The Secret Admirer |BL|

Chapter 5 - The Pearl Envelope.

"I'd like to order two dozen roses." A horse voice spoke from in front of Jonathan in the late hours of night.

"Pardon?" he asked politely, rising up to his full height. He looked up from the brightly lit computer screen to see who had walked into his store late at night. An old man –in his fifties-- stood at the counter. He looked awfully familiar, but Jonathan shook off the familiarity. He met hundreds of people every day; the man could have been any one of his previous customers. There was nothing strange about it at all.

"I'd like to order two dozen roses," The man repeated himself, calmly. There was arrogance in his tone, but then who didn't. It was late night New York, people tended to be arrogant and self-assertive at night.

Jonathan smiled at the old man, taking in his image. He was dressed in a gray black coat, an oversized scarf wrapped around his neck it covered well over quarter of his face.

"Yes sir. What kind of roses would you like?" He inquired in a professional sales voice.

"Those ones." the man said, simply and pointed at the quite exquisite deep ruby red, velvet petal roses.

"Wonderful choice sir." Jonathan said while approaching the roses. "And you said, two dozen?" Jonathan asked, confirming the order. The lovely aroma the roses gave out brought a smile to his face.

"Yes, thank you."The man's voice came from behind him. He could tell that the old man still stood near the counter, watching him cautiously. "I want them sent to this address." The sound of paper being pushed on the wooden counter made Jonathan look back at the man, he smiled with a polite nod and returned to picking roses.

He paused; counted the roses he had in his hand and approached the man again. "When would you like them delivered, Sir?" He asked while looking down at the note that was on the counter and studying the address on it.

He replied firmly with an exact date and time while tapping the piece of paper. "Okay. so just those roses? Any message you would like to attach to the delivery Sir?" Jonathan asked, further scanning the paper and entering the address into the system.

Dalton & Meriden?

He drew his eyebrows together for a moment then his eyes switched to the older man. "Who would you like this sent to?" He asked curiously. It couldn't be, he thought.

"Huh?" The man asked. He seemed distracted, confused and now slightly on edge.

"Of the recipient?" He explained, cocking his head to the side. His blood pumped fast as he awaited the answer. If this was who he thought it was he should be the one Marcus was looking for.

"Marcus Berkley." The man replied in a flat tone.

Jonathan's heart paused for a moment. Calm down, he told himself. He couldn't blow this chance. He owed this to Marcus. Name and address, he reminded himself. His hands shook in anticipation.

"Sure sir," He said, trying to seem as normal as he could while he entered the sender's information into the system. "And your address sir?" He questioned, casually.

The man's expression changed. "My address?" Suddenly the stranger seemed unsure of what he was doing.

"yes, and a name." Anything... Give me anything, Jonathan chanted.

"Why?"

"It's a new policy sir. Every customer needs to provide identification before we process the request." He bluffed. Slightly impressed by himself he smiled.

"Give me a moment." The stranger said and pulled out an old modeled phone from his pocket and walked back towards the entrance while holding the phone to his ear.