Page 6 of A Future in Blossom

In the seven years that Claire and Jaime (and the still-MIA Tessa) had been away, the one competing flower shop near the town of Sunrise had shuttered their doors during the pandemic. Rose’s Flower Shop was the only game serving this mountain area, and business had exploded. No wonder Rose wanted her best workers back. No wonder Rose looked so tired. The poor woman needed a good long rest.

Claire and Jaime worked their tails off. Jaime managed all the weddings, which suited Claire just fine. She preferred taking care of the shop, ordering flowers and supplies, and creating single arrangements. She didn’t know how Jaime could stand making one matching bouquet after the other. Last weekend’s wedding in Sapphire had thirteen bridesmaids.

Thirteen! Back in Savannah, thirteen was just asking for trouble.

The whole notion of thinking that a number had the power to bring bad luck was a leftover from living in Savannah. It was supposed to be the most haunted city in America, but Claire had lived there seven years and never met a single ghost.

Anyhoo, somehow Jaime had the patience for weddings andbrides and brides’ mothers, and Claire did not. She’d always thought Jaime had a bit of a saint in her. Claire was famous for her temper, Tessa for her looks, and Jaime for her sweetness. That’s how Claire saw things, at least.

Here was something new after seven years: Claire had known that Jaime spent time in New York City after college, had worked for Epic Events, and had always had a special touch with flowers, but she was shocked by the advanced skill of Jaime’s floral artistry. Again, any normal person would’ve asked her to share her secrets. To teach her what she’d learned in New York City. Did Claire? Nope. Instead, she carefully watched everything Jaime created, and whenever the shop was empty or quiet, she practiced what she’d observed. Jaime wasthatgood. Claire, entirely self-taught, was far behind. She had a lot of catching up to do.

And something else that was different in the flower shop: Claire and Jaime didn’t talk to each other, really talk, the way they used to. They communicated like two coworkers—clear and polite. Nothing more.

It was the same way with Chris. He traveled a lot with his magician gigs, so Claire didn’t see him often. Maybe once every two weeks, he’d drive back into Sunrise in his old Ford Mustang at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning, check in on his aunt Rose, and do his laundry and spend time with Claire. They’d go to church together and take a long hike in the woods in the afternoon. She’d talk about the week’s flowers—what arrangements she felt good about, what she wished she’d done differently. He’d talk about his magic acts and how to tweak things and what worked and what didn’t. Sometimes it felt as if they were testing the edges of their friendship, but they avoided talking about the things that lay between them—finding Tessa snuggled in Chris’s arms on the night of Claire’s eighteenth birthday. The fire that burned down the shop and destroyed friendships with it. The year Chris spent in prison for it.

Once or twice, Claire had tried to bring it up, but Chris wouldn’ttake the bait. After the third try, he said, “Look, Claire. I’m far more interested in what’s ahead than what’s behind.”

What did that mean? Did he think there was something ahead for them? Because Claire wasn’t at all sure about that. It’s not that she didn’t have feelings for Chris—she had plenty of them, so much she could hardly hold them in. She did hold back, though. After all, she wasn’t seventeen anymore. She knew to keep her feelings for Chris in check and under wraps. But whenever she heard that Ford Mustang roar into town, her heart leapt.

Today, Claire had gone to open the shop but found Jaime had already arrived and was in the back of the store, talking to someone. Jaime often scheduled appointments with new clients before the shop opened, so Claire knew the drill. She stayed in the front of the shop to get started on the day’s to-do list. She needed to clean out the walk-in cooler of leftover flowers from the weekend. She took a deep breath and turned in a circle. This was one of those moments when Claire knew she had outgrown Same Day Delivery in Savannah. Regardless of the circumstances of her departure, it was definitely the right time to go.

There was such a variety from yesterday’s wedding in this cooler! Dahlias and calendulas, sprays of Christmas boxwood, even a bucket full of bay leaf. Those cuttings made her smile. Bay wreaths on the front door of the house were a common sight in Savannah during the winter. Apparently, they kept bad witches away. In seven years, Claire had never met a witch, either.

