Page 31 of Our Little Moments

I blink back the pressure behind my eyes.I’m proud of me too.

“I’m trying.”

Derek’s voice is confident, and I know he’s grinning. “Stella, I know you’ll get there. There’s nothing you ever set your mind to that you didn’t accomplish. Just believe a little more in yourself.”

I smile. It was the first piece of advice he gave me when we started training together.

It feels like a new era of us. A new beginning.

And it couldn’t make me happier.

We hang up and, as I put my phone away, I notice there’s something new in the room—a note. I grab it from the floor. Someone must have slipped it below my door.

The writing is all flowery and pretty cursive.

Hi, Stella.

Our talk with my sisters from yesterday stuck with me.

So, I wanted to invite you to come over to my flower shop tomorrow.

We can chat and get to know each other a little better, if you’re interested.

Hopefully your friend,

Hazel

My heart warms. She’s the sweetest.

Of course, I’ll come over.

When I’m in bed, looking out into the moonlit sky, I can’t help but smile.

Despite the mess my life is in, despite the chaos I’ll have to handle when I return home, despite every doubt and fear in my head, Istillgo to bed with a grin on my face.

Chapter 12

Stella

Ithought this town was a fairytale, but I was wrong. When I step into Hazel’s flower shop, I step into a world of wonder.

The shop smells wonderful, filled with the fragrance of countless flowers. The magic here is so gentle it soothes every part of my heart.

Petals are scattered like confetti across the floor. Vines hold bouquets to the walls. The shop is pretty small, almost the size of my hotel room, but the space seems to stretch out endlessly.

I’m so in awe of her shop that I don’t notice Hazel, who’s currently on her knees, humming a song, gently holding onto a flower. I sink to the floor, watching her work. It’s one of the most wholesome sights I’ve ever seen. Hazel takes care of her flowers with so much tenderness and affection that my heart melts.

Then, I watch in awe as her magic starts to work before my eyes. Vines all around the shop twist and slowly stretch toward the flower she’s holding. Every petal and flower around us begins to glow, sparkling like stars in a midnight sky.

The green daisy Hazel is cradling becomes vibrant, as if she’s breathed life into it, and the petals begin to shift, shimmering with an ethereal glow.

It’s now that I realize that the vines are uniting behind Hazel to form aheart.

Symbols start spreading on the petals. A slow, gentle drawing that reminds me of ink on a letter.

A darker shade of green traces, like a pen on paper, musical notes all around the petals, surrounding each of them with a spark of magic.

Wow.

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