He immediately started sweeping a path away from her office door. It could be unpleasant if her customers fell and broke their backs. He was quick about it. He liked it when Gracie thought he was the perfect man and really didn’t want to expose himself as just another stupid guy who didn’t think.

It didn’t take him long to have a nice pile of trash between the back door and the cooler. Just in time, too. The bell on the door tinkled and the couple came in.

“It’s just bullshit, Janet. We don’t need all this,” a man’s voice said.

“Maybe I need it,” the woman said, her voice watery. “I haven’t asked too much and I work for every dime.”

“You want a house?” he asked meanly.

“Yes, but not a new truck!” she threw back.

“You want a baby?” he flung.

“When we can afford it, but I don’t want to just skip the wedding! I know you don’t care, but I care! My mother cares!”

“Then your mother should pay for it!”

“You know my mother has nothing!”

“And that’s what we’re going to have! Nothing!”

“I thought you wanted a wedding?” she said in a near sob.

“I thought so, too, until I saw the list of things we have to buy! I wanted a band, a keg and a good party! Now I’m buying a goddamned coronation!”

The back door opened and Grace stepped in looking completely refreshed in a crisp white blouse, a little shine on her lips and her hair brushed. He wanted to eat her alive, gobble her up. “They’re fighting,” he whispered.

“Happens all the time. Weddings are famous for it.” She looked around. “Oh, Troy, you cleaned up.” She took a closer look at the table and floor. “A little...”

“You want me to mop?” he asked.

“No, but thanks. Just mind the front of the store for me, and if someone comes in and needs something, please interrupt me. I can take two minutes while my clients look at pictures, run a sale, get back to them in no time.”

“I work in a bar, Gracie. I can ring up a sale. If there are price tags.”

“Everything is priced. Let any calls go to voice mail.” She kissed him real quick on the lips. “Thank you.”

“You are so hard to wait for,” he muttered under his breath as she walked away. He watched as she approached the tortured couple.

“Mr. Jackson? Ms. Paulson? Hi, I’m Grace. Would you like to come back to my office and talk about your wedding flowers?”

“We’re fighting about the wedding,” Ms. Paulson said.

“Well, I’m here to lessen your wedding tension and help you find very practical and affordable options in the flower department. Don’t worry—looking at pictures of bouquets and arrangements carries no obligation at all. I only want to help. Come with me. Would you like a cup of coffee? Tea? Bottled water?”

“How about a beer,” the groom said testily.

“I had to stop stocking beer,” Grace said with a laugh. “Too many stressed-out, drunk grooms left my flower shop! Come right in here, let me get a couple of waters.” She put them in the chairs in front of her desk and when she walked through the workroom to her cooler, she rolled her eyes at Troy, smiling a little.

Troy went to the front of the store to stand sentry while Grace had her meeting with the bridal couple. She usually met with couples like this at six or later, after work for them, after closing for her. This particular couple had to schedule something a little earlier, so she’d invited them to come at four, which was how Troy got this babysitting job. He positioned himself behind the small counter. There by the computer lay two phones—her personal and her work phone. Everywhere she went, two phones. When the shop was closed and they were together, she rarely answered the work phone. And the personal phone rarely rang. She’d gotten calls twice since they’d been a couple and both times it was Iris.

He heard her tell the couple to “start with this album.”

“There aren’t any prices,” the man said.

“Jake!” the woman said.

“That’s a reasonable observation and question. Every bouquet and arrangement can be downsized or enlarged, depending on personal taste. For example, see this beautiful arrangement of roses, fern and calla lilies? I had a bride want a much smaller version of this with just the dusty miller and lilies plus a little baby’s breath. I’ll be glad to itemize everything with cost per stalk, stem and vase.”

“I don’t know why we’re making it so fancy,” Jake muttered.

“It needn’t be,” Grace said. “Small weddings can be elegant, classy and memorable. In your life together there are going to be many moments you’re going to want to capture in pictures. You’ll be amazed when you get to your thirtieth anniversary how many boxes or albums or disks of pictures you’ll have—every camping trip, T-ball game, graduation, every family celebration. One of the first will be the day you marry. It doesn’t have to be any certain kind of wedding, just the one you both want. And done the way you want to remember it.”

“And there’s the problem,” Jake said. “Janet wants a big fancy wedding and I don’t.”

“I don’t need a big fancy wedding,” she argued. “I just want it to be beautiful!”

“Completely doable. When you talk it over, you’ll find a reasonable compromise. I’ll do whatever I can to help with that. I’ve had couples who ordered so many flower arrangements and bouquets I thought I was outfitting the Rose Bowl. There was a recent wedding where the bride and her attendants each carried a single calla lily. The good news is...for a spring wedding literally every flower will be available and the prices will be more reasonable than at other times of the year.”

“This is beautiful,” Janet said, looking at a photo. “Isn’t this beautiful, Jake?”

“I bet it cost a fortune,” he snorted.

“Hmm, if I remember, that wedding ran about twelve hundred dollars.”

“Are you freaking kidding me?” Jake said.

“Flowers were very important to that couple, but they didn’t have a fortune. Now, there are ways to bring the cost way down, to less than half of that, and still have a beautiful display. Bows instead of flowers on the ends of the pews, smaller altar arrangements or larger fluffier flowers and table centerpieces, less fussy bouquets for the attendants.”