Page 44 of Rough Hands, Soft Lips
“Soon, chief,” he would answer. “We don’t want to get a speeding ticket on the way.”
And Owen would pout for a while before forgetting he was upset and pointing out random things outside his window. “Do you think I should bring flowers?” Cal mused.
“Only if they’re big,” Owen said. “Really, really big. Because you have to say a really, really big sorry.”
The boy made sense. “OK. We’re taking a bit of a detour.”
Cal took a turn and headed to the local flower shop. It was a shop he’d been in before, family owned, many years old. This shop was one of those memories he usually tried to avoid, and yes, it was painful to him even now. But he breathed deep and focused on Owen, who was going around the shop, rating each bouquet by the size of its flowers. He finally settled on a huge bundle of sunflowers. “If you want those,” Cal told him, “you’re going to carry them.”
“I don’t mind,” he said.
So Cal bought the flowers, and he watched his son hold that giant bouquet and try to see around it on their way out of the shop. Then, something funny happened. The image of Owen with those flowers blocking his view was burned into Cal’s brain. He realized that every time he drove by this flower shop, he’d think of today and that image. He still had his old memories, but this new one would be included, too. And it made him feel happy and proud.
It occurred to him that by avoiding Summit Falls altogether, he was sentencing the town to exist forever in his unhappy memories. He was preserving that grief perfectly and not allowing it to be infected by newer, happier memories. He was inadvertently ensuring that he would associate the town with grief and nothing else. It had only taken a little push from April to change that. And she’d taken a risk pushing him, too. She’d risked his getting angry or distant, which he’d done. She deserved so much better.
“OK,” Cal said, once Owen was buckled into the truck. “We’re going to her apartment, and you’re going to stand in the doorway with the bouquet. When she opens it, I’ll surprise her and tell her I’m sorry.” It was a good plan. Owen looked so cute with his giant bouquet that there was no chance she’d close the door in his face, no matter how angry or hurt she might be. That would give Cal the time he needed to sincerely apologize.
It was the perfect plan, but when Owen knocked on the door, no one answered. There was no chance she was so angry with Cal that she would refuse to speak to Owen, was there? “I don’t think she’s in there,” Owen said, pointing around his sunflowers to the door.
“You’re right.” Cal gestured for Owen to follow him. “She’s probably at work. Should we go there? Would it be too much?”
“We got the flowers,” Owen said. “We have to give them to her.”
The boy made an excellent point. “OK, let’s go.”
They drove to the urgent care clinic, another place that once triggered unpleasant memories, Cal realized. And now, every time he saw it, he would think of April.
The clinic wasn’t busy, which was good. Cal explained himself to the person at the front counter. Just then, Nathan emerged from the back area, probably to call a patient to a room. He took one look at Cal and Owen and pointed. “It’s you!” His eyes darted from the sunflowers back to Cal’s face. “I hope you’re here to apologize.”
Cal narrowed his eyes. “No, this is an I’m-still-mad-at-you bouquet.”
Nathan picked up on his sarcasm and gestured for him to follow. “You can wait in the lounge area,” he said. “Only this once, though. Because I’m not gonna be the guy that thwarts a big, romantic gesture.” Then he leaned in and said, “Thatiswhat this is supposed to be, right?”
“The biggest,” Owen answered on Cal’s behalf.
Cal had to shrug. “The biggest one we could manage in a hurry,” he said.
“Fine,” Nathan said. “I’ll send her in for something. Get ready.”
After Nathan left, Cal positioned Owen in the middle of the room and told him he was doing an amazing job. Then he hid himself behind the door and waited. Before long, April came into the room. Though she didn’t leave the door open to hide Cal, her attention was immediately taken by the adorable boy with the huge bouquet of sunflowers in the middle of the room.
“What’s this?” she asked.
Owen answered, “A big romantic gesture.” He repeated what he had heard Nathan say. Cal doubted he knew exactly what it meant, but he at least understood the spirit of the thing. “These are for you.” He held the sunflowers up and waited until she took them.
“Oh my gosh!” she said. “Thank you so much, Owen. But where’s your dad?”
Cal stepped closer and answered, “He’s right behind you.”
April jumped and spun to face him. “Oh!”
He thought it best to speak quickly before she had the chance to worry about what he was doing there. “I made a huge mistake,”he said, as she hugged the sunflowers to her chest. “I got angry with myself, and I took it out on someone else. I said horrible things to a person who’d done nothing wrong, someone who had given me a push in the right direction.” He sighed and swallowed his pride completely. “I was an idiot. I’ve been an idiot for way too long. I was hoping… maybe you’d give an idiot one more chance to be smarter.”
Her face lit up at that, and she handed him her bouquet so she could throw her arms around his neck and hold him tight. “Of course I will,” she said.
“I shouldn’t have said what I did.” He squeezed her with one arm before finally letting her go. “You would make any kid the very best kind of mother, and Owen would be lucky to have you in his life.” He laughed. “He’s been telling me so nonstop since the festival.”
“Aww, Owen.” She crouched down and gave the boy a big hug. “I love you, too, kid. I’d be just as lucky to have you in my life. Thank you so much for being the most awesome person I’ve ever met.”
