A Root Awakening: A Flower Shop Mystery (26 page)

I drew another deep breath and let it out. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

“That’s my Fireball,” Marco said.

“We’re proud of you, Abigail,” Mom said. “You’re doing the right thing.”

But I was doing it reluctantly. Did that still count toward goodness?

“Let’s go finish breakfast now,” I said, standing up. “I’m starving. Lottie, will you inform Rosa before she leaves?”

“Why don’t we send Rosa in now and let you talk to her?” Grace asked.

I whispered to Marco, “Isn’t it enough that I’ve agreed to hire her?”

Marco tweaked my hair. “Just do it. You’ll feel better for it.”

I wasn’t so sure. I simply couldn’t imagine Rosa as part of the Bloomers team.

They filed out and in a minute Rosa peered around the door. “You wanted to see me?”

“Please come in.” I indicated Marco’s leather sling-backed chairs in front of his desk. “Let’s sit.”

She sat down and leaned forward eagerly. “Do you have more news for me?”

“Rosa, how would you like to become a florist?”

“Perdón?”

“How would you like to work at Bloomers and learn the floral business?”

She stared at me, wide-eyed. “You want me to work with you every day?”

“Well, it would still be part-time, but yes, every day. You can’t really learn much working a few hours twice a week, and you said you need the income. So you can start whenever you’d like, but as you know, we’re shorthanded, so the sooner the better.”

She fingered her pendant nervously. “You are certain that you want me to work with
you
?”

I had to take another deep breath. “Yes.”

She stood up and began to pace, clasping her fingers together and muttering something in Spanish that sounded like a prayer, obviously overwhelmed by her great fortune. When she reached the door on her second round, she turned to face me.

“No.”

I was so stunned, all I could say was, “What?”

“Look at you,” she said with a sweeping gesture. “How could I work for you? You are talented and beautiful and smart. You understand how to run a business. You catch
los criminales
and find missing children. You create the most beautiful floral arrangements I have ever seen. Next to you, I feel so . . .
estúpida
. How can I ever hope to live up to you?”

Rosa felt stupid next to me?

“Come.” She took my arm and led me up the hallway until we were standing just inside the bar area. “Now look around. Do you see? Your family is here to celebrate all that you have accomplished. And what have I accomplished?”

“But, Rosa, you can learn. Think . . . positive.”

“You say that now. But what if I can’t?” She clasped her necklace again and said with a heavy sigh, “If only my Sergio were here, he would tell me what to do. He would give me the strength I need to make this decision. But for now I just don’t know.” Taking my hands in hers, she said, “Thank you for the offer. I will always treasure it.”

Just then Reilly pushed his way through the bar’s front door. “Sorry I’m late, but we had a little mishap out in the county because of the storm.” He took off his soaking overcoat and brushed his hair back. “Not to worry, though. No one was hurt. Just a lone trailer that burned down.”

I met Marco’s gaze. We both glanced at Rosa and almost in unison asked, “Whose trailer?”

“Guy by the name of Jericho. I think you know him, Marco,” Reilly said. “Very weird, though. Lightning struck his trailer and burned it to cinders. Even with all this rain.”

“My sign!” Rosa cried, clutching her necklace. “
El relámpago.
My Sergio is here!” She began to cry big tears of joy. “Didn’t I tell you that he would burn Jericho’s house to the ground?”

She turned and wrapped her arms around me. “This was my sign. Now I know this is what my husband wants
for me. I would love to work with you, Abby Knight Salvare.”

My heart swelled with affection for this woman who really was like me. I held her close and whispered in her ear, “Welcome to Bloomers, Rosa.”

AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 2015 FROM OBSIDIAN

FLORIST GRUMP

A Flower Shop Mystery

By
New York Times
bestselling author

Kate Collins

Flower shop owner Abby Knight wishes she had time to stop and smell the roses, but stress has turned her into a major grump. She and her new husband, Marco, are living with her parents, who drive her nuts. Her cousin, Jillian, just had a baby—who is the subject of every conversation—and Marco’s mom keeps dropping hints that she wants a grandbaby of her own—now.

But life gets even thornier when a flashy former banker pushes up daisies. After a beloved window washer becomes the prime suspect in the murder, other New Chapel shop owners rally around Abby and Marco to prove his innocence. With Abby’s energy wilting, she has to be alert as ever—or she and Marco may never make it out of her parents’ house alive.

Available wherever books and ebooks are sold or at
penguin.com

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