“I love you, Kayleigh, but I have to get back. We can talk more about him later, okay?”
“You’re not going to listen to me, are you?”
Shaking my head, I’m honest with her. I always am. “Probably not.” My mouth turns up in a grin, as I squeeze her shoulder affectionately. “I just don’t see what the big deal is. But, I’ll talk to you later and you can try to convince me some more, okay?”
She nods, worry in her gaze as I turn away. She clearly doesn’t care for my response, but she knows me. If she tells me not to do something, I’m going to want to know why and in some cases figure it out for myself. It’s like that Jelly Bean game, Bean Boozled. After playing it with her nieces, she warned me never to try it. So naturally I did, wanting to see what the fuss was about. It was all fun and games until I got the puke flavored one.
The walk back to my job is pleasantly quick and I hate to admit it, but I do check over my shoulder a few times. I feel like an ass by the time I get to my building though. I learned a long time ago that rumors are just that—rumors and nothing more. Well, usually anyhow. In this case I think everyone was being a little melodramatic. People love a good story to get worked up over. The guy was a businessman, maybe not completely straightlaced, but I highly doubt it’s what Kaleigh was saying.
Why would she lie about it, though? She would never do it on purpose, but she does buy into that shit the realtors she works for feed her. That’s probably where it all came from.
“Hey, Grace, have a good lunch?” Keisha, the receptionist asks as I step out of the elevator. She’s worked for the same marketing company as I have for nearly ten years. She’s a curvy, mocha-skinned, vivacious woman with one of the biggest hearts around.
“It was interesting, that’s for sure.”
Her full lips pull up into a curious grin, as she catches me off guard, “Well, maybe it’ll get more interesting then. You had a delivery about five minutes ago.”
“Really? From who?” I rarely get surprises. I wonder if my mom sent me something. It’s not my birthday or anything though.
Her smile grows more until she’s beaming, full of excitement for me. “Wouldn’t leave a name and said his boss wanted you to have something beautiful.”
“No way!” She has to be teasing me. I haven’t been seeing anyone in a while for a man to be sending me something. It must be my mom.
“Go look on your desk.” She wags her eyebrows and I damn near skip to my door with curiosity.
Sure enough, there’s a large bouquet sitting right in the middle of my desk. The flowers are encased in a thick crystal vase, swirls and hearts expertly carved into the base. It’s not something you’d find in a regular florist; it had to have cost a fortune and been made specially to order. There must be fifty lilies, all a deep violet color—the exact same shade as the shirt I have on.
Whoever sent them knows how to pay attention to detail, or else this is a strange coincidence.
The small, light gray piece of cardstock tucked into the arrangement draws my eyes away from the stark color. Carefully, I work it out of the prong holder, bringing it closer. In small Modern number twenty font—I know this because of my experience in design—there’s one word printed, black and bold. It’s enough for a cold chill to crawl up my spine, heeding my friend’s warning from earlier.
Bella
Holy shit. There’s no possible way, they’re from him. None. He knows nothing about me.
“So?” Keisha asks, causing me to jump at her voice. “You okay, girl?” Her eyes light up in amusement.
“Yes, um, they don’t have a name. Are you sure they were for me and not Rose? Wasn’t it her anniversary or something?” As beautiful as they are, I’d feel better right now discovering that they were delivered to me by mistake. Naïve, I know, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.
“Yeah, it was last week. Besides, the guy that delivered them gave me your name specifically, so those gorgeous flowers are all yours.”
“Oh. Great,” I mumble sarcastically. If only Keisha knew why it was so disturbing, but I’ll keep what happened to myself. No need to freak her out. Kaleigh would fall over, too, if she were here right now.
“You don’t seem too thrilled. If it were me, I’d be thinking of a special way to thank the man who spent a grip on them—maybe with my mouth.” She winks.
They are beautiful and a thoughtful gift from whomever they came. Not to mention they smell fantastic. But thanking him with my mouth is most likely the last thing he wants at the moment. I can’t believe I was rude earlier and then he sent flowers. Who the hell is this guy?
“Or did he fuck up? Do I need to hurt someone for you? I will, if he cheated. I’ll dick punch him for you.”
Laughing nervously, I shake my head, “No, nothing like that. But thank you, it’s nice to know that you have my back.”
“Always girl, you just say the word.”
“Thank you, Keisha, it means a lot. If I figure out who they’re from, I’ll be sure to thank him.”
“Oh my God! You don’t know who they’re from? Shit! You have a secret admirer, this is so cool.”
Nodding, I send her a brief, shaky smile. She has no clue that it could be from a certain ‘supposed’gangster, according to Kaleigh. Hopefully he’s just a rich guy with a good secretary to be able to find me like that. I should send him a quick email at least to thank him for the blooms and the lunch.