Heartsville 05 - Bloom Box (Cate Ashwood) by Heartsville Read Free Book Online Page A

accepted the paper cup of champagne.
    “Thank you for all your help today. I’ve been saying that a lot, but I mean it. There’s no way I would have made it through today without you.”
    “You need to give yourself a little more credit. You would have been just fine. People love you. A friend of yours even showed up asking about you. Not sure why he didn’t stick around to say hello.”
    “That was Spencer.”
    Milo’s mouth dropped open. “Spencer? Like, Spencer your ex, Spencer?”
    “That’d be him.”
    “I can’t believe I didn’t recognize him. More than that, I can’t believe he had the balls to show up here today.”
    “He did.”
    “What a prick,” Milo said.
    “I have no idea why. He and I have been done for months.”
    “What happened?”
    Will sighed. As much as he didn’t want to rehash the events that led up to the dissolution of the most serious relationship he’d ever had, he and Milo were friends, if nothing else, and he deserved to know. Especially since there was a good chance they were becoming more than friends. Having secrets didn’t seem like a great way to start off.
    “He cheated on me. I got a text message from a random number telling me they were fucking.”
    “That’s a shitty way to find out, not that there’s a good way to find out your boyfriend is screwing around on you. He must be the world’s biggest idiot. Has he met you? I mean, of course he has, but what an idiot. You’re hot and smart and accomplished. You are the nicest guy I’ve ever met. I can’t imagine who he thought would be better than you.”
    “Denim.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “That’s his name. The guy Spencer was fucking.”
    “Denim? Seriously?”
    Will shrugged. “He sent me a video of them together. I never watched it, though. The preview image and accompanying message were enough for me to get the general idea.”
    “I want to rip his head from his body and break his skull open with my bare hands. What an asshole. This was supposed to be your business together, wasn’t it?”
    Will shook his head and leaned back against the counter. He took a sip of his champagne, the bubbles tickling the back of his throat as he swallowed. “It was supposed to be Spencer’s. I leased the space as a gift, sort of. He never really found his place in the world. He was doing something new every week, flitting from class to class, chasing new ideas that he never really followed through on. I wanted him to be happy, and so when he took a floral design course and seemed to really like it, I found this place and asked him if he wanted to take on running the business.”
    “And he cheated on you.”
    “Yep. So I was stuck. I know nothing at all about it, which I guess you’ve probably figured out by now.”
    “I’ll admit I was curious why you wanted to open a flower shop when you already had a job and don’t know much about flowers, I mean, not that you can’t change paths later in life—not that you’re late in life—you know what I mean. It just seemed odd, that’s all. But if you didn’t want to run the business, why didn’t you just break the lease?”
    “Walt and Victor own the building, and sadly, Victor is losing his battle with cancer. They need the income to stay on top of the medical bills. If I pulled out, they’d be left in a bad place, and I couldn’t do that to them. When Spencer and I broke up, I called and they agreed to look for someone to take over the lease, but that I would carry it in the meantime. I couldn’t afford to carry it without it generating some sort of income, so I moved forward with the plans to open it. I’m hoping that someone will see what a great shop it is and take over the whole thing as a turnkey business.”
    “I’m sure it won’t take long,” Milo said. There was a hint of sadness in the way he spoke. “It’s a beautiful shop, and if today was any indication, I think business will be good. People seemed responsive and unless they were just here for