Chapter Text
Stanley sighed as he hung up the store phone and took a long sip of his tea. He was supposed to be getting a shipment of carnations and stargazer lilies today, but according to the voicemail he'd just listened to, the rain had flooded the road, causing the delivery van to get stuck in the mud. The delivery wouldn't get here before the shop opened as planned, and there was no telling just how long it would take to get a tow truck out there to get the car out of the mud. Stanley looked out the window when he heard it start to rain again, watching as people rushed to the nearest shop or overhang to avoid getting soaked. He took a slow sip of his tea as he enjoyed the rain from the safety of his flower shop, the soft pitter-patter of the rain soothing his frustration and softening his features to something resembling contentedness. Stanley went back to doing his daily inventory checks, jotting down on a notepad the numbers of all his remaining flowers, before continuing on with the rest of his usual opening responsibilities. Usually, he'd play music during this time, however, the rain outside was better than any song to Stanley and he refused to have anything that would keep him from hearing the sound of the downpour on the other side of the glass.
By the time it stopped raining, Stanley was ready to open his shop to the public for the day. He waved to Curie, a practical but respectful old woman who owned the bookshop across the street, as they both unlocked their shops’ front doors and flipped their ‘closed’ signs to ‘open.’ Since the early mornings were often his slowest hours, Stanley picked up one of his current favorite books from his satchel under the counter. His favorite author, N.R. Torrent, more commonly known as ‘The Narrator,’ had recently published another book, which Stanley had rushed to Curie’s shop on his lunch break to purchase the day it hit the shelves. The Narrator was often known for writing novels that centered around one main character and almost always emphasized the concept of choice. This newest book was about a man who worked a boring office job, until one day he left his office to find not a trace of his co-workers or boss anywhere. Stanley was so invested in the book, he almost didn't hear the bell on the door chime. He looked up from the riveting passage about how the main character couldn't have known the code to the keypad in his boss's office, curious as to who would be coming into a flower shop this early in the morning on a Monday, but then he smiled when he realized it was just his friend Mariella, who managed the cat cafe next door.
“Hi, Stanley! How is your book so far? I know you were so excited to get it last week and I hate to interrupt you while you're reading, but the cafe is opening in about twenty minutes,” Mariella said, fidgeting with the bracelet on her wrist as she spoke. Stanley laughed softly as he placed a packet of seeds in his book to mark his place before signing, “It's okay, I know that you like to have fresh flowers at the counter by now. I already made your arrangement so it would be ready whenever you came by.” He paused to turn around to pull a lovely dark peach-tinted glass vase from a shelf behind him, displaying a wondrous mix of deep indigo clematis blooms, lavender crocuses, and little blue salvias, placing it in front of a smiling Mariella. “Thank you, Stanley. You still didn't answer my question, though. How's your book? Is it as good as you expected? Well, I mean I know you love all of that author's work, he's your favorite and all, but d-” Stanley cut her off by signing ok repeatedly while laughing quietly to himself, “ Of course I love his new book so far. I'm not even close to halfway through since this book is longer than any of his others, but so much has already happened and I'm pretty sure I'm already attached to the main character.” Mariella chucked and leaned forward to smell the flowers, sighing happily at their sweet aroma. “Well I've gotta open up the cafe, but you should come by on your lunch and tell me all about it! I bet Bucket misses you too, so you should at least come by to see him.” Stanley hesitated before signing “ Only if it's not raining when I take my lunch break. You know how much I hate getting wet in the rain and I didn't bring a raincoat or umbrella today. But I'll try to come by at some point today, whenever the rain allows. ” Mariella grinned, “Perfect! Then I’ll see you later Stanley!” She picked up the vase and opened the door, waving goodbye with her free hand as the florist waved back.
Stanley turned his attention back to his book and became entirely lost in his own little world for the next few hours, only having to pause occasionally to hand off an order that was being picked up. This was pretty standard for how his mornings at the shop went, the majority of Stanley's business being pre-ordered arrangements for special occasions. Stanley had just finished a chapter and there was still no sign of the delivery van, so he got up from his stool behind the counter to work on some new arrangements, wincing at the way his knees cracked loudly. Jeez, he didn't think he was that old, but he had been sitting for about four hours at this point.
