The Florist of Amalfi – Part 1: The Order

The bouquet order came with very strange instructions. Seven white roses. One red. Placed on the left side, exactly. Luca Bellini had made a thousand wedding bouquets. He had never been asked to make a signal.

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On the Amalfi Coast, the houses climb the cliffs in pink and yellow and white, and the sea below is a blue so deep it looks like ink.

Luca's flower shop sat on a steep lane above the harbour. Lemons hung over the door. Inside, buckets of peonies and jasmine filled the air with sweetness.

He loved weddings. He loved the nervous brides and the crying mothers. He loved making something beautiful that would only last a day.

The Esposito–Ricci wedding was the biggest of the season. The order came from the groom's family, typed and precise. Every table arrangement had its colours and positions. Most were ordinary.

But the bride's bouquet was not.

Seven white roses. One red rose, exactly on the left. To be carried facing the sea during the ceremony.

Luca read it three times. Then he went back through older orders from the Ricci family. A christening. A birthday party. Each one had a strange detail: a single red flower, a specific position, always facing the sea.

And each one, he discovered when he checked the newspapers, had happened on a night when a boat went missing from the harbour.

That afternoon, a tall man in a coastguard uniform walked into the shop.

"Marco Esposito," he said. "I'm the bride's brother. My sister says you're the best." He looked around at the flowers, a little uncomfortable, as if beauty made him nervous. "I'm told I have to approve the buttonholes."

Luca smiled and held up a sprig of jasmine.

"Then let's start with yours."

As he pinned it to Marco's jacket, his hand was very close to the officer's heart.

"Can I ask you something?" Luca said softly. "Do boats go missing from this harbour often?"

Marco went very still.

"Who told you about that?"

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Next: Part 2, The Signal. The Riccis, a midnight visitor, and a bouquet that must be perfect.