Free Please Forgive Me by Melissa Hill Page A

felony, right?’ her boss said dubiously.
    ‘Well yes, but …’ Now Leonie felt panicked. She was so caught up in the contents of the letters that she hadn’t really considered these implications. ‘But the first one was completely unintentional as I really thought it was for me.’
    ‘Doesn’t quite explain the other two though, does it?’ Marcy said, checking the load against the delivery sheet before heading back inside.
    ‘Well, no.’ Leonie reddened, following her. ‘But I’d really like to find some way of getting them back to him.’
    ‘Why? They’re just a bunch of letters.’
    ‘Oh no, you should read them Marcy, he seems really sorry and so genuine –’
    ‘I’m sure he is, sweetheart, but unfortunately he isn’t one of our customers, whereas those guys,’ she said, pointing to the burgeoning queue of men out front, ‘are.’
    In her fixation with Nathan’s plight, Leonie had almost forgotten that today there were plenty of men who needed assistance in keeping their loved ones happy – most of them now waiting outside the store and looking very impatient indeed.  
    ‘Bloody hell,’ she gasped, taken aback at length of the queue. ‘Those guys look like they really mean business, don’t they?’
    ‘Yep,’ Marcy grinned, as she opened the door to let in the first wave of eager customers. ‘If you thought yesterday was bad – you ain’t seen nothing yet.’
     
     
    At around midday, Leonie was double-checking the afternoon deliveries when something on the delivery sheet caught her eye.
    ‘Look at this,’ she said, pointing out one particular recipient to Marcy. ‘That’s my address.’ The bouquet was addressed to someone in the downstairs apartment of the Green Street house, one of the neighbours that Leonie still hadn’t come across. ‘I could drop it in on my way home later, save the guys a journey,’ she offered, knowing that the delivery vans would be working like crazy trying to get everything out on time today.
    Marcy seemed to like the idea. ‘You don’t mind?’  
    ‘Of course not, I’m literally passing the door. Anyway if nothing else it would be a good excuse to meet one of my own neighbours, wouldn’t it?’
    ‘Ah, so you have an ulterior motive,’ her boss teased, studying the list of recipients. ‘Alex Fletcher,’ she read out loud. ‘With a name like that it’s hard to tell if that’s male or female, but for your sake honey, here’s hoping it’s a good looking Romeo with buckets of cash.’
    ‘That’s not why I’m offering to drop them off!’ Leonie assured her, ‘Believe me, that kind of complication is the last thing I need.’
    ‘Well, let’s take a look at the card and see if we can find out – just in case,’ the older woman added mischievously, before going out back to seek out the relevant bouquet. ‘I think I wrote this one out myself…aha…here it is.’   She picked up the card from an especially lavish arrangement of red roses. ‘ It just reads ‘Guess who?’’ she said, shrugging in disappointment. ‘Huh. Not very romantic, and it doesn’t tell us much either.’
    ‘And anonymously sent.’ Leonie read over her boss’s shoulder. ‘I don’t remember this being phoned in, do you?’
    ‘Can’t say I recall it from the thousand or so we’ve had this week,’ Marcy said wryly, putting the card back in the envelope and fixing it to the bouquet. ‘Well, whether it’s a he or a she, I guess all this Alex needs to know is they’re getting the best bunch of Valentine roses in the Bay area.’
    ‘I’ll be sure to tell them that,’ Leonie said with a grin.
    ‘You do that. So, are you expecting any deliveries yourself today?’ Marcy asked, trying to sound offhand. ‘From back home, maybe?’
    ‘Nope, and even if I was, I’d be tempted to send them back.’
    ‘Really? Why’s that?’
    Leonie smiled inwardly, knowing Marcy’s mind was probably working overtime by now.   ‘Because now I know that today has