After You (Because of You 2)

I push back my chair and stand. “No, I’ll get it. Just in case it’s an axe murderer.”

“Best boss ever,” she tells me, eyes trained on her screen.

I pull open the door, and standing on the other side is a stranger with an armful of flowers. His gaze flickers to me. “Nikki Harmon?”

I blink, staring at the bouquet of red roses. “Um… yes?”

He smiles and holds them out. “These are for you.”

I’m dumbfounded as I take the flowers, my eyes moving from the long stems wrapped in paper, to the aromatic, silky crimson petals at the top.

I’ve never been sent flowers before.

The delivery kid nods at me and says, “Have a nice day.”

Words are stuck in my throat, so I can only manage a nod. It doesn’t occur to me until he’s backing out of my driveway, maybe I was supposed to tip him. Are you supposed to tip flower delivery guys? Is it like food? I mean, I didn’t order these, but he still had to bring them. Does the flower orderer pay the tip? There’s a lot to this I didn’t think about.

“What’s that?” Louise asks with interest as I back into the living room.

Blinking up at her, I ask, “Are you supposed to tip flower delivery men?”

“I would,” she states.

“Dammit.” Glancing at the door, I offer a useless, “Sorry, flower guy.”

Standing and coming over to sniff my

bouquet, she says, “It’s okay, he’ll survive without your two bucks. They charge for delivery, so I’m sure plenty of people don’t.” Then, with a teasing smile, she says, “Did you finally let Henry spend the night?”

Well, I did, but I didn’t do anything to warrant a flower delivery. This must be part of our relationship relaunch. He wants to start taking the romantic element of our relationship more seriously, so he’s starting off on a romantic note. “He really is the best, isn’t he?” I ask her.

“Yes,” she says, without hesitation. “Is there a card?” she asks, fingering the delicate heads as she searches for one. “Nope. No card.”

“God, he’s so sweet.” I shake my head, walking over to my desk so I can grab my phone. I never thought flowers were much to get excited over, but maybe that was just because I’d never received any. This feels really nice.

“You are the best. Thank you so much,” I type out, attaching a heart emoji for extra oomph.

He doesn’t respond right away, so I go to the kitchen, thinking to put the flowers in water, but it occurs to me that I don’t have a vase. I’ve never had a reason to buy one.

“Loverboy is calling,” Louise tells me.

Still holding the flowers in my arm, I run back to the living room, smiling like an idiot.

“Put him on speaker, I want to gush about how amazing he is,” Louise says. “Give him lots of positive reinforcement so he’ll do it again.”

“Hang on,” I tell her, grabbing my phone and answering it first. “Hey, you.”

“Hey. Sorry, I just left court. Ran a little long. Heading to lunch now.”

“How’d court go?” I ask, running a finger over the satiny petal of one of the roses.

“Went all right. It’ll go better tomorrow when I get to tie up this case and kick all their asses.”

Grinning, I tell him, “I wish I could watch. That sounds sexy.”

“Sexy, huh?” he asks, a little more interested. “I’m liking your mood today.”

“Yeah, well, you deserve it. The flowers are absolutely beautiful, Henry. Thank you so much.”