by Laila Kelly
Graham heard his phone vibrating in his duffel bag, and he reached over to grab it. It was a text from Jamie.
Jamie: Her name is Joleigh Everett. Call me when you land, I have a source in Tennessee that gave me some information on her. I’ll send you a picture soon.
Graham read the text. “Joleigh,” he muttered to himself. That’s a beautiful name. He sat back for a moment and wondered if she was as beautiful in person as her name sounded when he read it. He looked up and saw Traci looking through the curtain at him. “Is there something that I can get for you, Mr. Brentwood?” he looked up and shook his head. “No thank you, Traci. Everything is fine.” He pursed his lips to prevent from his thoughts coming out of his mouth any further. He sat back in the chair and wondered where the thoughts of wondering what the flower shop owner looked like came from. He just needed to get some information about who his mother placed that flower delivery to last week. Nothing more. Even though it would be easier to talk to her if she was beautiful and with a name like Joleigh, he imagined that she would be.
Traci popped her head out from behind the curtain. “Captain says to buckle up, we’ll be preparing for takeoff in five minutes,” she said in a singsong voice, smiled and returned to the front. Graham grabbed the buckles and strapped himself in, popping a piece of gum in his mouth to avoid his ears popping. He put his head back and closed his eyes. A few moments later he felt the plane jilt forward and begin to taxi down the runway. Traci came and sat down in the seat across from him and buckled herself up. She ran her hands over her skirt and crossed her ankles. She closed her eyes and Graham looked her over. Traci wasn’t the most unattractive woman that he’d ever seen, but the way that she was dressed and her approach towards him made him not think that she was anything more than just another attractive woman. Graham wasn’t attracted to forward women at all. He was more interested in the chasing stages of being with a woman. Not that the chase was the most exciting part, but he did enjoy the primal rush that shot through his veins when he found a woman that he wanted to pursue. He didn’t find any enjoyment in being chased. It made him feel like a baby squirrel being chased by a mean cat.
He shook the thought out of his head and dug through his bag for his headphones. He put them over his head and touched his favorite podcast on and made himself comfortable in the seat. Graham took a deep breath and held onto the handlebars while the plane lifted off into the sky. “Mr. Brentwood, we are taking off, and we will be arriving shortly in Georgia.” He turned up the volume and listened to the words of his favorite podcaster. Keeping himself abreast of what was happening in the business world made him feel like he was staying at the top of his A-game.
Before he knew it, Traci was tapping his shoulder. He opened his eyes and she was grinning at him. Graham paused his podcast and took off his headphones. “Mr. Brentwood, we’re about to land,” he cleared his throat and drank the last of his water before Traci took it to the front of the plane. Clearing his throat, he sat up in his seat and looked at his watch. They had arrived right on time. Scrolling through the email that Stephanie had sent him with all of his flight details, car reservations, and hotel information. He saw that she had text him that his car would be waiting for him at the airport.
The plane landed smoothly and taxied to the airstrip and came to a stop. Graham shoved his papers into their portfolio and back into his duffel bag. Once Captain opened the curtain he stood up and came up to Graham and shook his hand. “Thank you for getting us here safely,” the Captain held up his hand. “Oh no, it was no problem. The sky was very clear tonight. It was a very easy flight,” Graham bent down, and picked up his bag and exited the plane and down the stairs. Traci was at the bottom of the stairs and ushered him to his waiting car. “Thank you for your service,” he said towards Traci. She smiled another toothy grin. The man standing at the car had a sign that had his name. The man walked towards him, “Mr. Brentwood?” Graham nodded and he walked over and grabbed his bags. He took a deep breath and decided to allow the man to carry his bags. Everyone had a job and he couldn’t necessarily get mad about anyone doing their job. “My name is Jerry,” Graham nodded, “My name’s Graham. You can just call me Graham,” He wanted to reiterate that. He rarely liked to be called Mr. Brentwood. Graham felt like it was only appropriate for official business. This trip wasn’t exactly business. Jerry bowed his head, and he opened the door for Graham to get into the car.
