Burning Flowers (4 page)

He passed the slip to her and began
explaining what happened in technical terms, trying to sound like
he was worth more as a worker than he actually was. Although, that
piece of paper seemed to show that he really did believe he was
worth an awful lot. Clarke scoffed at the ridiculously high number.
“What the hell is this?” she asked sarcastically. “Get the hell
out, buddy. No way are you scamming me like this,” she called out,
ready to shoo him like a bug out the door.

Trevor put his hands up in surrender and
backed slowly towards the door. “Look, ma’am, that’s how it works
when you’re working with a franchise. I don’t have much control
over that. I can see that you’re looking for a good deal, so I’m
going to offer you some advice. Up to you whether you take it or
not.” She nodded him along. She didn’t have all day, but she
appreciated his honesty about the rip off if nothing else. Plus,
she was desperate for a fast solution to her problems. “I have a
cousin that does all kinds of work. He works for himself, so he’s
real cheap, and I bet he could help you clean up the place too and
do a little remediation. I’ve seen him do it before. The thing is,
though, he has no licenses or certifications. He just does this
stuff, so you’d really have to trust him and be okay with
that.”

Clarke thought about it for a minute and
decided that anything was better than paying that price for just
part of what needed to be done. She knew that insurance wasn’t
going to give her anywhere near that much for something like that.
“Okay, do you have his number?”

“Sure I do.” The man pulled a small card out
of his pocket. It had a name and number on it, but that was all; no
picture or fancy business name. It was somehow comforting. The name
read Vince Forester.

“Alright, thanks for the tip, buddy. I
appreciate it,” she said flatly, ready for him to leave now she got
what she wanted from him. He gave her a toothy smile before walking
out, rubbing his hands down his jeans. She didn’t waste any time.
She picked up the phone and dialed the number in her hand.
Hopefully, this would be the solution she so desperately
needed.

A young sounding guy with a slight southern
accent picked up. “Hello there, this is Vince. Who do I have the
pleasure of speaking with?” It sounded almost comical coming from
such a voice, but at least he was attempting to be
professional.

“My name is Clarke, and I got your name and
number from your cousin. I really need some help.”

“What kind of job is it, and when do you
need an estimate by?” the man asked simply. She liked that and
needed that right now. Vince was really going to be a life saver if
he could get to it sooner rather than later.

“I own a flower shop in town, and there was
an electrical fire. So, really, I need help with everything; the
clean-up, the set up and whatever went wrong with the electrical.
And I really need you as soon as possible. I need to get the
business back up and running. Can you even do that?” It sounded
like a big job to Clarke, and it made her nervous. Would this guy
even take all that on? No way could she ask her staff to do all of
it.

“Yeah, I can do that. Are you free to do the
estimate now?”

Clarke perks up, feeling a hint of hope
course through her. Maybe she really would be able to keep this a
secret after all. “Absolutely. It’s called “Virginia Clarke’s
Petals”. Do you need the address or can you just Google the
directions?”

She heard a muffled chuckle come through the
receiver. “I can Google it,” he answered before hanging up. Clarke
shut her phone and was ready to do a cheer, only she’d probably
land herself in a pile of ash that also reeked of mildew from the
water that had piled up after the firefighters stopped the fire.
But she felt saved. Someone was going to fix her shop so she could
open back up.

She stepped outside and waited for Vince to
show up, not wanting to stand in piles of smelly ash any
longer.

Chapter Seven

A white pickup pulled up about ten minutes
later and parked in front of the business. As the man inside got
out, Clarke had to fight her jaw from dropping to the floor. He
wasn’t at all what she expected; not really. He wasn’t much taller
than her, and he had thick red hair that made him look like a cute
little boy at the same time his defined arms made him look like a
man. His cut off flannel top showed his muscular and pale arms, and
he had on a pair of white washed jeans with holes in the knees that
were not made by some designer. He had a smile on his face that
displayed two large dimples that just defined his masculine jaw
even more. He looked like the type of guy that might do ranch or
farm work. He was handsome but in a very rugged and manly way. Even
in Virginia, men that looked like that were few and far
between.

