Page 7 of Hoax and Kisses
“Daph. Daphne.”
“Can’t hear you, bud.” Dad taps his ear and nods at her. “She has it on to the max.”
I crane my neck, and sure enough, I spot the AirPods hiding under her long blond mane. So I round the counter, then lower my face to its surface and wave.
When she catches sight of me, she breaks into a big, toothy smile. “Matt!”
She jumps off her chair, darts over to me, and pulls me down for a hug. “Hey, Daph.” I circle one arm around her and lift her off the ground, holding her as tightly as she clings to me.
“You let your hair down today,” she says. “I like it better this way. It looks like mine.”
“It does.” With a kiss to her cheek, I set her on her feet. “What were you listening to?”
“My nature sounds playlist.” With one hand on her hip, she glares at the man beside me. “Dad was cooking very loudly.”
He only smirks in return. “I might have dropped a pan.”
“Anyway, it was perfect because I’m working on coloring this rose, and with those sounds, I could almost believe I was in a field full of flowers—oh, except roses grow on bushes and they have so many thorns. A field of rose bushes wouldn’t be very comfortable. I don’t think I’d like it. I wouldn’t want to accidentally hold a rose too close to my body and get my heart pierced like the nightingale.”
I smile, amused. “I doubt the thorn would be long enough to get to your heart, Daph.”
“You never know.” With a shrug, she settles on her stool again. She picks up her crayon, tucking her hair behind her ears, and watches me expectantly. “What bouquet did you make today?”
“Someone ordered flowers for a Barbie-themed party, so I made a total of forty using zinnias, snapdragons, echinacea, strawflower, yarrow, lisianthus, and apple mint.”
Her eyes grow wide. “Your store must have beensopink.”
“It really was. I took photos for you.” I fish my phone from my pocket and swipe the screen to unlock it. “Look.”
As I open the photo of the forty completed bouquets inside the store, she gasps. “They take up the whole store! And you even used pink tissue paper. Did they like it? Can I keep the photo?”
“Yes, they did. And yes, I’ll send it to you later. But I can do you one better.”
With a flourish, I whip out a small pink bouquet from behind my back.
Daphne squeals, the sound ear-splitting. “This isgorgeous. Can I have it?”
God, I love her. “Of course, silly. It’s for you.”
She plunges her nose into the zinnias and inhales deeply. “They smellsodreamy. Thank you, Matt. I’m gonna put them in a vase in my bedroom.”
Without waiting for a response, she darts down the hallway and up the stairs to her room.
“You just made her day,” Dad says as he slides the roast into the oven. “I take it business is going well?”
“It is, yeah.” I rough a hand through my hair. “I have an important meeting with a venture capital firm next week. Thinking about expanding.”
“Already?” Mom chimes in as she joins us—sans Freddy, thank god. “It’s been, what, five years since you opened the store? And you’ve been working so hard. Why not take it easy for a bit? Focus on something else for a while. Maybesomeone.”
A groan threatens to escape me, but I lock it up tight. Here we go again.When will my eligible son find someone to spend his life with? Will I ever have grandkids? You know, I’m not getting any younger.Are you not interested in girls, is that it?I’ve heard them all, and Mom is barely fifty. She’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
I exhale sharply, biting back a retort. “It’s my business, Mom, not a hobby. I can’t just ‘focus on something else.’ And I don’t want to pass on this opportunity. It could be huge.”
With a sigh, she deflates. “As long as you’re happy, sweetie, and not burning yourself out. You know how much I hate it when you put too much on your plate. I hardly get to see you.”
“You see me every Sunday.” I arch a brow, giving her a pointed stare. “And besides, Daphne’s here. Spend time with her.”
Mom waves me off. “You know how she gets. It’s hard to do anything with her.”
