15-05-2021-052358It-Ends-with-Us

over at me and Allysa. “This is incredible. It doesn’t even look like the
same building!”
Okay, maybe I’m fine with him being the first customer.
It takes him a few minutes to actually make it to the counter
because he can’t stop touching things and looking at things. When he
finally does reach us, Allysa runs around the counter and hugs him.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” she says. She waves her hand in my direction. “It
was all her idea. All of it. I just helped with the dirty work.”
Ryle laughs. “I find it hard to believe that your Pinterest skills
didn’t play a little part.”
I nod. “She’s being modest. Her skills were half of what brought
this vision to life.”
Ryle smiles at me and it might as well have been a knife to the
chest, because ouch.
He slaps his hands on the counter and says, “Am I the first official
customer?”
Allysa hands him one of our flyers. “You have to actually buy
something to be considered a customer.”
Ryle glances over the flyer and then sets it back down on the
counter. He walks to one of the displays and grabs a vase full of purple
lilies. “I want these,” he says, setting them on the counter.
I smile, wondering if he realizes he just picked lilies. Kind of ironic.
“Do you want us to deliver them somewhere?” Allysa says.
“You guys deliver?”
“Allysa and I don’t,” I reply. “We have a delivery driver on standby.
We weren’t sure if we’d actually need him today.”
“Are you actually buying these for a girl?” Allysa asks. She’s just
prying into her brother’s love life like a sister would naturally do, but
I catch myself stepping closer to her so I can hear his answer better.
“I am,” he says. His eyes meet mine and he adds, “I don’t think
about her very much, though. Hardly ever.”
Allysa grabs a card and slides it to him. “Poor girl,” she says. “You
are such a dick.” She taps her finger on the card. “Write your message
to her on the front and the address you want them delivered to on the
back.”
I watch him as he bends over the card and writes on both sides. I
know I don’t have a right, but I’m brimming with jealousy.