Page 25 of Shifting Winds
“Alright,” Moira blurted. “What’s going on?”
I placed a white anemone in the bouquet and kept my mouth shut.
Tess frowned. “What do you mean? I’m trying to figure out if orange goes with green and it’s messing with my head a little.”
“If it’s the flower stem, Tess, green goes with everything.”
“Oh. I guess so.” Her soft voice warbled.
My heart broke a little bit. I sent Ash a disapproving look.
Moira’s lips thinned. “Oh Ash.” She shook her head in disappointment and put the ranunculus down. “I’m going to get a head start on Hattie’s bouquet. Maybe I’ll draw something and see if you like it.”
Our eyes met. She jerked her head slightly toward the left. I shook my head once.
No, we were not meeting in the freezer to gossip about our coworkers.
Not in front of them at least.
Ash’s shoulders slumped. “Tess?”
She hummed a little tune as she put a salmon-colored rose in the foam. “Hmm?”
Ash sent me a desperate look.
I chewed on the side of my lip. “Why don’t you two take a longer lunch? We aren’t expecting much business today, and there’s no reason for all of us to be in the shop.”
Tess glanced up from her centerpiece. “It’s only 10:30.”
“Grab a coffee first. How about you two come back at 1?”
Tess blinked. “Are you sure?”
“Very,” I assured her. The smile I gave was as reassuring as I could make it, but my heart hurt for them both. “Enjoy yourselves.”
“Thank you,” Ash mouthed. He helped Tess up, snagging her jacket by the door. Once they were both bundled up, they hurried outside to his car.
Moira and I watched them go.
“Is he breaking up with her?” she asked quietly.
“I think so. He was supposed to do it yesterday.”
“That’s why it was so awkward.” Moira scrubbed a hand over her face. “Damn. Any chance of them working it out?”
My gut told me no, but I didn’t want to put an absolute on something I only saw from the outside. “Maybe,” I said instead.
She put her hand on my shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. “Things are changing.”
“Yeah.” I rubbed my eyes and sighed. “What about you? Anything new in your life?”
Moira laughed and sat back down at the table. I pushed a pile of flowers over. “Still single. Still trying to make the perfect cup of tea. Still trying to figure things out. So, the answer is…not really.”
She smiled. “Whatever happens, we will all still love each other, Evie. You never have to worry about that.”
“I’m more worried about us fading away from each other.” Ash and Tess dating had made me pause and wonder if it was a good idea, but they’d liked each other so much I was hard pressed to stop them. If I was a more logical person, I would have extrapolated the data, come to the conclusions that statistically most relationships don’t work out, and put a stop to the madness before it started.
But I wasn’t an ice queen and had a soft spot for both Tess and Ash.
