Strangely, that did comfort her.
The drive passed in a blur, Luke’s hand a reassuring weight on her leg the whole way until they pulled up outside the store and found Noah waiting.
His eyes bounced between them, eyebrows rising, and April shot him a warning glare that made her brother chuckle.
“You OK if I bring Sadie inside?”
She blinked. “Of course.” It made her wonder if other people hadn’t been quite as open to his pup in the past, which baffled her. Sadie was the sweetest girl and April wouldneverbe one of those people who didn’t consider pets to be part of the family.
They unlocked the store and she smiled walking in. The energy in the room just feltright, exactly as she’d imagined it. The only thing missing now was the actual flowers.
April carried in the bag from the market and shook out the throw before draping it across the chair behind the counter, the pop of color making her smile. Then, she carefully unwrapped the sun-catcher and was grateful when Luke took it from her to hang above the window in the perfect spot that would have been too high for her to reach.
“Thank you,” she murmured and he kissed her cheek.
“We going to address the elephant in the room?” Noah called, clearly having caught the action. “Or am I supposed to pretend that you two don’t have aglowabout you?”
“Sure. Want to tell me what’s going on with you and Izzy?”
Noah scowled. “That’s different. Don’t avoid the subject, Bug.”
April rolled her eyes and was saved from having to respond by the arrival of the delivery truck, and Emma and Izzy.
“Just in time!” Em called and April blew her friends a kiss, watching out the corner of her eye as Noah greeted Izzy with a placid enthusiasm that she was sure was for her benefit.
Luke stayed inside to secure Sadie while the group walked out to greet the driver of the truck as he unloaded pallets of flowers. Even seeing them outside on the side of the road was enough to get her choked up.
“Oh, come on, April, they’re just flowers,” Noah said, faking exasperation, but he squeezed her with one arm before moving forward to pick up the first pallet, with Luke coming out of the store and rushing to help him to lift the other side.
Together, they gradually carried all of the pallets in, thanking the driver as he finished unloading and lifted his hand in a goodbye. April set about showing the group how to condition the flowers to makesure they’d stay fresh overnight, cutting the stems and mixing the floral preservative in buckets before placing the stems into the water. They worked alongside one another, Sadie lying across April’s feet as she stood at the counter. They’d soon sorted through the pallets of flowers so they were all primed and ready to be displayed.
“OK, let’s put the daisies over there, the freesias up on the second shelf next to the violas …” April called out instructions, directing her little workers and reshuffling where necessary to make the most pleasing display possible. “Luke, could you please move those lilies up a shelf? And to the right? Perfect.”
“Bossy much?” Noah grumbled and Luke grinned.
“You can boss me around any time, Jones.”
Noah faked a gag. “OK, gross. Didn’t need to hear that.”
“Then don’t eavesdrop,” she challenged, but when Izzy and Emma both raised a brow at her, she sighed. “What do you want to know?”
Luke carried over another bucket of flowers and April gestured to where she wanted them while waiting for her friends to speak up.
“Are you … together?” Izzy asked, cautious optimism in her tone, and April wanted to curse her friend for asking one of the questions she didn’t yet have an answer to.
She glanced at Luke and found his brows raised in challenge, a slight smirk on his mouth.Fine—that’show he wanted to play it?“Yes,” she said boldly, taunting Luke right back. “Next?”
“Is it as big as we thought it would be?” Emma’s smile was wicked and Luke’s laugh told April all she needed to know about the blush she’d hoped to hide spreading across her cheeks. “Don’t worry, you don’t need to answer that one.” Emma looked at April and mouthedlater, making her laugh and shake her head.
“Look, yes. Luke and I have … something. Let’s not make a big deal about it while we figure it out. OK?”
Noah shrugged. “Sure. As long as I don’t have to walk in on you guys making out in public anymore, I don’t mind.”
The teasing looks from her best friends made April wince, so she opted to do the best thing she could in that moment: change the subject.
“Don’t be such a prude, Noah. Oh, actually, there’s one other thing I was hoping for your help with putting up.”
“I’m all out of shelves, April,” Noah joked as he followed her into the back room.