Buying Her Flower

Chapter 15

Sheila

I’m at work the next day and it’s been busy. I just finished helping a customer and finally have a few minutes to myself.

My phone rings loudly from my pocket. I pull it out to answer it. I see it’s that same Silicon Valley number calling and I want to scream in anger. I put the phone down and just let it ring and go to voicemail. I help a few more customers. When the shop is empty again, I decide to listen to all of my voicemails.

My inbox says I have a lot. I click through the first one and hear “you better answer the phone…” in a creepy voice.

As I play the second one, it says “I’ll just keep calling…” and then on the third one I hear, “You can’t ignore me forever…”

I quickly delete all three messages. They were all from that creepy guy from the auction. Aaron, he said his name was, in many of the voicemails.

How can he sound so scary and threatening? Is that the way he always talks?

The next voicemail is from Andrew.

“Hi Sheila it’s Andrew…”

I listen to it. I hear him talk about us getting together again and my heart flips inside my chest. I consider calling him back but decide not to.

Now is not the time to be weak. I save his voicemail and number, though, in case I need help in the future I tell myself. I play the most recent message and start to shake in fear. It’s from the creep.

“I told you that you couldn’t ignore me forever. I’ll be by your shop to talk to you in person. I don’t give up until I get what I want,” he growls into the phone and then hangs up.

I drop my phone in shock. I start gasping for air. In panic I flip the sign to closed and lock the front door. I lock myself in the back office and try to think of what to do. After a few moments of breathing I’m able to calm down a little. I make the decision to call Andrew.

I tell myself that it’s just for protection, but I’m actually kind of excited to talk to him. His voice might help me calm my nerves. I call him but he doesn’t answer. I’m so mad and disappointed. My disappointment takes over and I call Tammy to complain.

“I called him” are the first words out of my mouth when she answers the phone.

“And what happened?” she asks excitedly.

“Nothing,” I reply with an eye roll.

“What do you mean?” she asks, sounding confused.

“I mean, I called, and he didn’t answer. That’s so typical of men. They spend all this time making promises and then they aren’t there when you need them.”

I realize that I sound like I am pouting now. Tammy laughs at me in disbelief.

“Are you serious? He spent all this time chasing you and you wouldn’t even give him the time of day, but now that you’re ready, he’s supposed to drop everything and come running the second you call?” she asks, her tone exasperated.

I frown as I listen to her. I wanted her to listen to me sympathetically while I complain but I guess that’s not going to happen.

“Anyway…” I say loudly, wanting to change the subject. “Remember Mr. Creepy?” I ask.

“What happened now?” she asks, intrigued.

I tell her all about his messages, including the one he left earlier.

“And now I’m locked in my office because I don’t know what to do,” I explain.

“Ok, calm down, breathe. You have to go back out there and work. You’re right though, that’s definitely not good. I can give you a number to a security company I know. They can help you.” Tammy says.

I can hear her digging through her purse. I let myself out of the office and go back out into the shop and reopen it for business. I grab a pen from the register and write down the number. Before we hang up, she tells me to “be safe and take it easy on Andrew. He seems like a really good guy.”

I hang up and all I want to do is pout because he didn’t answer my phone call. Why? I was really hoping that he would. I hate having all these feelings. I sigh and look at the number that Tammy gave me. I need to stop wasting time daydreaming and focus on reality.

I call the security company and explain my situation.

“Well, we are busy with a lot of clients right now,” their customer service rep explains. “We typically like to vet our clients well, so what we need to do is set up a consultation in the next few days and meet with you to assess your needs. If an emergency should come up though feel free to give us a call,” the rep says.