Clarke crossed her arms and stood back, looking around at her shop. It was a bit of de ja vu considering about a week or so earlier she was doing the exact same thing before everything happened. Over the period of the last two days, they'd managed to get in enough flowers so that the place didn't look empty. There wasn't an Easter section any longer, but she had the Easter look book on display at the front counter for ordering purposes. They had plenty ready on back log that Katie had set up for about a week or two out.
The prom section was back and in some ways better than before, and there was a wide array of simple roses as well as bright spring colors in the right hand corner that were really good for making Clarke feel better.
"It looks pretty good," Vince commented, coming in from the office. He'd been finishing the back part of the shop up so that everything would be ready for their reopening on Thursday.
Clarke looked at him nervously, thinking about their date later. It really wasn't a date, but just in case her mother showed up again they were being careful to stick with the plan, and she had told him she needed to talk with him about what to expect. That dinner was going to be a lot of pressure on the both of them, and he needed to be prepared.
"It does look nice," she agreed with a sigh. "I'm just afraid it's never going to be perfect again."
"Clarke, nothing is ever going to be perfect for you. Just enjoy the fact that our shop is back up and running," scolded Katie as she came in from the back as well. She had been calling the other staff members to let them know when they would be reopening so that they could come back to work. Vince chuckled, and Clarke shot him a look, so he stopped.
Katie glanced between them suspiciously and walked over to Clarke, giving her a side hug. Clarke quickly pulled away. "Why don't you go ahead and take a load off. It's been a rough week for you. I can handle everything. It's not like we're open yet anyway," Katie offered. Normally Clarke wouldn't go for such an offer, but she was really anxious to get things over with Vince.
Clarke nodded and looked to Vince. "I think I'll head over and get a coffee and a sandwich maybe. I'll see you Thursday, Katie." Katie nodded with a surprised smile. She was probably freaked out that Clarke finally too her advice to leave the shop; something she'd never done before. Clarke walked into the office to get her small black clutch and caught herself looking in the small mirror and fixing her hair. This was the one time she didn't want to care how she looked. Vince was just some guy who was pretending to date her so that her mother would leave her alone about the shop. She didn't even like him that much as a person; he was annoying. All that whistling gave her the creeps. But she still needed to look her best if she was going out in public.