Chance to Bloom Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue Part 1

  Epilogue Part 2

  Chance to Bloom

  Dillon Hunter

  Chance to Bloom © Dillon Hunter 2017

  Edited by Elizabeth Peters

  Cover design by Resplendent Media

  All rights reserved. No part of this story may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the copyright holder, except in the case of brief quotations embodied within critical reviews and articles.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  The author has asserted his/her rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book.

  This book contains sexually explicit content which is suitable only for mature readers.

  Chance to Bloom is set in Bridgewater, Georgia, and as such uses American English throughout.

  To Aubrey, for everything you do, every single day.

  Thank you.

  YTB

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue Part 1

  Epilogue Part 2

  Thank you

  More from Dillon Hunter

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Ethan

  “Not bad,” Ethan said out loud, taking a step back to admire his handiwork. “Not bad at all.”

  The bouquet of tulips in front of him might not have seemed like much, but it was colorful and vibrant, and he couldn’t help but smile as he looked at it. He’d carefully chosen every bloom, and each one was perfect—but all in different ways. Some were still tightly closed, just waiting for the right amount of light and nourishment that would give them the chance to open up and become little works of art. Others were fully in bloom, bright red and soft pink and sunny yellow, each color distinct and unique, but somehow still able to blend together beautifully. And then there were a few that were somewhere in between those two stages—not quite new buds but still hinting at the promise of what they would become.

  All together, the effect was beautiful and mesmerizing, and Ethan could’ve happily let himself get lost in the moment admiring it. That feeling—that giddy rush he always felt whenever he’d completed a bouquet—whenever he’d brought the vision in his mind’s eye to life—was something that would never get old, no matter how many times he’d experienced it over the years.

  It was a feeling that was hard to describe and even more difficult to replicate, and in a job that didn’t have a lot of monetary perks, it was its own kind of bonus.

  Ethan looked up as the bell above the door jingled, still smiling from his little creative high. That was another benefit to working customer service in a flower shop—even on demanding days, it was hard to be in a bad mood when he was surrounded by so much beauty. And even with the more… difficult customers, Ethan liked to think of it as a personal challenge to find an arrangement that was just right for their personality and specific event.

  No matter what a person was going through—a birth, a graduation, a wedding, a death—flowers were there, providing hope and comfort and the promise of a new day. As far as Ethan was concerned, the least he could do was spend the time to get it right.

  It wasn’t a customer at the door this time, though, and Ethan’s smile widened when he recognized his friend and coworker, Frankie, back from his afternoon deliveries.

  “Looks like we made it through another day,” Frankie said, grinning as he plopped down onto the wobbly three-legged stool behind the counter. “Mrs. Linley said that arrangement of Shasta daisies with the Echinacea you did was the prettiest thing she’s seen in a long time.”

  “That’s high praise coming from Mrs. Linley.” Ethan gave a wry smile as he recalled her constructive criticism of his first few arrangements. He’d come a long way in the six years since then, but she still kept him on his toes. He was pretty sure she enjoyed offering her opinion on the completed arrangement at least as much as she liked the actual flowers.

  Probably more, if he was being honest.

  Frankie shrugged and popped a piece of candy into his mouth. “She was even more talkative than normal this time. Asked how we’d been holding up for the past few weeks.”

  Ethan’s eyes tracked to the small dish of candy—old people candy, as Frankie liked to call it—and thought of Gary. Having the candy on hand was one of the little things that Gary had always insisted on. The man had had a sweet tooth that was almost never satisfied, and he’d enjoyed sharing with whoever came through the door.

  Ethan wasn’t sure what he would do when the candy was gone—he wasn’t even sure where Gary had bought the little chewy squares with their orange and black wrappers—but he couldn’t imagine not having it on the counter anymore.

  It wasn’t Ethan’s decision to make, though. That was just one of the many details that would ultimately be up to Gary’s son once he finally showed up and took over. Until then, Ethan saw it as his responsibility to keep things running smoothly, to treat everything as if Gary had just stepped out to run some errands and might return any minute.

  And if that thought gave Ethan a little extra comfort in the days and weeks that had passed since Gary’s death, that wasn’t so bad, was it? These days, he would take whatever small amount of comfort life threw his way.

  He cast a quick look back at the newly-arranged bouquet of tulips, still sitting on the work table like a beacon of happiness. It might just be another little bit of comfort to get him through the afternoon, but it had still fulfilled its purpose, still had put a smile on his face.

