During the lull, Seth worked alongside him, helping him to rehang more glass shelves.
“What made you decide to work in flowers?” Seth asked.
“I’ve always liked them. Their delicacy and strength, the scents and different colors. I like how different colors and flowers have different meanings.”
“I know roses are ‘I love you,’ but what are some of the others?”
“Red roses are ‘I love you.’ White means innocence or a fresh start. Pink is gentleness or grace. Yellow is friendship or jealousy. Orange is desire.”
“Wow, I had no idea.” Seth turned and stroked the petal of an orange lily. “What about these? They were my mom’s favorite.”
“Confidence, pride, or wealth. Sometimes passionate love.”
“That fit her. She was certainly full of confidence.”
Liam noticed the past tense. “You lost her?”
“A long time ago, when I was a kid. My father never got over her loss and began devoting himself to his training center.”
“What kind of training center is it?”
“Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I’m third generation when it comes to the martial art. My grandfather started it. He still goes in at times and shows them what an old man in shape can do.” He winked. “He can take someone down without much effort.”
“You mentioned when we met that you plan to teach.”
A grin spread across Seth’s lips, and Liam could feel his cheeks heat. Yes, he still remembered everything about their one night together. He might even take those memories out and replay them over in his head when the stress of his current circumstances got to be too much.
“I plan to take over the gym someday,” Seth murmured. “My father is still going strong and nowhere near ready to retire.”
“What made you take a job at Ward Security?”
“It gives me a chance to use all the things I’ve learned in a practical setting, and I get to help people. Plus, I wanted to travel.” He handed Liam a vase once the shelves were set. “I’ll move back to Connecticut at some point and join my father.”
Liam grunted. “Just have to get the wanderlust out of your system first?”
He remembered what that was like. He’d suffered from the same restlessness when he’d been in his twenties and fresh out of college. The world had beckoned, and Liam followed its call. But after a few years, he discovered he was much happier sticking close to his family.
“Pretty much. I enjoy dropping everything to take off somewhere. I’ve seen a lot of the world in the few years I’ve been with Ward.”
“Must make dating complicated.”
Seth shrugged. “Not really interested in dating. I prefer hookups. It’s…easier. Less complicated. As you well know.”
“That I do.” Liam paused when he took the next vase. “Trust me, I’m burned out on relationships for quite a while.”
Seth eyed him. “Survive a bad one?”
“Just barely. It’s not something I want to talk about, but yeah, it was bad.”
Seth might be young like Ford had been, but they were like night and day. Seth had independence written all over him, and he knew what he wanted—had his life all planned out.
In his way, Ford had known what he wanted and that was to do absolutely nothing but play video games. The games themselves hadn’t bothered Liam. Hell, he enjoyed them himself. But Ford hadn’t wanted to do anything else. He just expected to be treated like a prince, hadn’t even wanted to cut up his own meat.
How was Ford doing in his new relationship? Was he getting everything he needed with the man who had been even older than Liam?
Liam had seen them together once. The new guy had obviously been in his fifties with a full head of gray hair.
But they’d looked happy together.
It hadn’t hurt nearly as much as Liam had expected it to. There had been a pang for what he’d had in the beginning with Ford, and that had been it. A low simmering heat still lingered in his gut over the whole experience.
A customer entered the shop, and Liam moved to help him as Seth finished setting up the vases.
“Wow,” the man said as he stood looking around. He wore a well-pressed, expensive business suit. “You’ve sold a lot since I was in here a week ago.”
Liam held his tongue. No reason to correct his assumption. “I’ll have all these shelves and tables restocked within a day or so if there was something you were looking for that’s not yet here.”
“I’m just after some red roses. You got those in stock?”
“Sure do. How many?”
“A dozen. And I’d like one of those vases he’s putting up on the shelves over there. The one on the end. Can I have the vase gift-wrapped?”
“Of course.”
Seth got it down for him, and Liam went into the back to take care of the vase. He had a section set aside especially for gift-wrapping. He chose a shiny, dark-red paper; it would match the roses he’d put in another pretty box since the customer didn’t want an arrangement made.
Silver ribbon finished the whole thing off, and he admired his handiwork. It had taken him awhile to learn to wrap professionally.
Carrying the box out to the front, he rang the man up and thanked him for his business.
“No, thank you. It’s nice having this shop here. Close to work and my wife loves flowers. You’ll be seeing me often.”
“Wonderful! We’ll have more in stock soon.”
“Good to see the business thriving. You’ll stick around, then.”
Two more customers came in as the first was leaving, keeping Liam busy for a time. The new people were after corsages. Thank God he’d finished so many prior to the attack. These two stared at him a lot more than the other had—probably thought he was some kind of fighter florist. He nearly snorted at his own musings.
Once they left, things were quiet again. Music would have been nice. But he’d have to wait until he was a little more flush before putting in a sound system.
With the new stock of vases on the shelves and the shop empty, Liam and Seth returned to the storeroom. Liam still had a stack of orders for floral arrangements, and Seth was moving the heavier bags of soil around, so they’d be within easy reach. They fell into a surprisingly comfortable rhythm. Something Liam had always imagined he’d find with Gerald eventually. “Any thoughts on where your friend might have gone?”
“No. He’s supposed to be running this place with me. Pretty obvious why he’s missing.”
“Not much of a friend to put you into this position.”
Liam stared at the bunch of daisies in his hands, their sunny yellow faces and bright white petals smiling up at him. He stroked his thumb down their slender stems. “I suppose not. It just doesn’t seem like something he’d do.”
“How long have you known him?” Seth stood next to Liam, leaning his hip against the table with his arms folded across his chest. Yeah, not distracting in the least.
“A few years,” Liam mumbled with a shrug. “We met at a floral convention and hit it off. At first I thought he was hitting on me, but he’s straight. We became good friends, and he never gave me any indication he’d do this.”