Page 52 of Wish You Faith

Perhaps that was how he had a hundred thousand dollars in his bank account, enough to impulse-buy a bonsai for his mother.

Then again, it was for his mother. Rosie would have and could have bought her own mother a lot of things, but Mom prevented her from doing so. Mom didn’t want things. She only wanted to make sure that Rosie could go on.

“I need to keep it someplace safe because I don’t get off until five o’clock and I don’t think I should put this in the back of my truck until then.”

Rosie snapped back to the present. She was still at work.Focus, girl.“It needs to be outdoors.”

“My rental apartment has a balcony, but it’s cold outside.”

“When are you going to take it to your mom?” Rosie asked.

“Christmas Eve.”

Oh. That meant Evan would be gone for Christmas. She wondered if they’d miss each other. “Are you driving home?”

“I’m not sure yet. It’s a long way from here to Seattle.” Evan smiled. “I’ll miss you too.”

Rosie cleared her throat. “I meant that if you drive home, you can easily put the bonsai in your truck. We have special shipping boxes for live plants that you can use.”

Evan didn’t stop smiling.

“If you fly, I don’t know how you fly with this bonsai.” Rosie kept talking because she didn’t want to talk about missing Evan in a future tense. Right now, she couldn’t bear to part with him. “Some people have flown with their bonsai. But I think it would be damaged in the overhead bin and it won’t fit under the seat in front of you.”

“That so?” Evan stared at her, amusement in his eyes.

“Uh-huh.”

“So I’ll just buy a second plane ticket for this bonsai tree.”

Rosie chuckled at Evan’s silly suggestion.

Evan didn’t laugh with her.

Rosie cleared her throat. “Well, I suppose you can do that. Wouldn’t it be a waste of money? Then again, it’s an expensive bonsai, and it’s a special gift for your mom, whom you clearly love. Well, I’m guessing the last part. I don’t know you or your mom. I mean…”

Evan smiled.

“What?” Rosie asked.

“You asked me a question and then you answered it yourself. Do you talk a lot when you’re nervous?”

Nervous?

Rosie didn’t know what to say.

Evan lowered his voice and whispered in her ear, “We’ve already kissed.”

Rosie remembered their first kiss under the fireworks by the Savannah River the Friday before. It had only been three days since then, but they had spent time on Saturday and Sunday with each other and Rosie’s mom—who had approved of Evan right away. Mom seemed to be in more of a hurry than both Rosie and Evan.

Rosie took a half step back. “We’re at work right now, Evan.”

Evan eyed her lips.

Rosie cleared her throat. “The bonsai should be okay in the greenhouse for a few hours this afternoon. The greenhouse is warm all year round, obviously, and mimics the great outdoors.”

Evan patted her shoulder. “Stay here and watch over my tree while I go find a cart.”

Rosie dug into her other apron pocket and pulled out a white t-type plant label and a red marker. She wrote “SOLD” on it and inserted it carefully at the edge of the bonsai container, away from the roots, in that spot where the soil met the porcelain wall.

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