“Hi,” she managed to squeak out before
leading him inside her damaged shop. She watched as he walked
around, looking at everything. Like his cousin, he also dug in the
wall and took a look at the wiring. He also checked the wires at
the back of the freezers. She watched nervously and impatiently,
tugging at her lip and following his movements with her own while
trying not to breathe down his back.

He finally stopped and leaned against what
was left of the front counter. He looked so laid back. “So, it
looks like your electrical wiring has needed some updating for a
while as well as the circuit breaker. Basically, the outdated setup
couldn’t handle everything you were running in here. Did you add
anything recently? Because my bet is on those two freezers.” He
pointed at the two that were on the side where the fire
occurred.

“We did just add those for this season. We
usually only have those other two.” Clarke pointed to the freezers
on the other side of her, and Vince nodded.

“Okay, well, normally when there’s an
overload the breaker should alert you, but it obviously didn’t.
That means you have some worn out connectors on there that need to
be addressed as well. The overload triggered the fire. So, you can
either back down on the appliances you’re using, or I can update
the wiring. Either way, I need to fix the breaker box connectors.
I’ll also have to clean up the water and make sure there’s no mold
or mildew going on so I can fix that first. I can also clean up all
the smoke and soot and dispose of damaged property.”

“And how much is all of that going to cost?”
she asked with her hands on her hips. It almost sounded like a
scam; like he was making up problems so she would pay for them. But
that was probably a response to the last guy who’d tried to cheat
her out of her money.

Vince stood there for a moment, looking
around again like he was thinking about it before he finally
answered. “A couple thousand I think, maybe a little bit less
depending how bad some of the damage to the walls and floors are
and how cheap I can get parts.”

“That’s it?” It was still a good chunk of
money, but it was definitely less than the first estimate. “When
can you start?” she asked, rummaging in her purse for an advance to
give him for supplies. Whatever she could do to make it go faster,
the better it would be for her.

“Whenever you want me to start,” he
answered, running his fingers through his red hair before she
slapped down a few hundred dollars in his hand. Her fingers brushed
accidentally against his rough skin, and she pulled it back
quickly.

“You’re a lifesaver!” she exclaimed, ready
to give him a giant hug. “I’ll need you right away. It’s very
important I get the business running again. How long do you think
it will be?”

“A couple of weeks,” he answered with a
crooked smile. “But once the serious stuff is taken care of, you
can probably open up for a few hours, and I can work around
customers. We’ll see. I’m going to head out and get some supplies
and be back. I have some free time and might as well get started
now.”

Clarke watched him walk out, realizing his
walk definitely had some swagger to it. “Oh yes, we will see,” she
whispered to herself before heading over to the coffee shop. She
needed to eat and have some coffee in case she decided to stay all
night and supervise his work. She’d brought in some battery powered
lamps just in case. As great as he sounded, he was still not
licensed, and she couldn’t afford for him to make mistakes. And a
tiny part of her thought that watching him work would be quite fun
in those tight jeans he had on. He certainly had one night stand
written all over him.

Chapter Eight

Clarke shot Vince the fifth annoyed look in an
hour. Her thoughts on him had been completely reversed as she stood
there and watched him work. He was no longer as attractive as he
was at first glance. He had been whistling the whole time and
seemed to be having fun while he worked at a disjointed pace. There
didn’t seem to be any rhyme or rhythm to what he was doing, and he
completely ignored any flirting that had come his way. She’d pretty
much given up on him. She would fire him for it if she didn’t need
him to fix everything up so badly. But the way he was working, she
wasn’t even sure he would do a good job.

She was about ready to leave and give him
the key so he could lock up when he was done. Watching him get
dirty wasn’t at all what she had imagined. “So, why the rush?” he
asked, stopping to look up at her as she huffed out a sigh.

