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Best of all, she traded quips like a pro. Didn’t miss a beat. Had to be the best quality about her. After talking with her, he realized he’d enjoyed every minute.
Something he hadn’t experienced in quite a while.
With a sigh, he set down his glass beside Kady’s. Too bad she took off. He would have liked to get to know her better. Her good humor had lifted some of the darkness that hung over him.
Before he had a chance to dwell on the past, his older brother, Derrick, joined him.
“Mom’s worried about you.”
“When is she not worried?” Dylan countered.
“When we’re all at home under her roof where she can keep an eye on us.”
“She does realize we’re grown men, right?”
“She’s a mother. According to her, we’ll always be her babies.”
Dylan shuddered. “Heaven save us.”
“I saw you talking to a woman. Did Gram send her over?”
“No.”
“You scare her off with your brooding Heathcliff imitation?”
“No, she had to work. She’s the florist who supplied the flowers for the wedding.”
“Huh. Nice job.”
“Since when do you notice flowers?”
“Since I’m trying to be evolved.” Derrick looked to the closest table where Kady had left an arrangement. “Hey, these are pretty.”
Dylan laughed. “Evolved, hmm?”
“Complaints from the last two women I dated.”
“And you’re listening to their suggestions? After they dumped you? I’m impressed.”
Derrick shrugged his shoulders as if brushing off Dylan’s jab. “So how are you doing? Leg okay?”
At the mention of his injury, Dylan reached down and rubbed the back of his thigh where the exit wound still seemed raw. The gunshot damage had taken longer to heal than he’d hoped. On the bullet’s journey through his thigh, it nicked the femur and splintered the bone. Multiple surgeries removed the fragments. Repairing structural damage had laid him up. Not that he was complaining. If the bullet had hit his femoral artery, it would have been lights out. Physical therapy had finished two weeks ago, but the ache still haunted him.
Besides the physical pain, there was the emotional as well. A constant reminder of whom he’d lost. A partner and a good friend. The grim reality Kady had eclipsed a few minutes ago returned with a vengeance. The constant enemy who never left his soul.
“I’m fine.”
“Not true. I saw you favoring your leg when we walked into the hotel. Too much activity today?”
“Since when is sitting at the beach and walking into a building too much activity?”
“When you’re recovering from a gunshot wound.”
“I’m fine,” he repeated through clenched teeth.
Derrick held his hand up in defense. “Hey, man. If you say so.”
He wasn’t fine. Not by a long shot. But he wouldn’t burden Derrick, or his other brothers, and especially not his mother, with his problems. The burden and the guilt were his and his alone to carry.
When Dylan started as a special agent for the DEA ten years ago, he’d gotten into a few tight spots. Some moments had even been dangerous, since he went after guys who would rather shoot first and run later. He was relentless when pursuing dealers who put drugs on the streets. His good fortune finally came to an end when he ticked off the wrong guy.
He and his partner, Eddie, had spent many months in Miami planning to cut off the pipeline of a major dealer who didn’t appreciate them gumming up his operation. Esposa was an especially tenacious criminal, moving operations whenever he and Eddie got a lead on his location. They’d played cat and mouse for so long, Dylan wasn’t sure if he’d ever arrest this guy. He made headway by securing an informant within Esposa’s organization. Every time the creep turned around, Dylan was right on him. But with that success, Dylan had made an enemy—an enemy who wanted him out of the picture permanently. Here Dylan was still breathing, while Eddie’s wife and son grieved the man they’d loved.
Six months. Six long, hard months recovering from the wound. 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.”
CHAPTER TWO
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 had decided hurt more than she expected.
“Kady, honey...”
She held up her hand. “It’s fine, Mom. We’ll wait until Will gets back.”
The bell over the front door chimed and Kady’s stomach twisted more. She heard her father speaking, then a softer male voice, and she knew it was Mr. Andrews. She swallowed. Will would return soon. She mentally prepared herself for the battle to come.
While she girded her emotional defenses, her mother scurried about the workroom, gathering paper plates and utensils for their upcoming lunch. The bell sounded again and Will’s unmistakable voice boomed from the other room.
“I’m back. Let’s all meet up front.”
Her mother sent her a nervous glance and exited the room. Taking a deep breath, Kady followed, fisting her hands. She smoothed her facial expression to neutral and joined the others, determined to keep a level head no matter what happened.
Standing amid open folding chairs, her brother handed out wrapped sandwiches as she walked in. Three years older, he had blond hair like their mother, along with intelligent blue eyes.
“Hey, sis. How did the delivery go? The flowers were spectacular.”
“Fine.” Her suspicions doubled. Will being nice after he’d been dogging her this morning? “This bride was easy to work with. I didn’t expect any problems.”
“You remembered to set up a pick-up time to get the glass containers back, right?” her father asked. He handed out to-go cups of iced tea.
