Finding Her Strength (Sonoma #3)

5. Hope

5

HOPE

“ O uch, dammit.” I stick my bleeding thumb into my mouth, attempting to stop the blood flow. After so many years of dethorning roses, you’d think I’d have learned to avoid them. I want to roll my eyes at myself sometimes.

“You okay, boss?” Claire, my one and only employee, asks me. She’s twenty-two, insanely outgoing, and my only friend in Sonoma. She’s never pushed me for information about my past, which is one of the many reasons I love her. I’ve slowly been sharing my past with her, but it’s still incredibly difficult for me to trust others.

The bells on Claire’s shoes jingle as she walks across the store to grab the first aid kit for me. Her multicolored, striped crop top under denim overalls is adorably trendy. I’m envious of her ability to wear whatever she wants with no qualms about what people think of her.

“Let me see.” She holds her hand out for mine, and I reluctantly let her hold it as she doctors up my thumb. The feeling of her hand on mine sends a little shiver of nerves down my spine. I hate that I still have a reaction to physical touch .

“There, all better,” she says. I look down at the pink, sparkly Band-Aid on my finger.

“Did you have to pick the sparkly one?”

“Yep, everyone needs a little sparkle in their life.” Claire winks at me, then walks back to the front of the store to continue watering the plants. Her zest for life always adds a little color to mine. It’s another of the many reasons I enjoy working with her.

I continue dethorning the roses for an arrangement going out this evening until the door chimes, signaling one of my favorite people entering the store.

“Hi, Mrs. Jackson!” I say, greeting the force that is Alice Jackson. Her brown hair is streaked with silver, but her thin frame makes her seem younger. When I first opened my shop, she made it her mission to learn everything she could about me, and while I did tell her a little bit about myself, I never gave in to her serious inquisition. I think she gained a new respect for me afterward.

She comes in regularly and always asks for the craziest arrangements for her house. Her requests constantly have my creative mind swirling.

“Hi, sweet Hope. How are you today?”

“Just fine, and you?”

“Wonderful, especially with one of my babies now happily married. You did such a great job on Quinn’s flowers.” Quinn and Cooper Jackson got married a month ago, and Alice hasn’t stopped talking about it since. She was so happy to have Quinn as a daughter-in-law. It honestly made me a little bit jealous of them. To have someone in your life who cares as much as Alice does would be a dream.

“Thank you. They were some of my favorites. What can I do for you today?”

“I need one of your premade bouquets. The pink one, please.”

“You got it.” My cell phone rings as I turn to get the arrangement Alice requested. I quickly answer when I see it’s my landlord. I’ve been waiting to hear back from her about my lease renewal. Being on a month-to-month lease has been great, but since the store is doing well and I’m finally feeling settled here, I’d like to change it to a yearlong lease.

“Hello, Hope, I apologize for taking so long to get back to you,” Susan starts.

“It’s fine, am I approved for another year?” I ask as I wrap up the bouquet Alice picked out.

“Actually, I’m sorry to do this to you, but... we aren’t able to approve your application. We need the apartment back for my son. He’s moving home and needs a place to live. I’m so sorry about this, Hope.”

Shit. This is not what I need right now. I was finally feeling settled in this apartment. Despite the size, it was mine. I loved it.

I work to clear the emotion from my throat before I speak. “I understand. My lease ends next week. Do you need me to move out right away, or do I have some time?

“Unfortunately, we need you to move right away. We only have two weeks before he moves home, so we’ll need some time to clean it before he arrives.”

A week. No one can move that fast, but what other option do I have? I avoid confrontation like the plague, and I know Susan isn’t doing this to be mean. “Um... I guess I can figure something out,” I say hesitantly.

“Thank you so much, Hope. Please let me know if I can help at all,” she says, then quickly hangs up the phone.

A deep sigh has my shoulders drooping. I take a minute for myself before I turn back around to get Alice checked out. I dig down deep and pull my shoulders back, working to hold on to the little bit of strength I’ve built up over the last year.

“Sorry about the wait, Mrs. Jackson. ”

“Oh, that’s okay, dear. Um, I couldn’t help overhearing your call.”

A soft laugh falls from me. I could almost guarantee she did everything in her power to overhear my conversation. Leave it to Alice Jackson to put a smile on my face when it feels like my world is falling down. Again.

“It sounds like you might be in need of a house. I have just the place in mind,” she continues, a little gleam of excitement in her eyes.

“You don’t have to worry about me. I’m sure I can find something.”

“Don’t you even think about it. It’s Quinn’s grandparents’ house. She rents it out all the time, and I happen to know it’s currently empty right now. I’ll have her call you. What’s your phone number?” Alice says all of this incredibly fast, and it takes me a minute to catch up. Is she actually offering me a place to rent right now?

I list off my phone number before I even realize what I’m doing while Alice punches it into her phone with a savviness I wouldn’t have expected from her. “I feel like I should mention that I can’t afford very much. I'm sure a house would probably be out of my range.”

“Nonsense. We’ll make it work.” Alice winks at me, waving her hand in the air as if she’s swatting away my words. All I can do is stand there in confused amusement. She looks down at the flowers I’m still holding, which prompts me to finish ringing up her arrangement.

Alice pays for her items, telling me I’ll hear from Quinn sometime today about the rental. All I can do is nod my head as she walks out of the store. I’m not 100 percent certain, but it sounds like I may not have to freak out over the whole moving-out-in-one-week thing.

Nope… still freaking out. Who the hell is able to pack their stuff up in a week?

“Did you give Alice Jackson your phone number? ”

I jump, not realizing Claire had come up next to me.

“Sorry, thought you knew I was here,” she apologizes. I smile, waving away her apology. She’s gotten used to my jumpiness and, thankfully, has stopped asking me about it.

“Um, yes, I guess I did give it to her.”

“You know she’s going to be the person to actually use it, right? Not be the one who says, ‘ Give me your number so we can hook up, ’ and then never calls.”

I sigh. “Yeah, that was probably a mistake. She was so sneaky about it, too.”

“I can’t wait to see what happens next.” Claire laughs, her shoes tinkling as she walks away from me.

I roll my eyes at her, but she has a point. I’ve been cagey for a reason, and now, one of the biggest gossiping hens in town has my phone number. Things are definitely about to get interesting. I don’t know if I’m more terrified or excited to see where life will take me next.