Coming Up Roses

by Anie Michaels

  “Who is Aiden?” Stephanie asked from behind me, where I hadn’t realized she’d moved to read over my shoulder.

  I pressed the card to my chest to hide it, as if I could erase what it said from her memory.

  I looked up and noticed that the floral parade hadn’t gone unnoticed by the office either. Everyone was looking through my glass walls while pretending not to, and they all sucked at hiding it.

  “Krysta, that will be all,” I said, giving her a tight smile to ease the dismissal.

  I stood up and walked around the perimeter of my office, pulling the tall drapes closed to add some privacy. Clearly, I didn’t get flowers delivered often and all my employees were taking notice. I didn’t like being the center of attention.

  Just as I was closing the final curtain, Riley knocked gently on the door. I motioned for her to enter and watched as she shut the door quietly behind her.

  “I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful delivery you’ve received,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant and completely failing. “And, not that it’s connected or anything, but last night Camden couldn’t get a hold of Aiden until late and then couldn’t get a straight answer about where he’d been.”

  “Aiden?” Stephanie piped up. “That’s the name on the card!”

  “I knew it!” Riley practically squealed as she jumped up and down, clapping like I’d just won an Olympic medal.

  “Shhh,” I scolded both of them. “I do not need the entire office to hear about my personal life.”

  “Sorry,” they both replied in unison, both trying to hide excited smiles

  I let out a heavy breath and then decided to take a risk and talk to Stephanie and Riley.

  “Do you guys have a minute?” I asked.

  They both nodded eagerly and took seats in my overstuffed chairs. My first instinct was to sit at my desk, but the flower arrangement was too large and I wouldn’t have been able to see over it, so I sat on the couch between their two chairs.

  I had no idea where to start.

  “The flowers are from Aiden.” I thought maybe I’d start with the obvious. “I spent the afternoon and evening with him yesterday.” As I said the words I could literally see the excitement about to burst out of Riley, but I held a hand up to stop her. “Just the afternoon and evening. We did not spend the night together and I did not sleep with him.”

  Yet.

  I watched her deflate before my very eyes.

  “Okay, who is Aiden?” Stephanie asked with a little irritation.

  “Aiden is this really great guy I met through my best friend and we’ve sort of adopted him into our group. He’s tall, rugged, handsome, super nice, and just very put together. He owns his own very successful business and he’s just a great catch.”

  Stephanie gave me the side eye.

  “Sounds suspicious.”

  I narrowed my eyes and nodded at her.

  “That was my first impression as well. Too good to be true.”

  “Well, what happened yesterday to warrant the enormous flower arrangement sitting on your desk at this very moment? Hmmmm?” Riley inquired.

  “He kidnapped me.”

  “See,” Stephanie said, shaking a finger at me. “There’s all the red flag I need.”

  Riley rolled her eyes. “Seriously.”

  “He seriously kidnapped me. I fell asleep in his truck, thinking we were going to a lunch meeting, and when I woke up we were at the beach.”

  “Awwww,” Riley and Stephanie both cooed, again in unison.

  “Did you have fun with him? What all did you do?” Riley asked, leaning forward with interest.

  “We went to lunch, then he took me to an aquarium, and then we walked on the beach a bit.”

  The description of the day, while accurate, wasn’t all-encompassing. I left out all the sweet hand holding, all the laughing with the seals, the sweet gifts he’d gotten me. My eyes flashed down to the ring on my finger. It didn’t go with my ultra-posh business attire I was wearing, but I couldn’t bring myself to take it off.

  “So, it was a date, not a meeting,” Stephanie concluded.

  “Yes.”

  “And how’d it go?” Riley implored, eyebrows arched toward the sky.

  It was time to fess up. If I was really going to open up to these women, it was now or never.

  “It was amazing,” I said, slumping down into the couch and frowning.

  “You seriously need to work on expressing your emotions more accurately,” Stephanie noted.

  “It was amazing? Or amazingly bad?”

  “Absolutely out of this world amazing. Best date I’ve ever been on.”

  “Hence the flowers,” Riley practically cried out, clasping her hands in front of her chest.

  “I’m just really confused.” I tried my best not to sound like a whiney teenager, but I was out of my element. “He sends really confusing signals.”

  “What do you mean?” Stephanie inquired.

  “He seems really interested one minute, but then he purposefully puts distance between us. I can never tell where he’s headed—both literally and figuratively.”

  “Do you think maybe you just feel overwhelmed because of...” Riley’s eyes moved over to Stephanie and then back to me. “Your inexperience?”

  It was time for transparency.

  I looked over at Stephanie.

  “I’m a virgin.”

  To her credit, Stephanie’s face remained completely passive.

  “Okay, I can see how that would affect the situation.”

  “I thought we really hit it off yesterday, you know? But then at the end, when I invited him in and alluded to what would happen, he turned me down.”

  “Hmmm,” Riley hummed, leaning back in her chair, her face scrunched with concentration.

  “Wait,” Stephanie interjected. “Does he know you’ve never...” She motioned in the air, poking a single finger through an ‘O’ made with her other hand.

  “Of course. I would never invite someone in for sex without telling them they’d be the first.”

