“You need help or something?”
I shook my head and turned off the van. “Um, no. I was just double checking that I had everything I needed.”
“That takes you ten minutes?” Silas asked.
Jesus, had I really sat in the driveway for ten minutes? “You know, just making sure.”
“I thought maybe you were on the phone since it looked like you were talking to someone.”
My face heated knowing Silas had caught me talking to myself. “Uh, no. I tend to, you know, talk out loud to make sure I have everything.” Like an idiot.
A smile spread across his lips, and he pulled my door open. “Well, as long as you have everything, I can help you unload. It’ll help me out of unraveling the ball of lights Dad left for me to hang on the pillars.”
I looked up at the house. “It needs more lights? At night, it’s almost blinding when you drive by.”
“Trying sleeping with lights glowing into your room. It’s a miracle I got any sleep at all.”
I grabbed my clipboard off the passenger seat and stepped out of the van. “Sounds like your parents need to invest in some better curtains.” I stood in front of Silas and got lost in his green eyes.
Were they always that green? All the memories I had of Silas had somewhat dulled and blurred over time. Seeing him now, up close, was a shock to all of my memories.
“Eh, once I finally fell asleep, it was fine.”
I shook my head slightly. “Huh?” What were we talking about?
“Curtains. I’ll survive without them.”
I snapped my fingers and smiled. “Of course.” Jesus. Deliver the flowers, and get the hell out of here before I made an even bigger fool of myself. My feet were glued to the ground, and I couldn’t seem to move past Silas.
He hitched his thumb over his shoulder. “So, are the flowers in the back?”
“Yes.”
He cleared his throat. “Uh, did you need help, or do I have to go back to the world’s largest ball of lights?”
“Oh, duh,” I mumbled. “Yes, I could use the help. I need to actually get back to the store quickly so I don’t miss the delivery truck with the last of Melonie’s flowers for tomorrow.”
Silas opened the back of the van, and I couldn’t help but catch his look of disdain. “Jesus. I’ve never seen so much red and green in one place before.”
I laughed and grabbed one of the potted pine trees that were decorated with red bows. “Once all the silver colored items come in, it’ll help cut through all of the red and green.”
“I’m gonna have to take your word on that one.” Silas grabbed two more of the potted trees and followed me into the house.
“Oh, come on, you can’t hate Christmas that much. It lasts for such a short time, you need to embrace it as much as you can.” I set the small trees inside the entryway and looked up at Silas. “I’m going to have to call you Scrooge.”
“Bah Humbug,” he muttered with a smile on his face. “I don’t mind Christmas, I just don’t know why it needs to be shoved down everyone's throat with green and red everywhere.”
“I can get that. I’m more of an ice blue and silver girl when it comes to decorating, but this is Melonie’s wedding, and this is what she wanted.”
Silas set down the trees and shrugged. “I guess you can’t argue with the bride, can you?”
“No, you can’t, Scrooge. Now help me with the rest, so I can get back to the shop so I don’t miss the delivery truck.”
We trudged back to the van, and Silas grabbed three more plants and a bouquet. “I don’t know why you need any more. You have the whole back of this van packed full.”
“Most of what I’m waiting on is the flowers for the arch and the boutonnieres for the guys.”
Silas helped me unload the rest of the van and slammed the back shut. “Well, I’ll be here when you come back with your next haul. Those damn lights are more than likely going to be the death of me.”
I laughed and hopped into the van. “I would just go buy some more from the hardware store before they close. I don’t think I have the patience to unravel that big ol’ ball.”
He closed my door and leaned into the window. “That doesn’t sound very festive to me,” he chuckled.
“There’s festive, and there is keeping your sanity.”
“You always did seem to know how to balance the two.”
I tilted my head to the side. “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not.”
“Trust me, it is, Lee.”
My breath caught, and I was transported back to a time where I was his Lee, and this man was the only thing I could see. A time where, even though I knew he wanted to leave, I still loved him. “Please, don’t,” I whispered. One word from his lips made me wish for more time to be his Lee.
“I’m sorry, Lee.” He stepped back from the van and shoved his hands in his pockets.
I stabbed the key into the ignition, needing to get away from him before I did something stupid like telling him I regretted not chasing after him or even telling him I still loved him.
“Jesus Christ, Ainsley,” I mumbled under my breath. I backed out of the driveway, making sure not to make eye contact with Silas, and headed back to the shop.
I was a fool who was apparently a glutton for punishment, because I still loved a man who didn’t want anything to do with me or my dreams.
*
Chapter 6
Silas
“Take this out and put it on the table.”
I looked down at the platter that was shoved into my hands. “Do I really look like a waiter?”
Mother glared at me and pointed toward the dining room. “Take it out, or I’ll send you to your room.”
I smirked and set the platter down. “Is that a promise?” Glancing out into the living room and had the urge to bolt. Room after room, full of people I didn’t know, but they all acted like they knew me.
Back in L.A., I had no problem walking into a room full of people I didn’t know, because they all feared me. Here, they all knew me before I became the man I am. They treated me like the eighteen year old boy they used to know.
