“Red means love,” she started automatically.
“I think it’s too soon for that.”
“They also mean passion and romance.”
I stilled. “Well, I do like the passion and romance part.”
“Yellow means friendship.”
I immediately started shaking my head. “That is not the message I want to send.”
“Pink means gratitude, grace, and happiness.”
The pink roses were pretty, but that also wasn’t the message I wanted to send. “No.”
“Green means renewal.”
“Like … fertility?”
She nodded. “Is that what you’re interested in? Do you want to fertilize the girl?” She sent me a knowing look.
“I already have.”
Her nose wrinkled. “What now?”
“She’s pregnant with my baby.”
“And you’re trying to date her now?”
“It’s a long story. I’m not ruling out the green ones, though. Maybe you could mix them with the red ones.”
“Yes, and a Merry Christmas to you too.”
Whoops. “Right. Okay, no red and green together. What do the lavender ones mean?”
“Love at first sight.”
“Interesting.” I waited for her to continue.
On a heavy sigh, as if I was ruining her day even though I was her only customer, she started rattling them off. “Blue means mystery. Like … the unattainable. Orange means desire. Black means mourning. Purple means elegance. You could go with multiple colors and create your own meaning, though.”
I liked that idea. “Okay. Let’s do that.”
“What colors do you want?” Cherise looked bored now.
“Let’s go with purple because my girl is elegant, blue because she’s unattainable, which is why I’m doing this, and green for fertility because she’ll find that funny.”
Cherise nodded. “Okay, well, I can do that. You should really have a light color in there for contrast too.”
“Like…white? What does that mean?”
“White means innocence and purity. I think that ship has sailed.” She pointed toward some cream-colored blooms. “Cream supposedly means perfection.”
I immediately started bobbing my head. “Sold.” I reached for my wallet. “You guys deliver, right?”
“We do.” I pulled out my black credit card and Cherise’s eyes immediately lit up. “Where will I be delivering to?”
“The Stone. I also want some balloons. Like … a lot of them. We’re talking at least ten balloons.”
