Page 12 of Weekends with You

We combed the entire city on a hunt for the most promising winter honeysuckle, delicate magnolias, and fragrant rosemary. The most magical part of this work was the moment just before the sun rose into the sky, casting itself through slanted warehouse windows and across waxy green leaves like a spotlight, gently announcing the day into the silence.

Renee broke the silence from a sale counter, rubbing the budding petals of an orange dahlia between her bony fingers. “These will be perfect for the Fall Fest on Sunday, don’t you think? And I think we can afford them,” she said, releasing the petals to search for a price tag.

“They’re on sale,” I said. “How much can they be?” We almost never checked prices at the sale counter.

“I just want to be sure,” she said, lowering her thin eyebrows. “We have most of what we need for Sunday, so we don’t want to be spending money we don’t have.”

The phrase “money we don’t have” was a thorn in the backof my throat, and I had to make a concerted effort to swallow it away.

“Ah, it’s our lucky day,” she said, confirming the low price with the seller. “They’re a proper steal.” Her smile was back, and I forced mine to match it. “They’ll be perfect, if we can keep them alive until the festival.”

With only two weeks’ notice and a decent amount of convincing, she had agreed to let me do the arrangements for the Temple Tefilo Israel Fall Fest. It wasn’t quite the big break I’d been hoping for, seeing as she was a member of the temple and it was a friend of hers who’d asked for our help, but it was good practice. A chance to prove myself. And, at times, a distraction.

Henry was due home late that afternoon, and Warehouse Weekend was to commence immediately upon his arrival. The plans were still a secret, so I couldn’t prepare myself. I had taken to raiding Liv’s wardrobe lately, though, so at least I knew I had options for what to wear. Part of sharing her clothes meant letting her pick them out and dote on me when we found something we liked, but I could live with that for closet privileges. My own tattered denim and earth-tone crewneck sweaters were starting to get old.

Renee and I placed an order for Christmas roses and cleared the wholesaler out of the orange dahlias, then headed back to the Lotus in the delivery van. It was early enough that I could finish the arrangements for the Fall Fest and get home with enough time to pull myself together, if Renee was willing to work quickly.

Spoiler: She wasn’t. When we got inside, she pored over every petal of every flower, trying to determine the perfect way to include them in the arrangements we’d put together so far.

“Why don’t we just do the dahlias the way we did them lasttime?” She sighed, both of us thinking back to an arrangement we’d done last month. We rarely repeated arrangements, because we were both usually determined to come up with something new and creative, so I was surprised that she’d suggested the callback.

“Oh, uh, I suppose we could,” I said, mostly eager to complete the pieces and be done.

“I just want it to be perfect,” she said. “I want it to be worth their money, you know?”

“I thought you were giving them a discount?” Didn’t she tell me that when she accepted the job?

“I meant to,” she said, “but we couldn’t afford it.” Her voice was measured and quiet, and I wasn’t sure exactly how to respond.

“Well, maybe if we’re lucky, they’ll spread the word, and then we can do some more of these for some extra cash.” I knew I was pushing my luck, but I couldn’t resist. This had the potential to be the first of many bigger opportunities, and I didn’t want to waste it.

“Oh, I don’t know, pet. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” There she went again. “This is already a lot.” She was fussing over a centerpiece we’d done and redone the same way a hundred times. I sighed but had little else to offer by way of response.Baby steps, I guess.

As morning crept into afternoon, I snuck another peek at my watch. I wasn’t one to wish my life away, but I was about ready for the workday to end.

“Hot date?” Renee asked.

“I’m sorry?”What does she know?

“You’ve been checking your watch every few minutes for the past hour. Is there somewhere you need to be?”

“Oh, uh, just the flat. Henry, one of our roommates, theone who’s away all the time, is coming home for the weekend, so we’re all set to do something together. Not sure what it is yet, but I’m supposed to be ready around five thirty. It’s not a big deal, though. I’ll just head home whenever we’re done. No rush,” I lied.

She stopped fussing and looked me right in the eyes. “And do we fancy this Henry?”

“What?”

“You just talk about him an awful lot for a flatmate who’s never home, that’s all.”

“I do not.”

“You sound like my granddaughter.”

“Does your granddaughter appreciate it when you butt into her love life?”

“So you do fancy him?”

I threw my hands up in surrender. “I don’t know. I hardly know him. But heisgorgeous, and I think he was flirting with me last time he was home. But it’s impossible to tell. He’s practically gone again before he’s even home.”

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