Slay it with Flowers Read Online Free Page B

waiting on a customer who was buying one of my latest wreath creations. I greeted her with a cheery hello—customers always made me cheery—and continued into the workroom where Lottie was arranging yellow and orange Gerbera daisies in a glass vase filled with yellow marble halves.
    “What happened across the street?” she asked, as I pulled an order and gathered my supplies.
    I gave her as much information as I had, including the info about the Emperor’s Spa that I’d heard from the ladies in the coffee parlor. I stopped short when Grace walked in.
    “You needn’t stop on my account, dear,” Grace said. “I could hear you from the other room.”
    “Before you say anything, I do remember my vow, and I intend to stick by it.”
    I glanced at Lottie, who was trying hard not to laugh.
    Lottie had already finished the first wire order and was nearly done with the second, so I tackled number three, plus a phone-in order. By noon we had finished them and broke for lunch. I grabbed a turkey sandwich at the corner deli, then, because it was such a beautiful day, I hopped in my Vette and took off for a quick spin on the highway.
    I thought best when I was sailing along the open road with the top down and the radio on. Since I was still puzzling over how to approach my ex-fiancé about the groomsman situation, going for a drive seemed a good idea. I took Lincoln Street, the main road east through town, passing neighborhoods of old Victorian houses, aluminum-sided ranch homes, and cedar two-stories, past a park with baseball diamonds, tennis courts, swing sets, and sweaty kids, to Highway 49. From there I headed north toward Lake Michigan and the Indiana Dunes State Park, where I’d spent many summer afternoons swimming, sunning, and climbing the sand hills.
    The Indiana Dunes covered more than two thousand acres of primitive landscape on Lake Michigan’s southern shore, most of which were wooded and contained the most diversified flora and fauna of the Midwest. I knew this because I had to memorize it for a forestry course in college. What I learned from actually hiking those woods was: 1) use a trail map so you don’t get lost; 2) wear long pants to protect against poisonous vines; and 3) always use insect repellent.
    Besides its proximity to Lake Michigan, New Chapel was also an hour’s drive from Chicago—as long as there was no snow, construction, traffic, sun spots, or anything else that could prevent a driver from reaching a cruising speed of fifty-five miles an hour. New Chapel had the advantage of being near a big city without the disadvantage of being a big city.
    Getting back to Jillian’s dilemma, as I saw it I had to convince Pryce that it would be in his best interests to keep my cousin happy and therefore engaged. Why? Well . . . because Claymore would be heartbroken without Jillian.
    Claymore? The original tin man? Pryce would get a good laugh out of that.
    Okay, then, because Pryce deserved to be best man and Punch didn’t.
    Too egotistical on Pryce’s part.
    Because if she called off the wedding, Jillian would keep her three-carat diamond ring.
    Bingo.
    The next problem was when to talk to Pryce. My preference would have been Friday night at the country club because it would have presented the perfect opportunity to corner him without the rest of the bridal party in attendance. But Jillian would never have the patience to wait until the end of the week. She could barely make it to the end of a sentence.
    Every Friday my family ate dinner at the country club, mostly because my mother had always dreamed of being able to. For a girl raised on a farm, being a member of an exclusive club was the epitome of high society. For the wife of a cop, however, it was an unattainable goal. But now that her sons were members, my mother considered herself as good as in. As she put it, “Blood is thicker than thieves.” She’d always had a problem with metaphors.
    Coincidentally, the Osbornes also ate dinner there