Renzo (The Ciprianos of Kellington) (3 page)

He thought about what
she said, roses would be way too predictable. Renzo didn’t want her to think of
his offering as a mere thank you. “Thanks so much for your input, Lisa.” She
walked away and he took out his phone to dial the local florist.

“Tilly’s Floral Shop,
this is Megan speaking how may I help you today?”

“Hello, Megan, this is
Renzo calling.”

“Why hello, Renzo, it’s
good hearing from you. How’s your mom?”

“She’s just fine
thanks. Listen I want to put in an order for tulips.”

“Tulips.
You’re in luck because I got some fresh ones that just came in. How many do you
want and who will I be delivering these to?”

“A dozen and a mix of
whatever colors you might have. These are going to Timeless Treasures over on
Columbia Place, for a Ms. Whitman.”

Chapter Two

Jaslyn had been going
over the figures and it seemed with the recent sale of the statue this month
was a record breaking one. “I called Rodger and he said it’s a go for the
delivery. I’m going to get something to eat. Do you want anything while I’m
out?” Delia asked Jaslyn.

“Um, where are you
going?”

“The farmers’ market,
I’m probably going to grab a little something to eat from the salad bar.”

“Bring me some fruit,
please. You know what I want.” Hitting the print button she rubbed the back of
her neck. Lord knows she needed a neck rub. She should get in touch with Chi
for another back massage. It had been about a month since visiting Chi’s home,
part of which was converted to accommodate her clientele. Both she and Chi had
struck up a barter arrangement. If Jaslyn had gotten certain pieces of Chinese
furniture—like chairs, tables or other home décor like paintings or statues
that Chi would want—Jaslyn would get a free one hour, full body massage. She
had to be seen this week before the pains in her neck and back made working
impossible. Letting out a sigh, Jaslyn tried to concentrate on the work she
needed to do despite the twinge of pain that would hit her every so often.
Before she could get to the back room to grab what she printed, the bell over
the door rang letting her know that someone was coming into the shop.

“Hello?” she heard
someone say as she made her way toward the front. A young man was standing
there with a bouquet of tulips in his arms.

“Yes, how may I help
you?”

“Are you Jaslyn?”

She nodded and he
handed her the bouquet. “Have a great day, ma’am.”

Before she could even
ask a question, the young man had left. She looked at the beautiful array of
tulips in her arms. Bringing them to her face, she inhaled their gentle scent.
The petals softly touched her nose. Never had she gotten anything so lovely
before in her life. Admiring the pretty colors, she noticed the card in their
midst. Taking it out, she opened up the card. A shiver went through her when
she read it.

Jaslyn,

Thank you,
mia
cara
,
for making my mother so happy
,
which makes
me very happy as well.

Renzo

She wondered what
mia
cara
meant and quickly went to her laptop to find a translator. When she found out
it made her smile even more. “My dear.”

“Now what can I put you
in?” she wondered, searching for the perfect vase. Walking around the shop for
a couple of minutes, she looked over the many vases before finally coming
across one perfect for the tulips.
“Befitting for such a
beautiful bouquet.”
Jaslyn smiled as she picked up the vintage, Italian
vase and set it up for the flowers. She placed the arrangement on the same
table where she and Mrs. Cipriano sat at earlier. They are too beautiful, she
thought as she went back to work.

* * * *

During the lunch rush,
Renzo couldn’t focus; all he could think about was whether Jaslyn received the
flowers. He hoped she would have taken him up on his lunch invite, but as the
day progressed she was nowhere to be seen. He didn’t understand why he was
worked up over this woman. Hell, he just met her today and was starting to feel
as if he was back in grade school trying to get the attention of the girls.

To keep himself busy,
he concentrated on his customers, making sure their meals were impeccable along
with the service from his wait staff. While he had been talking with one of his
older customers, he heard a commotion up front and went to see what was going
on. “I don’t understand why I have to wait!” shouted a woman’s shrill voice. It
was Melanie.