Stanley checked the time on his phone as he walked across the room to begin putting together a new arrangement, but paused as he saw the time. Was it really already noon? How had time flown by? He sighed and started to build a bouquet, starting in the warm-colored section. First, he pulled a few pink amaryllis flowers, then quickly crossed to the other side of the store to add purple asters. Stanley filled in the empty spaces with white lilac and white heather, fiddling with the placement of each flower and arranging them so they fit nicely for far longer than he'd care to admit. When he decided he'd messed with it enough, he finally stilled his meticulous hands, only to realize it was still missing something.
Stanley frowned, eyes scanning his carefully color-coordinated rows of flowers, trying to figure out what else to add. Maybe he could add a bit of yellow to the mix? Yes, that's what it needed! Stanley reached for the golden-yellow freesias, about to pull a few out of the water when he heard the telltale jingle of the bell, followed by quick, agitated footsteps. He let go of the freesias and turned around to see who had entered, only to see a middle-aged woman with a clearly outgrown bleached platinum bob cut just inches from his face. “You,” she sneered, “better listen up, because I'm only going to say this once. I need a big beautiful bouquet for my sweet little angel's recital tonight. It has to be absolutely perfect, do you understand me? It must include purple and pink as those are her favorite colors, and I need it now. In fact, why don't you just give me that bouquet you're holding, and I'll just-” The woman snatched the bouquet from Stanley's hands, adding purple carnations and black-eyed susans to it before thrusting it back in Stanley's face. “There. Now I just need you to wrap it up all pretty for me and I can give you my money.” Stanley blinked, trying to process the words this lady had all but thrown at him as he cautiously took back the bouquet to wrap it. He almost wanted to laugh out loud when he realized what she'd added to the bundle and their meanings but kept quiet in order to not further irritate the woman. He silently wrapped the arrangement in plastic and paper, tying it together with a lavender ribbon. It took only a moment to ring her up for the bouquet, and the woman paid for her flowers and left without so much as a thank you.
Stanley huffed in mild annoyance, but couldn't help but break into a fit of soft giggles. The woman clearly had no knowledge of flower language, or she would've realized that her additions to the arrangement were ironically fitting for the situation. His miniature giggle fit was cut short by his shriek of surprise when one of the baristas from next door burst in. The next thing he knew, a bin of carnations was knocked over and the barista was dashing for the fluffy white blur that was now hiding behind Stanley. He looked down at the mischievous ragdoll, casually grooming itself as if it hadn't been wreaking havoc mere seconds ago. He reached down and picked up the big fluffy boy, who immediately latched onto Stanley's baby blue cardigan. Honestly, Stanley wasn't even all that surprised to see Bucket the cat in his shop again, knowing that he was one of the more rambunctious rescues over at the cafe. The poor barista was trying to apologize and explain the situation while Stanley pet Bucket, the damned rascal even purring in his arms, but Stanley just waved it off and handed Bucket over to them. They continued to apologize even as they rushed back out the door and over to the cafe.
This wasn't the first time Bucket had done this, of course. His close friend and manager of the cafe, Mariella, liked to joke that he was Bucket's favorite human, though it was clear that that was probably true by the way the ragdoll acted whenever Stanley visited the cafe. Stanley, of course, adored Bucket as well, often going to the cafe on his lunch breaks for a drink and to catch up with Mariella, but also to visit Bucket. At this point, he practically belonged to Stanley, even though he stayed at the cafe. Stanley couldn't adopt him right now even if he wanted to. He simply didn't have the room in his tiny apartment, nor the funds to support another living being in his household. His flower shop was a decent and fairly consistent source of income, however, business wasn't quite so booming that he had much spending money left after bills and necessities. But Stanley was happy running his flower shop, and that mattered far more to him than having spending money for material possessions that would only serve to take up space in his home.
Stanley knelt to pick up the carnations that Bucket had crashed into, inspecting them for any damage. A few of the flowers were slightly bruised, but they were otherwise in good shape, to Stanley's relief. It only took him a few minutes to get them back into their container and clean up the puddle of water on the floor. It might've seemed like he was frustrated, but he really didn't mind Bucket's antics, since it kept things interesting. Sometimes, it felt like nothing ever happened in their quiet little town, so Stanley welcomed the chaos that was Bucket the cat. Truthfully, he worried he'd go crazy if every day was the same and nothing ever happened to him or around him. As much as he preferred to have clear and concise schedules, the repetition and monotony of it all often wore him down. Stanley returned to reading his book as soon as the evidence of Bucket's crimes had been properly dealt with. He let himself get engrossed in the story again as the narrative tension built. However, nothing could've prepared him for what would happen later that day.