Dressed in White // H.S. AU

3 - THE BREAKING OF NEW BLOOMS

Fridays mean nothing to me anymore. For most, it's the end of a 40 hour workweek where they can shut off thoughts of their job and focus on enjoying their life. For those in the wedding industry, it can feel more like a Monday.

I'll be on call all weekend, but thankfully we've hired on-site managers to oversee the events at our venues. It wouldn't make sense for me to be coordinating with all these independent wedding planners myself. My business focus has always been on custom wedding gown design and the ready-to-wear dress floor of the shop. My preference is for the first, of course, which consumes much of my time. Our dress floor is well handled by the staff I've hired.

Regardless, this weekend's wedding venue client is an old colleague of my father's, so I'm set to do a venue walkthrough later this afternoon. I have to confirm their specifications for the venue set up have been met, that our previous flower vendor delivered correctly, etc. We were able to source a large part of their wedding through Carlisle Bridal, which has been a nice financial benefit to us. My parents will be attending the wedding tomorrow, so they'll know if anything's off. Our Pasadena Garden Estate was our first venue investment, so it's important to my dad to see some ROI.

Part of me wishes I'd never fooled around with that side of the business to begin with. It felt too far out of focus for my goals. Ever the investors, my parents deemed it a wise investment to elevate Carlisle Bridal to the next level. Maybe I should have chosen another name so they didn't feel theirs gave them claim to any of it.

A loud DING sounds from my laptop, startling me out of my thoughts. I slam the decrease volume button in retaliation - I could have sworn I'd had it on mute.

Sliding to the window with my email open, I scan for the intruding message. Friday afternoon, 12:01 on the dot.

From: Harry's Florals

Subject: Invoice - 7/8 Floral Delivery

Right, I forgot that I provided my own email address on the form. Now that I've decided to keep them around, I'll need to share Jonathan's email instead so he can tackle this.

With a quiet click I open the email to give it a quick look before sending it to our accountant. I don't recall ever asking their rates while I was there in such a rush. Tuesday feels like it was a month ago.

Total: $3

Huh? This invoice must be missing two zeros. Three hundred, right? Maybe $100 per bouquet since they were on such an insane rush. Not certain our accountant would be able to issue them a proper check if the written invoice only says $3.

Lovely, another Friday task for me to handle.

I quickly type the phone number listed on the invoice into my cell and hit call. Hopefully they can revise this and have it back before end of day. The phone rings obnoxiously for a few beats too long.

"Thank you for calling Harry's Florals, this is Harry, Sr. How can we brighten up your day?" an older man's voice chimes lightly through the phone speaker.

"Hi Harry, my name is Sophie Carlisle - I'm calling from Carlisle Bridal about an invoice we just received for a delivery made on Tuesday. It looks like the amount is a bit off." I do my best to keep my voice friendly, not frustrated. It is unclear how good a job I do of that.

"Hi Sophie! I'm sorry to hear that there's an issue with an invoice," he repeats the problem back to me. "Let me take a look at our system real quick. Can you confirm the spelling of Carlisle?"

I spell it out slowly, hearing the faint clacking of keyboard keys through the phone. There's a few mouse clicks as well before a deep sigh sounds through the call.