I kept looking for the one person I wouldn’t mind spending the night with, but she wasn’t around. “I figured Ainsley would be here since she is friends with Melonie.”
Mother sighed and grabbed the platter I had put down. “She was supposed to be here, but she’s at the shop waiting on the last delivery of flowers.”
“It’s after seven o’clock. Does she really think they are going to be delivered?” I had never known a company to deliver that late on a Friday.
“That’s what I said too, but I guess Ainsley had been on the phone with the company, and they promised that they would be delivered tonight. Something about the truck breaking down a few hours away and they were waiting for a replacement truck.”
“She’s at the shop?”
She smiled and nodded her head. “Yes, honey.”
“You need me here?” I asked.
“What do you mean? You better not be thinking of going back to L.A. You promised you would be here till the twenty-fifth.”
I shook my head and grabbed an empty plate. “No, I’m not going back right now, Mother.”
I made my way around the platters of food and filled the plate in my hand.
“What are you doing? We’ll be serving dinner in five minutes, Silas. Don’t you think you can wait?”
I laughed and shook my head. “This isn’t for me.” The plate was mounded up with food, and I set it on the counter next to the coffee maker. “You have one of those travel cups?” I asked.
She came to stand next to me and opened the cabinet. “Here.” She handed me a large thermos and leaned against the counter as I filled it with coffee. “Silas, I know what you’re about to do, but I have to say, I hope you know what you’re doing means.”
I knew what it meant. At least, I think I did. “Things are different, Mother.”
“Different how?”
> “Different in the way that I’m not dumb enough to go over to Ainsley’s without knowing it means something more than being friendly.”
“You hurt her, Silas. You weren’t here, so you didn’t see what your leaving did to her.”
I screwed on the cover to thermos and set it next to the plate. “We both made mistakes back then. Ones I don’t want to discuss with you.”
She rolled her eyes and grabbed the Saran wrap from the drawer. “Try taking the stick out of your ass before you go over there,” she advised. She covered the plate with plastic wrap and handed it to me. “A lot of time has gone by, Silas, but the wounds are still there. Try to see things from her side.”
I grabbed the plate and tucked the thermos under my arm. “That’s why I’m going over there. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know we need to talk. If she’s just sitting there, we might as well just get it over with.”
She grabbed my arm and held it tight. “But if all you’re going to do is leave for another eight years, Silas, don’t do this. Leave her alone.”
I pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “That’s not something I can do, Mother.”
Just like before, Ainsley pulled me to her, and there was nothing I could do to resist it. I saw the hurt in her eyes when I called her Lee, and all I wanted to do was make it right and take back the shitty things I had done to her.
She laid her hand against my cheek. “Make it right then, Silas.”
I grabbed my keys from the hook by the back door and headed to Crowne Floral.
It was time to see if it was too late to finally follow my heart.
*
Chapter 7
Ainsley
I was lost on the weird side of YouTube when a loud pounding on the front door made me jump, and my phone flew out of my hand.
“It’s about damn time,” I mumbled with my hand on my chest. The flower delivery dude may have given me a heart attack, but at least he was finally here. “I’m coming.”
I had been camped out in the back room eating my weight in sugar cookies for the past three hours. My butt hurt from sitting on the hard stool, and my back hurt from being hunched over the phone on the bench.
“Ainsley.”
Who in the hell was shouting my name? I peeked around the shelf and saw Silas at the door holding a plate and a thermos.
I jumped back and flattened myself against the wall. This was not what I wanted.
I looked down at my gray jogging pants and black shirt and cringed. While Silas looked like he had walked off the pages of a magazine, I looked like I had just rolled out of bed.
“Ainsley, are you in there?”
Jesus. He sounded desperate. My idea of running upstairs flew out the window knowing he wasn’t going to wait.
Thankfully, the lights were off in the front of the shop, and he wouldn’t be able to see what I looked like in the dim lighting.
I gave a small wave when I reached the door and flipped the lock. “Hey.”
“Where were you? I’ve been knocking for five minutes. I was worried something had happened to you.” Silas Warlack worrying about me. That was new.
“Uh, I was just in the backroom working on, um, stuff.” Was watching cat videos considered stuff?
He held up the plate and thermos. “Can I come in? I figured you must be hungry waiting around.”
“Oh, well, I live upstairs so I ran up for some dinner.”
He lowered the plate. “Oh, well. Mind if I come in and eat then? I kind of grabbed this and ran before dinner was served.”
I tilted my head to the side. “You want to come in to eat? With me?”
He cleared his throat and shook the thermos. “You can drink coffee while I eat, so you don’t have to watch me stuff my face.”
I held open the door and stepped back. “Come on in.” I didn’t have a reason why he couldn’t come in, and to be honest, the thought of spending time with Silas was appealing.
He moved past me, and I closed the door.
“I, uh, didn’t tell you before because I was so shocked to see you, but your shop is pretty amazing.” He turned in a slow circle, taking everything in. “I knew you loved flowers, but I never imagined you owning a place like this.”
