“I’m back. Let’s all meet up front.”
Her mother sent her a nervous glance and exited the room. Taking a deep breath, Kady followed, fisting her hands. She smoothed her facial expression to neutral and joined the others, determined to keep a level head no matter what happened.
Standing amid open folding chairs, her brother handed out wrapped sandwiches as she walked in. Three years older, he had blond hair like their mother, along with intelligent blue eyes.
“Hey, sis. How did the delivery go? The flowers were spectacular.”
“Fine.” Her suspicions doubled. Will being nice after he’d been dogging her this morning? “This bride was easy to work with. I didn’t expect any problems.”
“You remembered to set up a pick-up time to get the glass containers back, right?” her father asked. He handed out to-go cups of iced tea.
“Yes, Dad. I spoke to the manager myself.”
Kady delivered flowers to many functions at the Grand Cypress Hotel. She and the staff had developed a real camaraderie.
“It’s not like I’ve left anything behind on purpose.”
“There was a time when we had to keep tabs on you with the inventory and the van.”
Kady wanted to shout. Would her parents ever let go of the past?
“Everything is taken care of, Dad. No worries.”
“Good. Then we can get started.” He passed Kady her food, which she hadn’t had a say in. Will probably got her a tuna fish sandwich when she would have preferred turkey. She pulled back the paper, and sure enough, the fishy smell made her wrinkle her nose. With her stomach already roiling, she set it aside. Tuna probably wasn’t a wise choice right now.
Will bit into a pickle, chewed and took a sip of his tea. “Dad, would you like to start?”
Her father cleared his throat. Why was he so nervous?
“Kady, you know this shop has been in our family for generations.”
She nodded. Her grandparents originally opened The Lavish Lily. Past history.
“As much as your mother and I have loved working here, proud that our efforts supported the family and we made a name in the community...” He stopped. Sent a pleading look to her mother.
This was not good.
Her father took a deep breath. “We’ve decided to retire and sell the business.”
Silence descended upon the room. After a few seconds, Kady reminded herself to breathe. “What?” she finally spluttered.
Her mother reached over and covered Kady’s hand with hers. “We’re tired, Kady. It’s time for a change.”
She studied her parents, who were sitting side by side. They were in their late fifties, kind of young to retire, but they’d worked all her life with few vacations. She regarded them in that light now and noticed fine lines on her mother’s face and circles under her father’s eyes, his dark brown hair graying. Just as they’d admitted, they did indeed seem worn-out.
So many questions filled her head, Kady didn’t know where to start. “How long have you felt like this?”
“Six months,” her mother answered, as her father responded simultaneously, “A year.”
She sank back in her chair. “Wow.”
Will opened a notebook by his side. Probably filled with numbers to satisfy the logical part of his brain. “As the family financial adviser, I need to bring you up to speed.” He rattled off figures that made Kady’s eyes go wide. Over the years, her parents had invested and saved up a considerable amount of money. More than Kady’d ever imagined.
“If you have so much money, why sell the shop?”
Her parents exchanged glances.
“It’s time,” her mother answered.
“But you know about my goals. I’ve already started to make inroads into the wedding market. With that income, I can upgrade the shop. And the florist convention is next week. I’m entered in the wedding-bouquet design category and this year I can beat the competition.”
“We appreciate your dedication,” her father said. “But we don’t have the energy to rebuild the business.”
“I do,” she protested. “I thought you were on board with my ideas.”
“We are...were,” her mother said. “But lately we’ve been talking about going away, and, well—”
“You don’t trust me with the shop.”
Another abrupt silence sucked the air out of the room. She knew her parents had questioned her commitment ever since she’d started full-time, but in the past year, Kady thought she’d worked hard to erase these doubts. Apparently not.
“Kady,” her brother said quietly, “we’ve talked about this and decided to take a vote. It’s the fair thing to do.”
Years ago, the ownership of the shop had been divided four ways, each member of the family holding an equal share. Kady already knew which way her parents would vote and assumed Will was on their side.
“Why bother?”
“Now, Kady,” her mother admonished. “Don’t be like this.”
“Be like what? Shocked that you’ve been talking about a major family decision and didn’t think to include me? Heartbroken over the fact that I love this place and now you want to take it away? I thought you believed in my vision.” She glared at her brother. “I brought you projections and a business plan. You agreed it was solid. And now you want to yank that out from under me, too?”
“I never said—”
She held up a hand to stop her brother and then faced her parents. “You still see me as the girl who makes mistakes, even though I’ve proven the opposite. No messing up orders. No losing keys to the delivery van. My mind is focused.” She stopped for a breath. Her dreams were evaporating right before her eyes. “Let me buy the shop. I can apply for a loan, work extra hours—”
“Kady—”
“Please give me a chance.” She hated begging but what other choice did she have? She could start her own business elsewhere, maybe, but she loved The Lavish Lily.
Tears pricked the backs of her eyelids. No. This couldn’t be happening.
“Maybe we could sort something out,” her mother said, clearly troubled by her emotional reaction. “Mark?”
Her father was scrutinizing her. She could see the indecision in his eyes. For the first time since the meeting had started, Kady felt hope.
“You guys can go on a trip or travel in a motor home or whatever you want. I’ll be right here, making money.”
Her father’s brow rose. He always brightened at the prospect of making money. “Our plans aren’t carved in stone.”
Buoyed by his positive reaction, Kady threw caution to the wind. “How about this—if I win first place in the bridal bouquet competition this year, you give me a real chance to build up a wedding clientele. I’ll run the shop. You don’t have to be involved at all.”
She bit the inside of her cheek, waiting.
“Kady, you’ve come in second place for three years now,” her mother responded. “What makes you think you’ll win this time?”
“I’ve been practicing all year.” And she had. She was tired of losing. She’d studied trends and questioned