Sunset in a small town

Chapter 5

I walk into the back florist entrance just after 8:30. I can hear my sister and Kiera working away in the kitchen on the bakery side of the shop. 

“I’m back, lunch is ordered” I announce to the staff a.k.a. my family.

My mom waves at me from the computer/register on the florist side of the shop indicating that she is on the phone and has a question about an order.

“Hold on just one moment sir let me let you speak to the designer. Please hold.” She says looking at me motioning for me to move to the computer and phone toward the back of the shop.  

“Existing order? Or new?” I ask.

“New.” My mother replies. “I haven’t started entering it, so you can just take it back there.”

“Okay, transfer it.” I say. 

The phone rings just for a second as I put on my headset then hit the answer button.

“Hello, this is Dot the designer at Posies and Pastries, how may I help you today?” I answer in a very professional tone.

“I want to send flowers to my sister for her birthday, she lives there in Boulder Springs.” The voice on the other side says “But I literally don’t know anything about flowers.” 

“That is quite alright sir, I would be happy to offer suggestions. Did you have any ideas? Or know what her favorite flower or color is?” 

“Well I know she likes roses, but that’s not like what you send your sister, right?? Her favorite color is purple. I looked at your website, but I don’t really want it to look like something anyone can buy, I want it more, like, customized, ya know.” He says. 

“Not a problem sir, so you are right, you probably don’t want to send you sister a dozen roses, however I can include some light purple roses in an arrangement. I can mix in some other shades of purple with other flowers. Does that sound alright?” 

“Yeah that sounds great.” He says, a little relieved.

“How much are you looking to spend, total today?” I ask. 

“Well she’s turning the big 3-0 today so let’s make it nice. Will $75 make a nice arrangement and cover delivery?”

“Absolutely,  we should be able to add several roses and make it a nice large arrangement.”
 
I finish up the order getting customer information and information on delivery and payment. 

“Alright sir! I will get that put into our system and have it ready for our delivery driver when he gets here.” I say finishing the call.

“Thank you so much, my wife did not think I’d be able to get a same day delivery in such a small town. “ He says.

“Well I try to be as accommodating as I can! You have to be in a small town.” I say. “You will get an automatic text from our system with a photograph of the arrangement once it has been delivered. Thank you for calling Posies and Pastries, have a wonderful day and a fantastic holiday weekend.”  

I press the end button on my headset then head through the doorway that connects the floral workshop to the bakery kitchen to see what Sherry Lynn and Kiera are up to. 

“Sherry Lynn! How is Erik?” I ask as I approach my sister.

“Much better, honestly I think he made himself sick on too much sugar, he just loves those popsicles.  His vomit was all sorts of rainbow.” She replies with a laugh. 

“Okay, gross” I say with a disgusted look on my face. “I’m happy he’s feeling better, I’d hate for him to miss the big 4th of July bash.”

“So I heard you were feeding my husband’s cookie addiction this morning.” She says as she adds various ingredients to her large mixing bowl. 

“Well, when the sheriff personally pays you a visit to ask you for cookies, how do you say no?” I say with a sarcastic smile. 

“I do it every day, you get used to it.” She laughs back at me as I head back through the doorway to the florist side of the building.

I head to the printer and grab the order I just took then walk to my design counter. Now I’m in my element. I quickly design a beautiful mix of purples and whites to fill this order.  As I am adding the tag to it I realize who it’s for. 

“Did y’all know today is Joy’s birthday?” I question my family. 
“No, I didn’t, we should send her some sweets.” Sherry Lynn yells back to me. 

“I agree! Especially since she’s done such a great job with summer camp this year she deserves some sweets on her birthday!” I say. “Roy has to go there anyway for this order, we can send a box of cookies too from us.” 

“I’ll wrap them up.” Kiera says. 

“I love that we are all on the same page! I honestly couldn’t imagine running a business with anyone else.” I say with a huge smile. “I have some paperwork that needs to be done, so I’ll be up in the office, grab me when Roy gets here. Also Zack is coming in to work today, so add anything he could do to the board. Thank you ladies!” With that I head up the stairs to tackle the paperwork.