Chapter 1: FLOWER FETISH

Adele parked her vintage Ford pickup truck in front of her small store, and relaxed before turning off that old rusty engine. A twenty-six-year-old model and her father's first vehicle, her first gift to Adele.

She looked at herself in the rearview mirror before elevating her chest with more oxygen.

"Today will be a good day," she declared to herself.

Her eyes docked on her store display board to read: FLOWER FETISH - A flower shows love.

Before her was the store built by her parents with love and care.Her mother died when she was five, leaving three of them alone.After some time, her father decided to marry again for the sake of the girls. And there, Adele's stepmother entered her life.

She often struggled to get love from her stepmother, but never received the attention she desired. Soon, the woman  gave birth to a son, which made Alede’s dad happier than ever.

Sadly, her stepmother never loved her daughters as her own. Her focus was to entice her husband and love her only son.

Later in their teenage years, Adele's sister rebelled against her father. She wanted something more than being a country girl, and decided to abandon her home at the age of nineteen to pursue her dreams where she was never heard from again

As a result of the loss, their business suffered from her father's frequent visits to the hospital,  leaving them able to pay off the hospital bills. Business loss, and the death of his loving daughter, her father couldn't bear the grief from the trauma. Soon after, he committed suicide.

Adele blinked her lashes from this sting of  tears from the memory. She loved coming to this place, but after her father's suicide, this place was merely a source of income for her remaining family.

She picked up her file and buckled her tiny waist with her fanny pack.

She pulled her long chocolate-brown hair into a messy bun and fixed her dark green, checked shirt, then jumped out of her vehicle.

"Hey, Blaise," she called her partner, who was opening the glass door.

"Good morning, Adele," she said, greeting her happlity while she opened the door to let her in.

Her nostrils filled with the fragrance of flowers as they entered the store.. Quickly going to work, Blaise got busy arranging the flowers in front of the store in the metallic racks.

Adele's father owned a flower farm, but after his death, it was difficult for her to handle the farm and store together. Her dedicated partner made her work so much easier with her always being on time and ready to get started

Adele moved towards her desk, trying to check her online orders for flowers.

"Well, we have six orders for the funeral ceremony." Adele sighed.

Blaise looked at her with concern.

"It's good; at least we are getting some business."

Adele rubbed her temple with pressed lips, trying to justify her point. "It's not good, Blaise. I can't wish for my business to grow on someone else's death. It's selfish." .

Blaise holding pink peonies in her hand, frowned towards Adele.

"I understand, but it's not you who gave them a death wish? Come on, get up; we have lots of work to do." Adele smiled at her as she refreshed the website page.

"What the heck?" Adele whispered, refreshing her page again and again.

"Now what? Someone else died?" Blaise pressed her lips together "No, this is a huge order; I mean, they need all the expensive flowers for decorating their mansion." Adele jerked her neck towards the screen.

Blaise stood next to her as she browsed the address, pointing at the screen. "It's in the city; look at the address." "But, why did they order here? I mean, they could have gotten the flowers from a place nearby their home." Adele shrugged her shoulders.

Blaise folded her hands over her chest, giving her an angry look.

"What? Did I do something wrong?" Adele muttered.

"No, maybe, they ordered here. Maybe they wanted a fresh batch of flowers from the countryside." 

"Okay, sorry. You are right." Adele smiled.

"I will handle all these funeral orders, and you, my beautiful, call them and get more details regarding this order."

Blaise winked at her in agreement.

Adele rolled her sleeves and started to call the respective place to confirm her order. "Hello, is this Mr. Vincent?" Adele spoke on call. "Sir, I would like to know all the details, and how many flowers you need?" After an hour-long call, she jotted down all the details on her notepad.

“Shit, shit, shit.” She groaned and slammed her head in stress.

"Now what?"

"I agreed to send the order, but we are short on tulips. You know it's not Tulip season, but they wanted it." 

"It's okay, let's check our farm. I am sure we will get something; if not, we will buy from another florist," Blaise said to give her some hope, resting her hand on the table.

"But... it's a big order of..."

"Tomorrow, you will take the flowers in your truck," Blaise assured her.

***

Adele, after a long hectic day, came home. She opened the door as she saw her eighteen-year-old brother kissing a teenage girl. 

"Stop, Mike. Your sister is here." The girl chuckled.

Mike scanned Adele with an ignorant gaze.

"Forget about her."

Adele passed him and went towards the kitchen to fill her dry throat with water.

"Mom went to the neighbor's house, and she wanted you to prepare dinner for all of us," Mike yelled from the living room.

Exhausted, Adele sighed, her day had already been stressful enough. . Taking some time for herself, she went for a relaxing shower before preparing dinner.

As she entered she saw her stepmother cuddling her precious son, giving her a stare.

"Yuck, you don't know how to cook?" Adele's mother spat on her face.

"Mom, I don't want to taste it." Mike scoffed.

He stomped and took out bills from her fanny pack.

Adele ran as she tried to grab the hard-earned bills from his hand.

"Don't take that!" She tried to fight.

He slapped her across the face, making her shiver at her place.

"Stop it, bitch!"

"Mom, I ordered a pizza for you," Mike answered.

