I placed buckets of sunflowers and mums inside the cooler, setting them down harder than necessary. But seriously, Rachel had no clue what she was talking about. This had nothing to do with me sabotaging anything. This had nothing to do with me being scared. This had everything to do with reality.
I imagined admitting to Nate that I knew his sister, that the only man I ever dated was, in fact, his brother-in-law, and funny story . . . the day we met? Yeah, I was actually driving by to spy on the wedding. I shook my head, brought a bucket of flowers with me out front, and began snipping the stems. I wasn’t being scared. I was being practical. Snip, snip, snip. I was so into the therapeutic snip-snipping that I didn’t register the jingle of the front door or the customer that had walked through it until said customer cleared his throat.
“Are you upset with those flowers?”
The sound of George’s voice had me looking up, and smiling too. Maybe the most genuine smile I’d smiled since reading Nate’s e-mail last week. “It’s nice to see you here on a Friday, George. What brings you in?”
He leaned his cane against the counter and slid off his hat. “I believe the good Lord did.”
“Oh?”
“You’ve been on my mind, Miss Amelia. Ever since I came in on Monday for my bouquet.”
“Well, that’s sweet.” I set the scissors down and wiped my hands on a nearby towel. “What flowers do you want in your bouquet today?”
“Forget-me-nots.”
“Those are one of my favorites. Your wife will love them.” I pulled out a bucket of the blue beauties from the cooler. “So why have I been on your mind since Monday?”
“You were in a sad state last time I saw you.”
“Oh, George, I wasn’t—”
He held up his hand to stop my protest. “I know you were smiling and doing and saying all the right things, but if there’s one thing my old age has helped me with, it’s sensing a person’s spirit. You were going through the motions on Monday, and in all these six years I’ve been coming into this shop, I’ve never once seen you go through the motions. So this morning, when the Lord put you on my heart and mind again, I knew I had to come in and check on you. And here I’ve found you attacking those poor stems there.”
“George.” I tilted my head when I said it, and blinked away an embarrassing sheen of moisture. He’d touched me. Right in the center of my sad heart. Pricked it with a little rose thorn, because everything he said was on the money and there was no use denying it. I was sad. If I told Nate the truth, he’d think I was pining for Matt, when the actual truth was, I was pining for Nate. A man I’d only ever met once in my life during a chaotic, embarrassing moment.
“Well?” George said.
“You’re right. I’ve been feeling a little blue.”
“Like those flowers.”
I smiled and put together a small bouquet of my mother’s favorite flower for my favorite customer. “I fancied myself in love. Or at least, in the process of falling that way. Things ended rather abruptly.”
“That would make a heart sad, all right.” He twisted his hat inside his arthritic hands. “Mind if I ask why it ended so abruptly?”
Somehow, as I put the finishing touches on George’s bouquet, I found myself telling him the entire story from beginning to end. It was more therapeutic than the snip-snipping. “It’s complicated, isn’t it?”
He pulled his billfold from his back pocket while I rang him up. “Most of the good things in life are.”
“Do you agree with Rachel?” I handed him the bouquet. “Do you think I’m sabotaging a good thing because I’m scared?”
“You want an honest answer from your old friend?”
“Yes, I do.”
“I think it can’t hurt to take a risk and tell him. I think that if what the two of you have is the early blossomings of love, then that’s worth all the embarrassment in the world.” He stuck his nose inside the blooms, then handed them back over the counter to me.
“You’re not happy with the bouquet?”
“Oh, I’m tickled with the bouquet. I’m just giving them to the recipient.”
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: Fri, Oct 16, 2015 12:19 p.m.
Subject: Change of Heart?
Dear Amelia,
I’m sorry if I said something in my previous e-mail to scare you away. I probably made it sound like I was asking you out on a date. If you don’t want to meet up in person, I can understand that. That would be a big step in our relationship.
I hope you are doing well. I know this sounds crazy, considering, but I miss you. I have nobody to help me procrastinate now but my dog. I have a dog. Did I tell you that?
Best,
Nate
PS: The subject line fits, but the movie’s not all that great. If you haven’t seen it, I wouldn’t bother. There are better ones out there. However, Shirley Temple makes an appearance. She’s always good for a smile.
“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”
—C. S. Lewis
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: Fri, Oct 16, 2015 6:57 p.m.
Subject: Re: Change of Heart?