Too Many Blooms Read Free Page B

forgot.”
    Gran wiped her hands on her flowered apron as she and Gramps headed to the front of the store. I followedclose behind. I was filled with dread, but still I didn’t want to miss a thing.
    Aunt Lily gave Gran a tight smile. “Well, hello there, Iris,” she said in a clipped tone. “I spoke with your daughter this morning, who informed me that she and Benjamin will be taking over the store while you two go gallivanting down to Florida.” She narrowed her eyes. “Surely she must be mistaken?”
    Gran opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Her big sister always makes her nervous. Even after all these years.
    Gramps put his hands on Gran’s shoulders. “Now Lily,” he said. “We were going to tell you today. We just wanted to make sure that Daisy and Ben were on board first.”
    Aunt Lily put her hand to her forehead as if she’d felt a sharp and sudden pain. “And you expect me to agree to turn over the store to my lovely, though disorganized, niece?” She narrowed her eyes. “Are you forgetting I own one third of this business?”
    Aunt Lily is part owner of the store, but she hasn’t done any of the day-to-day business in years. She’s way too busy, she says, with her charity work. “And her gossiping,” Dad likes to say. Aunt Lily does always seem to have the insidescoop on everything going on around town. She gets all the news from her charity lady friends. (We call it the “Old Lady Mafia,” though never in front of her, of course!)
    But she’s still involved in the store, and she usually seems to drop by at the worst possible times. It’s like she has disaster radar or something.
    Gran spoke up, her voice clear but shaky. “Lily, we’ve thought about this long and hard. We have an opportunity we can’t pass up. It’s only a trial run. And yes, I do think that Daisy and Ben will do a great job.”
    Aunt Lily turned to me and pursed her lips. “And do you agree, Delphinium?”
    “I … um …” I looked wildly from Gran to Gramps to Aunt Lily. I can’t help it — Aunt Lily scares me. And when I’m scared, I can’t fib. It gets me in trouble all the time.
    Suddenly, there was a rap on the glass door. We all spun around. A young woman was standing outside, waving frantically.
    I stepped forward and opened the door. Whew! Saved by the customer. “Welcome to Flowers on Fairfield,” I said to her in my most professional-sounding voice. “Can I help you?”
    The woman looked to be in her midtwenties. Her long, blonde hair was pulled into a perfect ponytail, not a strand out of place. She had big, blue eyes and was wearing light pink lipstick. She was just so pretty and perfect looking, like a mannequin. And … I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something about her seemed familiar.
    Oddly enough, she had her hands in the air, as if she was afraid to touch anything.
Maybe she’s one of those germphobic weirdos,
I thought.
    “I just got a mani-pedi!” she exclaimed as she stepped inside. “Don’t want to smudge my nails!” She smiled, flashing her straight, white teeth. I found myself nodding in sympathy and returning her grin, although I wasn’t totally sure what she was talking about. Manny who?
    “Oh, okay,” I said.
    “Would you be a sweetheart and put Louis on the floor?” she asked me.
    “Louis?” I asked.
    She looked at me like I had two heads. “Louis Vuitton?” she said, nodding toward the bag slung over her shoulder. That’s when I noticed that there was a tiny, shivering dog poking its face out of her large purse. I reached inside andpicked up the dog, who instantly snarled and began yapping at me. As I placed the pet on the floor, I blinked. Was Louis wearing a tiny, black leather motorcycle jacket? Why, yes he was.
    The customer looked around. “So this is it,” she said with a sigh. “I was hoping it would be … fancier.”
    My mouth fell open. How rude! Luckily, Gran sensed my annoyance and stepped right in, putting on her most gracious smile. “How