Chapter 2

...Lavender, the flower of annoyance

“Thanks for meeting me for lunch,” Bobby said to me as we sat at our favorite sandwich shop in Newport.  “Krissy is having the florist come over to the house to start going over wedding plans.”

“You don’t want to be involved with that?” I chuckled before taking a swig of my ginger ale.  I laughed a little harder when I watched his face twist up like he had just bit into a lemon.

“I’m all about helping with the wedding plans, but decorations are not my strong hold,” he grumbled.

“I would have never guessed, especially since all the house decorating was given to Krissy when she moved into your bachelor pad.”

“Yeah, she’s got a knack for that kind of shit.  Not me.  She can pick whatever colors she wants, as long as it’s not pink.”

“Yeah, pink washes out your face…”

“Shut the fuck up,” he growled again as he took a bite of his wrap.  “So speaking of flowers…”

“Don’t even go there.  I’m completely done with women.  I’m going to be a bachelor the rest of my life.”  It was my turn to grumble.

“Uh-huh, that’s what I figured.”

“I don’t know what was worse, getting dumped by Rochelle or the attempt to take the flowers back to the flower store,” I declared.

As soon as the last sentence was out of my mouth, Bobby stopped eating and looked up in surprise.  “Wait, you tried to take the flowers back to the shop?!” obviously surprised by the idea.

“You’ve never done that?” I asked.

“You can’t return flowers to a flower shop,” he said like it was a well known fact that I somehow missed.  “I can’t believe you actually tried to do that…”

“Well the stupid counter girl said she guaranteed them to make Rochelle forgive me.  I just figured that with any guarantee you could return them if it didn’t work.”

Bobby almost snorted the soda out of his nose and grabbed his napkin just in case it did come squirting out.  “Wow, Loops, you really can be a little off kilter.”

I just scowled at him.

“Well, what happened when you tried to return them?” he asked after getting control of himself.

I took a deep breath, debating on if it was even worth the words, but of course I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.  “Well at first I went off on the counter girl from the day before and then this brown haired girl came from the back room.  I’m guessing she was the manager or something because of the way she butted into the conversation.  She accused me of being a cheater because I was some big sports guy and then she told me that you can’t return the flowers.”

“She accused you of being a cheat?” he asked, genuinely questioning this idea.

“Yeah,” I said, as I too was still shocked about the accusation.

I watched as he leaned back in his chair.  “Ya know, I bet she sees a lot of fucked up shit working there.  I’ve known some guys who send their wives and their girlfriends flowers all the time to just keep the peace.”

“I guess I never thought of that.  Either way, I think her attitude was way too cranky to be working at a flower shop.  Shouldn’t they always be happy and all about the romantic shit?”

“Everyone has bad days.”

“Well, I wouldn’t use that florist for anything because of her attitude.  It’s a shame because she was actually pretty cute, despite the fact she was wearing an ugly green smock,” I said thinking about the dark haired girl who was several inches shorter than me with cute freckles and sparkling green eyes.

I have to admit that I was a little annoyed to be making a house call for this wedding appointment, but when Krissy called and said that she would give $100 just for me to come out to her place, I couldn’t exactly say no.  I needed the extra cash to put towards this month rent of my apartment.  I had a bad habit of spending too much money on concert tickets and clothing for Sofia while not leaving enough for food, rent, and gas.

I knocked on the door and was greeted by a petite, cheery blonde.

“You must be Avery!” the blonde exclaimed happily as she pulled me into the beautiful ocean front home.  “I’m Krissy!” she squeaked.  “And who is this little gem?” she asked, bending down to Sofia’s level.

“This is my daughter Sofia.  I’m sorry that I had to bring her along, but her Nana, my babysitter, had some things to do that she couldn’t take her along.  I hope you don’t mind if she is here,” I began apologetically.  I liked keeping my appointments professional and as far as I was concerned, bringing my daughter along was not very professional, but I didn’t have any other choice.

“Oh my gosh! There is no problem with it what so ever!  I love children and I actually have my degree in early childhood education,” Krissy gushed as she took Sofia’s hand and lead us into the living room.  “So how old are you Miss Sofia?” Krissy asked my curly blonde haired daughter.