“Yes, Dad. I spoke to the manager myself.”
Kady delivered flowers to many functions at the Grand Cypress Hotel. She and the staff had developed a real camaraderie.
“It’s not like I’ve left anything behind on purpose.”
“There was a time when we had to keep tabs on you with the inventory and the van.”
Kady wanted to shout. Would her parents ever let go of the past?
“Everything is taken care of, Dad. No worries.”
“Good. Then we can get started.” He passed Kady her food, which she hadn’t had a say in. Will probably got her a tuna fish sandwich when she would have preferred turkey. She pulled back the paper, and sure enough, the fishy smell made her wrinkle her nose. With her stomach already roiling, she set it aside. Tuna probably wasn’t a wise choice right now.
Will bit into a pickle, chewed and took a sip of his tea. “Dad, would you like to start?”
Her father cleared his throat. Why was he so nervous?
“Kady, you know this shop has been in our family for generations.”
She nodded. Her grandparents originally opened The Lavish Lily. Past history.
“As much as your mother and I have loved working here, proud that our efforts supported the family and we made a name in the community...” He stopped. Sent a pleading look to her mother.
This was not good.
Her father took a deep breath. “We’ve decided to retire and sell the business.”
Silence descended upon the room. After a few seconds, Kady reminded herself to breathe. “What?” she finally spluttered.
Her mother reached over and covered Kady’s hand with hers. “We’re tired, Kady. It’s time for a change.”
She studied her parents, who were sitting side by side. They were in their late fifties, kind of young to retire, but they’d worked all her life with few vacations. She regarded them in that light now and noticed fine lines on her mother’s face and circles under her father’s eyes, his dark brown hair graying. Just as they’d admitted, they did indeed seem worn-out.
So many questions filled her head, Kady didn’t know where to start. “How long have you felt like this?”
“Six months,” her mother answered, as her father responded simultaneously, “A year.”
She sank back in her chair. “Wow.”
Will opened a notebook by his side. Probably filled with numbers to satisfy the logical part of his brain. “As the family financial adviser, I need to bring you up to speed.” He rattled off figures that made Kady’s eyes go wide. Over the years, her parents had invested and saved up a considerable amount of money. More than Kady’d ever imagined.
“If you have so much money, why sell the shop?”
Her parents exchanged glances.
“It’s time,” her mother answered.
“But you know about my goals. I’ve already started to make inroads into the wedding market. With that income, I can upgrade the shop. And the florist convention is next week. I’m entered in the wedding-bouquet design category and this year I can beat the competition.”
“We appreciate your dedication,” her father said. “But we don’t have the energy to rebuild the business.”
“I do,” she protested. “I thought you were on board with my ideas.”
“We are...were,” her mother said. “But lately we’ve been talking about going away, and, well—”
“You don’t trust me with the shop.”
Another abrupt silence sucked the air out of the room. She knew her parents had questioned her commitment ever since she’d started full-time, but in the past year, Kady thought she’d worked hard to erase these doubts. Apparently not.
“Kady,” her brother said quietly, “we’ve talked about this and decided to take a vote. It’s the fair thing to do.”
Years ago, the ownership of the shop had been divided four ways, each member of the family holding an equal share. Kady already knew which way her parents would vote and assumed Will was on their side.
“Why bother?”
“Now, Kady,” her mother admonished. “Don’t be like this.”
“Be like what? Shocked that you’ve been talking about a major family decision and didn’t think to include me? Heartbroken over the fact that I love this place and now you want to take it away? I thought you believed in my vision.” She glared at her brother. “I brought you projections and a business plan. You agreed it was solid. And now you want to yank that out from under me, too?”
“I never said—”
She held up a hand to stop her brother and then faced her parents. “You still see me as the girl who makes mistakes, even though I’ve proven the opposite. No messing up orders. No losing keys to the delivery van. My mind is focused.” She stopped for a breath. Her dreams were evaporating right before her eyes. “Let me buy the shop. I can apply for a loan, work extra hours—”
“Kady—”
“Please give me a chance.” She hated begging but what other choice did she have? She could start her own business elsewhere, maybe, but she loved The Lavish Lily.
Tears pricked the backs of her eyelids. No. This couldn’t be happening.
“Maybe we could sort something out,” her mother said, clearly troubled by her emotional reaction. “Mark?”
Her father was scrutinizing her. She could see the indecision in his eyes. For the first time since the meeting had started, Kady felt hope.
“You guys can go on a trip or travel in a motor home or whatever you want. I’ll be right here, making money.”
Her father’s brow rose. He always brightened at the prospect of making money. “Our plans aren’t carved in stone.”
Buoyed by his positive reaction, Kady threw caution to the wind. “How about this—if I win first place in the bridal bouquet competition this year, you give me a real chance to build up a wedding clientele. I’ll run the shop. You don’t have to be involved at all.”