Crowne Floral really was a sight to be seen. While on the outside, it seemed like your average brick building, inside was warm and inviting with various potted plants and arrangements situated on different shelves, racks, and chairs. “Um, thanks. She’s kind of my baby.”
He smiled and set the plate and thermos on the front counter. “It’s really great, Lee.”
I closed my eyes and sighed. “I used to love when you called me that.”
“And now?” he asked quietly.
“And now, I don’t know why the hell you’re back, and more importantly, I don’t know why the hell you’re here with a plate of food and enough coffee to keep me awake all night.”
He shrugged. “Because it seemed like what I should do.”
“What you should do, or what your mother or Melonie put you up to?”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “Honestly, I’m pretty sure my mother was trying to talk me out of coming here, and I didn’t see Melonie at all. I heard her, but I didn’t venture into the living room full of people I didn’t really want to be around.”
“Your mother tried to talk you out of coming here?” That was surprising. Whenever his mom and I talked, she seemed to work Silas into the conversation.
“Uh, yeah. She was afraid that I was going to somehow mess things up.”
I hummed and nodded my head. I had no clue what to say to that. The last time I had seen Silas eight years ago, we had both messed up. “So, you really wanna eat?” This was his out.
He looked down at the plate. “As long as you have a microwave to heat that up, then yeah. You sure you don’t want any of it?”
I rubbed my stomach. “I’m pretty sure I ate more sugar cookies than an average human being should.”
“Sugar cookies?”
I laughed and grabbed the thermos of coffee off the counter. “I forgot how big of a sweet tooth you had.”
“Still have,” he mumbled.
We walked into the back room, and I pointed to the microwave. “I may live upstairs, but I spend more time down here. You can just pop that into there.”
He removed the plastic wrap and tossed it into the garbage can. “I know how that goes. I won’t tell you how many mornings Janine has woke me up with my head on my desk and drool coming from my mouth.”
“Janine?” I cringed knowing it wasn’t my business who Janine was.
He looked over his shoulder and smiled. “My secretary.” He placed the plate in the microwave and turned around. “Do you have a cat?”
I quirked my eyebrow and tilted my head. “That’s a weird question.”
He waved his hand. “It’s just that I heard a cat.”
Crap, my phone. I had tossed it when he had pounded on the door, and I had forgotten to grab it off the floor. “Um, I think that’s my phone. I don’t have a cat.”
“Why does your phone sound like a cat?”
I crouched down and searched the floor for my phone. “Um, well, I threw it.” That explained nothing. I dropped down to my hands and knees, crawling toward the shelf behind where I was sitting. “Where in the heck did it go?” I mumbled. I could hear a damn cat meowing, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
“Got it,” Silas called.
The meowing got louder, and I looked up to see Silas looking at my phone with his lip curled. “Lee, what in the hell were you watching?”
Ugh. I jump up from the floor and snatched the phone from his hand. “I was just trying to pass time.”
He laughed put his hands in his pockets. “I guess that’s one way to pass time.”
I stopped the video and tossed it on the workbench. Damn cat videos.
Silas grabbed his plate from the microwave and sat down at the workbench. “So is
that the new virtual cat lady? You don’t own the cats, but you just watch videos of them?”
“Don’t be a dick,” I laughed. “I was bored out of my mind waiting for these damn flowers I doubt are even going to show up.”
He looked up at me and smiled. “At least you're a hot cat lady.”
I smacked him on the shoulder and pointed at his plate. “Keep it up, and I won’t get you a fork.”
He looked down and frowned. “Touché, Lee. I promise to keep the cat lady jokes to a minimum.”
I tugged open a drawer under the microwave and pulled out a fork. “That minimum better be none, or you’re going to eat that with your fingers. You wouldn’t want to drop anything on your pretty designer clothes.”
He chuckled and pulled the plate close to him. “Should I be flattered that you noticed my clothes?”
I handed him the fork and sat on the stool next to him. Normally, I sat back here working on the books or on arrangements, so it was odd to be here with Silas. He was invading the world I had created, and as strange as it was, he seemed to fit.
He pushed the thermos toward me. “Now you can have coffee with your sugar cookies.”
“I think I’ll just have coffee.” I grabbed my cup I had brought down earlier and filled it to the brim. “Did you want some?”
He shook his head. “I’ll have some when you share your cookie stash with me.”
“There’s not much left, but I think I can spare a couple for you.”
Silas had half the plate of food gone, and I had refilled my cup before he spoke. “So tell me about your life, Lee. What have I missed?”
I sighed and looked down at my cup. “You’re sitting in it.” The shop was my life.
He looked up at me. “There has to be more than that.”
I shook my head. “Nope. I saved up for a couple of years, and six years ago, I opened the doors of Crowne Floral. The first four years, I struggled, basically begging people to buy from me, and then it suddenly changed. I started getting weekly orders from the local nursing home and hospital, I started marketing weekly specials, and the rest is history. Crowne Floral is in the black, and I can finally sleep at night.”
Silas: A Scrooged Christmas Page 3