“I’m 5 years old.  I just started kindergarten,” Sofia said with a dazzling smile.  Sofia adored anyone who would talk to her, especially someone who talked down to her level.  She was a very bright child who was my world.  I had her when I was 20 after being knocked up in a one night stand of sorts.  Her father has no clue about her, and for the sake of keeping things simple, I’m glad he doesn’t.  However, with the money he makes a year, it would probably make our lives a little easier, but I’m not that type of person.

I looked around the house as I drug my messenger bag on wheels along behind me.  “You’ve got a great place here,” I remaked to Krissy as I handed Sofia her backpack to keep her occupied.

“Oh thanks, Bobby actually bought the place before we even met, but I’m the one who decorated it.  Boys really don’t have a clue when it comes to home décor, especially hockey players.”

“Oh, he’s a hockey player?” Yay! This is going to be a great paying wedding…

“Yup, Bobby Ryan, he plays for the Ducks.  Do you know who he is?” she asked with a face I couldn’t say no too, even though I really had no clue who he was.

Sofia beat me to the answer by exclaiming, “I know who he is!  He played for the U.S. in the Olympics!  He’s my favorite player!” she squealed.

Krissy and I both looked over at the little girl who had a huge smile plastered across her face.  “How do you know all that?” I asked, shocked to find that my daughter knew that bit of information.

“Nana and I watch hockey games when you aren’t home,” she said shyly.

“Well that’s news to me,” I said with a chuckle as I looked at Krissy.

“We think the players are cute, especially Loops,” Sofia declared.

“Loops?” I asked Krissy and Sofia.

“Oh, yeah, he’s Bobby’s best friend.  Joffrey, he’s a great guy.  Lost soul when it comes to life and women, but a great guy,” Krissy said with a sincere smile.  “They are actually out to lunch right now.”

“Oh, well that’s great, then I guess we should get to business,” I said as we sat down on the expensive, oversized couches in the living room.

I was there for about an hour and a half going over all the ideas she had.  Halfway through, Sofia asked if she could sit outside on the porch and color.  After Krissy and I got her set up we went back inside and got back to work. 

Krissy actually had some really awesome ideas that I knew were going to take time and a half to do, but I was up for the challenge.  She turned out to be a really nice girl who I was looking forward to working with.  If it’s one thing I’ve learned over the last few years, when working on weddings, you form a best friend relationship with the bride.  Of course once the wedding is over, we all go back to our normal lives and pictures are the memories you have to hold on to.  At least she will be a friend that will be cool to work with for the next 9 months.

I was finishing packing up my bag when I heard squeaking followed by some laughter from Sofia and a guy or two.  I quickly ran over and opened the door to find a guy laying on his stomach coloring with my daughter and the other guy sitting on the ground next to them, laughing at some personal joke they seemed to be sharing amongst themselves.

“Oh, Bobby!” Krissy exclaimed as she pushed by me and threw her arms around the guy who was sitting.  “Bobby, you have to meet Avery, our florist!” she gushed, as she pulled him up off the ground to shake hands with me.

He smiled broadly, revealing cute dimples that were accentuated with his blonde curly hair sticking out underneath of his baseball hat.  “Nice to meet you Avery,” he greeted with a firm handshake.  “I’m sure Krissy has worn you out with all her ideas,” he smiled lovingly at his fiancé.

“It’s going to be a project, but I’m sure everything is going to look beautiful…” I said sincerely.

“I see you met my new friend, Sofia!” Krissy said as she walked over towards my little girl and the other guy.

“Mommy, meet Loops!” my daughter exclaimed happily as she finally noticed me standing to the side.  At that, the guy lying on the ground next to her looked up and instantly I recognized his pale blue eyes and chiseled facial features.  His thick-short hair was also covered by a black military style hat, making him look even more handsome than he did the other day when we went rounds in the flower shop.

It felt like something cemented me to the porch floor, not allowing my body to react.  The same seemed true for him also, but he was able to recover a lot faster.  “Well, now look who it is!” he replied smartly as he did a push up off the porch floor.  His muscles once again stretched his shirt sleeves, making them look like they were going to split. 

“Oh, you know Avery?!” Krissy exclaimed happily looking between the two of us, completely missing the tension that immediately filled the air.

“Yup, we met at the flower shop the other morning,” he said, collecting himself with a sly smile as he walked over towards me, looking me up and down like I was a piece of meat.  “She’s very pleasant.”