“Ma’am, do you mind
keeping your voice down?” Lisa said as Renzo approached the two.

“What are you doing,
Melanie?”

“My friends and I have
come to have lunch. This employee was giving me lip about waiting.” Even mad,
the woman still looked amazing.

Renzo pointed to the
crowd of people waiting to get a seat. “You see all of those people? You are
going to have to wait just like the rest of them. That is unless you want to
tell all of them you think you’re special and have privileges. My dear, just
because we were married at one point in time doesn’t mean a thing to me. You
will just have to wait or go someplace else.” His expression was blank. He
refused to let her get the best of him.

With a snarl of her
upper lip and a roll of those green eyes she told her friends, “Let’s get out
of here!” The group left the restaurant as he patted Lisa’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Mr.
Cipriano, she does this all the time.”

“No worries, Lisa, I
know, but thankfully I was here this time.” Walking away from the front, Renzo
went back to his duties of being a good owner despite the fiasco that almost
ensued up front.

* * * *

“Pretty flowers,” said
Delia when she came back from lunch.

All Jaslyn could do was
smile. Delia handed her the bag of fruit. “Where’d you get those from?”

“A delivery boy came
and brought them to me. When I looked at the card, I found out that they were
from Mr. Renzo Cipriano himself.”

“Oh my God, how do you
know he sent them to you?”

“It came with a card,
silly. Didn’t you just hear me say I looked at the card?” Jaslyn giggled at how
funny her friend was looking at her.

“Let me see this card! I
can’t believe you got flowers from him,” Delia said. Jaslyn handed her the card
and laughed when she saw Delia’s eyes almost pop out of her head while reading
it. “Oh my God, Jaslyn, he’s so into you.”

“What?”

“Don’t ‘what’ me. He’s
into you big time. You want to know why I say that, and it’s not just because
of these flowers you got,” Delia teased.

Taking a deep breath,
she stopped looking at her laptop. “All right, Sherlock, how do you know so
much?”

“During the entire time
you and his mother were having tea he kept looking right at you. I asked him if
he want to look at something in particular, but he told me that he was all right.
So, I pretended to be dusting. He kept looking at you through the bookshelves
and armoires. He stood right over there.” She pointed out where. “I saw how he
was eyeing you when he gave you that check. I haven’t seen a smile on that
man’s face that big in years. He’s smitten with you, Jaslyn.”

Shaking her head and
laughing, Jaslyn couldn’t believe her friend. “Delia, what would a man like
Renzo Cipriano want with someone like me in the first place? Like you’ve told
me before about these Cipriano men, they are all players and women chasers. I
guess he’s looking for another notch in his belt and it has my name on it. But
I am so not that type of girl…at least not anymore I’m not.” Taking a deep
sigh, a nerve in her neck pinched, and she quickly rubbed at it.

“Is your neck still
bothering you?”

“Yeah and it’s gone
down to my back. I’m going to have to call Chi for a massage.” Grabbing the
phone, she dialed Chi’s number. After the second ring, the phone picked up as
she heard her distinctive voice, “Hello Chi’s, how may I help you?”

“Hey, Chi, this is
Jaslyn. I need to come in for a massage. My back is killing me.”

“Why hello, Jaslyn,
sure come on in right away. You haven’t been to see me for a couple of weeks.
Oh, do you have any new pieces I can come and look over?”

“I think I do. You get
first pick. I’ll see you in about fifteen minutes.”

“All right, I’ll be
waiting. Bye.”

“Do you think you can
handle things for the rest of the day?”

“Of course I can. Call
me when you get home,” Delia said.

Jaslyn got her purse
and coat from the back. Giving Delia a hug, Jaslyn headed out with an umbrella
as she walked toward her car in the rain. She knew her back problems had to do
with the changing of the weather, but it was something she couldn’t help.
Mother Nature had her own way of making life just a bit miserable for everybody
and for Jaslyn, it made her whole body feel awful.

Thank goodness for Chi.

