Description
Gwyneth Tan knows flowers. She knows just how to arrange a bouquet with the perfect balance of flowers and foliage; which colours complement and which clash; how to create an atmosphere with the perfectly selected bunch. Working in her mother's florist since she was a little girl, Gwyneth finds it easier to talk about flowers than anything else, judging every customer by their floral choice. Given a minute, she can figure anyone out by what they buy. Except one. There's no pattern to the days he comes in, nor to the flowers he buys. And he never buys bunches: he only ever leaves with a solitary flower. Gwyneth can't read him at all, but she wants to all the more. Anyone else might ask a polite question. Anyone but Gwyneth, who struggles to utter a word without the crushing paranoia that she's doing it wrong, the crippling anxiety that every facet of her being is scrutinised when she makes her presence known. So she sticks to her flowers, the comfort she knows, until they cannot protect her anymore.
zero: a good place to start