She grabbed an empty bucket and started to collect all the stems that were past their prime. They could be tossed, but the salvageable ones would be separated into a bucket of fresh water. Later, she’d arrange those into casual bouquets, tied with a pretty ribbon and wrapped in wax paper, to be set in a floral display rack of galvanized buckets out in front of the shop. The outside display rack had been Claire’s idea, and Rose had loved it. It was something Claire had created during the pandemic for the Same DayDelivery shop in Savannah. It was a great way to boost walk-in sales and use up excess flowers. No flower should ever be wasted.

As Claire stepped out of the walk-in cooler with a bucket of old blossoms to toss, she felt all the blood leave her head. In the middle of the shop stood a man she would know anywhere—he wasthatfamous in the world of flowers. Liam McMillan, the Scottish wedding-event wunderkind. It was like being in the presence of royalty. Claire thought she might faint dead away.

four

Don’t compare her to sunshine and roses when she’s clearly orchids and moonlight.

—Melody Lee

TESSA

Tessa was flat-out broke. After the sale of Mountain Blooms Farm in Asheville was completed, she’d ended up with far less than she’d hoped. Fees, mostly, plus taxes. She thought about asking Dawson to double-check the math, but she knew his response would’ve been outrage at the sticky fingers of government. Instead, she spoke to an accountant friend and discovered the figures were correct—she just hadn’t thought there’d be so many bites chomping away at the final sales figure.

She’d been left with enough to purchase the foreclosed property in Sunrise, and just enough for demolition. That was a huge relief, because if that old house couldn’t have been knocked down right away, she wasn’t sure she could live in Sunrise. Happily, that part all worked out. And now the field was empty. Waiting for its next chapter.

An expensive next chapter. It would require steep costs to get the field prepared to become a flourishing flower farm. Renting equipment to plow the fields, purchasing amendments, poly hoop houses to protect the young plants this winter, plus seed, bulbs, tubers ... and then there was Dawson’s salary. She needed him here, she wanted him here, she couldn’t do this flower farm without him. But that meant a boatload of money.

She nearly forgot the greenhouse! Dawson wouldn’t consider a greenhouse if he didn’t think it was the right time for it. Maybe the amount saved from not digging up the concrete slab foundation might equal the amount of the greenhouse.

Which ... really didn’t matter because she didn’t have the money for either. She was nearing the limit on her credit card, and her bank account teetered on being overdrawn. Tucked in the back of her mind was the knowledge that she could probably ask her parents for a short-term loan, but she didn’t want to. They didn’t understand her dedication to flower farming. They spoke of Tessa’s passion as if it was something she’d grow out of, or worse, get bored with. She wanted to make this farm work without depending on a rescue from Mom and Dad, or anyone else. She’d done too much of that in her life. This field had been redeemed from a dark period in her life, one full of regrets, and she wanted to see it all the way through. Maybe it was her redemption too.

She parked her Vespa in front of Rose’s house and cut the engine, took off her helmet, and hung it on the seat. A door closed and she turned to see Chris Reid holding two suitcases. Behind him was Rose. Chris stopped short when he saw her, a shocked look on his face.

“Looks like you’re going somewhere,” Tessa said.

Still surprised, Chris tipped his head toward Rose. “She is. I’m taking her to the airport now.” He came down the porch steps. “You’re looking well, Tessa. It’s good to see you.” He turned to his aunt. “We have a few minutes to spare. I’ll put these in the car and wait for you.”

Tessa moved out of his way and whispered a thank-you as he passed around her with the bulky suitcases. She owed him morethan that, but it was a start. Rose waited for her on the porch steps. She was dressed for travel, not in the work apron Tessa was accustomed to seeing on her. And something else Tessa noticed—Rose wasn’t at all surprised to see her.

“So I hear that you bought a field,” Rose said.

Tessa gave her a weak smile. What made her think that anything in Sunrise could be kept quiet? “I should’ve come sooner. I just needed to get rid of that house before I could do anything else.”

Rose nodded as if she knew. Did she? Was the relationship Tessa had had with that neighbor something that everyone knew? Shame covered her like a lead blanket. “Rose ... I...”

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