SALUBRIOUS

SB6

Dakota Smith

12:06 pm - September 10th 2023

A light smile dressed Dakota's face as she typed up the note that her customer requested to be attached to the arrangement that he would soon be picking up for his wife. Sweet just because flowers, something he did for the anonymous lady very often, as well as penning her a sweet message. Dakota stuck the note into the arrangement before carrying the vase over to the pick up area. The door flew open, with who Dakota assumed to be Mr. Leblanc. She looked up with a smile on her face, that quickly dropped once her eyes laid on Nas, instead of who she expected. Her heart rate increased as they looked at each other without saying a word, the flashbacks of their backseat love ran through Dakota's mind.

"You hiring?" He queried as he motioned a white piece of paper to Dakota. She grabbed the paper and tried her best to eye it, all while her heart was beating through her ass. "My bad, where my manners? Good afternoon." Nas spoke all at once. Instead of replying, Dakota nodded her head as she continued to skim through his resume.

"Fareed?" Dakota questioned as she finally looked up at him, getting a glimpse of his focused expression. Even in a different setting, he was still fine, which relieved Dakota. Happy that it wasn't one of those instances where a nigga looked better in the club than outside. "Are you related to Kamaal Fareed?" Dakota asked as she sat the paper down.

Nas furrowed his eyebrows together as he slightly shook his head no, "Who is that?" He questioned.

"Q-Tip—from A Tribe Called Quest? It's not really a common last name...so I made the connection." Dakota explained. Nas shook his head again, "I never knew we had the same last name, but naw, we ain't related—I fuck with him though." He replied, Dakota nodded her head. Dakota pursed her lips together and tapped her nails against the glass case.

"I got the job?" Nas questioned, reminding Dakota why he was there—because she honestly forgot. "Oh!" Dakota exclaimed. She didn't know what position she could give him, and running a florist shop didn't require too many employees. Her and her other two staff members had a pretty well oiled machine going on. Dakota sat her hand on her hip as she tried to conjure up a spot for him. Finally, it hit her.

"You're hired." She announced, "your position isn't set up quite yet though, you'll have to give me a couple days." Dakota added.

Nas nodded his head, "That's fine—what's the position?" He questioned. Dakota almost started to
explain before she stopped herself in her tracks, it was weird how everything was playing out, she was big on law of attraction and knew this had to be a case of that. "You're gonna prepare the door dash orders, it's real simple." Dakota explained. She deemed this way as being easier than having a designated driver and purchasing a company car. This route would keep costs low as well.

"That's good with me, I know you said the position ain't ready yet, but could I get a verification of employment? For my parole officer?" Nas spoke, slightly catching Dakota off guard. She knew he was newly released, but to hear he was on parole stunned her a bit. "Yeah, just give me a second—you can start on Thursday." Dakota replied.

"Thank you, Dakota. This shit mean a lot." He spoke, Dakota oddly nodded her head. She began to wonder why she was acting so nervous and shy like they weren't well acquainted. "No problem." Dakota responded, giving him a warm smile.

"I'll be back on Thursday." Nas assured before taking a peep at the door, "10 am sharp." He added, gaining a small chuckle from Dakota. She waved goodbye before turning around and heading to the back room, wondering if what just happened really happened. Dakota pulled her phone out of her back pocket and went to her call long, she pressed Paris' contact and held the phone up to her ear. Calmly, she paced around the room as she awaited her best friend's voice.