“Excuse me?” she asked, feeling even more
annoyed that he suddenly wanted to talk to her.

“Is there some rule about not talking to
each other?” he asked, chuckling a bit. He was having way too much
fun for someone who was cleaning up after a fire. “I mean, since
you insist on being here while I work, it means we’re going to
spend a lot of time together. We might as well get to know each
other.” He shrugged and went back to work like it didn’t faze him
one way or the other.

“I guess….” Clarke trailed off, not knowing
what else to say. She didn’t make it a habit of getting personal
with people, especially guys. So, she wasn’t about to tell him it
was all about her mother. “I just don’t want to lose any business.
It’s time for Easter and prom, and wedding season’s coming up
quick. So, it’s important I get open.” She nodded like a period at
the end of the sentence; satisfied with her explanation.

“Mmhmm, well, I’m sure you can still meet
with clients elsewhere. I sense something else is going on.” She
shot him a look, and he put his hands up in surrender, not saying
anything else.

“So, what about you, why don’t you have any
licenses or work for a real company like your cousin?” she shot
back, anxious to get the focus off of herself. But she was
revealing more about herself with her disposition than she could
have ever realized.

If the question offended him, he didn’t show
it. Instead, he answered right away. “Because I like the adventure
of getting to do something different every day, and I like being my
own boss, essentially. It also means I don’t have to cheat people
out of a lot of money for a crappy repair job like my cousin does.
It also keeps me open to any opportunity that comes along; frees me
up.”

His answer baffled her as she wondered how
anyone could live that way, not necessarily knowing what was next.
She would lose her mind. “Isn’t that a little unstable?”

“Ah, I guess it depends,” he began, wiping
sweat from his brow. She could see the beads of moisture forming on
his red tendrils. There was something so normal about him, so
comfortable. It was something she could never pull off herself.
“I’d imagine if I had a family to provide for that it might prove a
little difficult, but that’s just part of the adventure. And I
don’t have that. It’s just me. You’d be surprised how uncomplicated
my life is because of it. Whereas someone like you is reliant on
this place which has now failed you for the time being.” He
motioned around him to the damaged shop.

Clarke narrowed her eyes at him, clearly not
liking what he had to say. “My shop has not failed. It just needs
to be repaired, which is what I’m paying you for. And just because
I’m driven and organized doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy anything. I
enjoy knowing what’s going to happen next. That’s stability and
success like I’ve always wanted.”

“Measuring success based on knowing what
comes next isn’t smart because you can never know what’s next. Take
this fire, for instance. You couldn’t foresee or control it. By
your standards, that means you failed. Life doesn’t always go off
your plans, so I find it better not to plan. That way, it’s all a
surprise without disappointments.” He gave another dimply
smile.

Clarke shook her head, unable to handle
anymore. She pulled the key out of her purse and placed it on the
counter. “Please lock up when you leave. I’m going home for now,
but I’ll be coming by to check the progress first thing in the
morning.” She marched out of the shop as he waved mockingly at
her.

Chapter Nine

Clarke blew into the flower shop at around eight the next morning
with her cup of coffee in her right hand. She had pulled her hair
back into a short, sleek ponytail and opted for some nice jeans and
a blouse instead of a dress or skirt. There was no reason to be in
a closed shop with all that dirt and mold around in something so
nice.

Vince was already there, and he opened the
door for her. She looked around and saw that there were four large
fans set up inside the business, drying out the space. She could
barely hear anything else over their hum, even the traffic that
piled up outside the door as others headed to school and work.

She saw also that more of the wall was
opened up, probably so he could fix all the wiring. A sledgehammer
lay on the floor against the corner of the room. Many of the
flowers had already been removed or put into bags to go out in the
trash. It made her wonder how many hours he had been working or if
he had even slept. “Do you need me to go back over there and get
you a coffee?” she called over the loud noise of the fans.