As the owner of a successful florist shop, Khloe Harper trusts her instincts. She has a strong bond with her family and friends, but after being betrayed by her last love, she’s kept herself at arms’ length from romance. When dashing entertainment attorney Derek Thomas walks into her store, Khloe’s interest is piqued. What at first seems like a business relationship quickly turns into romance, and Derek slowly plucks away the petals she’s been hiding behind. Just as Khloe lets down her guard, she discovers that Derek may not be worthy of her love after all.
Frumpy Connie Albright has a faux fascination with an imaginary man named Walt, thinking that by sending herself flowers from him she’ll feel less out-of-place with the “mean girls” she works with. When she comes face to face with her possible prince charming and thinking she might have a happy ending, when a truth is revealed, she wonders if she’ll ever have a Cinderella story.
A recently widowed senior, Gabby Lewis, isn’t ready to give up on love—which means releasing herself from survivor’s guilt and taking a chance on finding happiness and companionship again. After signing up for an online dating site for senior citizens, much to her surprise, she’s matched with Harry, an energetic and loving man, who quickly eases himself into her heart. Will Gabby take the leap of falling in love again, knowing it’s possible to have two loves of her life?
As each woman’s story develops through flowers and cards sent from Khloe’s shop during the Fall months, they begin to learn that love can only truly blossom when you trust your heart.
Connie Albright
Connie
typed anxiously on her keyboard, looking up from her cubicle every few seconds,
waiting for Sharon from Khloe’s Flower Shop to come through the glass entryway
doors. She had checked her email first thing that morning, and like always,
once a week, there was a confirmation about her order.
Dear
Connie Albright,
Your
order to CONNIE ALBRIGHT has been created by one of our team members and is on
its way to the recipient.
If
you have any questions, comments, or complaints, please call Khloe Harper at 1-800-555-1212.
As
always, I wish you a bouquet of happiness! Khloe Harper
Owner of Khloe’s Flower Shop
With
a sigh, Connie looked back down at her keyboard and continued entering
patients’ data into the Excel spreadsheet. Six years ago, to pay for her college
education, she had started the medical data entry job, where she found mundane
tasks enjoyable, and had been looking forward to making new friends. However,
these days, she was now a college graduate with a degree in marketing who hated
her job, finding it boring and repetitive, nor had she made friends with any of
her co-workers. In fact, they barely noticed her.
Compared
to the thin, sexy bombshells she worked with, Connie wasn’t anyone to be
desired. She was tall, frumpy, wore glasses, and, thanks to a conversation she
overheard, was known in the office as “the ugly girl who wore tacky sweaters.”
With the exception of a few that her grandmother had sent her for her birthday,
having crocheted each one, Connie didn’t think the sweaters were tacky.
So,
after hearing enough of what was being said behind her back, and after
complaining to her best friend—her diary—she came up with an idea to change
things, and, so far, it seemed to have worked like magic.
“Connie!”
Mia, the office receptionist, squealed. “They’re here!”
With
a slight pause to get ready for the weekly act she performed, Connie popped up
from her chair and watched Sharon approach. After signing her name to the page
on the clipboard, she gave Sharon, the only other person besides Khloe who knew
her secret, a quick nod.
Suddenly,
Connie found herself in the center of a circle of women hovering over her desk,
eagerly waiting for her to read the card that came with the bouquet.
“Well,
what does it say?” asked a co-worker.
“Yeah, come on. Tell us,”
begged another.
She took in the moment, wishing she had a real man
who would say the things she had written to herself. “Your beauty captures me
more each day, and my love for you grows each time I touch you. I’m looking
forward to this weekend...in bed! Walt.”
Holding
the card close to her chest, Connie forced tears from her eyes, forcing herself
to blush in front of her co-workers. “Oh, I love that man so very much.”
“Seriously,
that has to be the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard,” Mia said, dramatizing
her voice and placing her hands on her chest. “Oh, Connie, you’re so lucky to
have a man like him.”
“Yeah,
Con, that’s cute,” began Nicola, the bitchiest of them all. “But the last time
I got flowers, just yesterday as a matter of fact, they certainly weren’t
carnations,” she joked, motioning her hand like she was shooing the flowers
away from her. All the co-workers joined in her laughter, and then shuffled
back to their desks.
Connie
looked at her flowers and smiled, her feathers not ruffled by Nicola’s comment.
She felt accomplished and desired. For a few moments, she’d been the center of
attention of a group of women who she knew despised her. Even back in high
school, she had been a female nerd, which crossed her out from being friends with
the beautiful and popular girls, and in college it was pretty much the same
story. It’s not that she didn’t try to make an effort, because she did, but
after failing time and time again, whether it be at orientation, working
together in groups for school projects, or the few times Connie went to a pub
near the university in hopes of meeting up with a few girls who she thought she
could be friends with, it never worked. They either laughed in her face, said
that the empty seat next to them was already taken (when it really wasn’t), or
simply ignored her.
Though
it was beginning to get expensive and difficult to keep the lies about Walt
straight, Connie had no other choice but to continue the weekly charade.
It’s
just the right thing to do!, she told herself, taking a seat in her chair before continuing
to enter the endless data, while thinking of what Walt’s card would say the
following week.
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