July 2002
Sienna McKinnon
hummed along to Norah Jones as she arranged the sunflowers and calla lilies in
a vase for one of her favorite customers, elderly Mr. Cannon who often bought
flowers to surprise his wife. Sienna
loved that the Cannons had been married nearly fifty years and still surprised
each other with presents.
“There you go,
Mr. Cannon,” she grinned as she tied on the bow with a flourish.
“Ah, Sienna.
Maggie will be so happy. She always
loves your flowers,” he smiled at her.
“And I’m glad she
does. I’m always happy to make a bouquet for her,” Sienna replied.
As Mr. Cannon was
leaving the store, the door opened and a man in a University of Kentucky
baseball cap held the door open for the older man. Then, he wandered in and headed for a rack of
sunflowers at the side of the shop.
Sienna frowned, trying to remember if she had ever seen him before. Usually, she remembered most of the customers
that came into her shop, unless they came in on Saturdays, which was her day
off.
Nope.
I’ve never seen him before. Must
be new, Sienna thought and decided to see if she could help him navigate
through the colorful merchandise of her shop.
Sienna’s Flowers
had been in business for three years now, and, in that three years, Sienna was
pleased to know that her flower shop was touted as one of “South Lexington’s Best”. Everyone came to Sienna’s Flowers if they
wanted quality bouquets and premium flowers.
She had a greenhouse behind the cottage where she lived that she had had
to add on to when she realized that the produce from her small greenhouse was
not going to grow enough to supply the demands of her customers.
As she made her
way through the shop to the mysterious, new customer, Sienna stopped to admire
the displays of lilies in that corner, the sunflowers and Gerbera daisies in
the window, and the traditional display of various roses in the center of the
shop. Sure, they could use improvement,
but she knew people would buy anyway because what she sold was the best.
Spotting her
mystery man, she began to walk through the arbor of zinnias and mums towards
him. However, before she could reach
him, he turned and pinned her with a lightning blue gaze. Sienna found herself stopped in her tracks
and, shaking off the feeling of having had her soul seared, made it to where he
stood.
“Hi, I was
wondering if you could help me out,” Mystery Man asked before Sienna could
introduce herself. She found she liked
his voice, which was flavored with the Kentucky accent she had come to adore.
“Absolutely,”
Sienna smiled and held out a hand.
“Welcome to Sienna’s Flowers. I’m Sienna. Now, did you have anything particular in mind
that you were looking for?”
Mystery Man
looked around and let out a whistle.
“You’re the creator of this flower wonderland? It’s amazing.” He clasped
her outstretched hand and shook it. “I’m
Brian. And, no, I didn’t have anything
particular in mind. Actually, to tell
you the truth, I haven’t been in town to see my parents for a couple months,
and it’s my mom’s birthday. I thought
I’d get her flowers, but everything here is just—wow. I really don’t know what
to pick.”
“Well, Brian,
that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
Tell me about your mom,” she asked.
At his pointed look, she smiled.
“I’m not a stalker, don’t worry.
If I know more about the person who the flowers are for, I can pick out
the best flowers to suit them. Flowers
have their own distinct personalities, and different flowers suit different people. So, tell me about your mom,” she asked again.
“Well, she’s
really friendly, loving. She’s very,
very generous with everyone. She works
with St. Joseph’s Hospital and the Healthy Hearts Club for Kids. Mom just loves to be around people and
helping them,” Brian finished.
“Okay, then. Let’s try this,” Sienna started, then broke
off. She walked around the various
displays and picked out a flower from here, three from there, a few from here,
and then asked Brian to come up to the counter.
There, she asked him to pick a vase from the various ones she had set on
the counter. Finally, she arranged them
into the selected vase and finished off the arrangement with a large bow
wrapped around the vase.
“Here,” she said,
handing him a card, “write a message, and I’ll attach it to the vase.”
Brian studied the
flowers in the vase for a few moments then broke into a huge smile. Sienna decided she wanted him to come back to
the shop just so she could see that smile again.
“Damn, that’s
incredible! Mom’s gonna love it, and there’s no way I could have done that by
myself,” Brian smiled at Sienna. Then he
scrawled a message on the card and stuck in the envelope.
Sienna attached
it to the vase and rang up his purchase.
Once he had paid her, Brian looked around the shop again, while hefting
up the gorgeous flower arrangement.
“I’m definitely
coming back because you’re really talented at this,” Brian smiled at her
gratefully.
“I’d be delighted
to have you back, Brian. Any time you
need flowers, you know where to go,” Sienna added and watched as he left the
store.
Glancing down at
her watch, she realized that there was only a half-hour left until
closing. Pulling her curling,
chestnut-colored hair into a bun, she began wrapping up the flowers to put in
the freezer, which would keep them fresh for the next day.
***