Page 4 of A Future in Blossom

So then, not me.She tried to hide her mounting disappointment by busying herself with cleaning off the workbench. “Where?”

“Here.”

She spun around to face him. “Here ... as in Sunrise?”

“Aye. Jaime, I came to see if y’ might be willin’ t’ help me pull this wedding off.”

“When is it?”

“As soon as humanly possible.”

Her eyes went wide. Weddings with Epic Events were booked a year in advance. Sometimes ... years ahead.

“I see the look of shock on yer face. ’Tis a long story, but this client’s ... well, she’s got some history with us. With you as well.”

Jaime’s mind flipped through a Rolodex as she recalled the Epic weddings she had worked on. A terrible thought bubbled up.Oh no. Please not...

“Aye.” He read her mind. “’Tis Mrs. Zimmerman. More specifically, her daughter. The very same one who eloped. Apparently, she didn’t elope after all. She just didn’t want her mother’s version of a wedding.”

Jaime had to sit down on the other stool. Mrs. Zimmerman’s daughter eloped (allegedly!) on the day of the planned wedding, leaving her mother’s dream of her daughter’s big day in tatters. “Why in the world would she want a wedding in Sunrise?”

“The daughter said she wanted a wedding to be the opposite of what her mother had planned for her. The place, the setting, even the date. Somehow”—he paused and looked away—“Sunrise came up in a conversation and she seemed to latch on to it.”

Confused, Jaime tried to put the pieces together. Why would Sunrise come up in a conversation with a New Yorker? It was a tiny mountain town that people flocked to in the summer to escape the city heat. Hardly anyone up north even knew of its existence.

“I know what yer thinkin’. The daughter, y’ see, knew about the Blooms to Bouquet contest, about you winning it and all, and she wanted you t’ do her flowers. I told her that wouldn’t be possible, seein’ as how y’ lived in Sunrise. She asked me some questions about Sunrise, and next thing I knew, she decided it sounded like just the place she had in mind for her wedding.”

“Here.” Jaime still couldn’t get her head around everything. Liam McMillan was here, in Rose’s Flower Shop, bringing in a client for a wedding. “Where is the venue for this wedding?” Summer was one thing, early fall was even better, but she couldn’t think of many options for a late fall/early winter wedding.

“That’s another reason I’m here. I need to find a venue. She’s got very specific ideas, this bride. A bit like her mother, thoughopposite from her mother in most every way. You’ve met her, I believe.”

“Yes, but only once. What I do remember was that she was extremely disinterested in her wedding.”

“Exactly. Because her mother was callin’ all the shots. This time, the daughter wants to call the shots.”

“Is the daughter as difficult as the mother?”

“Aye.” Spoken definitively.

“Liam, did it occur to you that you could say no? Decline the client?”

He blinked. “It did not.”

Jaime had to smile at that. Liam was so kind. It was one of the many reasons that he was so successful in a competitive industry, full of unkind people. It was also one of the reasons Jaime couldn’t get over him. She hung the tools she’d been collecting on the pegboard, swept discards off the workbench and into a trash bin, and picked up a pad of paper and a pen. She sat on a stool, pen poised, just like she was meeting with a new client. Trying very hard to keep her mind focused on the task at hand and not on Liam. After all, she told herself, he wasn’t here for her. He was here for a client. “So, then, let’s start a list. What kind of flowers does this difficult bride want? Actually, let’s back up a little. What kind of venue does she want?”

Liam leaned his back against the workbench and folded his arms against his chest. “Outdoors.”

“Outdoors,” Jaime repeated in a flat voice. “For a winter wedding.”

“Aye. Y’ see my dilemma. She wants it to be very ... hmm, how did she describe it? Earth mother–like. Nature nurturer, I believe, were her exact words. And yet lovely and refined. Elegant.”

“For an outdoorwinterwedding.”

“Aye, and that’s why she chose Sunrise. She thinks the South has no winter.” He scratched his forehead. “I suppose it’s easier to pull off than skydiving while saying vows. That’s a recent requestI handed off to Sloane.” He pointed a finger at her. “By the way, increasing Sloane’s responsibilities was a fine suggestion. She’s more than capable.”

So ... hehadlistened to Jaime. She’d felt so bad stepping out of Epic without notice that she gave him office staff recommendations. Sloane was the project manager who longed to plan events. Good for Sloane.

But it might have been nice to know that. Might have been nice to have heard from Liam now and then. Might have—No ma’am. Don’t gothere.She pulled her thoughts back to the task at hand. Once she started down that personal path with Liam, of the romantic relationship that had barely lifted off the ground before it crashed and burned ... she would lose her focus. And right now, she needed to stay focused. She kept her eyes lowered to her pad of paper. “So let me get this straight. This bride wants a wedding opposite of everything her mama wanted. And she wants it to happen as soon as possible. That’s an opposite too. Her mama had been planning that wedding for two years.” She scrunched up her face. “Whatis the big hurry, anyway?”

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