Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Looking out the window, I could see the men unloading the ladders and tools they’d need for their job. The large sign in the back of the pickup looked perfect, even from a distance. It was exactly what I had hoped for when I’d placed the order, but now, in person? It was fantastic.
Better than I could have imagined—and that was saying a lot, since I’d thought of little else over the past few weeks.
Months, really, since the idea had first started to take root.
I grabbed the keys to the shop off the dresser and looked over at Joanne, still sleeping soundly. I grinned.
Joanne had no idea what was about to happen, and it made me almost giddy with happiness to imagine the look on her face when she woke up and came downstairs, when—hopefully, please God—I had everything set up and looking fantastic.
The year before, The Anderson-Beachman’s Wedding Day—had passed in a blur, the shop so busy and I still so new to it all that other than a huge bouquet and a nice dinner, I hadn’t really had the chance to show the woman I loved just how much I, well, loved her.
Joanne knew, but still, not a single day passed that I didn’t feel grateful to my father… to Castle Falls… to God or the universe or my own dumb luck that she had come into my life and that, by some miracle, I had found a way to turn that into forever.
Or… hopefully forever.
If Joanne said yes.
A rumble from the truck outside and the faint sound of voices from the workers who’d come to install the sign jolted me back into action, and I took the stairs down to the shop so quickly I had to catch myself a couple of times to keep from slipping.
That would be just great, wouldn’t it? All this excitement, only to surprise Joanne with a trip to the hospital.
But no. There would be no hospital trips that day. This was going to be Joanne’s day, Joanne’s show, Joanne’s time to shine.
And I wouldn’t do anything—accidentally or otherwise—to screw it up.
Hurrying through the shop, the grin that I’d been wearing ever since I’d woken up got even wider.
Joanne was amazing, and over the last year, the cheerful, welcoming atmosphere of the place that I had noticed the first time I’d walked in had been… not changed, but definitely transformed.
It had become something more.
More welcoming. More cheerful. More polished and professional and efficient, but more wonderful, too. With Joanne’s innovative business ideas and the support of our customers, my decision to keep the place had proved not only right, but immensely profitable.
Working together, Jo and I—and Naomi, too—had been able to make the business Henry had started to honor my mother truly bloom.
“Good morning,” I said, finally making it out to the parking lot just as the two sign guys were getting everything set up. I greeted them with a friendly wave, sure that my excitement about the day—about Joanne’s surprise—was visible on my face. “Thank you for coming out so early. I know it’s not the typical way you guys do things.”
“You’re right about that,” the bigger of the two men said, grinning back at him. “But we were told this was a special occasion, so we’re happy to help.”
No doubt the sizable extra fee I had paid to arrange the before-hours sign delivery and installation had made them a bit more enthusiastic… or maybe they were romantics, and had been able to guess that this wasn’t just about business.
I stifled a laugh, the thought making me realize how much my life had changed over the past year.
Doing anything purely for romantic reasons wouldn’t even have crossed my mind before meeting Joanne—but now? Now, I was seeing hearts and flowers everywhere I looked.
Hazard of the job, but one I’d happily embraced.
And this? Even if the burly men preparing to lift the large sign from the bed of the pickup were only doing it for the money, I didn’t mind. It would have been worth it to pay twice as much to make this happen. Even more. No amount of money would be too much for the reaction I knew I’d get when Joanne came downstairs in a bit.
Well, the reaction I hoped to get.
“Any other special instructions?” one of the men asked, grunting out the words as he and his partner carried the sign toward the building.
I shook my head. “I just want things to go as quickly and smoothly—and maybe as quietly—as possible.”
How they’d manage to get it above the awning between just the two of them was a mystery to me, but I wasn’t about to question it. Everything else with my surprise had gone smoothly so far; now I just had to have faith that this final piece would work out, too. And faith in things working out? It was still a new sensation, but one I’d started to get better at with practice.