Lies in Love (17 page)

“Bye.”

They
said the words, but stood gazing at each other. The brusque sound of
an approaching hot rod broke their trance and Landon finally said one
last goodbye before making his way home.

The
morning sun was finally making an appearance on the horizon, sending
a few sparse rays through the flower shop window. Talia had been up
most of the night reliving that kiss. She could still feel Landon’s
lips pressed against hers. Just the thought had her head spinning and
her arm reaching for another cup of coffee. She was on her fourth cup
and wide awake. She tried to make the most of her time by working on
a few upcoming orders and creating arrangements for walk-ins. There
wouldn’t be much work for the girls to do when they arrived
this morning, but it would give them a chance to do some spring
cleaning and get the inventory in order. Sara had been so focused on
Talia that she’d been slacking in that department.

At
quarter after seven, Talia returned to her apartment. She wanted to
shower and put on a fresh pair of clothes, maybe even wash the silly
look off of her face. She was out of the shower just in time to get
dressed, run a brush through her hair, and throw on her favorite
fedora before the girls arrived. As she descended the stairs, she
could still feel the smile plastered on her face as thoughts of
Landon in her apartment resumed. How would she get through this day
without letting on what had happened the night before, not that there
was any reason to hide since Camey had been the one to send Landon
her way. She would have to give that girl a big smacking kiss when
she came into work.

As
Talia began sorting vases in the cabinets, the back door opened and
Sara came trudging in.

“Good
morning.” Talia had failed at washing her smile away.

“Morning.”
Sara sounded terribly grumpy.

“Coffee?”
Talia had put on the flower shop’s pot when she came down from
her shower.

“Yes,
please.” Sara looked up at Talia. “What has you so
chipper this morning?”

“Nothing
really, just lots and lots of coffee.” Talia beamed as she
filled a mug for her sister. After handing it to her she returned to
flitting around the shop moving different vases and pots from shelf
to shelf, organizing them by color and size.

“Seriously,
Talia, it’s too damn early.” Sara sipped at her coffee,
her eyes drooping closed with each swallow.

Talia
ignored her sister and continued working. She turned to the back door
when she heard it open and Camey came waltzing in.

“Morning,
ladies.” Camey buzzed in with a rather pleasant mood.

“Good
morning.” Talia saw Camey turn quizzically to Sara at her
greeting. Aware she was about to add fuel to the fire, Talia crossed
the room and hugged Camey tightly, kissing her on the cheek before
she let go.

“What
the hell, Talia?” Camey’s eyes were open wide.

“I
just wanted to say thank you.” Talia was practically laughing
at Camey’s disbelief.

“For
what?” Camey looked from Reina to Sara then back to Talia.

“For
sending Landon to me.” Talia grinned until she saw Camey’s
face turn to dismay. “What’s wrong?”

“What
did he say?” Camey’s face was etched with worry.

“He
said that you told him where to find me. I honestly can’t thank
you enough. We had such a nice time last night. He took me out to
dinner and then we came back here and…”

“Did
you sleep with him, Tal?”

Talia
couldn’t figure out why Camey was so angry. “No.”
Talia
would
have slept with him, but clearly that wasn’t what Camey needed
to hear. “What’s the big deal? I thought you would be
happy about this.” She quickly realized that they had an
audience. Sara and Izzy, who had come through the pass-through just
minutes before, were eavesdropping.

“It’s
just really fast. I would hate for you to jump into bed with someone
you barely know.”

“What,
like you?” Talia was angry and perplexed. She didn’t
understand why Camey was so mad and where she got the audacity to say
such a thing.

“Whoa,
whoa, whoa.” Sara came rushing over, putting herself between
Talia and Camey.

“That
was a low blow, Tal.” Camey rolled her shoulders back and
looked square in Talia’s eye. “I was only trying to look
out for you. You don’t have to be such a bitch about it.”

“Whatever.
Just get to work and let me worry about my personal life. I can take
care of myself.” Talia shoved a milk-glass vase into the
cabinet and headed upstairs to the storeroom. She wasn’t up for
arguing with any of the girls this morning. She wouldn’t let
them sour her mood or drain her of her coffee-infused energy.

“What
the hell is wrong with you? I told you to break things off with
Talia.” Camey paced in the back alley with her phone lodged
against her ear.

“Good
morning to you too.” Landon’s voice was thick, no doubt
from being woken up.

“I
can’t believe you told her I hired you.” Camey was
longing for a shot of something hard to ease the throbbing in her
head.

“What?
Wait, you told her?” Landon no longer sounded half awake.

“No,
I didn’t tell her. Didn’t you?” Camey rubbed her
temples trying to soothe the pain.

“No.
I told you it was our secret. Although, I feel awful lying to her,
especially if I’m going to see her again.”

“Oh
no you don’t. You will not be seeing her again so there is no
need to let the cat out of the bag. You were supposed to be ending
things last night, remember?” Camey took a steadying breath as
she leaned against the railing to Talia’s apartment. When
Landon didn’t respond she added, “This isn’t some
kind of game. I won’t sit by and watch you hurt her.”

“I
have no intention of hurting her.”

“What
are you expecting will happen when you drop her like yesterday’s
news?”

