Page 44 of Sweet Love From Saturn

I was running into a lot of people with that same story. They didn’t know much about flowers, but when they laid eyes on my arrangements, they wanted to know more. I’d also taken it upon myself to get some rare items shipped from California. The Freesia plants I had drew the most attention. Instruction cards on how to take care of all of my flowers were given automatically, but the instruction card for the Freesia was a little bit different. The directions were more detailed since it wasn’t a common flower. The festival was set to last well into the evening, but I was sure I’d be out of stock by then. I ordered separate inventory so it wouldn’t interfere with what I had in the shop.

“Saturn, I’m so proud of you!” my sister squealed as she approached me.

When she pulled me in for a tight hug, I knew she was about to start crying. Tiffany was a big ball of emotions half the time, especially when it came to me and Aaron. Stepping back from her embrace, I looked at the custom purple shirt she had on. My family, along with Mccoy’s family, looked like a unit right now and I loved it. Although Mccoy and I weren’t married, it still felt like we had successfully become one. My parents decorated the tables well and the flyers Mccoy made were now running low.

“What happened?”

“What do you mean what happened? Do you not see how many flowers you have left? The table is damn near empty.”

“I was just thinking about that. I’m mad I didn’t order enough, but I wasn’t expecting to do this well,” I admitted.

“I don’t know why. Grandma left you with the best suppliers. If anyone ever got a dead or faded rose, we know good and damn well they didn’t get it from May’s Flowers,” she joked.

“I know that’s right,” my mother chimed in from behind us.

“Not only that, but I overheard a customer saying how the other flower shop didn’t have many fresh flowers. Homegirl is pushing those forever roses like bricks.”

“Tiffany, please,” I laughed. “That’s probably doing well with the younger demographic. You don’t have to maintain them,” I stated.

It was the truth. Ever since Desire had opened her shop, she’d been known for those roses. I wasn’t mad about it and had even sold out of mine today. The problem was most people still appreciated the value of a fresh flower. People could walk past my shop and smell the freshness in the air. That wasn’t the case with those forever roses. If there was a scent from those roses, it wasn’t natural.

“When you were telling me about Desire yesterday, you had me thinking she was really some competition. Like, I’m thinking we’re about to see something we’ve never seen before. Yet here we are with a rare breed of flowers on your table. Saturn, you have to start giving yourself credit. You showed out today. This is the first year you even mentioned wanting to be a part of the festival. You could’ve been expanded,” Tiffany explained passionately.

I had no comeback because she was right. Every year the End of Summer Festival happened, I’d talk myself out of it before giving myself a fair chance. Pleasant Springs had so many other great businesses in the area that I always felt like my shop would be overlooked. Everyday business had been slow for a while, but I could see now that participating in the festival sooner would’ve possibly helped that. A lot of my grandmother’s customers still shopped with me, while others never returned. It was hurtful at first, however, I had no one to blame but myself.

The shop was closed for so long after my grandmother passed that people probably thought it wouldn’t reopen.

“Mccoy said the same thing. I don’t know what I was thinking. I had a lot of self-doubt for whatever reason.”

“You’ve always been like that, Saturn. When are you gonna realize that you’re just as deserving as the next person? You that girl, sis!” Tiffany hyped me up.

It took another hour for me to sell out of everything completely. I went to start cleaning up, but my parents told me to enjoy the rest of the festival. Apparently, no one was in a rush to leave. Stacey told me about an ice cream truck she wanted to try and the two of us headed over.

“Did your brother tell you what happened?”

“What happened?” Stacey asked, panic in her eyes.

“His ex popped up. He went to get us something from the café earlier with Justin. It was taking a little longer thanexpected, so I walked over there to make sure they were okay. When I walked up, I saw Justin standing outside. He told me that he’d just taken a call, but Mccoy was still inside. Before we could walk to the door, it was pushed open by your brother going back and forth with a woman and I didn’t like that. I just so happened to hear the tail end of the conversation and heard him telling her about me. I’m not mad at him, but I also don’t want this being a problem. I don’t have that type of stuff going on with my exes,” I vented.

Stacey was a woman first, but Mccoy was still her brother. I wasn’t trying to drag him, but I needed to vent. I’d been holding it in since it happened this morning. Ava had come out to the festival for a little while, but there were too many people around to tell her about it. Stacey and I were still getting to know each other, but I felt like we were close enough for me to express myself.

“Girl, are you serious? Carmen is something else. I’m not saying this because you’re my brother’s new girlfriend or anything, but Saturn, that girl is a little off. She always did questionable shit, but my brother would look past it. I don’t think he truly saw her for who she was until they broke up for good. I’ll always be the one to say that the woman is the prize, but Carmen didn’t deserve my brother. She’s never done anything to me personally, but I didn’t like the emotional games she used to play with my brother. It’s already rare to come across good men and she took him for granted. Hell, he knew not to tell me and my mom she came out here,” Stacey explained.

“My thing is why now?”

“Trust me, had she known where he was, she would’ve popped up a long time ago. He didn’t tell her for a reason.”

That made sense. This whole time I’d been trying to find the answer to that question. I hadn’t thought about the fact that Carmen wasn’t aware of Mccoy’s location until she saw it onsocial media. When I drove home today, I’d be sure to watch my surroundings. The last thing I needed was for her to find out where me or Mccoy lived. A stranger knowing where I rested my head wasn’t something I could deal with. Once we made it to the ice cream truck, I noticed it was the truck of a local parlor. There was a short line, but it took us no time to make it to the front.

“Saturn, what’s up? My mom told me you had a booth out today and I couldn’t believe it,” Wesley said after handing a customer their ice cream.

Wesley’s father was the owner of the Blue Cow Ice Cream Parlor. They’d been in business just as long as my late grandmother. Wesley and I went to school together and had a lot in common since both of our families owned businesses. We were good friends until Wesley tried to cross that line and date me back in high school. He was a cool dude, and I even found him handsome, but our personalities didn’t click. Thankfully, he didn’t start acting awkward after I let him down. When we graduated high school, he decided to stay local and go to community college. Now, Wesley was married with two beautiful children.

“Yep. I decided to participate this year. The experience was much better than I expected,” I answered honestly.

“I’m already knowing. I don’t know what it is about Pleasant Springs, but people love it here.”

After exchanging a few more words, Wesley took our order and prepared it himself. Now Stacey and I were back at my booth where I spotted both Sapphire and Ava. Earlier, when Ava came by, she told me she had a few appointments to look at apartments. I wasn’t expecting her to come back but I was happy to see her. Sapphire, on the other hand, told me she’d be here around this time. A smile spread across my face when I saw the little person glued to Sapphire. This would be my firsttime meeting Kylie and I was happy Sapphire was comfortable enough to bring her around.

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