Page 79 of Cheap Shot

Sebastian rose and led her back to the workroom. He handed her an apron and she slipped it on, then pulled a hair clip out of her bag and tied her long dark hair out of the way.

She stared at him expectantly.

“Uhh, let me see what we have to work on today,” he said. He’d gone through the list this morning, but he really hadn’t expected to do a test run with her this afternoon.

Sebastian grabbed a clipboard with a list and scanned it until he found an order for a birthday bouquet. It was one of the pre-designed styles he offered on his website and there were no substitutions requested. That was a good one to start with.

Sebastian explained the plan and Rosaleen listened intently as she followed him to the cooler. He listed the number and color of flowers, greenery, and filler that were required and she carefully plucked the lavender and purple roses, purple snapdragons and ranunculus, and white anemone from their buckets.

He showed her where the shelves of vases were stored and had her grab the hammered gold pot that the purchaser had upgraded to.

He had binders full of photos of the arrangements, and he flipped to the one he was asking her to make. He laid out tools and stepped back.

“Now, see if you can recreate that.”

Rosaleen shot him a small smile. “Trial by fire, huh?”

He laughed softly. “I just want to see where your skill level is at. I can always tweak it or redo it if necessary.”

“Got it.” She squared her shoulders and got to work.

The arrangement came together slowly, which wasn’t a surprise since Rosaleen stopped every so often to squint at the photo, mutter under her breath, and re-arrange things. But when she was done, while it wasn’t perfect, itwasaesthetically pleasing.

“Well done,” he said inspecting it, impressed by her work.

“Yeah?”

“Yes. I like the way you gave it a lot of visual movement,” he said as he rotated the arrangement to see it from every angle. “It isn’t perfectly symmetrical. You worked with the natural shape of the snapdragons to create flow from left to right, then built around that.”

Rosaleen smiled at him. “Thank you. I studied your arrangements online before I came in. You use a lot of movement in your pieces. I think that’s why I like your style. It feels more natural and organic. Modern, but still approachable.”

He grinned. “Well, I appreciate the flattery.”

Surprise crossed her face. “Oh, I didn’t mean …”

He waved it off. “I’m kidding. Now let’s go talk hours and salary. Because if this is what you can dobeforeI hire you, I’m looking forward to seeing what you can create with more training.”

Somehow, when Crawford walked into the playroom of the children’s hospital, he wasn’t surprised to see Sebastian and Harper there.

He sighed. No one had told him they would be, but it seemed like there was no getting away from the guy.

And well, as Harper ran toward him calling out, “Mr. Luke! Mr. Luke!” he wasn’t mad about seeingher.

“Hey, kid,” he said, bending down to pick her up with a groan.

“I didn’t know you were gonna be here,” she said, latching her arms around his neck.

“I didn’t know you were gonna be here either,” he said with a smile.

“Are you hurt? Uncle Sebby said you were doing better but I wasworried.”

“Still a little sore,” he said. His hamstring was doing better. Despite the initial swelling, it appeared to only be a Grade 1 hamstring strain. He was responding well to rest, laser and ultrasound therapies, and Andy had just started some electric muscle stimulation therapy that seemed to be doing the trick too. He hoped to be back in a couple of weeks.

He looked Harper in the eye and said, “But I’m tough. Likeyou.”

She beamed at him. “Did you have to go to stay in the hospital? I don’t like when I have to do that. Mommy and Uncle Sebby stay with me, but I don’t like it.”

“No one likes to be in the hospital overnight,” he said. “But sometimes, you just gotta do it to get better.”