"Thank you, Son. And you, filthy shit, eat what you have cooked for us." Her mother launched the food on her face.

Mike left with all the money he took from Adele. In the last few months, he started a job,  knew it was no real job. He was dealing  drugs with dealers for his needs.

Tears filled up her eyes, as this was not the life she wanted. She missed her father as he was the only one who used to love her in this place.

Trying to ignore the pain, she went to clean the floor before going to her room.

"I wish..." she couldn't speak anymore as the warm salty water rolled over her cheeks.

That was her daily routine. Even if she wanted to run, she couldn't.

Her father loved his farm and his store more than life itself, and this would be the last thing Adele would allow to let go from her life.

****

The morning lights knocked at Adele's window showing her new hope.

She got up from the bed, as her phone wouldn’t stop buzzing.

"Ummm... hello," she whined.

"I’ve been calling you for the last fifteen minutes. Get your ass here asap," Blaise barked from the other side.

Her eyes went wide once she remembered she  had to deliver the flowers to the mansion that morning.

"Cominnnggggg,"

Thud

"What happened?" 

"Nothing, I fell from my bed... Ahhhh." 

Sshe rubbed her ass as she ran towards the bathroom to prepared herself for work. In a rush, she reached the store in no time.

"I am sorry, I had a bad night," she noted as she closed her truck door, looking towards Blaise.

"I have sent the funeral flowers; now we are all set for the mansion," Blaise added.

"Wow, Thanks, Blaise. What about the tulips?" Adele asked.

"We will load it in your truck, and the rest of the flowers will come in that truck." Blaise pointed to where the driver waved his hand.

Adele released a relieved breath and turned towards Blaise. I don't know what I would do without you. Thank you for helping me." Adele hugged her.

"Don't make me cry. You deserved love and care, my beautiful." Blaise patted her back.

Then they were on their way to start their journey. It was a forty minutes drive to Michigan City and on the way,  told Blaise about her last night's incident with her brother.

"I am worried about him. He is getting involved in the wrong things," Adele remonstrated.

"Girl, you can't control others' fate. What I see is you need to live your life, and I hope you meet your man soon." Blaise giggled.

"I don't think he exists, and even if he did, you know I can't leave my farm and store. I need to pay all the bills and make my farm debt-free before I could think of anything else." Adele sighed.Blaise's smile vanished for a second. "I am sorry, I didn't tell you, but we got our second letter from the bank to pay the amount, and we have only one month left to pay what’s due," Blaise affirmed.

Adele's stress lines popped up on her head.

"I saw it. They sent me the copy through the mail. I don't know, Blaise, how I am going to save my dad's estate."

Tears filled up her eyes as they reached the front door of the mansion.

"Oh... MY...GODDDD" Blaise's mouth dropped open, looking at the white painted metallic door opening its arms for them to enter.

Adele extended her mail confirmation to the guards at the gate for the instructions to deliver the flowers. Quickly the guards went to check her truck and the truck that followed them.

"You are good to go," the guard lowered his weapon and opened the gate.

Slowly, Adele drove up the winding driveway lined with big trees, which they could not see through. It took them five minutes to reach the end of the drive away where the mansion stood. 

And once again, Blaise could barely hold her mouth closed, looking at the sight in front of her.

"Oh, I wish I could marry the owner of this house." Blaise released her wishes in the air.

Adele chuckled and pushed the brakes with a jerk in front of this humongous mansion.

"I am sure he must be an old guy," Adele teased her.

"Oh, I wouldn’t mind, I would marry him too," Blaise noted as she jumped out of the truck. "Let me check on the flowers."Adele looked at herself in the rear mirror before coming out and rubbed her plump lips together, which made a fresh stock of blood rush in it, making it more fluffy and red.

"Cool," she said to herself, pleased with her reflection. She fixed her long shirt and jumped out of the truck.

There was a big welcoming fountain containing a mesmerizing statue inside it leading up to the mansion. The curiosity to know about that statue, dragged her close to it.

It was a white marble nude lady holding her drape, hiding her face while revealing her enchanting body. Every curve in her body enhanced her beauty. Adele stood there, taking it all in as she was enchanting the beauty of that statue.

"So beautiful," she cooed in her head.

"Excuse me," a voice interrupted.

She turned and saw a tall man holding a shovel in his hand. His face is mostly covered with dry mud as the drops of sweat rolled down his forehead.. He was wearing muddy pants with mud boots and an open shirt revealing his sculpted chest. She observed his appearance  closing the gap between them, a beautiful smile knitted in response. Could he be the person she needs to talk to?

"Sorry, I... I... I am Adele." 

He stared at her without blinking an eye. "Hi. What are you doing here?" the man asked.

"Oh! I am sorry, I came to deliver the flowers." She smiled.

The man replied with a smile. "Flowers?" 

"Yeah, I think there is a party in this mansion."

She extended the paper from her pocket.

"Oh, don't show it to me. I am a gardener here. You will find Mr. Vincent inside."

The stranger smiled and got back to his gardening.

Adele watched in awe,drawn towards the strangers' captivating looks.

Adele knocked on the door, but somebody was already talking to Blaise.

"Adele..." Blaise waved her hand.

"This is Mr. Vincent."