Opposites Attract - Jessica Prince Page 0,4

bouquet, so she’s sending the groom,” my manager Toni called as I pushed through the door of Flora, precariously balancing my herbal tea in one hand and trying my best not to step on Slim Shady as he twisted himself around my feet.

I suppressed my eye roll as I answered, “Got it.” Dealing with grooms was probably my least favorite part of my job. They only came in two categories, the uninterested and the overly-involved. Both were pains in the ass to deal with. My eyes were on the dog that had managed to all but tie my ankles together with his leash. “Shady, no.” I scolded pointlessly. “Shady, stop. Sit.”

He did not stop nor sit. I was stuck in place until Toni took pity on me and came to release me from my poorly-behaved puppy’s clutches.

“So I take it obedience classes were a bust?” she asked, the corner of her mouth hooking up in a grin, causing the ring in her bottom lip to glint as the light hit it. That was one of the things I loved about Toni, on the outside she was all tattoos and piercings and short, spikey purple hair — well, at least purple this week. Her go-to expression was something I liked to refer to as, bitch, did I say you could talk to me? But on the inside, she was a total softy. She was like family to me, and she was the hardest worker I’d ever employed.

“Are you kidding?” I took a sip of my tea and moved to stow my bag behind the counter once freed from the leash. “He was kicked out for pooping in the instructor’s hand bag.”

Toni bit down on her bottom lip, trying to keep from laughing. “Did Devon feed him cheese again?”

I sighed and took a sip of my tea, hoping it would help center me. “No. He just didn’t like her. Not that I could blame him. She accused him of sexually harassing a dachshund that was in the class.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “So, doggy sexual harassment. That’s a thing now?”

“Beats the hell out of me. Besides, it was her own fault for leaving her bag on the floor in the first place. It was an obedience class for God’s sake. It’s not like we were there because our pets were well-behaved.”

“Ah,” she cooed, lifting Slim Shady up to eye level. “She just didn’t get you like we do, huh? No she didn’t.” In return for her affection, Shady licked her face.

“If you need me, I’ll be in the back working on the orders that have come in. Holler if anything comes up.”

“You got it, boss,” she called after I’d scooped my dog up and headed toward the rear of the shop. I put him in the little doggy bed I’d set up in the corner, tossed him his favorite plush toy to chew on, and popped my earbuds in, cranking the music up as I got to work.

I pulled in a deep breath, letting the floral fragrances wash over me and smiled.

Today was going to be a good day.

I WAS EXHAUSTED, AND the headache that had been plaguing me since my neighbor woke me up blasting that god-awful Eminem song didn’t seem to want to go away. I’d been in my apartment for a week, and already, I wanted to kill the woman who I shared a wall with. I hadn’t known it was possible to despise someone you hadn’t actually seen, but after only seven days, 3B had managed to pull it off.

I couldn’t stand the woman!

Being woken up at sunrise by a song I couldn’t stand when it was actually popular did nothing but throw gasoline on the bonfire of the bad mood I’d been sporting for the past few months. My assistant had taken to running for the bathroom whenever she saw me coming and buzzing me on the intercom when she had a question, instead of risking my wrath and actually coming to me in person. I’d lost count of how many people’s heads I’d bitten off at the office.

I stepped of the elevator and onto my floor. The key jingled in my hand as I lifted it and unlocked the front door. Heading to the new kitchen, I did my best to ignore the still unpacked boxes that cluttered my space and pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge, sucking down half of it in a few gulps. The eight mile run I’d just put my