By Virtue Fall (The Shakespeare Sisters 4)

That thought made her want to giggle. It wasn’t as if she had a string of admirers lining up at her door. It was either Ryan or Thomas, and since she knew Thomas didn’t have a romantic bone in his body, there really was only one answer.

Was he doing all this from New York?

Glancing at her watch, she let out a sigh. She didn’t have time to be thinking about this now.

‘Right, we need to go. You’re going to be late again.’

‘Can’t I stay home and see if any more flowers come?’ Poppy wrinkled up her nose. ‘I want to make them look pretty like you do.’

‘No can do. You need to go to school and I need to get to work.’

Half an hour later, Juliet pulled her car into the parking lot in front of the shop. As usual, Lily had opened it for business, and Juliet rushed in, giving her a quick wave before shrugging her coat from her shoulders.

‘Everything okay?’

‘All good. We’ve had a few orders this morning. Can you make them up while I work on the Devereaux table pieces?’

Juliet nodded, grabbing her apron and wrapping the ties around her waist. ‘Hey Lily, has anybody bought any roses or daffodils lately?’

Lily frowned, looking up from the arrangement she was working on. ‘I’ve no idea. Probably?’ She shrugged. ‘I can go through yesterday’s inventory and see what was in it if you like.’

‘No, it’s fine,’ Juliet said, ignoring the way Lily was looking at her, as if she’d gone slightly crazy. ‘I was just wondering.’

The old brass bell hanging over the shop door rang out, as somebody pushed it open. A young man, twenty at the most, stepped inside. He was holding a huge bouquet of gladioli, with large purple florets blooming from the long, green stems. Looking around the shop, he began to frown, reaching up to scratch his head.

‘Can we help you?’ Juliet asked.

‘Is this a flower shop?’ He shook his head as if to try to get some sense in there.

She bit down a laugh. ‘Yep, that’s right. Are you looking for something in particular?’

‘I’m looking for someone called … ’ He trailed off, then looked at the card nestled in among the plastic wrapped flowers. ‘Juliet.’

‘That’s me.’

‘I’ve got a delivery for you.’ He held the flowers out. ‘Though why somebody would send flowers to a flower shop I have no idea. It’s crazy.’ His shocked look was a picture. She almost wanted to snap it with her phone for posterity.

‘They’re for me?’

‘Yeah, really. This is 1981 Lower Street, right?’

‘Yep, that’s us.’

‘And you’re definitely Juliet?’

She grinned. ‘The last time I looked.’

‘Okay then. I’ll leave these with you.’ He held the flowers at arm’s length, as if he was afraid to get any closer. Maybe he thought the crazy was catching. From the corner of her eye she could see Lily watching with interest.

As soon as she took the proffered bouquet, the boy turned around and headed for the door. She could hear him muttering under his breath. ‘Who the hell sends flowers to a flower shop?’ By the time he opened the door, the amusement was almost bursting out of her.

‘What was that about?’ Lily asked, coming out from behind the table where she was laying out an arrangement.

‘I’ve no idea. But you should have seen his face.’ Juliet was still smiling. ‘He looked as though I’d just run over his favourite dog.’

‘Who are those from, anyway?’ Lily asked, gesturing at the gladioli. ‘Why wouldn’t they just phone here and order flowers?’

Juliet shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea.’