Page 3 of Alpha’s Sunflower Smiles (Sweet in Silford #8)

Chapter 3

Wilfred

O utside, the sun was just setting.

It was early evening and people would be about to leave work and head home.

I was staying a while longer.

I looked around my shop and smiled to myself.

I always felt at home here, surrounded by my own designs and in my safe space.

Some of my customers told me that Sunflower Smiles was like a home and they felt as if they were coming to visit an old friend, not going shopping.

I liked that.

I’d designed it that way deliberately.

In my opinion, people didn’t want just another sterile shop with no soul where they could go, look around, pick up something else mass-produced by a machine…

Yes, I loved my crafts and maybe I was one of the few people who still thought it, but quality showed.

I made everything with love, and that was what people were buying from me.

There was a click beside me and I looked round, startled.

Ronnie was a young man I’d recently hired to photograph my products and he’d done a wonderful job.

He was starting to photograph more than just the products, though.

“What was that for?” I asked.

He smiled.

He had a bashful look on his face and his alpha, Ty, stood behind him and engulfed him in his huge arms.

I wanted to grin at the way Ronnie instantly relaxed back into him, but didn’t.

I didn’t want the young man to think I was laughing at him.

Ronnie fiddled with his camera.

“I just wanted to capture it.”

“What?”

“That look.”

I was baffled.

“What look?”

In answer, he lifted his camera so I could see the back of it, where the screen showed the photograph he’d just taken.

It was me, standing behind the counter and looking out at my shop with a daft smile on my face.

Not the most flattering picture ever.

He could have warned me and I could have sucked my stomach in, for a start.

Still, it was done now and Ronnie seemed happy with it.

I gave him an approving nod.

He was such a timid little thing and I wanted to give him all the encouragement I could.

If I told him to delete the photo, he would have felt bad.

Ty glanced at the picture and said, “I’ll add that to the website. It’s a good shot. It’s exactly what customers will get when they walk in here.”

Ronnie nodded and I felt the familiar hope inside me.

My new website.

That was exciting, wasn’t it?

I’d never thought to put my things online before, only opened the shop, but I’d been told that everything was happening online these days and I had to move with the times.

Well, I could do that.

And it meant there was a world of people out there, all wanting me to make them something special.

“What’s that smile for?” asked Ty.

I looked at him.

He was looking at me.

“Oh, was I smiling?”

“Yes.”

“I was just thinking about our new website. I can’t wait for it to get going. It’ll be fun, won’t it?”

Ty chuckled.

“I’m not sure a business website is meant to be ‘fun’ but I take your point. Shall I email Richard to arrange a time to come and show you the finished product?”

“Yes, please, that will do nicely.”

Ty jostled Ronnie.

“Are you all finished?”

“Yes, I think I got everything.”

He had.

He’d taken pictures of absolutely everything .

I was sure we couldn’t possibly use half of them, but he’d seemed happy.

It had been wonderful to see him coming into his own.

Ronnie was really making great progress.

When I’d first met him, he’d been so shy he’d hardly managed to say a word to me.

I knew that his new-found confidence was mostly down to his partners showing him how valued he was, but I liked to think a bit of it came from me and this job.

It would make the payment worth it.

Ronnie scurried around, packing up.

I didn’t offer to help because he never said yes, since a lot of the equipment was delicate and expensive and he didn’t want people touching it.

Instead, I glanced over at Ty, who was watching him closely.

It was wonderful to see two people so much in love.

Ty was a large alpha and he was protective of Ronnie, always touching him and holding him and making him feel looked-after.

Ronnie soaked up the attention like a desert flower soaking up water.

It was lovely to see.

A part of me thought it might be lovely to experience, too.

I admit that seeing it made me feel a bit melancholy.

I had always assumed I’d find a partner, sooner or later, but it was getting towards being later, since I was turning forty next year, and it still hadn’t happened.

I’d just been so busy with work and doing my own thing that I hadn’t properly made time for it.

I’d never had an alpha look at me with that kind of desire.

I’d never had a partner I could trust to be there when I wanted to lean on them.

