Page 19 of A Future in Blossom

“So ... I bought those six acres.”

“Wait ... what?” The adjoining six acres to her field?

He pushed off from the trailer. “I know I should’ve told you, but it was too good a deal to pass up. And this way, if we wanted to keep this greenhouse as a venue site—for weddings or flower workshops or those kinds of things you keep talking about—we could add another greenhouse in the back six acres. This site is best for bringing in the public. Easy access to the road, good parking. And then there’s varieties. You wanted year-round flowers and that’s going to take more than three acres.”

“Dawson ... hold on a minute. I love the idea of this, but I can’t afford that land.”

“You don’t have to. I bought it.”

“You can’t afford to buy it.”

“I can and I did.”

Still confused, she peered at him. “But ... that would mean...” What did it mean?

A smile started. “It would mean ... that you’re no longer my boss.” He took her coffee cup out of her hand and set both cups on the ground. He took a step closer to her. “It would mean ... that we’re partners.” He put his hands on her elbows. “It would mean that we’re in this for the long haul.” He peered down at her, his eyes landing on her lips. “It would mean I’m all in ... if you are.”

She looked up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “All in.” She reached up to kiss him, and as his arms circled around her, she realized that she’d never really known what it was to be loved until she was loved by Dawson. Between kisses, she said, “I just came up with a name for our flower farm. A Year of Flowers.”

He tightened his arms around her. “I like it. Says it all.”

They stayed in an embrace for a long while, so long that Tessa closed her eyes. The minute she did, a lovely feeling came over her. Like a hug from Rose. She opened her eyes with a start, but it was Dawson whose arms held her.

And suddenly a commotion from inside the greenhouse startled them. The caterer bolted out of the greenhouse and ran toward the Airstream. “Get some towels! A blanket! Bring hot water! The bride started line dancing and her water broke! The baby’s coming.”

fourteen

One day you will look back and see that all along, you were blooming.

—Morgan Harper Nichols

CLAIRE

Claire sat alone in the waiting room of the Highlands-Cashiers Hospital. Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman were in the room with their daughter and son-in-law and their yet-to-be-named baby girl, who had been delivered by a Sunrise firefighter in the nick of time—right in the greenhouse. Claire drove the Zimmermans in the Volkswagen bus behind the ambulance. Tessa, Dawson, Jaime, and Liam remained at the site to take care of the guests and clean up. Claire still had the VW bus’s keys to give to Mr. Zimmerman and no way to get home. So she was stuck for now.

In the quiet, Claire had time to ponder. She had caught a glimpse of Tessa and Dawson locked in an embrace by the Airstream right before the bride started line dancing and her water broke. And she’d been aware of undercurrents between Jaime andLiam from the start. She felt left out. She didn’t belong. It was a familiar feeling, like a default.

Returning to Sunrise was a good decision, but it also stirred up so much longing for Chris’s attention. And he was a magician—always disappearing. Like tonight! He’d told Claire that he would come to the wedding to help out and yet he didn’t show up. Nor did he respond to her texts asking for his whereabouts. She felt as if he was always hiding something from her. They’d get a little closer on the weekends, and thenwhoosh... he’d vanish again.

She inhaled a deep breath. She wasn’t going to let herself go down a well-worn rabbit trail that led to nowhere. These last few months had taught her a few things about herself. She wasn’t alone. Even if she felt she was, she wasn’t. And she owed that to Chris. He had reminded her that believing in God was one thing. Trusting in him was where all the good stuff came in. That was where the peace lay.

It was good to be here, to be back in the flower shop. It was good to be connected to Jaime and Tessa again. To be forgiven by Rose felt like she was a bird set free from a cage. Yes! That was it exactly. She felt set free from a cage—one of her own making. A cage of insecurities and neediness. A cage of expecting too much from others. Rose, Tessa, Jaime, MaryBeth, Chris. Especially Chris.

Growing tired, she curled up in a chair and closed her eyes.

Just as she started to drift off, a funny feeling came over her, so real that she opened her eyes with a shock. She could’ve sworn Rose was giving her a hug. But there was no one in the waiting room but Claire.

fifteen

May the flowers remind us why the rain is so necessary.

—Xan Oku

JAIME

Bless their hearts.Even with a baby born in the middle of a wedding reception, and the bride and groom whisked off to the hospital, the guests stayed to party on. It was after eleven o’clock when the last guests left. Jaime had learned a trick from her time at Epic Events: Close the open bar a good hour or so before the formal end to the reception. It always amazed her that shutting off the tap had that kind of effect on a party. Guests drifted away like barn cats.

Liam had finished paying the caterer and locked up the Airstream for Tessa, then came looking for Jaime. She was carrying out the last bag of trash from the greenhouse, so he took it from her and set it with the other bags near the fancy porta potties, waiting to be hauled away in the morning. “Well,” he said as he returned to the greenhouse, “who would’ve thought a bairn wouldarrive tonight. ’Twas a lovely way to christen Tessa and Dawson’s flower farm.”

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