Saying Sophie was a bit overwhelmed was a bit of an understatement. Her infant son was a maddening creature who refused to sleep at predictable intervals, though they were at least getting longer, and who managed to scramble all her plans for an afternoon with an adorable smile and a messy diaper. After one such incident, she was holding the babe close and talking nonsense to him in a low voice.
She sort of loved it.
Today was a bit of an exception to the new usual, though, and she was using her free arm and one tenth of her brain space to attend to her other ‘child’ – the flower shop. What had wilted and died in Morgan’s absence had come back to life, abundantly so. Her creations, through little effort of her own, were bursting out of every available space in the shop. She greeted the person who came in with a smile and a mildly insincere apology. “Quite sorry, excuse the mess. Transition in seasons, and preoccupied shop owner. How may I help you today?”
Robin was on his way home from a job site. It’d been a long day and he was ready to get home to Marian. But he’d seen the flower shop on the way home, and on a whim, he’d popped inside. It was abloom with beautiful flowers and colors and smells and he waved away her apology with an easy smile. “Not to worry, miss. Lovely place you’ve got here.” He glanced around and tried to imagine the most glorious bouquet Marian had ever seen. He was many things, but he was certainly not a skilled florist and knew he lacked the creative design gene it would take to make the kind of bouquet his wife deserved. “I’ve a lady back at home I would like to impress, would you be able to help me with that?”