“I
don’t plan on doing that. I have feelings for her, Camey. I
don’t want to hurt her.”

“That’s
hilarious. You think I’m going to let you date her while you
traipse about with the common whore? You’re a gigolo, for
fuck’s sake.” Camey was seething and she didn’t try
to hide it.

“Camey...”

“I’m
tempted to go in and tell her right now what you really are, try to
talk some sense into her before you break her heart.”

“No,
don’t.” Landon was breathing heavily over the phone. “You
won’t just be hurting me if you do that.” Camey could
hear him sigh through the phone. “If you tell her, don’t
you think she’ll lose all faith in you and your friends? She
could lose everything just by you telling her the truth. It’s
the only thing that has kept me quiet up until now. I don’t
want to hurt her like that.”

Camey
stood open-mouthed, staring at the sky. She hated that Landon made
such a valid point. “I don’t want to hurt her either. But
how do you intend on hiding who you are from her? You don’t
think she’ll notice when you aren’t available because
you’re out on one of your
dates
?”

“That
won’t be a problem.”

“You
can guarantee that?” Camey wasn’t convinced that Landon
could keep his escorting a secret, but she sensed something in him;
she could feel that he wanted to protect Talia.

“Yes.”

“Whatever.
Look, all I know is that if you hurt her, so help me God, it will be
the last thing you ever do. She’s my best friend and I won’t
allow you to ruin her life.”

“Understood.”
Landon sounded sincere.

“I
don’t know what your plans are, but if I sense for one second
that you don’t have her best interest at heart or that you
might hurt her in any way I won’t hesitate to tell her
everything, regardless of what it does to our friendship.”

“I
got it, okay.”

“You
better.” Camey felt she was being a bit harsher than necessary,
but she wasn’t going to back down. She wanted Landon to know
she meant business. “I gotta go. Just remember what I said.”

“Yeah.”

Camey
hung up the phone, satisfied that she’d made her point. Her
only problem now was telling Sara about the developing relationship
between Talia and Landon. She was certain Sara would find a way to
make this all her fault. She eased the back door open and looked
around. The second the door opened, Sara pounced on her. Camey
immediately decided there was no time like the present to break the
news.

“What
is going on? What was all that with you and my sister?”

“Talia
and Landon went out last night.”

“What?”
Sara began pacing, looking around for her sister as she went. She
kept her voice low as she continued. “How could you let this
happen?”

“I…”
Camey grew incensed with Sara. “I wasn’t in this alone,
you know. I may have found the guy, but you and Reina were all for
it.” Camey realized she needed to get herself in check before
Talia heard them talking. “Ugh, why did Reina have to take the
day off? She should be here helping us figure this out.”

Sara
was still pacing. “This is bad. This is very bad.” She
stopped in her tracks and looked at Camey as though something had
just dawned on her. “It was just a date, right? Maybe they
won’t even see each other again?”

Camey
shook her head. “I just got off the phone with him. Apparently
he has
feelings
for her.”

Sara
guffawed, then covered her mouth, aware that Talia might overhear.
“That’s rich. He’s a gigolo.”

“I
know that.” Camey saw Talia enter the back room. She forced a
smile and walked into the cooler, sensing Sara close on her heels.
She grabbed a handful of flowers and began busying herself forming a
haphazard arrangement. “He wants to see her again. I told him
to come by here last night and make her want to forget him, but he
showed up here last night and took her out.”

“We
have to tell her, Camey. We can’t let him manipulate her.”

Landon’s
sincerity was still ringing in Camey’s ears. “We can’t
tell her. She’ll hate us; at the very least she’ll shut
us all out again. I can’t bear that, can you?”

Sara
shook her head. She grabbed some flowers from a nearby container to
add to the arrangement Camey was working on.

“If
for one second it seems like he plans to hurt her, I’m telling
her everything. I’ll accept all of the blame.”

“This
was such a bad idea. Reina is going to flip when she finds out.”

“That’s
all I need, just another round of
I
told you so’s
from her.”

Sara
gave Camey a condescending look. “Good luck.”

“Yeah.”
The girls ended the conversation when Talia waltzed into the cooler
with a clipboard in her hands.

“Since
we are basically caught up on orders, I want you guys to run
inventory this morning. We need to do a little spring cleaning.”

Both
of the girls nodded, Camey taking the clipboard from Talia before
they got to work.

Landon
alternated his time between researching flowers and scouring the
Internet for some kind of job. He didn’t necessarily need
money, but he needed something to fill his time, to get his mind off
of its incessant thoughts of Talia. His multiple hours of floral
research and endless urges to visit her at work had him feeling like
some juvenile stalker. He’d never been so infatuated with a
woman. He was pleasantly surprised when his brother came barging into
his new dwelling, quickly making himself at home.

“How’s
the place working out for you?”

“It’s
good. Thanks.” Landon shut his laptop and joined his brother on
the couch. “I was just looking for a job. I need to find
something to make myself feel useful.”

“There’s
a janitorial position available at the school.”

Landon
looked at Dawson from the corner of his eye. “You’re
kidding, right?”

“It’s
a job, Landon.”

“I
know. Sorry. I just can’t see myself in those pale blue shirts
pushing around a mop bucket. I’m not that desperate for work
just yet.”