Page 1 of Rogue

Prologue

Rogue

Walking in, I lift my sunglasses up meeting her gaze as I approach.

“Wrapped bundle of tiger lilies,” I mutter the same shit I do every week as I drop a fifty dollar bill on the counter.

“Got them ready for you,” she replies before turning to her cooler to retrieve my flowers. “Would you like a card?” she asks, like every week as she waves her hand at the card display, and my answer still won’t change.

“Nope,” I retort before grabbing the flowers.

I step back before turning around to exit as she asks, “Rogue, do you want your change?”

“Nope,” I state walking out of her shop door directly to my bike.

Fifty-two weeks in a year, for three years straight, I come in here to get a small bundle of tiger lilies. I always toss the cash on the counter knowing I’m overpaying, but not giving a shit. She asks me the same questions offering a card and my change while my answer remains the same.

One would think she would stop asking about the card and change, especially since she regularly has the flowers ready for me. Southern kindness maybe? I can’t give her that, not only does her Jersey accent give her away, but the background when she came to town, let all the Kings know, she is a lot of things, southern isn’t one of them. She is nice though, fits in well. Easy on the eyes too if I need to admit it. The same questions over and over, I’ll never understand.

Whatever her deal is, that is not my business.

These flowers, they matter, and they are certainly my business.

CHAPTER 1

Michele

Monday’s are insanely busy. Not only do I have my flower shipment coming in, but the customers always seem to call needing flowers for an occasion they happened to miss over the weekend. Funerals I can understand as they aren’t planned. Birthday’s and anniversary’s get me, though, they fall on the same date every year. Maybe plan ahead?

Calendars do exist. Heck, I even had some made one year and gave them out to every customer from October to December for the new year. Write the dates on the calendar, repeat the process each year, and boom it’s easy to call ahead and order gifts. I love my job, but the stress of working alone can be overwhelming. It’s a lot to juggle and Monday’s seem to be the peak of the week.

For a while, I opened on weekends trying to keep my stress level down on Monday’s. I quickly learned, people are forgetful. No matter that the occasion is recurring like a birthday, the everyday average person is too preoccupied in the day to day to keep up with dates. Yes, I did have those random walk-ins or phone orders, but it wasn’t enough to justify the cost. The return on investment simply isn’t there to be open seven days a week.

Plus working that much, I get snippy. That isn’t good for customer service.

Also, people have serious expectations.

I am a floral designer, not a magician.

I can’t magically throw the custom orders together and deliver in thirty minutes. This isn’t a pizza delivery. Unfortunately, that would kill business for me to tell anyone exactly how I feel about last minute orders. Therefore, I answer the calls friendly and eager to take the order. Even though, I usually hang up just to immediately freak out. Composing myself and getting right back to work has gotten easier over time. I guess it’s a practiced talent to juggle last minute stuff. This business gives me plenty of practice.

I’m a one woman show. Owner, designer, delivery person, inventory clerk, accounting, and everything in between. While business is steady, I can’t yet afford to hire an employee, or trust one. Maybe one day, maybe not. It isn’t my goal to have employees or some huge business. I want to live comfortably doing an art I love, this is it.

Bows and Blossoms Boutique is a passion project.

I told myself when I left New Jersey to come to south, I was embracing everything I couldn’t back home. Especially solitude. Five years ago, I packed my Volkswagen Jetta with my clothes, my grandmother’s jewelry and never looked back. At first I settled in South Carolina for about a year, but it didn’t feel like home. On a random weekend trip, I stopped here in Creekdale, Alabama for gas and fell in love with the small town charm.

There isn’t much here, a gas station, library, fire department, small mom and pops diner, a Piggly Wiggly grocery store, and these classic almost from a movie type of main street shops. Stores like mine, the pharmacy, the pet shop, and the smoke shop selling all the vapes anyone could dream up. We are all in a row on Main Street. The vape shop is the newest additionto the strip mall style building I’m in. I have to admit traffic is at a larger volume since the tobacco store came in. I hoped the increase would trickle in on my cash and carry orders, but I have yet to see a real consistent boost.

I love that the closest big city is Huntington, Alabama and it’s an hour away. In fact, I love most things about Alabama altogether. Growing up in the hustle and bustle of city life, I absolutely find myself enjoying the slower pace here. Once I left New Jersey, I spent a year in South Carolina where I worked at a grocery store in their floral department. A hobby I had growing up making flowers for my grandmother’s table every week became my career. Sometimes I wonder if she’s an angel watching over me now and is she proud that I have created this new path in my life?

When I arrived in Creekdale, there were no flower shops, and Piggly Wiggly, as much as I love shopping for my food there does not have a floral department that is staffed. Instead a person can buy a premade silk grave piece from on top of the produce coolers and that is about it. Needing a job, I went to work there as a cashier with a long term goal in mind.

Seeing the need for a shop, I lived frugally until I had enough saved to rent my space, purchase a cooler, get inventory, and begin. It took me a year being here, but yes, three years ago, Bows and Blossoms Boutique was born. I didn’t do it alone. My cousin helped me get the business side of things set up since she’s good at all of that. The idea, though, it’s all mine. As for owning the business, it’s all mine too. She did the leg work of the corporate side of things and registering with the secretary of state.

From the very first month I opened, I have had one customer come in to order without fail. He wears a leather vest that says Rogue on the left side of his chest with Sgt at Arms above that. There are multiple patches all over the vest including theback where there is a skull wearing a crown and bandana that takes up most of the material. The words Kings of Carnage MC, Alabama complete the back. While he’s been my most consistent customer, I have no idea who he is.

Not his actual name.

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