Jerry walked around to his side of the car and climbed in the driver’s seat. “Where would you like for me to take you tonight, Graham?” He pulled out his cellphone to double-check where his hotel reservations were. “I’ll be staying at the Ritz-Carlton,” Jerry looked in the rearview mirror and saluted to him and put his hands on the steering wheel. “That’s where we’re headed, then.” He cranked up the car and drove off from the airport. The skyline in Atlanta was nothing like the skyline in Houston, but it was certainly beautiful nonetheless. They were similar, but Atlanta had a lot more skyscrapers than Houston did.
The ride from the airport to the hotel was only about fifteen minutes. When Graham checked in, the receptionist gave him a toothy grin. “Will you be needing only one key?” He looked up from signing some papers and raised his brow. “Yes, I’ll only need one key,” She tapped away at her keyboard. She looked pleased with his answer and he hoped that this entire trip wouldn’t go this way. Women looking at him and wanting to pursue him. The thought sent chills down his spine. He slid the papers across the desk, and she reached for them and caressed his hand. Graham grabbed his hand and she scrunched up her face.
It was never his intentions to hurt any woman’s feelings, but he had to make his motive’s very clear. Under no circumstances was he interested in any woman that went after him. He knew that some men were into that, but he wasn’t one of them. She placed his key on the counter and held onto the corner of it. He grabbed it quickly, “Thank you, ma’am,” Her eyes scanned over him, and she spent a long time staring at his arms. She wagged her finger at him, “You don’t have to call me ma’am, my name is Katie,” she smiled and bit her lip. He shook his head slowly and looked towards the elevator. “What’s my room number?” She glanced down at the computer and picked up her pen and held it to her mouth. “You’ll be in the penthouse suite, room 1215.” He turned around slowly and walked over to the elevator. While he waited for the elevator to come, he made the mistake of looking back towards the desk. Katie was standing there looking at him and waving seductively. Graham’s eyebrows raised and he ran his fingers through his hair and thanked God when the elevator doors opened. He stepped on and made sure not to need anything from downstairs before the next receptionist came on duty in the morning.
The glass elevator gave him a complete view of Atlanta and he was more than grateful to see the large bed. On the way upstairs, he grabbed his phone out of his pocket and set an alarm to get him up at 5:00 am. The flower shop opened up at 8:00 am and he wanted to be there as soon as she got there. Graham opened the door to his room, tossed his bags onto the couch and collapsed onto the bed.
Chapter Five: Joleigh
Joleigh tried not to take the advice that Amber had given her about looking further into the man that had called the flower shop last week. She looked at it in the way of if you go looking for trouble that you’re bound to find it. Trouble in any shape or form is the last thing that she needed right now. The only priorities that she had were her father’s health and keeping the flower shop lucrative. Going on a wild goose chase to see why a man would be looking into her and her flower shop were the last things that she would have time for right now. The amount of time that she would have to spend on something like that would take away from her trying to keep her life on track. She pushed that idea away and got her jacket and purse.
She left the flower market early enough to go and get a cup of coffee before she had to be at the flower shop. Getting coffee from Starbuck’s a few times a month was Joleigh’s definition of part of a self-care routine. Plus, she
really liked their version of rice crispy treats. They tasted just like the homemade ones that she and her father used to make when she was growing up. The line wasn’t super long, as it was still dark outside and the only people out and about in Flowery Branch were the ones that worked in other cities, mainly Atlanta. Her favorite barista, Heather, was there. Joleigh and Heather went to high school together and they played soccer together. “Hey Joleigh, how are you?” she hung out of the window and took her card. “I’m doing well, how are you?” She held up her hands and motioned around her. “You know, the same old same old, between working here in the mornings and taking care of the kids in the afternoon, that’s about all I have time for,” Joleigh nodded and put her debit card back into her wallet.
Heather had two children eighteen months apart and they looked like twins. Her sons had the most beautiful curly blonde hair and baby blue eyes. They were most certainly the most beautiful children that she had ever seen. She smiled weakly at Heather as she showed her a video of her kids splashing in the bathtub. Heather leaned out and handed her the venti iced coffee that she ordered. “Well, I’ll see you on Saturday and the park!” Joleigh waved and drove off. She couldn’t help but feel a sense of sadness when she saw Heather with her family. She seemed so happy and she always commented that her husband and kids made her feel whole. Joleigh wondered if not having any children or a significant other was the hole that she felt inside and wondered if it would ever be filled. She took a deep breath and decided that she would have to think about that later. It was too early in the morning to be getting upset.