  “Oooohhhhhh,” Stephanie and Riley said in unison again, as though I’d revealed all the secrets of the universe.

  “How does that explain anything?” I asked, mystified.

  Riley and Stephanie exchanged knowing looks.

  “Rose, sweetie, he’s being careful with you. He doesn’t want you to rush into your first time and regret it. At least, knowing Aiden, that’s how I read the situation,” Riley added.

  “And I don’t know Aiden, but I’d agree. If he seems into you, and he’s sending you gorgeous flowers, he definitely cares about you and probably just wants to take it slow. And even if it’s not for your sake, you can’t bash a guy for not jumping your bones at the first opportunity. That’s quite literally the thing single women complain most about.”

  I thought about what they were saying, but it did little to ease my self-doubt.

  “I don’t know, you guys. That was the first time I’d ever invited a man into my home with the intention of sleeping with him, and I’m not going to lie, it burned when he rejected me.”

  “What, exactly, did he say?” Riley asked.

  My eyes started stinging at the thought of the rejection I’d been dealt the night before. I felt silly and stupid, but the emotions weren’t something I was used to dealing with. I sucked in a quick breath and dabbed at the corner of my eye, trying to maintain my composure.

  “He said something about not wanting it to be just sex. That he wanted more for us, for it to be meaningful. That he wasn’t blowing me off.”

  “Oh, honey,” Riley said soothingly as she came to sit next to me. Clearly, I wasn’t doing a great job of hiding how upset I was about Aiden. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned about men, especially the good ones—which I’m pretty sure Aiden is—it’s that they don’t lie. They don’t make things up just to appease women. If that’s what he said, it’s more than likely that’s what he meant.”

  “The way
I see it, you have two things that could be going on. Either he really likes you and doesn’t just want sex, or he doesn’t like you and he was trying to let you down easy. But the second scenario doesn’t make sense with those flowers sitting on your desk. If he didn’t want you, he wouldn’t have sent those,” Stephanie said softly.

  “Exactly,” Riley added, rubbing a hand on my knee, trying to comfort me.

  “I’m so out of my depth, you guys. Dating sucks.”

  The girls laughed.

  “It sure does,” Riley said, smiling at me. “But I hope you trust me that Aiden really is one of the good ones. The entire time we’ve been friends I’ve never seen him bring a woman around. He doesn’t just sleep with women. He’s not a player.”

  “So, I should follow his lead?” I asked, desperate for advice on how to navigate this new, stupid road. “I always thought when I finally wanted to have sex with someone, it would be fairly easy to accomplish.” I couldn’t keep the exasperation out of my voice.

  “Yeah, and you probably could go to any bar in this city, find a random guy, and he’d totally help you out with that issue, but it wouldn’t mean anything and you’d never hear from him again. It sounds like Aiden wants more than just sex,” Stephanie offered.

  “Sounds like maybe you need to think about what you want.” It was the softest I’d ever heard Riley’s voice. “If you guys aren’t on the same page, then this will all be for nothing and someone will end up getting hurt.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed with a large sigh. “I never imagined I’d be in this situation.”

  “What situation?” Stephanie asked, confused. “You never thought a nice man would find you attractive and want to start a relationship with you? That’s ridiculous, Rose. You’re a catch.”

  “I think I’m good on paper, but in reality, I’m a mess.” I didn’t realize how much I believed those words until they tumbled out of my mouth. I’d built a comfortable, safe bubble around myself and pushed everyone out. I’d been so focused on making sure I made something out of my life, I hadn’t actually built a life. Now I was floundering around, drowning while trying to keep my head above water.

  “We all feel that way sometimes,” Riley said, her hand tapping my knee again. “Drink some wine, have a good cry, and get it out of your system.”

  “Yeah, sounds like you need a girls’ night.” Stephanie’s voice was sweet and encouraging.

  “Oh my gosh, that’s exactly what you need. A girls’ night! We should totally do that at my house. Stephanie, you should absolutely come too. You’d fit right in with us!”

  Stephanie shrugged and smiled. “I don’t have anything going on tonight.”

  All eyes landed on me.

  “How ’bout it, Rose?” Riley asked, smiling wide.

  I thought about Aiden’s invitation for another meeting that evening but didn’t think seeing him before I got my head on straight would be a great idea. Riley and Stephanie were right. I needed to figure out what I wanted before I continued anything with him.

  “I’ll bring the wine,” I offered, my voice still defeated, but a smile trying to spread across my face.

  “That’s the spirit,” Stephanie said, pumping a fist in the air.

  “And hey,” Riley said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Worse comes to worst and Aiden turns out to be just another guy you once dated with whom it didn’t work out.”

  “You’re right,” I agreed. But the problem was, I didn’t agree. I wasn’t sure Aiden would ever be just some guy. Every day that passed, every time he crossed my mind—which was far too often—I was becoming worried Aiden was the guy.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Rose

  A

  fter Stephanie and Riley left my office, once we’d finalized all our plans to meet at Riley’s that night, I was left alone with my ridiculously large, but completely beautiful, floral arrangement.

  I read the card again, my mind and heart completely torn on what to do next.

