Page 54 of They Love Me Knot (Starsfalls Omegaverse #2)

Daphne

A nother day, another face full of flowers, except today is the most important day of my career.

Well, it’s not that dramatic, but it is one of the most important events of the year for Queen of Hearts.

I squat to set the giant flower bucket by the van so I don’t pull something. After opening the back doors, I carefully lift it inside.

The good thing about event days is you get your weightlifting in.

Today is the first day of the street fair, so we’re up early to load the flowers and take them to our booth.

Anicka hired people to set up the stall for us, and she sent pictures of their progress this morning. The booth has that classic florist look, with wooden boards forming a half wall around three sides, and tall beams holding up a green and white striped awning.

We’ll put a few floral arrangements at the front to draw people in, but most of the flowers will be under the canopy in the shade.

The big display pieces will be used as examples of our work and won’t be sold until the end of the fair.

We have smaller readymade bouquets and arrangements for people to buy, along with single stems so the customers can design their own.

Basically, it’s a mini version of our main storefront, but we went wild making unique bouquets to show off what we can do. Anicka said it doesn’t matter if we don’t sell out at the fair because we always get a boost in sales afterward.

I go back inside after securing the flowers in the van and take a swig of coffee before loading the next buckets on the cart.

I open the back door and almost trip over a large box. I blink, startled at its sudden appearance. I was just out here, and it wasn’t there before.

The packaging doesn’t look like any of the shipments we normally get. It’s a plain cardboard box, but there’s twine wrapped around it and tied in a bow, almost like a present.

I poke my head out and look around the alley. No people, no giant mice, nothing else amiss.

Maybe I’ve seen too many horror movies, but I don’t trust an unexpected delivery.

Still, the urge to open the unknown is strong.

I stare down at it, pondering what to do. If it were from one of my guys, they would have told me about it or addressed it to me.

I sniff hard, leaning closer, but can’t smell anyone on it, like whoever touched it uses strong scent blockers or descented the box.

I carefully nudge it with my shoe to see if it’s likely to spray noxious gas or contains a puppy that I’ll have to be responsible for for the rest of its life.

The box doesn’t rattle or bark, so I cautiously prod it harder. It seems light, especially for its size .

I cautiously pick it up, checking both ways again, and bring it inside, kicking the door shut behind me.

If it is a gift, I’m gonna tear it open.

I use all of my strength to rip through the twine (I wrestle with it and almost get rope burn before finding scissors and cutting the string seven or eight times), and unfold the flaps, just to be met with an empty interior.

I blink. No, not empty, just white.

“Oh.”

It’s the lid of another box.

I pull that out and finally recognize it as a cooler.

I slump, my detective days over.

Just another flower delivery. It’s the typical cooler used for small batches of flowers so they don’t spoil during transit.

I carry it back to the walk-in fridge without opening it. It’ll have to be inventoried later, I need to get moving.

I put the cooler in the corner, and I’m almost to the door when I pause.

The mystery is still intriguing. I assume Anicka knows what this is, but there wasn’t an order slip or anything in the cardboard box. I might as well peek real quick and see what it is. I’m not in that much of a hurry.

I pop off the lid and gasp.

It’s stuffed full of vanilla flowers, single blooms and clusters of all different types, in various shades of creamy white and bright yellow and vivid green. I recognize some of them as Tahitian, pompona , imperialis , odorata , and angustipetala .

There are more than enough for my great arrangement.

They’re packed in clear boxes to protect the petals. I carefully take out a few flowers to admire the different shapes.

When I hit the bottom of the cooler, I remember I’m supposed to be hurrying. I quickly put the flowers back and close it up.

I’ll add the orchids to my arrangement once it’s in place at the fair.

I load the rest of the flowers in the van, ending with buckling my new special flowers in the passenger seat next, and head for the fair.