I made it back to Petal Pushers after leaving the elementary school, and wow, was my mind whirling. If what Principal Stack had told me was true—and I had no reason to doubt it wasn't—no wonder he wanted Susan to retire early. My phone started ringing as I put my car in park, and I looked down to see it was Scott Lamont from Adams Creek Farms.
"Hello?"
"Presley. Am I catching you at a bad time?"
"No. I was just heading into work," I said.
“I hate to call you about this, but do you still plan on being in the contest? Or are you going to withdraw?"
Everyone seemed so interested in what I was going to do about the contest, I couldn't help but wonder why people seemed so invested. Who knew that the Fall Harvest Festival flower arranging contest was so popular?
"I thought about it, to be honest." I frowned as I grabbed my purse and got out of the car. “Is there a reason you’re even asking? Do I need to tell you now?"
“No, and I’m sorry. I hate to even be asking you this, what with everything that has happened, but Josie McArthur called me. She wanted to see if she could have extra space."
I didn’t even know this Josie person, but she was already getting on my nerves. "I get you’re trying to make her happy, but I don't think that I'm going to back out the contest. I don't think that Susan would have wanted that.” I wasn’t even lying. I didn't know Susan all that well, but I was pretty sure that backing out of the contest was the last thing she would have wanted.
"Okay. No problem, I get it, and again, sorry that I had to ask.”
We hung up, and I headed into the shop through the back door. I grabbed my apron, pulling it over my head and wrapping the strings around my waist, then tying them before heading out to the front.
“How’s it going?” I asked Wendy.
"The morning has been pretty slow, but there were a lot of online orders that came through last night and this morning. I was waiting for you to get started on those so they’re ready when Jonas gets here. It’s easier if I can go in the back."
Jonas was our delivery driver. He was a local college student and usually arrived around three thirty to deliver in the afternoon and then worked all day on Saturday. Sometimes, if we needed to do a delivery before three thirty, myself, Wendy, or Cynthia would take it.
"That sounds good. Before you take your lunch, I do have a question for you."
"Sure. What's that?"
"Who is this Josie MacArthur I keep hearing about and why would someone who has a flower shop in the suburbs of Chicago want to come to a flower contest in our small town?"
Wendy started laughing. “You've come a long way with your floral skills, but it looks like we have a little more work to do when it comes to industry knowledge, or rather industry gossip."
"So, you're telling me I should know who Josie MacArthur is?"
"Most definitely."
"Can you tell me who she is?"
"She, among other things, is the fifteen years running bridal bouquet champion. She also has a flower shop, which has been featured in every magazine that has to do with flowers, and she has a year-long waiting list for brides to get appointments."
"They're saying she's a really good florist, end quote," I said with a grin.
"Yeah. Even your mom will say she can't hold a candle to Josie. Why?"
"She's entering the Fall Harvest Festival this year and Scott from Adams Creek Farms just reached out and asked me if I was going to drop out of the contest because Josie wants my spot too. She apparently wants more table space."
"Interesting. I had heard she was attending."
"Not only is she attending, but she’s being greedy. I don't know why she would be coming down here anyway. This is such a small contest compared to what she’s used to. If she's as good as you’re telling me, then why would she want to bother coming down here?"
"I don’t know for sure, but your mom and Susan have had this festival locked up, and there's always been quite a healthy rivalry between the three women."
"You mean to tell me that my mom trash-talked other florists?" I exclaimed, having a hard time wrapping my brain around this. My mom was all about acting proper. I couldn’t imagine her being super competitive. It was definitely a side of her I hadn’t seen before.
"Don’t be so surprised. Your mom is pretty feisty. She didn’t actually trash-talk people, she didn’t get that feisty, but when it comes to her flowers, she is very competitive."
"I could definitely tell Susan was competitive, and I would actually say a little over-the-top competitive, but I didn't imagine my mother that way. I imagined her kind of being the calming force to Susan's more, um, wanting-to-win nature…" I trailed off, not wanting to say bad things about someone deceased.
"You want to say obnoxious, don't you?" Wendy said.
I nodded. "I didn’t really know her outside of this flower contest, but she was quite over-the-top."
“You really need to bring your A game," Wendy said as she bit her lip.
“What do you mean?”
"If Josie was asking for another table and she knows Susan's dead, she must really want to make a big splash and try to win the contest. She probably thought she could beat you and Susan anyway, but now with Susan out of the picture, I’m sure she thinks it’s a slam dunk.”
"I still don’t understand why she would care about our little contest, but I told Scott I wasn't dropping out. Except now I feel more pressure to make sure we execute Susan’s plan flawlessly to beat Josie McArthur from Purple Posies," I said firmly. I felt a motivation to win now that I hadn’t felt at all before.
"I will help you with whatever you need, and so will Cynthia. You have to win. Your mother will have a fit if we lose."
"I appreciate it, because you’re right. There's no way I want to tell my mom that we lost."
As much as I felt a little competitive, mainly because this Josie person was getting on my nerves, I also wondered if Josie wanted to win badly enough that she could have killed to Susan.