When he said this, I watched as a look of recognition crossed over Bobby’s face, yet I didn’t get any ill vibes from it.  Seems my buddy Loops must have thought it important to tell his best friend about his stupidity from the other day.  Of course I would be made out to be the bad person.

“She’s amazing!” Krissy exclaimed happily. Finally, I unfroze myself and began moving towards the steps, trying to get the attention of Sofia that it was time to leave.

“Um, Krissy, I’ll be in touch with you on Monday about possible prices.  It will take me the weekend to get all the notes figured out put things down in a more organized manner,” I said quickly, feeling the man’s eyes on me.  “Sofia, gather up your stuff so we can get home for dinner,” I said at my daughter who was staring doe eyed at the boys.

I watched in horror while Joffrey helped scoop up Sofia’s things and I almost flipped shit when he picked her up to carry her down the steps.  I tried my hardest to put on a big smile for my little girl who was obviously in heaven, but I’m sure it came across as more of a grimace than anything.  Before I turned to follow them down the down the steps, Krissy gave me a tight hug and another thank you.  I then quickly went after the man that was carrying my daughter, with my bag bouncing loudly down the steps behind me.

“I’ll be right back,” I said quickly to Bobby and Krissy, making sure I ignored Avery’s eyes.  Bobby of course had a smug look on his face and sweet Krissy had her normal innocent smile on her face.  She always wanted people to be happy and I’m sure she thought that this Avery chick and I were already best friends like everyone else in the world should be.

I walked over to the passenger side of the truck and opened the door, helping Sofia into her booster seat.

“You don’t need to do that,” Avery snapped.

“It’s fine, I have nieces and nephews, so I can handle it,” I said, completely ignoring her demeanor while I smiled at the happy little girl.  I have to say, I was completely shocked to find that her mother was the cranky flower shop girl.  Although the sparkling green eyes should have been a dead give away.  Thank goodness her mother’s poor attitude hadn’t seemed to rub off on her yet. 

As soon I gave Sofia a high five and a promise to see her again, I closed the door to find Avery standing at the back of the truck with her arms crossed.  Her face was bright red but I wasn’t sure if it was from anger or embarrassment.  “What, do you want to know if your flowers are still alive?” she snapped.

“No, that’s not exactly what I was going to ask, but since you mentioned it…”

She just shook her head and started to walk towards the driver side of the beat-up S-10 pick-up truck.  “Actually I was just going to tell you that maybe you shouldn’t do the flowers for Krissy and Bobby.  I think they deserve someone with a lot better attitude to help plan for their special day.”

“Fuck off.”

“That is exactly what I am talking about,” I declared, “You can’t even curb your nasty attitude around your daughter,” I chirped, placing myself in front of her driver’s side door, effectively blocking her way and making her look at me.  She really is quite beautiful.  She was wearing a black tank with a purple tattoo pattern that stretched across her breasts.  It was obvious that she spent some time in the sun with her nicely tanned arms and legs.  What really caught my attention was the black nail polish on her fingers and toes.  It seemed to go right along with her several ear piercings and small nose piercing. 

“Leave my daughter out of this.  For some reason I was just informed today that she and my grandmother have some sort of crush on you, so I’d really like it if I didn’t have to tell her how much of an dumbass you really are,” she hissed in low tones.  I think I could even see the flames shooting out of her eyes and ears.

“You sure don’t have trouble hurling insults at someone you don’t know…”

“I don’t need to know you.  If you are trying to impress me by becoming buddies with my daughter, you’ve got the wrong idea,” she spit.

I held up my hands, “Whoa, there was no intention of that.  Believe me, you are not even close to being my type,” I informed her.  “Besides after the whole flower debacle, I’ve decided to swear off women.  You have just proved to me how crazy you all are.”

“Well yooooouu…” she sang out as she gave me a healthy shove to the side so that she could get to the door of her truck, “Are basically calling the kettle black.  So get out of my way before I have to call 911 for harassment.”

She opened the door and began climbing inside as Sofia yelled out, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Loops?”

“Yup, see you tomorrow, grasshopper!” I yelled back and smiled as Avery scowled at the plan she obviously had no clue about.  I kind of felt bad that Sofia would have to deal with her wrath, but I thought it best to walk away before Avery had a chance to back me over with her piece of shit truck that sounded like it was on it’s last leg 50,000 miles ago.