"This call is for Blair Michaels. Is she available?"

"May I ask who is calling?" I replied with suspicion.

"This is Rita from McGuffey Flowers."

"This is Blair Michaels," I said.

"You have a delivery of flowers and we wanted to verify when you would be home for receipt of delivery."

"Oh, uh. Yeah." I was a bit taken aback wondering who they might be from. "I'll be home for the rest of the afternoon."

"Okay," she said. "Expect delivery in the next one to three hours."

"That would be fine," I said. As I hung up the phone I heard Kelsey coming home from work. "You won't believe the phone call I just got."

"Who was it?" she asked.

"Apparently I'm getting flowers delivered later today and they just wanted to verify that I would be here."

"Bizarre! I wonder who hell they are from,” she said.

"Probably just my mom," I said. "After all the case starts tomorrow. She's probably just sending a token for good luck. That sounds like something she would do after all."

"What if they're from Aiden," she said with a sly grin.

"Shut up! They aren't from Aiden,” I insisted.

"Admit it," she said. "You kind of wish they are, don't you."

"Do not," I laughed.

Though the idea did intrigue me.

I wasn’t about to let her know that. "He's not the flowers type."

He wasn’t.

He was buff and tattooed.

That didn’t seem like the flowery type.

"How do you know? Maybe he's developed some panache since he was younger."

"Could be, could be. Or maybe he's just desperate,” I said.

She laughed and disappeared to her room, emerging a moment later in a pair of cut off shorts and a blue tank top.

"How is your case going?" she asked. "Did you say it starts tomorrow?"

"The trial does, yeah,” I said, sitting down on the couch and resting my feet on the edge of the table. "I think we have built a solid case. No, let me amend that. I know we have built a solid case. I feel good."

"Amend?" Kelsey laughed. "Now you’re starting to sound like a lawyer."

"Maybe you’re right." I grinned. "I've had a long day. I'm going to go grab a quick shower."

“Don’t think about Aiden too hard while you’re in there,” she joked giggling.

I raised an eyebrow and after she couldn’t stop laughing I rolled my eyes.

"I’m sorry!” she yelled smiling.

Yeah right.

"Do you want to order Thai for dinner?" she asked as I was beginning to get the hell away from her.

"That sounds great,” I said, heading down the hallway.

I felt much better twenty minutes later, toweling off my hair, having changed into jeans shorts and a tee shirt. The firm had let us go early, and I was thinking of something to do for the rest of the day when the doorbell rang.

When I opened the door, the sight before me shocked me. The bouquet of brightly colored flowers nearly eclipsed the young girl carrying it. Her voice drifted up from behind the mountain of the arrangement.

"Blair Michaels?" she said.

"That's me, but...wow,” I said taking the bouquet from her.

The flowers consisted of a collection of sweet smelling wild flowers in a rainbow of colors spilling out over the edge of a small blue porcelain flower pot. I carried it over to the coffee table and signed for the delivery.

"Thanks," I told the girl, handing her the signed slip.

"Any indication who it's from?" Kelsey asked.

"Like I said, probably my mom." Kelsey reached over my shoulder and plucked the card from the holder. "Hey!" I said, pulling the card back and opened the envelope.

The words printed on the small white card, made my stomach drop out from under me. It didn’t bare a name, but I knew instantly who had sent the flowers.

"What's it say?" Kelsey asked, trying to peer over the edge of the card.

I passed her the card, giving up on the attempt to subvert any information. She looked at the message and read the words out loud.

"You kissed me back. Good luck tomorrow." Kelsey's eyes grew wide as her mouth dropped open. I rolled my eyes as she began to apply playful punches to my arm. "No way!"

"Shut up, Kelsey,” I insisted.

"No way!" she continued. "These are from Aiden!"

"You think?" I said with a dead pan voice.

"And you did kiss him back!" she squealed with enthusiasm. "I can see it all over your face! At least, I hope these flowers aren't from your mom."

I felt no point in denying it at that point. "Yeah, so,” I said.

"Well this changes everything,” she exclaimed.

"How so?" I asked.

"You like him! Come on, Blair this is so meet-cute it's ridiculous."

"What is 'meet-cute'?" I asked.

"That's the story that you will one day tell your grandchildren on how you met. Usually the story is cute. Meet-cute."

"I see,” I said.

"So you kissed him back. Details, details,” she demanded while motioning for me to sit down and tell her the story.

"There's really nothing to tell," I insisted. "I only kissed him back for like a second. Okay, maybe more than a second. Okay, I don't know how long it was, but come on! I've wanted to kiss him for like ever. Literally my entire life since puberty. So he kissed me, big deal. I just don't want to go down that road right now."

"It's just so tragic,” Kelsey said.

"Tragic?" I asked. "That's a bit much."

"No, true love is within your grasp and yet you let it slip away." She sighed.

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh come on."

"You have to call him."

"I do not."

"At least to thank him for the flowers," she said. "It's only polite."

"I'm not going out with him!" I insisted.

"Fine, just let him down easy,” she said. "It seems to me that he really likes you."

“Ugh.”

I waited a full half an hour after receiving the flowers before I called him from my cell phone. In my mind I went back and forth, wondering if this was a genuine gesture on his part, or just another attempt to shatter my resolve, to distract me from the true prize and sweep the job at the firm right out from under me.

I even considered hanging up after I had hit 'send' but I figured he would have already seen that it was my number, and hanging up might be a little bit too much like junior high school.

"Hello, Blair,” he said before I had a chance to speak. "I knew you would call."

"Don't get a big head, Aiden,” I said. "I just wanted to call and thank you for the flowers. That's all."

"That's all? Really?" he asked. Before I could answer he continued. "Actually don't answer that. I figured you would call. I'd like for you to go on a date with me. A real one. I like you, Blair and based on the evidence, I think you like me. I don't think you can say no."

He. Just. Wouldn’t. Give. Up.

Jesus.

I took a deep breath, feeling the familiar edge of confusion engulfing me once more.

"Aiden, I just don't think it's appropriate. We are work colleagues. Regardless of our past friendship it just wouldn't be right for us to go out," I lied, hoping it would persuade him though.

"You have to go out with me, Blair,” he said.

"And why is that?" I asked.