”
“You have CCTV in here?” I asked and looked around. “I can’t see any cameras.”
“I have a lot of theft,” the woman said and turned the monitor. “You were right, my assistant did take the flowers.” She shook her head. “I’m so sorry. Abigail only started here a few days ago.”
We all watched in astonishment as Abigail signed the flowers into the store, made a phone call, and a few minutes later a very familiar face walked in.
Celeste.
“Jesus,” Damon said.
“I’ll give you a full refund,” the lady said. “I’m so sorry.”
“No,” I shook my head. My anger refueled as I saw the two women laughing. Abigail pulled a large box from beneath the counter and opened it. “If I’m not mistaken,” I turned and looked at Damon, “that’s your missing tuxedo.”
“Shit,” Damon hissed. “I’m so sorry, Hayley,” he turned and apologized to Hayley.
Hayley’s face had gone pale as she watched the two women destroy the flowers before shoving them into bags and dragging them off.
“I guess we now know who was behind the big orange dress,” Drew whistled.
“Would you like a check or bank transfer?” the florist asked.
“Neither,” I turned to Damon and my eyes narrowed, “Mr. Winters here will pay for them.”
“That’s fair,” Damon pulled his wallet from his pocket and handed the woman his credit card. “Please charge the full amount.”
“What are we going to do?” Hayley pushed herself out of Drew’s arms as the door to the flower shop opened and their coffee delivery they’d ordered arrived.
I signed for it, frowning when I noticed our names on the cups. I thought Hayley had ordered the same for everyone. I fob it off and dish them out.
“Here,” I said, “let’s take a deep breath and have a cup of coffee while we figure this out.”
“No,” Hayley shakes her head and wipes a tear from her cheek before turning to Drew. “Let’s elope.” She puts her coffee on the counter and grabs both of his hands excitedly. “Let’s go to the courts right now and get married.”
“Hayley,” I stepped up to them when I saw Drew’s please help me look. “There must be another flower shop here on the island with the flowers that you wanted for your wedding.” I turned and looked at the florist. “Do you know of any florists that may be able to help?”