Page 43 of Poinsettia Lane

“Sturdy as ever, just as you promised.” Asim grins, nodding his chin toward the truck behind him.

“Well, I’m just glad to see she’s still chugging along. Happy she’s in good hands, you know," he says, and Everly surmises the delivery truck must have been Mr. Williams’ at some point.

“What brings you two youngin’s over here today, then?” Mr. Williams asks, and Asim turns slightly, snagging Everly’s hand and tugging her in front of him, then placing both hands on her shoulders, squeezing gently in reassurance.

“This is Everly, she has some poinsettia plants she wants to share around town and this is one of the stops on her list.”

Asim is beaming, she can hear it in his voice and she swears she can feel it lighting up the air around them. Is this what it feels like for someone to approve of her? She’s afraid to let herself think that it might even be pride, because somehow that feels bigger and scarier than any other possibility.

Mr. Williams greets her with the same warmth he had for Asim, even though they don’t yet know each other.

“Hi Mr. Williams, it’s nice to meet you. Do you think any of the residents would be interested in a free plant?” Everly asks, biting her lip to stop herself from rambling about poinsettias.

“Oh that sounds just lovely, my dear.” Mr. Williams readily agrees and she breathes a sigh of relief.

He helps them unload some of the potted plants and set them up outside the leasing office, then returns to his work inside, leaving the two of them alone in the lobby area. As they are working, a fair number of seniors walk by and Everly greets each one, offering them a plant with a smile on her face.

Some are interested, others offer a polite no thank you. There’s one sweet older lady who eyes the plants, but she’s using a walker and ultimately declines. Asim notices her looking at them though, and offers to carry one back to her apartment. Her face lights up, and she tells him what a sweet young man he is. Everly’s smile grows wider watching him interact with her. He grabs a couple of the nicest looking ones and pulls them to thefront for her to inspect, asking which one calls to her. She spends a moment looking them over, and even reaches down to touch the petals of one, which she quickly declares the winner.

Asim snags it, then holds out an arm, gesturing for her to proceed him toward the main hallway. She pats his arm before returning her hands to her walker, and they shuffle away together. Everly hears a happy “thank you, dear” as Asim gives her a sideways grin over his shoulder on his way out the door.

He returns only a few minutes later and they close up the truck, leaving a few in the lobby and deciding to take the next batch downtown to offer to the other local businesses. Everly saves a couple of her favorites for the hotel lobby, plus a funky looking one for Frankie at Roasted, and they distribute the rest. Almost everyone looks surprised to see Everly, which makes sense given her lack of sociability with others in the community despite having lived all thirty years of her life in this town. On the other hand, Everly is surprised to see how many people know Asim. He’s greeted left and right, with people inquiring after Moose and the greenhouse and his family.

He says hello to Alex, who she learns is the genius in the back kitchen of the bakery, greets José who is pulling up weeds along the sidewalk and she assumes works for the parks and recreation department but doesn’t get a chance to clarify, and stops for a chat with Luís, who is apparently a cashier Asim knows from the hardware store. Alex and Luís each take a poinsettia, but José declines, stating he has enough plants at home already. Everly had no idea Asim was so well known around town, and she side eyes him as they walk to the next shop.

“How do you know so many people?” she asks.

Asim shrugs, and his shirt tugs up underneath the pot of the plant resting above his hip, revealing a strip of smooth, golden brown skin. Everly wants to lick it. She yanks her eyes away before her thoughts continue down that path, focusing on the sidewalk in front of her as Asim replies. “When I first moved here, I missed that sense of community and family I had before. So I wentout and introduced myself to some of the other business owners; tried to foster that sense of home I was missing.”

“Did it work?”

“Sort of.” Asim looks down at the poinsettia, his eyes tracing over the red veins, before glancing her way again. “I do feel a similar sense of community here, but there’s still a hole. Something missing. That feeling of belonging, of family. Being unconditionally loved and accepted and known.” He looks away, a red tint to his cheeks and his eyes latch on to the door ahead of them. He quickens his next couple strides and snags the handle, pulling it open and stepping aside for her to walk in ahead of him.

Everly wants to ask more, but clearly he isn’t very comfortable talking about it right now. She lets it go and they focus on finding new homes for the last few plants.

Finally, they make it to Roasted Coffee House with the last one she picked for Frankie. Frankie’s head swings around from behind the counter as they open the door and step inside, and when they see Everly, they drop the checkered hand-towel they were using and walk around the counter toward the two of them.

“Oh hey, I know you!” Frankie says, striding up to them and holding out their hand to Asim.

“You do?” Everly asks, looking between Frankie and Asim.

“Well, in passing. You stop in for coffee every now and then, right? Chaga, if I’m not mistaken," Frankie answers Everly and then turns to Asim for confirmation.

“You have a good memory.” He smiles and shakes their hand. “Nice to officially meet you, I’m Asim.”

“Frankie," they reply. “So what’s up?” Frankie turns back to Everly and raises their eyebrows expectantly.

“I brought you a plant!” Everly holds it out in front of her with both hands, smiling as she thrusts it into Frankie’s arms.

“Oh! Okay, cool.” Frankie glances at Asim as they accept it, then looks back to Everly, their face carefully neutral. “Um, why?”

“I’m donating all the ones from the party. Asim is helping.” Everly waves a hand in his direction, her words spilling over each other. “I saved this one for you though,thought you’d like it. It’s kinda weird.”

One side of Frankie’s mouth tips up. “You thought I’d like the weirdo plant, huh?” They extend their arms, holding it in front of them as they twist and turn the pot to inspect it further. “It is a little misshapen, kinda short on one side and scraggly on the other.”

Everly shifts her weight from one foot to the other, Asim’s hand coasts lightly along her back.

“Yeah, it’ll do," Frankie declares, her eyes meeting Everly’s again as they grin at her. “Here we go.”

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