Thorn (Carmichael Series #5)✔️

Valentine's Day

**HEY YA'LL! So here's the next chapter! I promise after this one things will pick up, but I had to go with the timeline in SOMH because it's intertwined with major events in this book! ALSO - JUST SO YA'LL DON'T GET CONFUSED: DATE IN THE STORY IS February 14th (one month and 3 days after the last chapter) - AFTER THE TIME JUMP IT'S March 3rd**

Tansy's POV

I scrambled around the back of the store like a chicken with my head cut off. The last month had flown by and next thing I knew, it was Valentine's Day. It was safe to say that the last two weeks had been absolutely hectic with hundreds of orders for massive bouquets of red roses coming in left and right. It was all hands on deck today as we had a long line of customers ever since we'd opened at nine am, though I'd been here since five finishing up all of our last minute orders that I just couldn't say no to. I didn't have the heart to do it.

"Tansy, I can't find this guys invoice and he said he paid you over the phone two weeks ago!" Crystal, one of my more absent-minded workers, muttered while looking like she was up to her eyeballs in stress.

"How much was the order for?" I asked, stopping what I was doing to give her my full attention so we could resolve the issue with as little conflict as possible.

"He said it was around $200 dollars." She fretted. I narrowed my eyes at her, knowing that she wasn't good with confrontation, and told her to finish up the arrangement I was almost finished with and that I would handle it. Stepping up to my front desk, I gave the man a charming smile.

"Hi sir, Crystal said you were having a bit of an issue. You mind explaining it to me?" I spoke sweetly, doing my best not to draw attention to the both of us from the roughly 12 other people waiting.

"Yes! She misplaced my order slip that shows that I've already made my payment! I don't know who it was that I spoke with, but I already paid for these damn flowers weeks ago!" He growled, putting on a show for not only me but everyone else around us. My smile went from sweet, to snarky in seconds.

"Are you sure it was this floral shop?" I asked, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Yes, I'm fucking sure!" He yelled, now having attracted 100% of the attention in the room.

"You see, sir," I sneered viciously, "this story you've concocted is quite impossible as we don't take payments over $50 dollars over the phone for security purposes. Period. Every single one of workers on my small list of staff know this rule very well and wouldn't have broken that rule for any reason, so you can take your lying, con-artist ass and get the hell out of my store!" I growled back, smacking my hand down on the countertop to emphasize my anger. He swallowed audibly before storming out of the store, avoiding eye contact with everyone on his way out. Pussy.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, upset with myself for allowing my temper to get the best of me in front of a room full of paying customers. In my defense, Knox's current health status had taken a major toll on everyone in the family, myself included. Not only was I feeling the weight of his absence, but I couldn't bear to see how dead inside Poppy looked.

I took a death breath in through my nose before blowing it out through my mouth and putting on a big friendly smile for the rest of the people in the store. The action seemed to settled their ruffled feathers before the next customer approached me once again. I was almost done with the transaction when the voice of one of my favorite people yelled out my name comically loud. Calla forced her way to the front - something that proved to be extremely easy for her as everyone just seemed to move out of the little ball of energy's way.

She gave me a pleading look before I just smiled and nodded, letting her know it was okay to come around behind the desk. She darted towards me before reaching her hands up for me to pick her up. I did so before resting her on my hip as I finished ringing up the man's order.