She bit the inside of her cheek, waiting.
“Kady, you’ve come in second place for three years now,” her mother responded. “What makes you think you’ll win this time?”
“I’ve been practicing all year.” And she had. She was tired of losing. She’d studied trends and questioned her friends about what kinds of flowers and styles they would choose for their own wedding bouquets. “After coming in runner-up for so long, I’m ready with a stand-out entry. I’ll knock Queen Jasmine off her throne for sure.”
Her parents didn’t seem convinced.
“This year the convention committee’s opened the event to the public,” Kady continued. “Brides-to-be from all over the area have been invited to come view the bouquets and centerpieces and other contest entries before announcing the winners. We couldn’t pay for that kind of exposure.”
“That is true,” her father agreed.
“And what are you going to do when Mom and Dad go on their vacation?” Will asked. “I can’t do deliveries or run the shop. I have my own business to worry about.”
Unease trickled down her spine. She hoped her next suggestion didn’t blow her case. “I could hire someone. Part-time? Then you wouldn’t have to worry about anything except enjoying your time together.”
Her mother stood. “Mark, let’s go in the back and talk about this.”
Together they walked to the workroom.
“I doubt this’ll happen, Kady,” Will said. “They’ve made up their minds.”
“Really? If that’s so, they wouldn’t have gone off to consider my proposal.”
“Kady, what are you thinking?”
“That I want to run this business, Will. Do you really believe I can’t do this?”
She thought about the success of her floral designs at today’s wedding. She’d done it all, professionally, and with no errors, even though she’d nearly dropped one of the arrangements.
She suddenly thought about the man with the strange-colored eyes. Dylan had been impressed with her. And why was she even thinking about this? Because it was easier than the alternative—losing all she’d begun to build.
Her brother stood. Paced. Ran a hand through his normally styled hair. “I want what’s best for Mom and Dad.”
“Even if they decide to give me a shot?”
He met her gaze. “Yes. You’ve really stepped up, taking over most of the running of the shop. And I agree with your idea to corner the wedding market.”
“Wait. What are you saying?”
“I’m on your side. I’ve seen your drive and dedication. I’m—” He was interrupted by their mother.
“We’ve talked it over.” Ruthie came to a stop in the middle of the room, her eyes dancing as she met those of her husband’s. “We’re willing to reach a compromise for now. We are going to go away, on a cruise, I think. Kady, you take over daily operations. Hire help.”
“Kady, this should give you time to implement your plans,” her father added. “Win the competition. Prove to us you can handle taking over the business permanently. When we come back, we’ll revisit the subject.”
Kady jumped up, smiling. “Thank you,” she said, hugging her mother. Then she grabbed her father. “You won’t be sorry.”
“No, we won’t be because your brother will be checking in on you.” Her father stopped her before she could protest. “Deal or no deal?”
Kady decided not to argue with the offer. “Deal.”
“Good,” he said, though he’d taken a little wind from her sail. “Get the job done, Kady, or we’ll sell.”
* * *
DYLAN STOOD BY the window, lost in the beach view. The sun, orange in the fading wash of the purple sky, dipped closer and closer to the horizon. The reception had officially ended around three, but the family had remained, happily catching up with each other. Dylan and his brothers fell into that category. They’d mingled long after the bride and groom had left for their honeymoon.
Hanging out wasn’t as painful as Dylan imagined. His family had been very considerate of his request not to talk about the situation surrounding his injury. Instead they razzed him about not having a girlfriend, which he could handle much easier than reliving the shooting and the loss of Eddie. He reserved that pain alone for the dark hours of the night, when he wrestled with his guilt over the shooting. His brothers probed, but he shut them down. His mother hadn’t put her two cents in yet, but he knew it was coming.
“Sit,” his mother commanded. Tall and regal, her olive skin announced her Mediterranean heritage. Her dark hair held little gray and her brown eyes were sharp, not missing a thing where her sons were concerned. “I saw you limping down the hallway.”
He didn’t argue. He loved this woman, as did his brothers. That was why even though they griped about the convention every year, one of them would always be with her.
She was right, though. He’d limped all the way to her room. Time to rest.
“Now, my darling boys—”
Deke groaned. His mother sent him a stern look.
“It’s time for the annual Sunshine State Florist Convention. Which of my loving sons is going to escort me this year?”
Dylan peered at his brothers, all of whom wore the same long-suffering expression. No one would question if they were related. Dark like their mother, only Dylan and Derrick had their father’s lighter eyes. And like their parents, all four were tall and lean. All in law enforcement of some kind.
“Mom, we love you,” Derrick began. “But this has to end. Can’t you find a friend to go with you?”
“If your father were here he’d be shocked at you all. Trying to pawn your mother off on someone else.”