With her coffee in hand, she felt like she was ready to conquer the day. On her way to the flower shop, she got a text from Sam. Sam wasn’t much of a texter, or any type of communication to be quite honest, so she pulled out her phone and read it.
Sam: Hey Joleigh, there’s a man sitting in his car outside of the shop. He’s staring at the window. She raised a brow and was thankful for the red light. She text back.
Joleigh: What do you mean there’s someone sitting outside of the shop?
Joleigh took a deep breath and tried to remain calm. She had to think rationally for once. She had the tendency to think the worst of every situation. Maybe he was waiting for one of the other shops around here to open. The other shops were opening in a few minutes. He could be waiting on Tony’s to open. That was it, she told herself. The light changed and she pulled off into the intersection.
Her phone buzzed again with Sam’s response. Nope, I went outside after I saw him sitting there when I pulled up. I’m sitting in my car still and I’m watching him stare at the shop. His response warranted another deep breath and Joleigh wondered if the man sitting outside the shop had anything to do with the weird phone call from Texas last week. She wanted Sam to remain calm and not see that she was worried, but inside she was a wreck. Joleigh put her hand over her stomach and tried to calm her nerves. She ran a flower shop, and in all the years of her parents running the shop and it being passed down to her, she had never had anyone waiting outside the shop before she got there. It was only 6:45 a.m.
The only person that she could think to call was Amber. She dialed her number and she picked up on the second ring. “Hey what’s up?” she chirped into the phone. “Hey, Amber so I’m on the way to the flower shop and Sam texts me that there’s a man sitting outside of the shop in his car. I was thinking what if it’s that the same man from that weird call that I was telling you about?” She knew that Amber would love hearing about something out of the ordinary happening in little Flowery Branch. “Ooh,” she exclaimed. Sure enough, she was intrigued. “What about if I call the police just to go and check it out?” She could hear Amber rustling around in the newspaper. Her morning routine included doing yesterday’s crossword puzzle. She said it kept her “mentally nimble”. Joleigh much preferred a nice sudoku puzzle instead.
“Well Joleigh, I really don’t think that you have anything to worry about. The shop is in a large area with other shops around it. What makes you think that he’s waiting for your shop to open? You know you’re right next to Geno’s, maybe he’s waiting to get something from the grocery store.” Joleigh nodded, taking into consideration what Amber was saying. She felt like she was right and felt herself calming down. “Yeah, you’re right.” She thought for a moment, “But what if he is waiting for me? I don’t know who it is, and after that weird call from Texas last week I really don’t know what to expect. You know these types of things don’t normally happen in Flowery Branch. Everyone knows everybody and if Sam doesn’t know who it is, I’m pretty sure that I won’t know who it is either.” Amber was quiet, and Joleigh could tell that she was about to figure out a part of the puzzle. She couldn’t focus on much when she was doing her puzzles. “Peak near Catania,” she mumbled. A few seconds later, “Etna!” she exclaimed. “Listen, Joleigh, I feel like you’re getting a little worked up about this. Sam is there and you know I’m a call away. If anything fishy is happened by the time you get there just stay in your car and call the police. You know they’d be more than happy to come down there and make sure everything is alright for you. Maybe you need to take a deep breath,” Amber was always the voice of reason when Joleigh was getting worked up. Her mind always running a thousand miles a minute and sometimes they could get away from her.
“Alright, well I’m almost to the shop,” Joleigh turned into the plaza and saw Sam’s car, but no one else. “Hmm, there’s nobody here.” She felt silly for getting so worked up about it. Joleigh parked her car. “See, nothing is wrong. Please relax and have a good day. Call me when you decide to take a lunch break, ok?” She turned off her car and put the keys into her purse. “Ok, talk to you later.” She put her phone in her pocket and got out of the car. Sam got out and walked over to her. “Sam, I thought you said that there was someone sitting outside the shop. There’s no one here except you and me,” Sam turned around and pointed to the parking space beside his car. “No, there was someone here. It was a man in a truck, and he was parked right there. He just left about five minutes ago but he was definitely here.” Joleigh looked over to where Sam was pointing to.
