The Smart Sister

TLC

"You have been working really hard lately. Is it because of the loving of a great lady?" joked Cliff as he winked at his grandson. "I know when I got together with your grandma. We couldn't keep our hands off each other."

"I am not talking about this with you," said Reed as he looked over the finances of the business.

"So yes."

Reed shook his head at his grandpa's antics. 

"Fine. What are you looking at so intensely?"

"I am trying to see what I can do to improve the business."

This made Cliff serious. "Is there something wrong? I know we are never going to be wealthy, but we are making a profit, right?"

"Yeah. We are in the black, but I want to do more. I took over this company and haven't changed a thing. I haven't made it mine. I want do something that says we are improving with time. You know what I mean?"

Cliff walked behind Reed and put his hands on Reed's shoulders. 

"I am so glad that you only got your height from your dad's side of the family. That is what a real man would say. You aren't content to just get something. You want to show that you earned it. I'm so proud of you."

Reed smiled. "Thank you."

"So what were you thinking?"

"I want to establish stronger ties with some of the local landscaping companies to buy exclusively from us. Maybe come up with a better system for ordering like electronic forms or even a receptionist. We could hire someone part time to take orders. Right now, it is very informal. Or even hire someone to help with flower arrangements for the front shop. Remember Grandma used to make a lot of side money from doing flower arrangements for weddings and such."

Cliff remembered. "She was an expert at making the flowers I grew even better. We stopped because neither of us know how to do it."

"Right.  Maybe it's time to find someone who can."

"But where will we get all this money to support these new people?"

Reed scratched at his head as he looked at the finances. 

"Well, we have enough in the books to hire one person, but not two. So maybe just hire a person to do both jobs. I can always supplement the added expense with the money I pick up from my landscaping work with Jack."

"Are you sure?" 

"Yeah. If I do this correctly, I can really make this place bloom. Pun intended."

Both men began to laugh, remembering how Reed's mom loved flower puns. 

"I told you that you needed someone. You are so much happier now." 

Reed smiled. "Yep, you're always right."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reed pulled into her driveway as usual, but today was different. They usually spent their time inside, necking like a bunch of randy teenagers. Today, they were going out to eat. . . with her family. Reed didn't like how the last meeting with Cole went. So, he wanted to meet her family formally. It was the right thing to do. Besides, he wanted to establish that they were indeed a couple. 

He walked to the door, just in time to see her step outside. She wore a dark red dress that hung off her shoulders. A jean jacket was in her arm as she rushed out the door. 

"I saw you coming. Ready?"

He stopped her before she made it to his car. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into him. 

"You look beautiful, Amelia." He kissed her lips in greeting. He heard her mewl. 

"Thank you. You look nice too." He wore a olive green button down shirt with dark washed jeans. It was more formal than she was used to him wearing, but she knew that he was worried. 

He opened the door to his old truck before walking to his own side. 

"So how was work?" he said. He turned on the car and pulled out. 

"Fine except remember how I was telling you about Dr. Engels."

"The Ice queen? What happened?" He turned out of the subdivision. 

Well, in order to tell this story, she would have to fully explain who her siblings were. She usually skimmed over their careers with as very little details as possible. Meeting Cole had freaked him out. Imagine mentions of a movie star or sports pro. 

"You met Cole. She basically wants me to ask Cole to support her bid to become head of the hospital. She said if Cole gave a donation because of her or something, then she would be a shoo-in. She made sure I had the easy assignments, so that I would want to pay her back. It is the opposite of what I would want."

Reed nodded his head, that sounded like Amelia. Reed knew she was a hard worker. Every night when he called, she was constantly reading medical journals to improve her knowledge. She worried about how well she was doing and generally cared about her patient. She loved being a doctor, even when she was stressed out.

At the next red light, Reed leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. She smiled and grabbed his hand. It sent warmth through her body. It was such a simple touch, but it was a level of intimacy to just simply trust that someone was there. He squeezed her hand. 

"What did you do?"

Amelia explained the conversation as he nodded in the appropriate places. 

"Are you going to support her or ask Cole to?"

"I don't think so. I don't care about all these politics. I just wanna help people. At least, I have her off my back for now. Hopefully, they will make a decision soon on their own, so I won't have to do anything."

"We can only hope," said Reed. They pulled into the restaurant. He walked around to open her door. It squeaked with age. As soon as she was out, she grabbed his hand. 

"They'll love you. Don't you worry."