I touch a soft petal and laugh. He’s right. There are a ton of roses in here. “Who are they from?”
“I don’t know. The largest bouquet is on the table in the kitchen, and there’s a card sticking out,” he says, with his eyebrows almost touching his hairline as he gives me a knowing smile.
I can’t even see our dining room table under all the flowers. I pluck the card, wondering how someone could afford all these flowers. It had to cost a small fortune.
Zoe,
I hope you enjoy the flowers.
Their color pales in comparison to your beautiful hair, but I wanted you surrounded with a reminder that I’m thinking of you.
Can’t wait until our date.
Callan.
“I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.” My father says as I stand there, rereading the card to make sure I didn’t miss something. I’m smiling so huge that my face begins to hurt and my whole body feels as if there’s electricity running through it.
“I’m not,” I tell my dad, finally looking up.
“Then you must have someone’s attention,” he says. He’s looking for more information, but I don’t know if I want to give it yet. “Do you like him?”
“Yeah, but I shouldn’t,” I say with a grimace.
“Why not?”
“Because everything points to him not fitting into my world. I mean, look at these flowers. I’d almost guarantee that he spent more on them than most people make working for a month—heck, maybe two.”
My dad frowns for a minute as he thinks it over. “If it gets serious, I want to meet the guy.”
I lean my head over onto his chest before kissing his cheek. “You know you’ll meet anyone important in my life.”
He pulls me into a bear hug, kissing the top of my head.
“Now, how about some pizza?” I ask
My dad looks around for a minute and laughs. “We will have to eat at the counter because there’s no room anywhere else.”
Chapter10
Callan
I lean backin my office chair as I order balloons from the same shop that delivered Zoe’s flowers. I wanted more roses, but they told me they got a shipment in, but the stock was low and other customers were beginning to complain because their orders couldn’t be filled. They limited me to balloons or carnations, so I went with the first choice.
I always like to deal locally when I buy things and they’ve been very accommodating. Otherwise, I would call every flower shop in town to get what I wanted.
“They need to be perfect. I think red and silver would be great,” I instruct the woman on the phone.
“What about hearts?” she asks. “We may have some other shapes, too.” She’s being very helpful, but then again, I’m giving hera lotof money.
“No, hearts are just too simplistic and expected,” I tell her. “Oval and round are fine.”
“What do you want the card to say?” She drawls, clearly typing my order in as I answer her. I can hear the keys clicking in the background.
“I’ll sign the card,” I tell her. Just as the words leave my mouth, Niko walks into my office. “I’ll be there later today to sign it and pay. Thank you.” I hang up before she can say anything else.
Judging by Niko’s scowl, he caught what I was saying, and he’s not too happy about it. It’s either that or he caught word from Emilia that I was pursuing Zoe.
“What did I tell you to do?” Niko asks, walking over to the chair in front of my desk and plopping down into it. From the growl in his voice, I can tell this goes beyond him not being happy about me pursuing Zoe. He’s downright pissed off. “Or, more specifically, what did I tell younotto do, Callan?”