Free Forget Me Not by Crystal B. Bright Page B

rooms.”
    “I’m sure you have. I’m used to you being a little kid.” Victor put his hand up to his waist to illustrate Gideon’s height when he’d first started working with his mother at the store. “Anyway, I think one of the delivery drivers must have knocked the thermostat out of whack when they were putting away the merchandise. I didn’t discover it had been messed up until today. Every flower and plant in the cases has open buds or worse.” He went to a nearby trash can and picked up a long-stem rose.
    It drooped down. To illustrate Victor’s point, a petal fell from the bud.
    “I can’t sell any of these. Your mother has very high standards.” He slammed the stem back into the bin. “What am I going to do?”
    Gideon put his hands on Victor’s shoulders. “First thing’s first. Have you called an electrician or heating and cooling tech to fix the thermostat? No use restocking it if it still doesn’t work.”
    Victor shook his head. “No. Your mother keeps this place in tip-top shape. Any maintenance she’s done, she’s kept me out of the loop.” He pointed to her office. “There’s only a few things in her office that I can touch. I don’t go in the drawers.” He shuddered and shook his head.
    “I’ll contact her to see who she uses.”
    Victor gripped Gideon’s arm. “No, don’t. If your mother finds out that I couldn’t handle something like this, she’ll freak out. She’ll never trust me to run the store for her again.”
    Gideon cocked his head. “You can’t believe that. You’ve worked for her for years. You’re like family. She would understand.”
    He shook his head. “I let thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise get destroyed. I love Queen, and I know she loves me. But to let all that money go down the drain is something even I couldn’t forgive.”
    Gideon found it hard to believe that his saint of a mother would be that irrational. Then again, Victor did have a flair for the dramatic.
    “Okay, I’ll go in the office and see if I can find a number for someone to fix it. If I can’t, I’ll find someone to do it. Can’t be that hard.” He patted Victor’s shoulder. “Next, we’ll need more plants and flowers.”
    “That’s the other thing. I called the vendor. They won’t be able to get us more flowers for two days. He said he may be able to bring something tomorrow, but it would be late.” Victor ran to the front counter and held up some papers. “We have orders that have to be fulfilled today.” His eyes widened as he stared at Gideon. “Maybe you can call them and tell them who you are—the great Gideon Wells, Super Bowl champion—and they’ll make an exception.”
    Gideon counted in his head, a second time within twenty-four hours, before he addressed Queen Elizabeth’s employee. “No. I don’t work that way. You’ve been around my mother long enough to know that. We do things the right way every time.”
    Victor shrugged. “Suit yourself. In the meantime, we’re out of everything, and one of Queen’s biggest clients is expecting their order tomorrow.”
    “Let me see the orders. I’m sure there are plenty of greenhouses around that would be willing to help us out.”
    Victor shook his head. “You’re going to have to make a miracle happen to get them to give up their stock. You know what time of year it is, right?”
    Gideon slipped his hands in his pockets. A brief thought hit him to go to as many florists as he could to get what he needed. What his mother didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. He had never betrayed her trust, and he wouldn’t be starting now.
    His fingers brushed over a card. He pulled it out and read it. “I think I have an idea. I’ll be right back.”
     
     

Chapter 5
     
    Janelle decorated the front window of the store with vases filled with red roses and white baby’s breath. Nothing said stereotypical Valentine ’s Day bouquet like roses.
    “Pretty.” Penny nodded as she arranged the greeting cards