The Best of Us by Ursula Gorman Page A

“Crush? Seriously Daniel? She is twenty six years old. If you had tried something when she was still in school, that would have been taking advantage. But she is all grown up now. I can’t believe how blind you are. She has been in love with you for years. Man, you really are an idiot.” Harm let out another laugh and repeated the word ‘crush’ as if he couldn’t believe that Daniel was that clueless. Daniel realized Harm was in the car waiting on him to get in so they could go to their parents house for their weekly Thursday night dinner. The whole night all Daniel could think was about what Harm had said, “She’s been in love with you for years.”
    “ Oh man!”

    “ Who are the flowers from?” Glynna came in for the second day in a row and Carly wasn’t happy about it. “I saw the flowers Mike brought you yesterday and these aren’t the same ones.” Carly didn’t answer, she was on the phone with a customer and hoped that Glynna would get the hint and leave her alone. No such luck. Glynna came around the counter and sat on the stool that either Mike or Daniel used when they were babysitting. Carly glared at Glynna, but she seemed oblivious to the fact.
    “ Yes sir, I’ll have it waiting for you first thing Monday morning.” Carly paused as the caller spoke, “Yes sir, I will make sure it is wrapped by the time you get here. Trust me, she will love it.” The caller said something else that made Carly smile. “Yes sir, I’m sure she will. Have a good weekend.”
    Carly wrote something down and then turned to look at Glynna. “What are you doing here? You can’t be behind the counter, it is for employees only.”
    Glynna made a rude sound, “You know you need help. I’m not going to continue to offer my assistance much longer.”
    “ Light at the end of the tunnel.” Carly said under her breath.
    “ You need help and I am the perfect one for the job. You have no need to resist hiring me anymore.”
    “ What are you talking about?”
    “ Now that you finally realized that you and Daniel could never be an item.”
    “ What?” Carly was getting really irritated.
    “ Well, I can see you’ve finally moved on with your life. Mike’s a good guy. He’s obviously smitten with you, flowers two days in a row? Lucky girl!”
    The flowers weren’t from Mike, Daniel had sent them. But Carly sure wasn’t going to divulge that information to Glynna. Carly still didn’t know what to think. First Daniel kisses her, and then tells her it was a mistake and now he sends her flowers. The card was just as disturbing, “Can’t get you out of my mind, Daniel.” What was that about? Carly had stuck the card in her back pocket and now she was glad she had.
    “ Mike is a nice guy, but I wouldn’t go setting a date for the wedding.” Carly really wanted Glynna to leave. When she just continued to sit there Carly said, “Look, I appreciate the offer to help, but I only need someone to help on the days of sales and that is, at most, twenty hours a week. But I’m guessing it’ll be more like ten to fifteen. I’ve already talked to LuEllen about filling in a couple of hours here and there. She’s excited to help. Now that her youngest is in school, she is happy to get out and earn a little spending money every now and then.”
    “ LuEllen?” Glynna gave another snorting sound, “She doesn’t have a lick of sense. She won’t be able to help run this place.”
    “ I don’t need help ‘ running the place’ , just someone to mind the store so I can go check out sales and auctions. It isn’t as if there is a lot for her to do. She just has to be here, ring up sales, answer phones and help people find what they need. I will continue ‘ running’ the place.” Carly couldn’t help if the irritation was plain in her voice; Glynna was really getting to her today. The flowers already had her head spinning and now having to deal with Glynna’s rude and condescending comments, Carly didn’t know how