The Bridal Bouquet. Tara Randel
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He had survived. Eddie had taken a fatal bullet. The shot meant for Dylan. Nothing could make him forget that fact. And nothing would stop him until the shooter paid.
Except that he was on desk duty at the division office for the foreseeable future. He was only thirty-five. Was his career over?
His jaw tensed as he thought about his fate, when his brother interrupted.
“Heads up, bro. I overheard Mom talking to Aunt Betty.”
Derrick stared at Dylan, waiting. His brother loved to draw out a moment.
“And?”
“The florist convention is next week.”
Dread immediately gripped Dylan. “How did we not know this?”
“Because Mom lulled us into a false sense of complacency. Since she hasn’t mentioned it, our guards were down,” Derrick replied. “She’s sneaky like that.”
Jasmine Matthews loved her boys. Enough to guilt or con them into doing her bidding and not feeling the least bit of remorse.
“To make matters worse, the convention is at this very hotel. I’m sure her evil plan is to get one of us to agree to stay since we already have rooms here.”
For a man who didn’t panic over much, Dylan’s fight-or-flight response kicked in. “We gotta get out of this.”
Every year since their father died, their mother guilted her sons into attending the convention with her. Since she usually won some award, she claimed she needed a date to the banquet. Dylan had lucked out of this duty for five years now, but he was on borrowed time.
Belatedly he understood why his mother hadn’t made a fuss about not supplying the flowers for his cousin’s wedding. For the most part, she created arrangements for all the family affairs. He assumed she hadn’t done so this time because of the distance, since she lived in Cocoa Beach, on the other side of the state from Cypress Pointe. Although a very capable woman, she would have had to work with a local florist due to the logistics of the ceremony and reception. Now he realized she had a much greater goal in mind.
Derrick shook his head. “Too late. Mom wants all of us to stop by her room after the reception.”
Dylan closed his eyes. His thigh began to burn.
“Flip you for it?” Derrick said.
His eyes flew open. “No way. You cheat.”
Derrick’s fake offense was funny. “Hey.”
“I saw the double-sided coin last time.”
His brother sent him a sheepish smile. “You can’t blame me.”
“Deke does. He got stuck going with Mom.”
“Guess that explains why he punches me in the arm every time he sees me.”
“You deserve it.” He leveled his brother with his meanest special-agent glare. “We’ll check the coin before we toss it.”
“Spoilsport,” Derrick grumbled. “I don’t want to lose.”
“None of us do, bro.”
KADY PARKED THE van in the alley behind the shop and hurried inside. A smile still remained on her lips. Meeting Dylan had been a pleasant surprise. His cologne lingered in her memory. And those eyes? Unforgettable. Her mind shifted to the image of his face... Stop. She had to focus on the business. Whenever her parents called a meeting it was important and she expected this time to be no different. She needed to be on her toes, not crushing over a handsome guy she’d just met.
Her smile faded as she entered the workroom. Booming from the speakers, Elvis sang about a hound dog. Ugh. She admired the singer, but wasn’t a fan of fifties music. Her parents loved those songs, despite Kady’s suggestion they play a variety of music to appeal to their customers. In Kady’s vision of an elegant floral shop where brides-to-be came to discuss their arrangements, they’d be better served with soft jazz or classical music in the background. Not folks going on about rockin’ around the clock or waking up Susie.
“Hi, guys,” she called out over the music, heading straight to the radio to lower the volume.
“How did the delivery go?” her mother asked as she added hypericum berries to the arrangement she was assembling.
“Everything went smoothly.” Kady leaned against the table. “That’s beautiful, Mom.”
Her mother stepped back to scrutinize her creation. “Mr. Andrews will be in soon to pick this up. Would you mind placing it in the cooler while I clean up?”
“Sure.”
Mr. Andrews came by every Saturday at noon to purchase his preordered arrangement. His wife had recently moved into an assisted-living facility and the sweet man brought her flowers every week.
Moving to the front of the shop, Kady placed the order in the cooler. Another cooler in the workroom held spare arrangements for sale to walk-ins. Kady had been in The Lavish Lily earlier, before the wedding, to put together some of the simple arrangements. She was glad to see three of them were gone.
“Were we busy this morning?” she asked her dad. He was hovering by the cash register and glanced up but didn’t look directly at her. Pushing his glasses to the bridge of his nose, he stared down again. Kady got the distinct impression he’d intentionally avoided looking at her. “Where’s Will?”
At her brother’s name, her dad’s head came up. “Ran down the street to buy lunch. Once Mr. Andrews collects his order, we’re closing down for the day.”
“What? But it’s beautiful out and people are sure to stop in. We’ll lose business.”
“We have things to discuss.”
“Things more important than waiting on customers?”
Her father frowned. “Depending on how this meeting goes, we may reopen later this afternoon.”
“But—”
“Not now, Kady.”
Reprimanded, she returned to the workroom. Her mother hadn’t yet tidied up the table, so Kady did, returning the tools to their correct places. When Kady started here full-time, she’d organized the cluttered space. Her mother’s tendency to leave tools around drove Kady crazy, so she’d purchased medium-sized storage bins. With a labeler, she’d marked each bin—one for tape, another for glue sticks, wires, foam and the list went on.
Her parents hadn’t been thrilled by the extra expense, since they ran the shop on a shoestring budget. Mark and Ruthie Lawrence operated a tight ship, financially speaking. The Lavish Lily had been in the Lawrence family for three decades. Lately, when Kady suggested ideas to spruce up the shop, her folks hesitated, like when she requested the storage bins. She’d finally broken down and bought the items herself.
“Mom, what’s up with this meeting?”
Her mother wiped her hands with a paper towel and tossed it in the garbage can in the corner. “You’ll find out when Will gets back.”
“Is it about hiring storefront help? We could really use someone to take orders.”
“I’m sure the topic will come up.”
It did quite frequently. Her parents were notorious for not being able to keep good employees, but with Kady courting the wedding market, they needed a reliable assistant.
“So what’s the big secret I don’t know about?”
When her mother wouldn’t meet her eyes, Kady realized there was something huge going on. Something the three of them must have already discussed without her. Her stomach sank. She knew she was always the odd man out, but not being included in whatever the family