Cayla felt inclined to believe her since Kalilah had to fight her own battles to prove her self-worth after being rapidly promoted to Executive Vice President at a young age. The majority of the VPs at her job were older men with more experience, and she initially didn’t receive any cooperation from any of them, her now husband included. Granted, Nick didn’t know her position and wasn’t rebelling against her; he just didn’t want to do Vice President duties no matter the leader.
Cayla smiled to herself. She was proud of her sister’s union. The fact that Nick was an IT wizard made her life easier. Before Nick, Cayla was Kalilah’s personal technical support. Kalilah hated technology and refused to learn basic troubleshooting; she only wanted to know enough to do her job. Now, Cayla didn’t have to stop by her house at ten or eleven o’clock at night because Kalilah refused to cooperate over the phone.
As time progressed, Cayla had to agree with her sister. Cheryl was a hater. Not that it mattered, but nothing Cayla ever did was pleasing to Cheryl – socially. Cheryl didn’t have any level of understanding for Cayla’s job to ever question her work knowledge, but she tried to upset her every chance she got.
When Cayla happened to walk into the break room to see the two most annoying people in the world cuddled up in an intimate conversation, she’d immediately heard the lyrics to Big Sean’s song “I Don’t Fuck with You.” She could tell by the look on their faces that both wanted their association to bother her for two different reasons. Darrin wanted her to see how fast he’d moved on from their date two days ago, and Cheryl loved the idea of anyone preferring her over Cayla.
Her instinct told her that petty ass Darrin must have talked shit about her to Cheryl -- probably as soon as he left The Food Lab.
“Oh, Cayla, sorry we didn’t see you there,” Cheryl oozed with satisfaction while Darrin flashed her a smug grin.
She wanted to tell them how much she didn’t care about them breaking at least ten HR rules just for her sake, but they wouldn’t believe that she didn’t care. The two sociopaths would think they’d gotten to her.
She smiled and shrugged. “Don’t mind me, just warming up my lunch.”
She didn’t want either of their attention, and she had a four-day weekend coming up. She hummed while her food warmed and picked out one of the complimentary beverages from the office’s cooler. It was one of the things on the very short list of perks for the company. She would gladly purchase her own beverages to get away from her toxic work environment.
The two dummies continued their display. Since most of the floor left for lunch every day, they were in no danger of being caught. She’d grabbed her food and wandered out of the breakroom to show just how unaffected she was. She tried to reach deep and do some soul searching to see if part of her cared…nope.
Now, however, she’d spent the last five minutes sulking because they were still in there and so was her fork. Damn. She’d searched her desk and purse for a plastic fork. No luck. She had to suck it up and let the bastards think she was curious about what they were doing. She let out a deep sigh, slid her feet back into her pumps, and ventured back into the breakroom.
They’d moved to the table and were sitting close with Cheryl’s mocha, French-tipped hand perched on his thigh. Don’t roll your eyes, don’t roll your eyes...Cayla repeated the mantra in her head as she crossed the breakroom with the feeling of four eyes burning into her back. Cayla heard Cheryl gasp before she heard the stranger’s voice.
“Uh…Hello. I’m looking for Cayla Wright?” Cayla turned to see a unique arrangement of coral, pink, and red roses. She’d never seen the combination before, but it was beautiful.
“That’s me,” she confirmed hesitantly, not sure what to expect. The older gentleman gave her a gentle smile and extended his arms.
“These are for you.” She put her hand over her mouth in surprise and shook her head in disbelief. His smile widened. “I promise these are really for you. I spent at least thirty minutes helping the fella pick them out.”
Cayla accepted the flowers. “Thank you. This is a unique arrangement. Very lovely.” The older man laughed, his brown skin crinkled by his eyes.
“He wanted me to personally deliver them since I sold them and put it together. He wanted me to explain to you that he wanted a different arrangement made especially for you because he couldn’t pick just one color to express his sentiments.”
Cayla knew each color rose was supposed to have a different meaning; she’d just never paid attention to the meanings
since guys usually just bought red roses. “What do the colors mean?”
“Red is for beauty, respect, and passion; pink is for admiration, grace, and sweetness; and coral is for fascination and desire.” He looked at her again and laughed as if remembering something. “Oh, and he said he’d bet me a thousand bucks that pink was your favorite color.”
Cayla looked down at her light pink knee-length shift dress and grinned. “I hope you didn’t take that bet.” She thought of all the pink things in her closet, Dex was paying attention. She knew it was Dex without reading the card because of the thousand-dollar bet. He was always making bets on trivial things. Kalilah was probably happy he’d only bet her fifty dollars that she’d get pregnant.
The florist laughed again. “No, I was smart enough to not take the bet. I understand his fascination; you are a beautiful young lady. You have a wonderful day. The card is attached.”
“Thank you again. I have an idea who sent it. Let me guess. About 6’2’ and muscular?” He tapped his head to confirm her suspicions. “Is your business card attached as well? You do beautiful work.”
He took a step towards the door. “No, sorry. The name of my shop is on the envelope. Please visit our website. I’m the owner.”
He was gone, but the two office rodents were still rooted in the same spot and so far into her business that they could probably read the card through the sealed envelope. Cayla couldn’t help but beam with excitement. Her smile wasn’t for them; it was genuine shock and happiness from receiving a pleasant surprise. A heavy surprise.
Luckily, Felix, one of the three people she actually liked was passing by and saw the huge bouquet. “Wow, those are awesome, Cay – who’s the admirer…”
“Probably that restaurant manager guy,” Darrin quipped. “The poor man probably spent his whole paycheck trying to impress her.”
Cayla rolled her eyes. Darrin clearly didn’t know who Dex really was, and she was not about to correct him. Dex was taxed more than Darrin made, but she was graceful enough to not point that out.
“I would rather have a man with less money who is willing to spend hard earned money on quality than a cheap man with a lot of money.”
Felix nodded. “You are supposed to cherish your woman. If he spent his whole paycheck every now and then and they’re happy, then what does it matter?”