Moving On (Rolling Thunder #7) - P.J. Fiala Page 0,57

Gunnar and Ryder are less than thrilled, but to make the girls happy, they'll allow it. This is your chance, Lu, to make up for some of the trouble you caused."

Tears streamed down her face. She knew she'd caused them trouble much more than trouble. Everyone knew it. But to hear it come from Chase's mouth, like this, in their defense. Well, it hurt.

She took a breath and cleared her throat. "I won't be able to go to Colorado with you."

"I'll postpone until after the wedding."

She took another large breath and let it out slowly. "Can they come to Forget Me Nots today to go over what they want?"

"I'll check. Thanks, Lu, I'm happy you'll have this chance to ease some tensions."

"Okay. See if they can come in today to allow us time to get the flowers here from my wholesaler."

"Okay."

He hung up and her hands shook. It felt like everything was riding on this. Her whole future. How they'd perceive her in years to come. How she’d perceived herself. But mostly, it felt like her relationship with Chase was riding on this more than anything.

***

Putting the last of their new shipment into the cooler, LuAnn sighed. It had been a hellacious day. The fire in town had swamped them with new orders. Luckily they had a shipment that had been delivered an hour ago and that would get them through a couple of days. Jan had called their supplier and doubled an order to get them through the funerals and weddings scheduled for the weekend and into next week.

"LuAnn?" She jumped and turned to see Jan standing in the cooler doorway.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you."

"It's alright. Your brides are here."

"Thank you, Jan. I'll just wash my hands and be right up."

Walking to the sink in the back of the storeroom, she washed as much of the dirt and green stains from her hands as possible. Drying them on a paper towel, she walked to the front of the store to see Molly and Emma standing at the counter looking as nervous as she felt.

"Hi. I guess I should formerly introduce myself. I’m LuAnn Mason."

She held her hand out and first the blond woman extended her hand. "I'm Emma Drake. Fiancé to Gunnar."

"Nice to meet you, Emma."

The dark-haired woman then reached out her hand to shake and said, "I'm Molly Bates, marrying Ryder."

"Nice to meet you. I'll say this, you Sheppards are an amazing looking family. Your wedding pictures are going to be outstanding."

The women giggled nervously but LuAnn continued quickly.

"Why don't we sit down and discuss what you're looking for and see what I'm able to procure for you so we can come up with a plan."

She led them to the office area where they met with clients who needed a bit of privacy.

"Let's start by telling me what you had ordered previously, and I'll see how closely we can recreate it."

She listened to Molly and Emma chatting about the flowers and their dreams of their wedding. The plethora of planning that had gone into it and changing it a couple of times for the birth of a baby and a trial, she felt for these gals. Though thoughts of a wedding had never been something LuAnn had dreamed of, except in her demented state when she'd thought one day she'd be married to Jeremiah, she'd not thought past the present in years.

"Okay. So, I can get some of these." She flipped a page in the catalogue and pointed to another variety of rose. "I can get these in silver and red. I'll fill in with the spider mums, greens and ivy. Anything else?"

Emma broke down in tears one more time and Molly rubbed her back. "Hey Em, it's all good. This is it. We loved her flowers at the farmers market and were a tiny bit sad that we'd already ordered our flowers. Now, we're getting something totally unique and it's going to be fabulous."

Emma swiped under her eyes. "I know. These are tears of joy. And relief."

LuAnn smiled at both of them. "I'm sorry you've been so stressed, but I've got this. I'll call you when the flowers get here tomorrow and if you want to come and see them, you're welcome to do that. By Saturday, they'll be ready. I can get them to you wherever you'd like them."

Her stomach twisted when Molly and Emma looked at each other. Emma opened her mouth then closed it.

Trying again she softly said, "I don't know what to