  “What did you tell Mrs. Linley?” Ethan asked finally, pushing the candy dish out of the way with A Look as Frankie reached for another piece. “Let’s maybe save some for the customers, hm?”

  Frankie shrugged and hopped off the stool, quickly swiping at his cheeks as he turned away, but not before Ethan noticed that Frankie’s eyes had grown suspiciously bright with emotion. “I told her the same thing we tell everyone. But God… it’s so hard sometimes, you know?” Without waiting for an answer, he exhaled heavily and recited the all-too-familiar line. “I just said we were doing our best to run the place the way Gary would have wanted, and that we appreciate the support of long-time customers like her.”

  “That’s all we can say, really. And we have to keep showing every customer we have that we still do the best work in town, that we still care about the things that are important in their lives. The last thing we need is to lose business to Simply Flowers across town because people th
ink it’ll be different here, now that Gary’s gone.” Ethan took a deep breath, trying to contain the sudden burst of anxiety he’d felt. It wouldn’t do any good to voice his fears about the business at this point. And besides, Frankie already knew them all. “It is hard, though. I get that.”

  Ethan shook his head as he walked over to the door, flipping the faded little sign from Open to Closed. “I just hope people are willing to cut us some slack if things aren’t exactly the same. I hope everyone in town—especially our long-time customers like Mrs. Linley—realize we’re doing the best we can under the circumstances. Anyway,” Ethan sighed, doing his best to push those thoughts aside. He had to stay focused, not only for his own peace of mind, but for the sake of the business. “Enough about that. We’ve still got some work to do. Will you check the computer for tomorrow’s orders while I count down the register, please? Let’s get a heads-up on what the morning will have in store for us.”

  Ethan slid the cash drawer out of the cash register and started walking it to the still-too-cluttered, still-too-cramped office. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to reorganize it yet, even though he’d been threatening to for years. The clutter still felt way too much like Gary.

  “Aw, you sounded just like him when you said that. I miss all those little things he used to say.” Frankie said with a grin, then his brow furrowed as he let out a little sigh. “When does it start to get easier?”

  Ethan could only shrug and blink hard to hold back the tears that suddenly started to well up at Frankie’s question. He knew exactly what Frankie meant, though. There were a million little moments every day when he’d hear something—or say something, or do something—that reminded him of Gary. Or the feeling he would get sometimes of someone looking over his shoulder, even though Ethan was usually the only one in the shop.

  Under any other circumstances, it might have been a little spooky. But now? Those were the tiny bits of comfort that Ethan could cling to, the little things that helped get him through the day.

  It wasn’t all in his mind, though. Ethan had no doubt that Gary was still watching over everything somehow, that this was Ethan’s chance to shine, to prove to Gary—and to himself—that he could keep the business running.

  And not just running.

  Growing. Prospering. Thriving.

  The flower shop had been Gary’s baby, and even though Ethan had come to terms with the fact that Gary really was gone, and he didn’t necessarily believe in ghosts, there still seemed to be a part of Gary—his soul, or his essence, or something—that was still very much alive and well in that shop.

  It was a feeling that Ethan hoped would last forever, no matter what changes Gary’s son, Jack, decided to make with the place once he finally arrived.

  Even though Ethan had never formally met Jack, he’d always had a little pang of envy when he thought of Gary’s only son. Gary never had talked much about him—or about anything else that happened outside the flower shop, really—but when he had, the pride in his eyes and emotion in his voice had always been apparent.

  It was easy for Ethan to imagine how nice it must have been for someone growing up with such an attentive father.

  Sure, Gary had been gruff and demanding, meticulous and sometimes difficult to please, but those qualities had always pushed Ethan to do better, to be better. And they had made the rare praise Gary would bestow so much more rewarding. Gary hadn’t given awards just for showing up. Ethan had had to earn every ounce of respect Gary had ever given him, but he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

  Working for Gary had made Ethan a stronger person and a better man than he’d been before, and Ethan didn’t doubt that it was mostly due to the fact that Gary had been not only more of a father to him than his biological dad had ever been, but also a better one.

  At least Gary had been present. That was a lot more than could be said for Ethan’s real father.

  “Ethan?”

  Frankie’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. He’d followed Ethan back to the office and was leaning against the open doorway, and Ethan blinked hard to keep the tears he could feel welling up from actually spilling over.

  “I don’t know, Frankie. I’m sure it will get easier… sometime. But I don’t know when. I wish I did.”

  “Have you at least heard anything from Bill about when Jake might be coming to take over?”