I stifled a sigh.

Never mind.

Some people were meant to have relationships and some weren’t.

Maybe I was one of the ones who wasn’t.

Besides, it wasn’t so bad.

I had my shop and all my crafts and I had some of the greatest friends in the world.

Ty and Ronnie, for a start.

I’d only met them a few months ago but I liked them a lot.

Ty’s hands were full as he manoeuvred his way out of the door, since he was carrying the equipment out to the car.

He always insisted on doing that because it was heavy, and it was just another way he was looking after his omega.

Ronnie let him handle the equipment once it was safely packed away.

Just before Ronnie left, I grabbed a little yellow gift box from behind the counter.

I’d been saving it for them.

“Here,” I said, pushing the box into Ronnie’s hands.

Ronnie blinked down at it, tied up with a ribbon and looking very pretty, if I did say so myself.

“What is it?”

“It’s massage oil. I’ve been working on it for ages but I haven’t stocked the shop with them yet. This is the only one I have.”

“Why are you giving it to us?”

I had to hide my smile that Ronnie assumed it was for ‘them’ and not ‘him’, although in this case he was right.

Ty came back into the shop and looked over Ronnie’s shoulder.

“What do you have there?”

“Massage oil. Wilfred’s just made it.”

“I didn’t realise you sold massage oil,” said Ty.

I laughed.

“I don’t. At least, not yet I don’t. But I will soon. And you get to test it out for me.”

“You’re giving it to us? To… test?”

“That’s right,” I said happily.

“It’s jasmine and honey, which is Alder’s favourite scent so you can test it out and tell me what it was like. The oil, I mean. Just tell me whether you liked the oil . On second thoughts, don’t tell me anything.”

Ty’s cheeks gradually bloomed into a dark pink as he clearly began to fill in the missing parts of that idea.

Ty and Ronnie were in a polyamorous relationship with another omega man called Alder, who they talked about constantly.

I hadn’t yet met Alder but I knew that he was a force of nature, and he’d been very complimentary about my candles.

I had decided I liked him.

Ronnie looked between us, holding the oil and watching Ty blush, and then I saw the moment he realised what Ty was thinking.

Whatever it was, it was sexy enough for him to burn bright red with embarrassment.

His blush was about ten times as deep as Ty’s.

Thankfully, Ty chuckled and said to Ronnie, “At least you and I seem to be on the same page about what we’re doing tonight. Alder’s going to love this.”

I waved them both out of the shop, chuckling to myself.

Well, even if I wasn’t going to get an update on whether my massage oils were good quality, my friends were about to have a good evening.

I was just locking up behind them when I saw a familiar silhouette walking down the street.

I was sure it was Pete, the accountant from across the road.

At the sight of him, my stomach gave a little flutter.

I only noticed because it was so unusual.

I didn’t get that fluttery feeling very often.

He walked slowly and his whole demeanour screamed tiredness.

Not just tired tonight, but a bone-deep weariness with something that was wearing him down day by day.

I wished I could do something to help but I didn’t know him that well and he hadn’t even waved or come over to say hello.

He went into his office and shut the door.

The butterflies or whatever in my stomach that had been fluttering round at the sight of him turned suddenly to stone and fell heavily down.

Obviously he wasn’t coming over here.

He had better things to do than talk to me.

Perhaps it was because I’d just been watching Ronnie and Ty together, but those stone butterflies in my stomach felt heavy and uncomfortable in a way I didn’t normally notice.

Handsome alpha men like Pete didn’t waste their time with non-presenting men like me.

They had pretty omegas crawling all over them.

I stood in the doorway for a moment longer, waiting to see if Pete would come out again but he didn’t.

Whatever had happened on his date with that omega tonight, clearly it hadn’t gone well or he wouldn’t be back again so soon.

Perhaps his date hadn’t liked the gift, after all.

Sighing to myself, I closed the door of the shop and slid the bolt home, locking up for the evening.

Well, if Pete’s evening was a flop and mine looked the same, at least Ronnie, Ty and Alder would be enjoying my massage oil.