She shakes her head and gives me a sad smile. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”

I open my mouth to retort, sarcastically of course, but nothing comes out.

“I’m going to take some stuff out to the trash.” And she leaves me there alone in the middle of the store, wondering for a half second if she’s right. But she’s not, obviously, and soon enough my attention is pulled elsewhere.

Twenty minutes after the party’s official start time, my nerves have fully taken over. All of my crew is here, and a couple of other invitees, but the space looks scarily empty. I invited a bunch of Brooklyn-based influencers, along with all the other florists located in the general area, looking to build relationships and hopefully a referral network. I was relying on the influencers to help spread the word about the shop’s opening, but so far, none of them have stepped through the door.

“I told you no one was going to come,” I whisper to Jack, trying to keep from actually wringing my hands with worry.

He places a calming kiss at my temple. “It’s early. How about some wine?”

I happily accept a glass and attempt to force myself to look anywhere but the front door.

But thankfully, fifteen minutes later, the store starts to fill up. A slow trickle of people continues to come through the door, and when I’m not flitting around and saying hi to everyone, I try to catch their reactions when they see the space for the first time. There’s lots of oohs and aahs, and every smile makes my heart flutter. This might be better than sex.

Jack hangs mostly with Nick and Harley while I run around introducing myself to the guests, and Gemma stands guard at the food table, restocking and tidying with an effort bordering on overzealous.

I chat with probably fifty people I’ve never met before tonight, all of them raving about how awesome Bridge and Blooms looks. The influencers are live-streaming and posting up a storm, and I’m itching to check my phone and see how our stats look, but I know it’s more important to make face-to-face contact at this moment, while I have them all here.

The florists are my favorite people I meet throughout the evening, because they all really get it. How it feels to watch something grow and then turn it into a work of art, guaranteed to bring a smile to someone’s face.