The ride to Chi’s home
only took fifteen minutes. Once she pulled into Chi’s driveway, she got her
umbrella and made her way to the porch. When she opened the door, the smell of
incense calmed her senses while the tranquil sounds of nature came through the
speakers of the room. Soon she saw Chi come from behind a beaded curtain.
“Hello, Jaslyn, my dear. Come in the back and change out of those clothes.” She
was a small woman and even though she never told her how old she was, Jaslyn
had come to the conclusion Chi was in her sixties even though she looked like
she was in her thirties.

Once she changed out of
her clothes, she immediately laid down on the massage table. Chi came in and
covered her bottom half with the sheet. “How have you been doing, Jaslyn?” Chi
asked.

“Been doing pretty good
thanks for asking, and business has been picking up lately…ouch!” Jaslyn
shouted when she hit the nerve on her neck.

“Yup, you should have
been coming to me sooner, my dear. This is going to take more than an hour to
get back into shape again. From this moment on, I want you coming here at least
every two weeks and don’t worry about payment. Whenever you get a piece I might
want just let me know. Don’t ever not come and see me, Jaslyn.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jaslyn
told her through the pain and grunts. Throughout the tugs, pushes, and pulls
Jaslyn had never felt more relaxed before in her life. When they were through,
Chi left the room while some nature sounds played over the speakers. This was
something that she would often do to help the client relax.

Jaslyn thought about
what Delia had said about how Renzo had been eyeing her during their visit. How
absurd is the whole idea of him having anything to do with her. When she first
moved here, she went out on dates, but they lead to nothing more than
disappointment. She wasn’t about to get her hopes up too high on some whim from
the observational skills of her friend.

Though she had to admit,
he had a very nice smile. She had to find out more and if these crazy ideas
were true or not. Maybe Renzo Cipriano did have something for her. Well, she
thought there was only one way to find out.

* * * *

It had been three days
since Renzo sent the flowers to Jaslyn. He had yet to hear one word from her.
He thought she would have at least called or come by the restaurant or
something. But he got nothing at all and it irked him. Despite being Sunday, he
didn’t have much to do before the restaurant opened, so he decided to go by her
store. When he walked inside, the first thing he noticed were the flowers
sitting on the table where she had sat with his mother. He smiled.

“Hello?”

Looking to where the
voice came from, he saw her walking from the back with a clipboard in her hands
and a smile on her pretty face. “Why hello there, Mr. Cipriano, how are you
today?”

Even her smile made his
heart skip a beat. She was strikingly beautiful even wearing a simple, royal
purple dress with a wide belt accenting her hips. Her long legs went on for
days tucked inside a pair of brown suede boots that went to her knees. Renzo
needed to say something before he ended up looking like a goofball in front of
this woman. “Please call me Renzo, Ms. Whitman.”

“And you can call me
Jaslyn. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to thank you for the flowers. They were
lovely.”

“I’m glad you liked
them. As long as my mom is happy then I am happy.”

“I’m the same with mine
as well. So what can I do you for today?”

Now what Einstein? What
are you going to tell her your reason for being here is? You should have
thought of something before you walked in here, stupid. Take a deep breath and
just figure out something.
“I came to find something for my
living room.”

“Oh, well are you
looking for some type of furniture or just an accent piece?” Those hazel eyes
of hers twinkled at him. God, he could stare at them for days. But he could see
by the look in her eyes, she was waiting for his answer.

“I’m looking for an
accent piece for my living room. Like a new lamp, vase, or something different
or maybe something for my office.”

“Well, come with me and
I will show you some pieces that you might like.” As he followed her through
rows of pieces of furniture, Renzo released a huge sigh of relief. She showed
him several pieces, all of which were beautiful, but he hadn’t a clue on what
he wanted to pick. “Your mother told me that you weren’t accustomed to shopping
for things,” said Jaslyn.

“Yeah, my ex took most
of the stuff in the divorce. I ended up getting a designer friend to redo everything
in my place. But I would like to get a vase or another lamp for my office.”