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Flowers were nice, Luke thought. They were always a good bet. But good ones were hard to find and pretty orange dahlias specifically were even rarer. But Luke was on a mission and he was determined to get Julie the perfect bouquet. Opening her string of small little ten-year anniversary presents with a slightly -- purposefully -- off replica of her wedding bouquet seemed perfect.
He smiled at the florist when the elderly man walked over from the counter, where three kids were seated, playing with the offcut flowers and stems that didn’t make it into bouquets before.
“See something you like, son?”
Luke shook his head. “Um, I don’t see any baby’s breath out here. Do you keep it?”
“Yes! Yes, I do. But they look best within an arrangement. Would you like a custom bouquet?”
Luke pulled out his phone and held it out for the florist, showing off a photo of grinning newlyweds. “Can you make something like this? But with orange dahlias and the baby’s breath? Would it look good?”
The florist gave Luke a delighted smile. “It will look lovely! May I ask the occasion?”
“Ten years,” Luke said with a bright grin.
“Oh, and I see you’re still as happy as you look in your lockscreen! Keep a tight hold on that, son. Not everyone gets this lucky.”
Luke nodded. “I know. Can I come back for the bouquet in about a week? I want to surprise her.”
The florist nodded. “Yes! Yes, I’ll keep the flowers aside. Here, let me get you one of the business cards and you can call . . . say, an hour before you want to pick it up?”
“That’s perfect. Thank you.”
“Ten years,” the florist murmured to himself as he walked off to look for a business card for Luke. He chuckled as he passed by the children sitting on the counter, now making flower crowns for each other. “How wonderful.”
Luke shivered suddenly -- which would have been a little odd on a normal day, given how warm Luke’s body ordinarily was, but it was quite concerning on such a hot day.
“Luke?”
It took a fair bit of strength to not groan aloud. He did scrunch his nose up and scowl at the sound of Emily’s voice behind him. He was hoping time and age would have rendered him unrecognisable to her, but of course, Luke always had rotten luck when it came to Emily. He gave her an empty, polite smile -- the kind you give strangers you accidentally make eye contact with.
“It’s been quite a while.”
“Not long enough,” Luke gritted out through his thin smile.
Emily looked like she was offended, but she quickly shook it off with a smile of her own. “You look good, Luke. Finally working at something good?”
“Yeah,” Luke said. “Julie and I are taking an anniversary trip to take part in some sweet competitions. A bit milder than we’re used to, but it’ll be fun all the same.”
Emily scowled. “Still fighting?”
Luke shook his head. “No, I leave most of the action to Julie these days. You know, everyone gathers around whenever Julie has a fight to cheer her on. We really are one, big, happy family.”
“I must admit, I’m not too thrilled that you’re still surrounding yourself with the likes of them . But I suppose there’s nothing I can do now for you. You’re long past saving.”
“You weren’t saving me. You were actively trying to ruin what I have and you still are.” Luke wasn’t surprised to discover that he felt extremely cold as he hissed at Emily. He’d found someplace special to channel the gentle little flames that no longer burned his lungs. He had long since left Emily behind and the icy lack of any feelings made him feel safe, somewhat. She couldn’t hurt him anymore, no matter what she had to say. “Don’t you get it? There is no space for you in my life.”
Emily scoffed. “Where is the tramp hiding this time?”
“She’s not here right now,” Luke snapped. “And you better be glad about it because Julie tends to lash out at people she detests.”
“Here you go!” the unaware florist called, bounding back up to Luke with a small card.
Luke gave him a warm smile as he pocketed the card. “Thank you so much. I’ll call early morning the day of.”
“Perfect. I wish you both a happy anniversary.”
“So that’s it, then?” Emily asked. Her gaze darted behind Luke at the florist handing a small rose to the little boy and helping him tuck it behind his ear. She scowled. Little boys shouldn’t be wearing flowers, in her opinion.
“Yes,” Luke said, glaring once he realised why Emily wore such a twisted look on her face. “And I hope we never meet again.”
Emily shook her head. “Oh, you don’t mean that.”
“You know I do.”
“Lucas Patterson, you don’t know what you’re saying.”
“Molina.”
“What?”
“It’s Molina. Luke Molina.”
“Wh--”
Luke turned away from Emily and clapped his hands twice. “Time to go. Say thank you for the flowers.”
The oldest of the children, the young girl, beamed up at the florist. “Thank you!”
“Oh, you’re very welcome, my dear,” the florist said, lifting her off the counter before reaching for the littlest of the three.
The toddler with a rose in his hair pouted. “Wanna play with the flowers,” he whined, mispronouncing most of his words.
“We’ll come back, Aiden,” the little girl said, rolling her eyes. “Daddy has to come back to get Mama’s flowers, right?”
Luke nodded. “Lily’s right, I have to come back for the flowers. I’ll bring you guys with me, okay? Come on, let’s go.”
Lily tugged the youngest behind her, holding their hand to help them walk in the right direction. “Come on, Billie. Gotta go.”
Aiden pouted as the florist lifted him off the counter.
Luke lifted Billie up once all three were standing in front of him. He gave the florist another warm smile and a goodbye. Then he left. He didn’t spare Emily a single look, though Billie watched her over Luke’s shoulder.
“Who was that lady you were talking to, Daddy?” Lily asked, holding on to Luke’s jacket.
Aiden tugged on Luke’s hand. “She looked nasty.”
“No one important,” Luke said. He saw Julie waving at him from an ice cream shop further down the sidewalk. “Now, who wants ice cream?”
All three children broke into a cacophony of “Me! Me! Me!”
“On one condition!” Luke shouted over the noise. “No one tells Mama about the flowers.”
Billie sighed. “ Mierde . I'm bad at secrets.”
Lily gasped. “Billie said a bad word! Billie said a bad word!”
“Billie learnt it from Mama so I don’t think she's allowed to be mad about it," Aiden said.
"What about me?" Luke asked teasingly. "Can I be mad?"
"Daddy's never really mad," Lily said, leaning against Luke for just a second as they walked.
"Don't make me cry now. If I can't see properly, I might take us to the car instead of the ice cream shop."
Aiden gasped. "Lily, shut up!"
"Aiden said a bad word!" Lily shouted. "Aiden said a bad word!"
Luke sighed. "Okay, okay. One more person says a bad word and we go straight home. Got it? Also, no one tells Mama I didn't scold you for the bad words."
All three mimed zipping their lips shut.
"Can I have strawberry jalapeno?" Aiden asked.
"Oh, gross," Lily said. "Ice cream isn't meant to be spicy."
Luke knew that his kids were six, four and three but most days, Lily sounded so much like an angry Julie, he forgot she wasn't a teenager.
"You scared Daddy," Billie said. "He's thinking about teenie-genies again."
"And how did you know that, my love?" Luke asked, tapping Billie's nose lightly.
Billie giggled. "Daddy has a teenie-genie face."
"Ice cream!" Aiden suddenly yelled, catching sight of the shop. "Last one there is a rotten egg!"
Lily glanced up at Luke, waiting for him to nod before taking off. "Aiden's a rotten egg!" she sang as she ran.
"I'll stay here," Billie said, patting Luke's head lightly.
"Thanks, Bills. Now, how about we--"
Luke looked up in panic when Lily and Aiden both shrieked, only to let out a soft and short laugh when he caught sight of Julie clutching her middle in tears.
"I'm so sorry!" Julie wheezed out.
"Mama's mean!" Aiden shouted.
Lily sat down on the floor, her hand on her forehead.
Billie just laughed.
Luke smiled at the sight. Yes, he had a happy little family of his own. And what he told his kids was true; Emily was no one important.