Burning Flowers (Book 1, The Clarke Trilogy)

By June Beyoki

#1 in The Clarke Trilogy. Clarke's childhood was defined by a mystery absentee father and a harsh mother. Now in her 30s, she is virtually emotionally unavailable and high strung, still trying to please her mother by finding success in the flower business. Her only comfort is in the many men she has few fleeting moments with.
After a fire threatens to ruin her flower shop, she meets a carefree young man named Vince. At first, his personality irritates her, but he comes in handy when her mother shows up at the store to snoop around.

• Language: English
• Publisher: June Beyoki
• Release date: Aug 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311589811

June Beyoki

June Beyoki is a paralegal with a passion for romance. With her children almost grown up, she devotes her free time to reading, cooking and writing. She is often engrossed in romance novels and is always looking for more to immerse in.

Book preview

Burning Flowers

June Beyoki

Copyright 2015 June Beyoki

All rights reserved

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the above author of this book. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

About June Beyoki

Acknowledgements

To Michael whom I cherish and love always,

and to my children, David and Crystal, who make life wonderful.

Prologue

Clarke's childhood was defined by a mystery absentee father and a harsh mother. Now in her 30s, she is virtually emotionally unavailable and high strung, still trying to please her mother by finding success in the flower business. Her only comfort is in the many men she has few fleeting moments with.

After a fire threatens to ruin her flower shop, she meets a carefree young man named Vince. At first, his personality irritates her, but he comes in handy when her mother shows up at the store to snoop around.

Chapter One

Clarke Bennett ran her fingers through her hair, twirling her Shirley Temple curls around her index finger. At only seven years old she was already beautiful with long lashes, perfect blonde curls and bright blue eyes. She’d heard people tell her she was going to grow up to look like an old world movie star like Marilyn Monroe or Bette Davis. But for some reason, her mother would always get mad at that and tell people if they kept it up Clarke would get a big head.

Clarke skipped around the house while her mother unpacked. They had just moved to a new home from their dingy old apartment after her mother landed some big job. She’d been a lawyer for years, but now she got a break at a big trial firm. Clarke was already loving all the space at the new place, but her mother kept shooting her dirty looks. At any point Clarke expected her to yell and make her stop skipping around and messing with her hair. If there was anything her mother hated more than anything it was tom foolery.

Clarke skipped her way into the master bedroom where her mother’s things were sitting in boxes everywhere other than the few clothes that were laid out on the bed. She smelled of the perfumes and shampoos in the box next to her mother’s vanity, and then ran her fingers across the soft materials of her mother’s dresses. Her mother seemed to collect expensive and beautiful things, but she was pretty much never allowed to touch them.

Clarke sat down on the floor in front of one of the boxes and began unpacking it, hoping that it might make her mother happy to see her helping out. The box was mostly jewelry and odds and ends her mother kept on her nightstand. Clarke carefully put everything away where she knew her mother had kept them at the apartment. She knew her mother was going to be so surprised and pleased when she saw Clarke had put away all her things.

Then, at the bottom of the box, Clarke found a gold picture frame with an old photo in it. She had to blow off the dust to make anything out. It was a picture of a couple standing in front of a large ferris wheel, like at a carnival. As Clarke squinted, she realized the woman in the photo was a younger version of her mother. The woman had a smile on her face like Clarke had never seen, and her hair was down to her shoulder instead of in the short boyish cut she kept it in now.

Next to her was a tall, happy-looking man who had his arm around her. He had blonde hair and blue eyes just like Clarke. She instantly knew it must be a picture of her father. She’d always wondered about him, but she’d never had the courage to ask.

She picked up the picture and skipped back into the living room where she found her mother setting up a bookshelf they’d bought from the thrift store. Mama, mama! she called in excitement. Look what I found.

Her mother wiped sweat off her brow and looked at Clarke with frustration. Clarke, can’t you see I’m busy? she asked harshly, but Clarke passed her the photo anyway.

Is this my daddy? Clarke pointed to the man in the photo, and she saw her mother’s expression change just for a moment before it went sour again. Her mother stayed silent for a moment like she hoped Clarke would go away or maybe the question would answer itself. But Clarke stood her ground, shaking the photo at her. So, her mother snatched the photo away and threw it in a pile of trash she was keeping to her right.

He was a quitter, Clarke, she said matter-of-factly, not even looking up at her daughter when she did. She still hadn’t admitted for sure that it was her father.

I look like him, Clarke said quietly.

Well, then you better change it. He’s not the kind of man you want anything in common with, her mother spat at her.

Clarke couldn’t stop the tears from running down her cheeks at her mother’s words, but her mother ignored it. Forget about it, Clarke. This is a new life here, and we’re never looking back. We’re going to be important here, and it’s all because I worked hard to get here. So wipe those up and hold your head high. Things are going to change around here. As Mrs. Bennett spoke, she looked up as if she was seeing something that wasn’t there; a dream of a future that she’d always wanted. One that