  I made the decision to wait to respond to Aiden until I was a little more calm and collected. I didn’t need my emotions ruling me while dealing with him. So, I did what came naturally, what always calmed me when I was frazzled.

  I got out my pad of paper and made a to-do list.

  Sometimes I used my phone, but there was something so satisfying about scratching a thick line through a task once it was finished, and it just didn’t translate on a screen well enough. I wanted to feel the tip of the pen grinding against the fibers of the paper, the smoothness of the way the ink sank into it. It just wasn’t the same as swiping my finger across the screen.

  I thought about the rest of my day, what I wanted to accomplish, and soon I was lost in work, grinding through my list, and when lunchtime rolled around I was feeling much more myself.

  With the tiny card in one hand and my phone in the other, I typed out a perfunctory text to Aiden.

  **Thank you so much for the beautiful flowers. They caused quite the commotion at the office this morning. I will, however, have to decline your invitation for this evening as I already have plans.**

  Sending the text, I tried to ignore the tugging in my chest that felt a little like regret.

  Pulling open the bottom drawer of my desk, I grabbed my purse and was about to put my phone in its designated pocket when it started ringing in my hand. The number on the screen didn’t have a name attached to it, but I recognized it as the number I’d just texted.

  Aiden.

  “Hello?”

  “You got my flowers.” His voice sounded so damned good over the phone. Deep and raspy. Irritatingly sexy.

  “I did. Thank you.”

  “I thought about sending roses, but that seemed a little trite, don’t you think? And completely unoriginal.”

  I couldn’t help the small laugh that puffed out of me.

  “And now you have my number,” he continued.

  “And you have mine.” I had no idea what to say to him.

  “What plans do you have tonight? Can we meet for a drink beforehand?”

  “I am doing a girls’ night with Riley, Hadley, and another friend from work, Stephanie.”

  “Ah-ha,” he replied knowingly.

  I could almost picture him nodding and grinning, crossing his arms over his chest.

  “Well, that’s kind of perfect. Maybe the guys would like to get together while the girls talk about us.”

  “What makes you think we’ll be talking about you?” I asked, my voice a little too high-pitched and shrill to come across as calm and collected like I’d intended.

  He laughed and the gravelly rumble sent a shiver down my spine.

  “Call it a hunch, sweetheart.”

  “Well, you’re free to do whatever you’d like.”

  “Maybe I’ll see you there, then.”

  The idea that Aiden could show up at Riley’s house made me slip right back into the nervous, excited, terrified, unsure woman I’d been just a few hours prior.

  Why did it have to be so complicated? I wanted to see him, but it scared me, which made me not want to see him. And the most baffling part was I’d never felt that way about a man before. Dating a guy had always felt like something I ought to be doing, not something I wanted to do.

  I sighed, resigning myself to all the warring emotions, realizing perhaps it was only going to get worse before it got better.

  “Okay,” I agreed, the irritation gone from my voice.

  “Hey.” Concern laced his voice. “Everything all right?”

  “Yeah.” I sighed again. “Just tired.” That wasn’t a lie. I was still exhausted. I was tired from lack of sleep, but I was also tired from being me. My brain wouldn’t let me go with the flow. I was constantly fighting to swim upstream, battling myself along the way.

  “Well, I’ll let you go then.”

  “Okay,” I agreed, even though I could admit to myself I wanted to listen to his voice for a while longer. “Wait.” The word tumbled out of its own accord. “How is
your day so far?”

  “Not as good as yesterday, to be honest. But it’ll get better later.”

  Something inside my stomach flipped at his words and warmth flooded through me.

  “I’ve got a meeting with an electrician in a few minutes, so I’m going to let you go. I’ll see you later, sweetheart.”

  “Bye.”

  I didn’t try to force back the smile that spread over my face, and I told myself it was okay to look forward to maybe, possibly seeing Aiden later that night.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Aiden

  O

  ne of the things I liked best about Justin and Camden was they weren’t pretentious jerks like one might assume by just looking at them. Sure, Camden drove the nicest fucking car I’d ever seen, and they both showed up to the sports bar I’d suggested in suits and ties, but once the jackets came off and the collars were unbuttoned, they were just as laid back and friendly as any other blue-collar worker in that bar.

  Not once had I ever felt like they looked down on me because I worked with my hands or didn’t spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on college. They couldn’t care less about those things.

  In fact, just the idea that Justin was now a buddy of mine was a testament to how cool he really was, seeing as how the first time we met I was trying to date his wife. Of course, I hadn’t known they were married at the time, but still. It wasn’t every man who could look past a first impression like that.

  “So,” Camden said just before taking a sip of his Guinness. “What do we think the women are talking about this evening?”

  “Not a clue,” Justin replied. “But every time Hadley spends the evening with Riley and there’s wine involved, she comes home happier than when she left and a little tipsy. And let me tell you, tipsy Hadley might be one of my favorites.”

  “You like every version of Hadley,” Camden said while he rolled his eyes and laughed.

  “Not going to argue with that.”

  “I have a feeling I may be a topic of conversation,” I threw out there. Both gave me questioning looks. “Rose and I sort of started seeing each other.”