I released a shuddering breath, and tried to wipe from my expression any trace of emotions that could betray the craving I felt. As far as she was concerned, I was a complete stranger … a customer just stopping by. To me she was my life, the girl who kept me going in prison, who had been in my every waking moment for the past twelve years.
“Hi,” I greeted softly.
She seemed to have gone completely still from the sight of me, but it didn’t appear to be out of recognition. At least I didn’t think it was. Most probably because I had startled her.
She stared at me as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. “You’re here to buy flowers?”
My heart thudded in my chest. “I am.”
She pushed the red strap back onto her shoulder and straightened her spine. “Then you’re in luck. I was just about to close up for the night. Do you know what you want?”
For a second it felt as if there was another, underlying conversation going on. As if we were not actually talking about flowers and bouquets, but were connecting on a deeper level.
Then she frowned and shook her head as if to clear it. “I meant … your preference. The type of flowers you want.”
“Yes, I do.”
She brought her palms up and pressed them against her pale cheeks. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long day. I guess I’m a little out of it.”
“That’s alright,” I said quickly. “I know exactly what I want.”
“Roses. I suppose you’ll want roses.”
She had sounded quite stressed and I didn’t want to overwhelm her so I dragged my gaze away from her and pretended to glance at the silver buckets filled with flowers. It gave her time to go to the small counter. She stood stiffly behind it and waited for me.
“Not roses, I want Red Magic Daylilies,” I said, and turned to watch her reaction.
Her eyes widened. “What?”
“I’d like a dozen Red Magic Daylilies,” I repeated softly.
“I … I … uh … I’m afraid we focused mainly on rose bouquets today since it’s Valentine’s Day.” Her teeth sank into her bottom lip. I watched her chew at the juicy plump flesh. “We do have some Red Magic Daylilies, but I doubt that it’ll suffice.”
“That’s alright. I’ll take what you have.”
“Perhaps I can mix it up with some other flowers so it should make for a splendid bouquet.”
“I’ll leave you to decide,” I murmured.
Just then, the bell attached to the door rang. Already the outside world had come to intrude. We both turned to see three women enter the store. They were speaking in loud excited tones, which quickly died down when they noticed my presence.
“Oh, hello,” one of them greeted, while the other two stared at me with slack-jaws.
I gave them a curt nod, and turned back towards Willow. “I’m in a hurry. Do you deliver?”
“Yes, yes, we do.”
“Good. Sometime tomorrow afternoon?”
“Yes, we can do tomorrow afternoon.”
I stepped closer to the counter so that she could take down my information.
As she typed my address into her computer, I couldn’t help gazing at her, greedily taking in every detail. She still had the same impossibly long eyelashes that made her huge liquid-chocolate eyes even more mesmerizing. It was easy to drown in them. The softness of adolescence still clung to her cheeks and her eyebrows were gently arched. Her nose was straight and narrow, and her lips, were as plump as they had always been. There was not a trace of makeup on her face, but I couldn’t imagine makeup could improve her. It was no wonder she did not use it.
She was still small though. Back then I used to tease her and she had sworn to me that she would eventually become as tall as me, or perhaps even taller. How I wished that I was able to bring it up, to tease her about it.
I could still remember her laughing. She didn’t laugh often. She didn’t have reason to, but when she did… She would throw her head back and laugh out with wild abandon… the soft belly sounds deep, and rumbling up her chest. I had fallen in love with that sound, and at that moment I longed to hear it once again.
She raised her eyes up to me. When our gazes met, it was like touching live electricity. Her eyes widened with shock. We stared at each other. I could smell her scent. It had changed. It was no longer almost milky, but stronger, sweeter.
The rest of the world fell away.
Until one of the girls behind us cleared her throat loudly. The sound startled her out of her trance-like state and she flushed a deep red. Hurriedly, she yanked my credit card out of her machine and held it out to me. “Here’s your card, Sir.”