  “Jack, not Jake,” Ethan corrected him. “You should probably learn the guy’s name, since he’s going to be our boss soon.”

  Ethan thought back over his recent meeting with Bill, Gary’s long-time accountant and the man who also happened to be the executor of his will, but couldn’t think of anything he’d said that might have indicated when the status quo might be changing.

  “But no,” he continued, answering Frankie. “I haven’t heard when Jack might get here. Bill came in last week to go over some paperwork, but he didn’t mention anything.”

  Jack was still in the military, and wouldn’t be back to take care of his inheritance until his enlistment was over—and all that Bill had been able to say was that it would probably be sometime soon. Until then, Ethan was the de facto manager, and Frankie’s position was basically the same as it had always been, just with a few extra duties to help Ethan get by. If Jack wanted to change things when he came on board, that would be his prerogative. Otherwise, it was Ethan’s job to make sure things kept chugging along just the way they had been for years.

  Frankie frowned. “I wish we knew when he’d get here. I hate not knowing. I can’t even remember what he looks like from the funeral.”

  If Ethan was being honest, he couldn’t remember, either. That day—that entire week, actually—had been a complete blur, and not just because Ethan had cried more during that time than he had in the rest of his twenty-six years combined. And while he’d seen Jack in passing at the funeral and briefly paid his respects, focusing on his future boss had literally been the last thing on his mind.

  “Well, I don’t know how all that military stuff works, or how long it’ll take Jack to get here, but what I do know is that we can’t stress about things that we don’t have any control over. All that we can do is to keep our heads down and do the jobs we were hired to do. I think it’s what Gary would’ve wanted.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right.” Frankie’s tone and expression told Ethan that he wasn’t too sure, though.

  And Ethan wasn’t so sure, either, but it’s what he’d told himself every day since the heart attack that had taken Gary so unexpectedly. They could only worry about the things they could control, and the best way to honor their boss was to keep his shop running just the way Gary had done for nearly a decade.

  It was the right thing to do. It was what he wanted to do. Ethan loved Beverly’s Blooms.

  “Do you think you’ll stay on after Jack gets here?” Frankie asked, nibbling at his lip. “Do you think he’ll want us to stay?”

  Ethan waited to respond until he’d finished counting the small stack of money from the register, then turned to fully face Frankie. He wanted to say something that would make the younger man feel safe and secure, but he was also mindful of the need to keep Frankie’s expectations at a realistic level.

  At the end of the day, Ethan was just as uncertain as Frankie was.

  “I hope so,” Ethan said, finally. “This place is like home to me, and I love it. I want the shop to keep doing well—I want him to do well, so I hope everything works out. I think Gary would’ve wanted me to make sure Jack gets off on the right foot when he takes over, so I plan on making it as easy for him as possible. As much as Gary felt like a father to me, he actually was Jack’s dad, so we have to respect that he’s gonna be going through a rough time, too.”

  “Yeah, I hadn’t really thought of it like that.” Frankie winced a little. “As hard as it is on us, he’s gotta be going through hell.” Then, with a sigh, “I hope he lets both of us stay, though. I’m sure I’d find something else eventually, but this place is the be
st thing I’ve got going right now.”

  Ethan nodded. “Me, too.”

  Aside from his always-optimistic mother, Ethan’s job at the flower shop—and by extension, his friendships with Frankie and Gary—had been the only bright spots in his life for a while.

  There had been a time when he’d thought he would have had a partner by now—maybe even a husband—to share the good and bad times with, but life had pulled the rug out from under him on that one, too. Gary had been there to help him pick himself back up after the nasty breakup with his last boyfriend had nearly cost him everything—his apartment, his credit, and a good portion of his own self-worth.

  In the six months since, he’d been slowly starting to rebuild his life, but there was no denying that without the help and guidance of his mother—who’d let him move back in with her while he worked to get himself back on his feet—and his job here at Beverly’s Blooms, that process would have been a lot more difficult.

  There were already days—especially lately—when it felt like he might never be able to climb back out of the hole he’d dug for himself with his last boyfriend, but when he’d start to feel that way, he always thought back to what Gary would say.

  Keep your head up, and keep going. When you’re going through hell, keep going.

  Ethan didn’t know if or when he’d be ready to love again—didn’t even know if he trusted his heart to recognize a good thing anymore—but what he did trust was Gary’s wisdom. It hadn’t let him down yet, and right now it was all he and Frankie had.

  “We just have to keep our heads up,” Ethan said.