Chapter 128 – Ogden

Did I want to help someone who was threatening Willow? No. But I knew that Willow wanted to help. She understood where Lucy was coming from, and she was manipulated by her mom to help her get to Betsy. Clara was the one who tried to kill Betsy and she even confessed to wanting to kill Willow.

It was good that she was being arrested. When I saw her slap Willow I wanted to kill her. She put her hands on my wife, and it took everything in me not to hit her. But I didn’t want to jeopardize Clara being locked up. And I certainly didn’t want to be locked up.

Lucy even said that there was no helping her brother, they just wanted to make him comfortable. And that was easy enough to do. I would find a nice place where he could live the rest of his life clean and without pain.

Willow looked happy sitting across from me as we waited for Marsha. I texted her while Willow was distracted talking to Lucy. We were wrapping up and I needed time to set up all that I wanted to do for her.

“What?” Willow took a sip of her tea.

“Huh?” I wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying.

“You’re staring at me.” She gave me a nervous smile.

“I was just thinking. Sorry, a lot has been going on and I must have zoned out.” I averted my eyes so I wouldn’t continue to look at her. Even though I wanted to stare at her, take in her beauty and commit it to memory so when I wasn’t around her, I could bring up happy images of Willow.

“There you are.” Marsha said as she walked toward us. She looked harried. I wasn’t sure if she intentionally made herself look like that or that’s how she really felt but she sold it either way.

“Hey, Marsha.” Willow stood and walked to her. “Ogden told me about Tiffany needing help and I’m here to offer it.” She gave her a smile.

Marsha let out a breath. “Thank you. Tiffany was freaking out and she doesn’t want to get fired.”

“I’m not sure what all I can do but I’ll help where I can.”

“Don’t worry about it. Anything is really appreciated. I have a car out front.” She looked over at me. “Did you need anything before I take Willow?”

I gave her a smile. “No, I’m all set. I’m just going to get some work done.” I looked down at Willow. “And I’ll see you at home.”

“Bye.” Willow gave me a smile. “And thank you for everything.”

I knew she was grateful that I was helping Lucy’s brother. She didn’t know that I would do anything for her to make her happy. I would sell my company if she asked.

Marsha pulled her out of the café and into a waiting car. Before getting in she turned and winked at me. Thank god I had her here to distract her because I had a lot of work to do before Willow returned home.

I let out a breath and texted Jeremy. [Please pick me up.] I gave him the address where I was.

[I’ll be there in five.] He messaged back. Hiring him was probably one of the best hires that I have ever done. He was young, but eager to do an amazing job.

He pulled up and I got in. “Where to boss?” He looked at me in the rearview mirror.

“Do you know if there is a Lush nearby?” That was the one place that I could think of that would sell bath supplies. I wanted to give her a relaxing bath and I knew that getting bath bombs and bubbles would be a good idea.

“Um, yeah. I think there is one a few blocks away.” He drove in that direction.

Within minutes we were parked in front of the store. I hopped out. As soon as I walked in, my nose was assaulted by all the fragrances that they were selling, it started to make my eyes water. I walked through the store. I wanted to get this done as quickly as possible, because I had two other places that I needed to go, and they would have bigger purchases.

“Did you need any help?” A store attendant who was wearing an apron walked up to me.

“I’m looking for a bath gift set. Something that smells nice and a woman would want.” I picked up a bottle and then sat it down.

“Of course.” The attendant walked through the store and showed me the premade gift sets. I grabbed one, it had bath bombs, shower gel, face masks, and a candle.

“I’ll take this one.” I held it up to her. I paid and got out of there quickly. Jeremy was still where I left him. “Remind me to never go to that store again.”

Jeremy laughed. “Bad customer service?”

“No, the smells were making my eyes water.” I laughed.

“Where next?”

“Can you take me to that flower shop on 72nd Street?” I knew of a few flower shops around downtown. But that one had the bouquets that I liked the best.

“On it.”

I was starting to feel nervous. I have waited all week for this, and it was finally going to happen. The thing that I was hiding from Willow was going to come out in the open. I hoped that she would say yes. Everyone was confident that she would. But I still had that one shred of lingering doubt hanging over my head.

I walked into the store and was instantly greeted by an older woman who looked like a gardener. There were always people who I could tell that they gardened, and she was one of them. It also helped that she was in a flower shop.

“What can I do for you?” She beamed at me.

“I’m going to be making a pretty big order and I need them delivered at a specific time.” I said as I took in all of the arrangements.

The woman’s smile grew. “That’s great to hear. Are you celebrating something special?” She grabbed her clipboard.

“I’m going to propose to someone.”

“That’s exciting. Now what are you looking for?” She looked at me expectantly.

“I’m thinking one hundred arrangements. I want my house covered.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh wow.” She started to write some notes. “Anything specific? And when would you like to have them delivered?”

“I need them delivered this evening at six thirty. It has to be at that time exactly.” I tapped on the desk.

“Um, I don’t think we could fulfill that order and have it delivered by this evening.” The woman put her pen down. “We would at least need three days to make the arrangements and then deliver them.”

“I’m happy to pay extra for to expedite it.”

The woman thought for a moment.

“And I don’t need anything specific. So whatever you have available would be fine. The only thing I have to have is at least one bouquet with peonies.”

The woman looked around her shop and a smile spread across her face. “I think we could make that work.” She started to scribble on her clipboard. “One hundred arrangements and at least one with peonies. What address did you want them delivered at?”

I gave her my address. “And it has to be exactly at six thirty. And do you by chance have just rose petals?”

“I will make sure that it gets done.” She gave me another bright smile. “And I’ll have them added into your order.”

I handed her my credit card and paid a ridiculous amount to get this order taken care of and delivered today. And it was all worth it. I wanted everything to be perfect and I needed to make sure that everything was perfect.

I got back into the car and instructed Jeremy to go to the closest store. I wanted to get a ton of tea candles. I had to have everything perfect for this to be pulled off.

My plan was to draw Willow a bath so that when she got home, it would be ready and waiting for her. I would tell her to relax. While she was in the bath, the flowers would be delivered, and I would light all of the candles.

Then I would make a trail of petals from the bathroom to where I would be to tell her that I loved her and wanted to marry her. For real. No contract. Just two people in love. I couldn’t hide the smile that was forming on my face. My cheeks started to hurt. I hadn’t smiled this much ever.