Chapter One
Ivy
“If he makes your heart race, he’s a keeper.” Ivy, 9th grade
The door chime pulled me from my computer screen, and I looked up to see Johnny Cope walk through the door holding an enormous floral arrangement that nearly took my breath away. He was a local high school student who worked part-time for Violet’s Floral Shop. Kathleen greeted him and my eyes pulled back to the arrangement. Pink peonies and white hydrangeas filled out the oversized vase. My two favorite flowers. Very few people knew this, and I certainly didn’t share pertinent details such as my favorite blooms on my dating app.
No. A man needed to get to know me before I shared the way to my heart.
Like I said, very few knew my favorite flowers. Or my favorite colors. Foods. Dreams.
I digress.
I could see Johnny holding on to the flowers with a death grip when Kathleen tried to take them from him. She looked flustered, but I waved at her through the floor-to-ceiling glass doors that I’d had installed in my office space, allowing me a clear line of view to the front desk and all that was going on.
I pushed to my feet and opened the door.
“Hi, Johnny,” I said as I greeted him, and Kathleen hovered behind him.
“Ivy Baron,” he purred. The boy was a shameless flirt, and I had zero doubts once he grew out of his awkward teenage years, he’d become quite the ladies’ man. His blond disheveled hair fell over his eyes and it took all I had not to giggle at the way he puffed up his chest. “I wasn’t about to leave before I got to see your beautiful face.”
“He made that very clear,” Kathleen harrumphed with irritation.
The woman ran this office like a fine-tuned machine. She was the reason that I was able to continue growing The Wedding Bells at the rate that I had.
Surround yourself with good people.
Those words were ingrained in my head by my parents from a young age. I grew up in a house where manifesting your dreams was always encouraged.
Kathleen was the first employee I’d hired, and she was my secret weapon because the woman could do it all.
“That’s not a problem. I appreciate it, Johnny. You’re on summer break right now, aren’t you?” I asked, as I stepped back and motioned for him to set the arrangement on my desk.
After he set the gorgeous blooms down, he turned to face me, giving his head a brisk shake, which allowed his surfer boy hair to swoop away from his dazzling baby blues as he raised a brow and licked his lips slowly. It appeared very intentional, like it was his go-to move with the high school girls. I used my hand to cover my mouth and feign a cough so as not to giggle at his attempt at being sexy.
He was adorable. And I was quite certain all the girls his age probably swooned over him. But as a twenty-three-year-old woman who made dating her second profession—I certainly wasn’t looking to date a high school student.
I knew what I wanted, and I was determined to find it.
“Well, you know I’ll be a senior this upcoming year. Just enjoying my final summer off before starting school in the fall. I’ll be in college before you know it.”
I nodded. “That’s amazing. Well, thank you so much for bringing these over.”
“I wonder who sent them?” Kathleen asked as her gaze honed in on the card begging to be opened.
“Ty Greene sent them,” Johnny said as he eyed me suspiciously.
My stomach dropped at the mention of his name.
My knees went weak.
And my palms started sweating.
Was this happening or was I reciting the lyrics to my favorite Eminem song?
Nope. My heart was racing now too.
Damn you, Ty Greene.
Isn’t there some kind of rule about florist/client confidentiality? Did I need everyone in town knowing that my ex-boyfriend had sent me flowers?
Kathleen gasped. “Oh my. You didn’t tell me you were speaking to him again.”
I wasn’t. I owned the local wedding planning business in Willow Springs and was currently planning the wedding of Talia Greene, the sister of my ex-boyfriend, current nemesis, and the man who haunted all my sexy dreams.
I hated him. He’d ruined me in ways I’d never admit to anyone outside of my four best friends, Maura, Addy, Gigi, and Coco… also known as the Magic Willows.
My girls.
My confidants.
“I’m most definitely not speaking to him. It’s an olive branch of sorts, seeing as I’m planning his sister’s wedding.” I shrugged.
“Oh man. Everyone in town is getting ready for his arrival. My mama said some of the big city paps flew in last night.” Johnny leaned against my desk and crossed his arms over his chest, and if I wasn’t mistaken, it looked like he was trying hard to flex his biceps as he watched me intently.
“Paps? Is that some kind of fancy gynecologist?” Kathleen asked.
Johnny barked out a laugh. “Good lord, woman. No. Paparazzi. They follow all the big stars.”
I rolled my eyes. Yes. Ty Greene also happened to be Nashville’s biggest country star, and he recently won a Country Music Award.
The bastard.
“Whatever. This is Willow Springs, not Nashville. He’s not that big of a deal here.” It was my lame attempt to act like I hadn’t been completely on edge every day this week, as it’s all everyone in town was talking about.
Ty had left Willow Springs shortly after we graduated high school. We were both going to attend college at the same university in Texas. We had plans for our future.
And then everything changed.
Ty’s father cheated on his mother with a much younger woman. To make matters worse, she’d been nine months pregnant with his child when news broke, and it was all anyone in town was talking about.
So, Ty had up and moved. With no notice.
He’d jumped ship.
Aborted mission.
Got the hell out of Dodge.
And he’d left me brokenhearted without so much as a second glance.
Like I said… he was enemy number one.
My fingers itched to reach for the card sitting front and center in the midst of the gorgeous arrangement that was calling to me.
Open. Open. Open.
I certainly couldn’t let them see my desperation.
“All right, well, thanks for dropping off the flowers. Tell Violet that they’re gorgeous. I need to get back to work.” I moved toward the door to give them both the hint.
“When are you going to let a real man take you out, Ivy?” Johnny asked as he paused in front of me, and Kathleen barked out an odd-sounding laugh.