Hale's

Chapter 7

"London... Is that for the same person who ordered the arrangement last week?" It wasn't every day they delivered to London; not because it was far from Tonbridge but because London had a hundred flower shops so no one really ordered from here.

"Yup!" Hale smiled brightly.

"Oh... Alright. How much are you charging? These bouquets are pretty big." Jonathan tried to let her handle things on her own because it made her independent and responsible, but sometimes he had to check to make sure she was doing things at least remotely right.

"The first one was $60 for the two dozen roses; this one $95 for the lily and rose arrangement because it's very elaborate." She nodded firmly.

Jonathan was impressed. "Okay then."

"Hey dad," she stopped him just as he was about to head back to water the flowers. "I was wondering... When did you and mom break up with Rafael?"

Jonathan paused. "Oh... um... almost 12 years ago, why?"

"Just wondering." Hale shrugged with a smile.

Jonathan nodded slowly. "I'll go water the flowers."

Hale nodded as Jonathan left, lost in memories of Rafael. What ever happened to him? Was he still alive? Did he still live in England?

Ever since they had cleaned out the basement two weeks ago, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about him. Well... He always thought about him, simply because it was part of his life, just like Wendy, but now it was different. Now it was an acute, incisive thinking that wouldn't stop and was driving him nuts.
Especially because he currently had so much to do with the basement renovation that was drowning him in bills he couldn't afford; this had been such a terrible idea.
At this point he wasn't sure how he was supposed to buy groceries the next month; hopefully they would have a few good sales or he would have to take out a loan...

Just as he was done watering and returned to the back of the store, the delivery service picked up Hale's bouquet and then they headed upstairs to eat noodles with pesto, and cucumber salad; they didn't have much else at the moment.

"I hope that mysterious client of yours buys a few more bouquets – we could really use the money right now," Jonathan commented while they ate.

"Oh," Hale said slowly. "Yeah. Because of the renovation, right?"

Jonathan sighed with a nod. "I'm sure it'll get better soon." He smiled reassuringly. He hated telling her that they had financial worries; it made him feel totally useless and like a bad parent, even though he knew she understood.
He had ended up cleaning out the basement himself because the companies who offered such services were so expensive that he had decided against it, and a few days ago the renovations had started, but given the bad condition of the basement, there was a lot to be done.

The rest of the evening was spent with Jonathan preparing the flower orders for the following week while Hale sat quietly in a corner with her little blue book until she nearly fell asleep and stated that she would now be going to bed.

Jonathan also got up, about to fall asleep as well and followed her into the small bathroom to brush his teeth.

"Where's my toothbrush?" he asked confused, finding his cup empty.

"Oh, I threw it away," Hale said with a shrug as she began brushing her teeth.

"What? Why?" Jonathan asked confused.

"Because toothbrushes need to be changed regularly cuz otherwise they're covered in poop!" Hale explain through her brushing.

Jonathan rolled his eyes. "First of all... that's just a myth, I think, and even if it's not a myth, then it only counts for bathrooms that have an included toilet. Ours is down the hall, so there is no way for that happening anyway. I had just opened that toothbrush two weeks ago..." he whined.

"Here's a new one!" Hale said brightly, holding up a packaged toothbrush.

Jonathan sighed. "Whatever."

~*~

With a quiet yawn, Rafael exited the limo like every day. Just another Monday... He hated Mondays. Of course – everyone hated them. But today he hated them more than usual because one week ago he had gotten those roses and now he was depressed because they had been delivered to the wrong address.
Of course, he knew he was being ridiculous – he didn't even care about flowers – but he was still somewhat jealous of whoever was getting them. His life was completely devoid of any romance. It was pathetic.

Just like every day, Carmen read him his schedule for the day on his way to the office where Aaron was waiting with his coffee and an eager look on his face.

Rafael's stomach jumped excitedly as he opened the door to find another giant bouquet on his desk. This time it had red roses, white lilies and some green stuff. It had to be one of the prettiest bouquets he had ever seen.

"Aaron," he said slowly, turning to his assistant.

"Yes, sir?" Aaron asked, while the entire office was looking over again.

Rafael cleared his throat. "What is that?"

"It appears to be a floral arrangement of lilies and roses, sir," Aaron stated.

Rafael rolled his eyes. "I can see that. I meant what is it doing there?"

"I don't know, sir. It arrived shortly before you got here." Aaron shrugged helplessly.

Rafael took a deep breath and then closed the door, trying to ignore the giggling and whispering from his employees.

Just like last week, the flowers were from Hale's, with no further information as to whom the sender was, or if it was even sent to the right place. And right person...
Was someone sending him flowers?! On purpose??
What did that mean, that he had a secret admirer or some sort?!
That was both romantic and somewhat creepy.
Mostly romantic though. Especially because Rafael was romance deprived and thus unable to see the creepy aspect.