Midnight Serenade

Chapter 16

In the morning, Sawyer's mom gave us a list of errands. I wasn't sure if she was trying to help me feel more comfortable around town or if she honestly just needed help with her errands. I didn't mind either way. It was simpler if Sawyer and I had some task to keep us occupied. It was far too easy to feel comfortable with him. Far too easy to forget how short a time we'd known each other.

After picking up dry cleaning, a few groceries, and some new wiper blades for Mrs. Peterson's car, Sawyer led me to a flower shop. For such a small town, it was a huge shop, and it was mostly made of windows, giving it a real greenhouse atmosphere. There were the typical ready-to-go bouquets and decorative potted plants, but most things were clearly grown right here and made to order. The mixture of the earthy scent of the soil with the hundreds of blooms was wonderful, and the soft warm sunlight filtering in made me want to curl up and take a nap.

"Oh, Sawyer, good."

I turned to see a middle aged woman with dark hair slide out from behind the counter and head in our direction. "I have your mom's order just about ready, but I wanted an opinion on the vases." She grabbed a blue vase and a white one with green ivy from the shelf she was passing before coming to a stop in front of us. "Good to see you this morning." The smile she gave Sawyer seemed almost grumpy compared to the beaming one she directed at me. "And you must be Claire. It's so nice to be able to finally meet you!"

Her greeting was nothing but friendly, but I was startled, not just because she seemed to know who I was, but she also called me Claire. I was barely used to thinking of myself by that name. I hadn't told anyone but my grandparents and Sawyer's family that I'd chosen it.

"Um... Hi." I forced an awkward smile.

The woman cringed. "Oh honey, I'm sorry. You must think I'm so pushy. It's just, I know your uncle and he was telling me about you. He's so excited that you're here. The whole family is, of course. Well, really everyone in the pack is pretty..." She bit her lip. "Oh dear. I'm not making it any better, am I?"

Unable to help it, I laughed a little. The whole small town super close wolf pack thing was pretty overwhelming, but I couldn't fault someone close to my family for being happy to meet me. "It's alright. I'm still kind of getting used to things here, and I didn't realize people would know to call me Claire."

"Oh, of course," she said. "I can understand that would be a little disorienting. But it's a good choice. Personally, I love the name Claire."

"Thanks."

"This is Mrs. Duncan," Sawyer told me. "She owns the shop."

She frowned at him. "I've told you to call me Holly. You're an adult now."

Adults never seemed to realize how weird it was to suddenly call them by their first name after a lifetime of being taught that wasn't okay. Sawyer just smiled and changed the subject. "So about the vases..."

Mrs. Duncan huffed but allowed herself to be distracted. She indicated the vases she still held. "Which of these do you think your mother would prefer? Either option works with the arrangement, but I'm not sure what will go best with the rest of the decor."

Sawyer got that deer in the headlights look and I wanted to laugh again.

Mrs. Duncan wilted a little. "You don't know anything about the decorations?"

Sawyer pursed his lips. "Not really. My mom is always organizing one event or another. I don't usually pay attention to the details. And for this..." He shrugged. "I'm not sure I'd be much of a help even if I had those details. I know it's at the fire house, but that's about it."