“Yes.”
“Do you work every weekend?”
“Usually.” He paused. “I don’t have to go in on the weekends. I only do if I don’t have any other plans.”
I reached for the rose he was holding and secured it to the fake branch with the wire, making sure it wasn’t at the same level as the others. I wanted some of them to stick out and some to be farther back so it gave the illusion of a big explosion of roses blooming.
“Do you make plans with your friends?” I asked, not looking at him because I had to pick up my pace.
“My best friend moved to London. Work keeps me busy as it is.”
“You?”
“Me?”
“I haven’t seen any of your friends around.”
“Oh, I’m usually busy with work, too. To save money, I had to spend a lot of time at home and that doesn’t help you have a social life.”
After our admissions, we worked along in a comfortable silence, and with his help, it started to go a lot faster. I’d done a lot of it before he showed up, but it looked like we’d be out of there in an hour at most.
“Isn’t this something a florist would do?” he asked after quite some time.
I gave him a quick look then focused on the flowers again. “Yeah, but the budget thing, remember? I scrolled through Pinterest, watched a few YouTube videos, and read some blog posts, and I think it’s turning out just fine. I know the florists do it with fresh flowers sometimes, but that would be extremely expensive. Extremely. These look all right, don’t they? I mean, it’ll look better once it’s up and arched over the door, but…”
“It’s beautiful,” Jack said softly. It was soft enough that it got my attention, and I noticed his eyes were on me, not the flowers. “What are those for?” he continued, gesturing toward the yellow roses I had on the side farther from us.
“Oh, I’ll distribute them on the tables on Monday. Again, I can’t buy fresh flowers every week, so I’m gonna go with fake on those too. Hopefully, if things go well, I’ll upgrade to fresh roses on the tables in a few months and I’ll buy more plants to put around the place.”
His fingers grazed mine and I had the oddest feeling. Ignoring it, I kept working and secretly enjoyed every little touch, every little graze.
“You know I could lend you money, right? The place is mine, so it would be an investment, and since you’re going to pay me rent after the six month period has passed, I wouldn’t want you to close it down before that.”
I gave him an incredulous look. “Come on, Jack. Let’s be honest with each other—if I can’t make this place work, it’d work in your favor because you’ll get your hands on it faster. What did you say you were planning on doing with it? A restaurant?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
I was so curious, but he wasn’t giving it up. “Either way, thank you, but I couldn’t accept your money.”
An hour later, my fingers aching and a little scraped, I finally spoke up. “I think we’re done. This is it.” Groaning, I pushed myself up.
“Would you like to have dinner with me, Rose?” he blurted out.
“What?” I asked, looking at him with a puzzled expression as he stood up as well.
“Have you had dinner?” he asked instead of giving an answer.
“No. I think the last thing I ate was a small sandwich. I snacked on a few things, but not a full meal. But…” I looked down at myself and cringed. “I’m not really dressed for going out, and my hands…” Holding my arms out in front of me, I opened and closed my hands, looking at my red fingers. I hid them behind my back and tucked them into my back pockets, hoping they would warm up. “Would it be okay if we ordered in? If you don’t mind. If you have other plans, you don’t have to stay in with me.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to have dinner with me if I had other plans.”
“That’s true.” My mind was getting a little fuzzy.
Keeping an eye on me, he rolled down his sleeves, I really appreciated the view in silence. Then he grabbed his suit jacket from the back of the chair and put it on.
I just stood there in front of the flower arrangement, not sure what I should do next. It was dark outside so there was no way I could put it out and secure it before morning.
“Rose.” Jack interrupted my thoughts and I glanced at him. “Come on, let’s go home.”
“No, I should probably do…first I should…”
“Rose.” I looked at him again, meeting his eyes. “You’re going to crash soon. You’ve done enough. Let’s go.”
With perfect timing, my stomach grumbled, as if agreeing with him. I looked around again. “That sounds like a plan,” I mumbled, but I still didn’t move. “But maybe first I should clean the place up a bit.”