Page 13 of Poinsettia Lane

Addison twirls a hand for Everly to keep going while she takes a sip of her drink.

“He delivered the poinsettias and tree for the party,” Everly blurts it out so fast all the words run together, then clamps her mouth shut.

Addison pauses with her lips still on the glass.

“And?” she says.

“And… that’s it,” Everly replies.

“What? That can’t be it. Did you give him your number?”

“No, I was all flustered and he didn’t ask for it, so I think that’s just… it.” Everly shrugs, trying to play it off like she isn’t dying of disappointment.

“No way,” Addison says. “If you like this guy, you have to see him again! He must work at the greenhouse, right? You could go see if he’s there!”

“Oh my god.” Everly cannot believe this girl. “You want me to go to his work? Like some sort of stalker?! That’s insane, Ad.” She uses her childhood nickname for her sister for the first time in nearly a decade, and it would have gutted her in the best way if not for the current distraction at hand.

“I mean not like, in a stalker-y way.” Her sister rolls her eyes. “Just go pretend you need a plant or something.”

If she’s being honest, Everly hadn’t even thought of that idea. She assumed he was a delivery driver, but what if he also works there? Or maybe she’ll run into him between deliveries. How crazy is it that she’s actually considering this?

“Just think about it. It’s not every day you meet someone who makes you feel like that.” Thankfully, her sister doesn’t push too much and they move on to other topics. Addison fills her in more on her work and life in San Diego. They don’t get into anything too deep, but that’s okay for now.

At the end of the night, the women tentatively agree to another visit in a few weeks. Addison is going to check her work schedule to see if she can open up a long weekend and fly out again. They also agree to start texting and calling weekly until then, in an effort to get to know each other better and make up for years of missed opportunities. Everly is feeling happier than she has in years to be fostering this reconnection. She has her sister back, and that is everything.

~~~

New Year's Eve arrives, and Everly spends it with Frankie, as usual. She’s had a few boyfriends in the past, but nothing serious or long term. Frankie’s love life is similar, a few relationships on and off, but they don’t have anyone they’re seeing romantically right now either. So here they are, clinking glasses with each other on New Years instead of kissing their one true loves.

“If you could kiss anyone at midnight, like anyone,” Frankie asks with a bit of a slur from all the champagne they’ve had, “who would it be?”

Why doeshisface instantly pop into her head? Obviously, she should want to kiss some super hot, famous celebrity, someone like…

Why is her mind blanking on this? It’s a simple question. Name a celebrity.

Any. Celebrity.

Frankie almost misses her internal freakout, but luckily misinterprets it.

“Why are your eyes so big? It wasn’t a serious question. You don’t have to answer it, but I’d definitely kiss Rachel from Friends. Not, like, Jennifer Aniston, but Rachel. And not her now, but like when she was…” Frankie trails off, then leans forward and slams their drink down on the table next to them, sloshing half of it out of the glass as their eyes get big too.

“Oh. My. God.” Frankie imitates Janice, hands and all, also from Friends. “It’s him! You’d kiss Hot Delivery Guy!”

Everly groans and covers her face with her hands, throwing her upper body back into the cushioned couch. Why can no one drop this?

“You have to see him again,” Frankie insists. “If you’re still hooked on this guy, you have to make it happen. I don’t know how, but you’re seeing him again. I’ll order a freaking plant to be delivered to the coffeehouse and you can come wait for him to deliver it if I have to, I don’t even care. We need to make this happen if you’re still thinking about him!”

They are not going to drop this, Everly can tell. She debates telling them about her sister’s idea, and decides if she’s going to get anyone else’s opinion, it’ll be theirs.

“I was talking to Addison about this too actually, well, more like she was talking to me… anyway, she kind of had a crazy idea,” Everly starts.

“YES. I love crazy ideas. Tell me.” Frankie is ridiculous.

Everly loves them.

“Okay, well. She thinks I should just go to the greenhouse and see if he’s there.”

“How did we not think of this already?!” Frankie almost looks pissed about it. “Of course you should go to the greenhouse. That’s not crazy at all, that’s just being logical and finding a way to get what you want. You do want him, right.” It’s not really a question, they both know she does.

---