Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 94921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
She needed time. A lot of time. Maybe more time than he could imagine giving her.
She wasn’t trying to be cruel, but she wasn’t going to pretend she didn’t still have feelings for Hunter, and she hated that man as well.
Hailey made them coffee to start their morning, while Harlow opened the shop. Taking the large mug from her boss, she blew across the top and took a sip. It was a little hot. She placed her mug near the cash register, and then made her way into the back to grab some of the empty flat boxes she would need for the online orders. If she could get several packaged, they would be able to go out with the first delivery.
She walked back into the main shop and came to a pause as she caught sight of the large vase filled with roses.
“Wow,” she said. “Lover Boy making up for canceling at the last minute?”
“I wish. They’re for you!”
“For me?” Harlow frowned. She put the boxes down at her workstation and went over to the bouquet. “No one has ever gotten me roses.”
“Maybe Andrew is stepping up his game.”
“I hope not,” Harlow said.
“What is wrong with him being interested in you?” Hailey asked. “I don’t get why you don’t want something more with him.”
Harlow sighed. “I’m not ready. I’m not trying to be awkward or anything. It’s … complicated.” It wasn’t complicated. She still had mixed feelings about Hunter. It wasn’t hard, but Hailey didn’t seem to get her feelings. She didn’t want to be a doormat to Hunter, but she also didn’t want to hurt someone else.
Picking up the small card, she glanced at the writing. It did have her name on it. She opened it and Harlow was surprised.
“It’s not from Andrew,” Harlow said.
“It’s not? Do you have a secret admirer?”
“It’s not a secret admirer.” She looked out the window, but she didn’t catch sight of him.
“What does your card say?” Hailey asked.
“I’m not giving up.”
“I’m not giving up?” Hailey asked. “What kind of message is that?”
“It’s from Hunter.”
“The VP? The one that broke your heart?”
Harlow nodded her head.
“What does this mean? It’s a good thing, right?”
“No, it’s not a good thing,” Harlow said.
She looked at the beautiful bouquet and shook her head. This was … horrible. This was worse.
“Harlow, are you okay?”
She turned on her heel and made her way into the back of the shop, near the small storeroom. They only had a small storeroom, but between the clients and the orders, they rarely kept stock too long.
She stood in the cold room, hands clenched, and closed her eyes. There was no way she was going to cry, even though her eyes felt like they were burning.
“I closed the shop, Harlow. I’m a little confused. You love this man.”
“Hailey, this man broke my heart without a single care in the world. He ended it like I meant nothing.”
She was so close to tears. Over the weeks and months, she had cried enough tears, and she didn’t want to cry any more. All she wanted to do was move on, not look back. Hunter was being cruel.
“And he expects me to forgive and forget? What kind of moron would I be if I just went right back to him with open arms? He would hurt me again.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I didn’t think he was capable of hurting me a first time, but trust me, I came to realize the error in my thoughts.”
She took a deep breath, then another.
The urge to cry slowed, until it was no longer a concern, and then she turned to Hailey. “You can do what you want with the flowers.”
“Harlow?”
“Throw them in the trash, use them for decoration, or hand a flower to each of your clients, I don’t care. I don’t want them.”
With that, she went back to the shop and started working through the orders. They were what was important to her, not a bunch of flowers that had no meaning. Hunter wasn’t going to win her back with small trinkets.
She did not trust him.
****
Hunter didn’t get a single call. Not a thank you.
He held onto his cell phone and waited. When that wasn’t enough, he made his way into town, and then parked his bike directly in front of Hailey’s Beauty Parlor. As he did this, he couldn’t believe what he had become.
These were the kind of men he mocked. Giving flowers was not part of his MO. Women could only expect to get the pleasure of his dick and nothing else.
Harlow was different. But she didn’t call to thank him, and now like a fucking pussy, he was outside the beauty parlor hoping to catch a glimpse of her. It wasn’t hard. The front of the beauty parlor was covered in large windows, so he could see inside.