SWEET ANTICIPATION by Kathy Clark Page A

alone.”
     
    Lauren forced herself to break the hypnotic bond with Jordan. Turning her attention back to her customer, she answered, “No, Mrs. Grissom. I’m not ready to get into another relationship so soon after my husband’s death. But don’t worry about me. My baby and I will do just fine as long as I have good customers and friends like you to look after me. Now where would you like me to deliver this? And do you want me to put it on your account?”
     
    Jordan turned away and pretended an interest in the glass-fronted refrigerated area where large bunches of flowers were being stored in buckets of water. Mrs. Grissom was a wise old bird. Now it was up to Jordan to convince Lauren that much of what the woman had said was absolutely true.
     
    Of course, he wasn’t looking for a romantic relationship any more than Lauren was right now. He was too busy with his work to deal with the pressure and commitment that would be involved, but he would make room in his life for his baby. He would do anything to keep her from depriving him of sharing this baby’s life.
Anything!
     

Chapter Four
     
    As Mrs. Grissom was walking out the door, two more women customers came into the shop. Jordan tried to be patient even though it took them fifteen minutes to decide whether or not they wanted an ivy with variegated leaves or standard dark-green ones. Jordan was getting to the point where he was tempted to go over, pick up the first plant he saw, hand it to them and push them out the door. If it took them this long to select a plant, he hated to think how many months it must take them to shop for a new car.
    But finally, with a huge pot of brilliant pink hydrangea gripped in the arms of one of them, they left.
     
    “I thought they were planning to buy an ivy,” Jordan commented with a confused frown. “I don’t know much about flowers, but I’m positive that wasn’t one.”
     
    Lauren smiled as she pushed the cash-register drawer shut. “I like to make little bets with myself about whether or not a customer will end up buying whatever it is they came in here for. Very few do. They think they have their minds made up when they come in here, but then they see something that has a pretty flower or maybe I’ve gotten in a particularly fine shipment of ferns that will attract their attention. I’ve even had people choose a plant because they like the color of paper that is wrapped around the pot. They don’t seem to realize how simple it would be for me to change the foil and the bow on any of the plants. For the most part, though, people just don’t know what they want.”
     
    “I do,” Jordan remarked quietly.
     
    Lauren tilted her head to one side and studied him skeptically. “I thought you said you didn’t know much about flowers.”
     
    “I wasn’t talking about flowers.”
     
    “In that case, your five minutes are up.” Suddenly alarmed at the direction this conversation might be taking, she decided it was a good time to end it. “Sunday is Easter and I’ve got a lot of orders to fill. I’m really too busy to stand out here and chat anymore.”
     
    “We’re going to have to talk about this sooner or later.”
     
    “Then let’s make it later, much later,” she retorted, her tone a little sharper than she had intended. If he expected to soften her up by pretending an interest in her business and then switching to the subject he knew she didn’t want to discuss, he was in for a big surprise. She wasn’t a simpering, passive female who could be tricked or bullied. There had been a time in her life when she had been a wide-eyed innocent, willing to do whatever was necessary not to make waves, satisfied to let her parents or her husband take care of her problems.
     
    But Johnny’s death had done more than take away her husband. It had made her realize that it was time that she grew up and became responsible for her own life. She couldn’t depend on someone always being there to fight her