Hale's

Chapter 6

Rafael exited the limousine that had dropped him off at his office, where he was immediately greeted by his secretary Carmen.

"Good morning, Mr. Raine. Here is this week's sales report," she handed him the folder before continuing, "Your 9 o'clock appointment is here and your mother called. She wants to meet you for lunch. Shall I move your lunch meeting with Remy Martin to tomorrow, sir?"

"At what time is my meeting with Martin?" Rafael asked calmly, looking over the week's report. They had a steady rise so obviously their deal with Martin was working well.

"At 12:30," Carmen informed him.

"What have I got after that?" Rafael asked, taking a peek at her calendar.

"Nothing until 15:00, then you have an appointment with marketing," she showed him.

Rafael nodded. "I'll hurry the lunch with Martin. Set my mother up for 14:00." He really didn't feel like meeting his mother right now – or at any other point really – but he had put her off so often lately that he was starting to feel guilty so he might as well get it over with.

"Yes, sir." Carmen typed it into her iPad as they rode up the elevator to the top floor where Rafael's office was located.

While Rafael walked to his office, Carmen told him his schedule for the day, just like every day, and his assistant was already standing at the door to Rafael's office, holding his coffee.

"Thanks, Aaron," Rafael nodded at him.

"Anything else, Mister Raine?" Aaron asked while Carmen departed to arrange the lunch with Rafael's mother.

"Not currently, thank you." Rafael gave him a court nod and entered his office, only to pause dead. "What the hell is that?" He asked Aaron who had apparently waited for that reaction.

"I don't know," he said with a hint of excitement in his voice. "It was delivered just a few minutes before you arrived." Why was Aaron so happy about this?

Now that Rafael looked around, he saw almost every employee who was already in, staring over at him. How uncomfortable...

"Right." Rafael gave another polite nod, entering his office and shutting the door to cut the view from all the curious onlookers. He hated this kind of attention.

Suspiciously, he approached the giant bouquet of at least two dozen white roses that sat on his desk. It was actually the first time he had ever gotten flowers... It gave him an unusual feeling in his stomach. What was up with that?

On top of the bouquet there was a small gift tag. Carefully, he opened it to reveal

Rafael stared at the beautiful bouquet. Who had sent that?

He turned the gift tag over, but there was nothing there either.

"Mister Raine?" Carmen interrupted him, nearly making him jump. "Your 9 o'clock is waiting, sir," she reminded him quietly.

"Uh... Right. Yes... Of course." Rafael nodded absently. "Send them in, please."

As hard as Rafael tried, he was unable to take his mind off the bouquet in his room that day. Which was utterly ridiculous because it was just a bunch of flowers. He didn't even like flowers. Not that he disliked them, but he wasn't crazy about them either. Even if they did smell very nice and remind him of... Of someone who had indeed loved flowers and had a large garden filled with white roses just like those.
He shook is head, unwilling to think about that. They had probably been delivered to the wrong address.

By the end of the week, Rafael had put the whole flower incident off as a mistake and forgotten all about it. Or at least almost forgotten.
Alright, so he hadn't forgotten about it, but he tried not to think about it because it was stupid.

~*~

"Hale?" Jonathan asked curiously, coming to the back of the shop where Hale was arranging a bouquet. "Who's that for? I didn't find any order again; you need to write these down, Hale." He checked through the little book in which they wrote their orders down.

"Oh, I forgot. Sorry," Hale dismissed with a shrug.

"What arrangement is that? Is that even in our catalogue?" Jonathan asked, stunned at the beautiful decoration. Hale was very inventive when it came to floral arrangements, and this one included two of Jonathan's favorite flowers: red roses and white lilies. It was a beautiful combination.

"No, I'm trying out something new!" She said excitedly, clapping her hands.

"Alright then." Who was he to impend his child's creativity, after all. "Hey, what's that?" He asked, reaching for a small, blue notebook that lay on the table next to her.

"Nothing!" Hale snatched away the notebook before he reached it. "It's my diary!" She beamed happily. "You're not allowed to read it!"

Jonathan chuckled. "Okay, I won't read it." Kids were so funny. He remembered back when he had been so young – he had also made a huge deal out of rubbish like diaries. "I also had one like that once." He had always written all his 'secrets' in them... Especially after Rafael had left him, and after Wendy had passed away. It had been his only outlet and he had written down all his pain and misery.

"Oh, really?" Hale asked while she continued with her arrangement.

"Yup. No idea what happened to it though," he shrugged. "I'm going to water the flowers and then we can go upstairs for dinner when you're done. Is your arrangement for tomorrow?"

"Yes. With overnight delivery. It's going to London!" She said excitedly.