5. Being Part Of It

Sage was pretty proud of herself for giving just enough and coming off convincing.

Knox and she were eating their waffle fries covered with cheese, bacon, and chives. She could dive in and bathe in the ooey gooey mess.

She was hoping she wasn't coming off like a pig, but she didn't eat like this often. Most times she stuck to healthier foods. Living alone, it was easy to make salads, eat yogurt or drink smoothies.

There was a time when she cooked nice romantic meals. The whole "whatever you want to do, honey" had been her life for eight months and she loved every minute of it when Henry would say those words to her.

She should have realized it was too good to be true and that Henry had some secrets he was stashing away like the youngest of ten kids making sure no one stole their share.

"Doesn't everyone want their life to be simple?" he said.

"I know I do," she said. "I try to find it. I feel like maybe I've got it here."

"It is a great place to live," he said. "I've got more than enough work to keep me busy but not so much that I can't keep up."

"Is it just you or do you have some employees?"

"I've got three," he said. "One other electrician that I can send on jobs alone and then two electrical techs. Guess that is a good word for them. They do just about everything but a few things. I can leave them alone on a job and then go back and sign off or double-check it at times."

"I didn't picture you as the type of person that would want to be the boss," she said.

"I'm not the person you remember me as," he said, laughing. "Thank God for that."

"No," she said, her eyes looking his handsome face over. "You are not. But you were a great guy then too."

They continued to eat their loaded fries. Sage licking her fingers rather than wasting the sauce on a napkin. He laughed at her. "I wonder if this place does takeout. I wouldn't mind having these in my truck for lunch one day."

"They do have takeout," she said. "I've gotten it before. How often do you eat in your truck?"

It reminded her of the nerdy kid that she'd remembered without a lot of friends eating his bagged lunch by himself and watching what was going on around him rather than being part of it.

She hated that for him and felt bad at times. She'd go over and talk to him or say hi before her friends would yank her away or shame her for seeking him out.

Looking back, she should have stood up for herself more than she had.

But didn't everyone have regrets from middle school?

"Most days," he said. "It's not good to eat in the client's house. If the weather is nice, we eat outside, but I tend to sit in my truck and do some work while I eat."

"Nice and efficient," she said. "I could go home for lunch, but it seems wasteful to leave unless I need to. I like being close enough but most times either sit in my office to eat while I work or have lunch with a coworker. The office staff isn't massive by any means, but we all get along."

"I thought Blossoms was pretty big," he said.

"They are. But most of the employees are at the plant. I'd say they've got over a hundred employees now. They've got several in the offices but not a ton." She started to count on her fingers. "I think there are five in the flower shop, some part time, ten in the retail store and again, some part time. Rose and Daisy do jewelry full time. Poppy and Lily are there too. Then Lily has a secretary: Ivy is the sisters' assistant. Dahlia is in finance and has one full-time staff. Me. The rest are out at the plant or greenhouses. I know Lily wants to add on. There are things she is doing that she just can't always handle. Human Resources. IT. We all help out, but it only goes so far."

"That is why I've got someone I pay to do that stuff," he said. "I can only do so much."

"That is how it all started for them," she said. "I guess first world problems when you grow so quickly and need to expand jobs."

"The pros and cons," he said. "The more employees, the more problems."

"Don't I know that," she said drily. "I learned that at my last job. Way too much drama. But I should have expected that in the fashion world."

"You always did like to draw and design. Is that what you did before?"

She sighed. She shouldn't have said as much as she had.

"I worked for a fashion consulting firm. I had an internship there. I got it through Trace's best friend, Kate."

"She was the model, right? I remember her."

"She was," she said. "Everyone remembers Kate."

"I thought they were dating or something."

"No," she said. "Just friends." It wasn't a secret that Kate was gay, but if Knox didn't follow gossip information on the internet, she wasn't going to volunteer it. "Kate is like a sister to Trace. One to me too. When she was done modeling, she became a buyer. She got me the internship, which turned into a job. I was there for years, only moving up once. It just got to be too much and not what I thought I wanted."

It'd been her dream job, but dreams aren't always meant to come true for people if you could barely show your face at your job without feeling as if you were going to have a panic attack.

"That's too bad. But it sounds as if you've got what you want now. I want to say it's a big change, but I don't think it is. They have fashion at Blossoms, right?"

"They do," she said. "Poppy's line. There is jewelry, lotions, candles, a health line of lotions and shampoos, a men"s line. They are growing all the time, as I said."

"And now it's your job to make sure the world knows," he said.

"I like that," she said softly. "Yeah, it's my job and I love it. I don't have an unlimited budget, but I think that makes it more challenging. Not to mention a lot of the work is about social media influencers. So I've been working with the sisters to get their products out that way."

He shuddered a bit and she held back the laugh.

"Better you than me," he said.

"I will admit that I struggle trying to find the right ones to use. It's not just about their reach but the message they convey. The last thing I want to be responsible for is giving Blossoms any negative publicity."

"Sounds like you're pretty aware," he said. "I think that is half the battle."

"I'd like to think I am now," she said.

Trial error and a lot of mistakes in the past.

The last thing she wanted was for the sisters to feel as if this was a charity job for her and she'd work her butt off to prove it wasn't the case.

Their burgers were brought out a few minutes later. He got another beer; she got a soda. She liked beer like the next person but wasn't someone to have more than one drink out.

"Are your parents still in Staten Island if you and Trace are here?"

"They are," she said. "My father retired from NYPD and started his own PI firm. Trace worked with him for a while until he hit it big."

"That's a big change," he said.

"Yes and no. Trace was in the Army. He did special assignments but was severely injured during an explosion. After he was back on his feet, he had to figure his life out. He'd always had a love for writing and storytelling and used his time while he was recovering to put it to work. It was years before he had a bestseller and worked with my father during that time. Then he went off on his own. My mother owns a salon and is still doing hair full time. They are both in their late fifties, so young yet."

"They are," he said. "My father died at fifty-three. Makes me ill thinking of it."

She reached her hand over and laid it on his. "I really am sorry for your loss."

Knowing he had no relationship with his mother and his only brother was the one that resulted in the divorce, it seemed as if he was alone in the world.

"Thanks," he said. "It's all good."

"No," she said. "It's not. You're still hurting from that and don't try to brush it off. It's fine. It's human. We are all allowed to be that way. Don't worry, I'm not going to think you're nerdy or dorky. You're far from any of that now and if my eighth-grade self had been smarter back then she would have told her friends to shove it and been your first girlfriend."

"I'm flattered," he said.

She felt the heat fill her face. "I'm glad because after the words were out of my mouth I realized I should think before I speak."

"Nope," he said. "Just speak your mind."

Not likely, she thought.

Or not completely.

No one needed that drama.