“Well what did he look like?” Sam pulled out his phone and showed her a picture. Thank God for smartphones, she thought. He had blonde hair and a thick beard. The man looked like one of those rugged versions of a Calvin Klein model. “I took this picture of him and was going to ask my mom and dad if they knew who he was.” Sam’s father was a county sheriff, and his mother was the friendliest person in town. There wasn’t a person in Flowery Branch that she didn’t know. Joleigh shook her head, “Alright,” she took another sip of her iced coffee and walked towards the shop’s door. When she reached the door, she turned around and saw Sam getting the flowers out of her car. “Hey Sam, can you send me that picture?” He looked up and nodded, “Sure.”
She told herself that if she remained calm and didn’t let Sam see her nervous, that things would go a lot smoother. If he saw her getting worked up about it, then he would be on edge too and that was the last thing that she wanted. Joleigh flicked on the lights and headed straight to her office to put up her lunch and to put her purse up under her desk. Every morning, she tried to look at her email and today she decided that it would be her first task of the day. The first few emails were orders coming in from her online site. She reached in her desk drawer for an order pad and jotted down the order details. “Hey Sam!” she called out. He appeared around the corner a few seconds later. “Can you take these orders and add them to the board.” He walked over and picked up the few sheets of paper. “Do you want me to prep the first few orders for you?” Joleigh looked at the time and if he did it instead of her it would save her time. “Yes please, thank you, Sam,” He smiled and walked out of the office.
Joleigh continued to scroll down the list of junk emails and carefully sorted them into her trash folder. She was three emails away from reading all of them when she saw an email from Jamie Caldwell. Her face scrunched and she pulled out her
journal from her purse. “Jamie Caldwell. That name sounds very familiar,” she muttered to herself. The pages were turning so fast in her journal she could’ve easily started a fire. “Ah hah,” she exclaimed. Sam came running back into the office. “Is everything ok, Joleigh?” she looked up and leaned her head onto her hand. “Oh yeah, sorry, I was just helping Amber with her crossword puzzle.” He looked at her for a moment, knowing she was lying and turned around. “Alright, let me know if you need anything.”
She giggled at Sam’s response and looked back down at her journal entry from last week. Jamie Caldwell was that private investigator that called the flower shop last week asking about Tamara’s order. Joleigh swung around in her chair and opened up the blinds behind her, letting in the sunlight. Spending so much time around flowers, she felt like she had begun to adopt the traits of them. If there wasn’t any sunlight outside, Joleigh would fell droopy inside, like she was walking through quicksand, but if the sun was out, she felt peppy and full of energy.
Looking out the window, she could see Geno standing at his dock and looking at the delivery truck driver loading the groceries onto the cart and taking them inside the store. As always, Geno was standing there smiling at the truck driver and laughing with him. Maybe he was so happy because his wife made pasta for dinner every night. “Maybe I should start eating more carbs, then there won’t be any room for any feelings other than happiness,” she muttered to herself. She turned around hoping that Sam wasn’t walking past and hearing her talk to herself. He didn’t need too many more reasons to believe that she was going insane and hearing her would be the straw that broke the crazy camel’s back.
Shaking her head, she turned around and returned to her desk. She clicked on the email and saw that it was sent to her two days ago. “Joleigh, before you make up your mind about answering some questions for me, I want you to know that there is monetary value in cooperating, Jamie.” Her brows scrunched up and she pushed away from her keyboard. “Now what is that supposed to mean?” Trying to keep in her thoughts proved to be a moot point, there were too many thoughts swimming around inside her head. What type of information was he looking for that he was willing to pay her for it? This was beginning to sound more and more like those Investigation Discovery murder shows that her mother loved to watch. Knowing what she knew about those shows and their outcomes further solidified Joleigh’s mind that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with Jamie Caldwell or whatever investigation he called himself doing.
