Chapter 9
nine
You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming.
—Pablo Neruda
CLAIRE
Two more days. Then this Opposite Wedding would be over and Claire could get some control back over her life. For the last two weeks, the Opposite Wedding had dominated Rose’s Flower Shop. The holidays were fast approaching! There were other customers to take care of than the Zimmerman bride. But you’d never know it if you walked into the shop. Boxes of lighting paraphernalia kept getting delivered and were stacked along the walls, waiting for the electrician to haul them away to install in Tessa’s greenhouse. Jaime was on the phone 24/7, talking to the caterer or confirming porta potties or worse—trying to scrounge up high school boys as parking valets.
Over the last week, flowers had started to arrive from all over the world, filling up every square inch of cooler space. Claire and Jaime stayed late into the night to get every stem prepped, ready for arranging. That would be saved for today and tomorrow, the days before the Opposite Wedding. And it fell to Claire, because Jaime would be needed to set up and decorate the venue. Claire didn’t mind doing the flowers herself, not when Jaime showed her the mock-ups of what she had in mind for the bride’s bouquet and table arrangements.
Beautiful. Claire was in awe as she looked through the mock-ups. Jaime had such style, such originality. “I would never have thought of using protea in a bridal bouquet.”
“The bride wanted things to look natural, like she’d picked it on the way to the wedding.”
“But you’ve created this luscious bouquet for her, Jaime. I hope I do it justice.”
Jaime smiled. “I have no doubt that you’ll outdo anything in the mock-ups.” She nudged her with her elbow. “I’ve seen your work.”
“Mostly I just copy,” Claire said.
“Everyone gets their inspiration somewhere. And you do more than copy, Claire.” She tipped her head. “Feel free to take my mock-ups and improve on them.”
“No ma’am. Your mock-ups are perfect.”
“They’re drawings, not reality. You know as well as I do what it’s like to have flowers in front of you that don’t look anything like the ones in your imagination. Claire, I want your input. We’re better together.”
Claire stared at the drawing. “You mean, I can forage?”
“Forage away,” Jaime said with a laugh. “I trust you.” She turned to face her. “I wish you could see yourself the way others see you. You run this whole shop like a well-oiled machine. Rose always said you had a head for business.”
Claire stilled. She’d forgotten. Rose did tell her that, often. Tears started to prick her eyes.
Jaime looked around the front room. “Hard to believe that we’re at the finish line for this wedding.” She let out a sigh.
“What’s that sad sigh for?”
“Oh, I just wonder what comes next.”
Claire yawned. “What comes next for me is a long winter’s nap.” She flipped off the lights and held the door for Jaime. “We’d better get some sleep while we can. I have a feeling there won’t be much chance for it in the next two days.”
Early the next morning, Claire woke to the ping of a text on her phone. Drowsy, she reached over to pick it up and read a group text from Chris to Tessa, Jaime, and Claire.
Please come to Rose’s as soon as you can. She’s ready to have The Talk. Coffee’s started.
Seriously? Today? Claire sat up in bed. Rose was finally ready to have this long-overdue clearing of the air on the day before the big wedding? This morning was critical prep time! Every single minute counted. She was just about to object when Tessa and Jaime texted back that they’d be right there. Fine . She let out an exasperated sigh and tossed the covers off.
Claire’s rented Airbnb room was only a few blocks from Rose’s house, so she dressed quickly, pulled her big curly hair into a ponytail, and walked over. Jaime and Tessa drove up just as she arrived at the house, so they went to Rose’s front door together.
Chris met them with a tray of coffee mugs. “Morning. Make yourself at home.”
Claire thought he looked off, like he either hadn’t slept or just woke up ... or like he’d been crying. He avoided eye contact with Claire, which hitched up her odd feelings. Why did this gathering seem so stilted and formal? Not to mention the timing. It couldn’t be any worse!
Rose was in the living room, seated in her favorite armchair, wearing a big, thick sweater, sipping coffee in front of a roaring fire like there was a raging storm outside. Yet it was actually quite a pleasant sunny morning. The three girls sat across from her on the sofa. Chris settled into a chair near Rose, chin tucked to his chest.
“Girls, thank you for coming,” Rose said. “I know you have a busy day ahead, so I’ll get right to the point. The night of the fire. Who wants to go first?”
Whoa. Claire, Tessa, and Jaime all looked down at their coffee cups.
“Well then,” Rose said, “I’ll start things off. You should know that I’m the one responsible for that fire.”
All three girls snapped their heads up.
“You?” Tessa said. “Not you, Rose. I’m the one to blame.”
“No,” Jaime said. “It was me.”
“Nope,” Claire said. “I’m the one who started it. I know that for a fact.”
Rose smiled. “The truth was, we all had a part in it. Ironically, everyone except for Chris—”
Chris shook his head. “I had a role in it too, Rose. If it weren’t for my—”
“No, dear,” she interrupted, waving him off with her hand. “The truth is that you took complete blame for the fire just to keep the rest of us out of trouble.”
Claire turned to look at Chris. He had done that? She stared at him, willing him to lift his head, but he seemed determined not to look at her.
Rose took in a deep breath, as if gathering strength for what she was about to say. “The shop had that old knob and tube wiring. I should have had it upgraded, but there was never time to allow for it. Especially that summer. So many weddings.”
“Funerals too,” Claire said. “Big summer of funerals. I did all the flowers.”
After taking a sip from her mug, Rose nodded. “That summer, the motor on the cooler had started acting up. It would go out, and Chris would get it working again, only for it to go out again. Before I’d left on that August day, the cooler felt hot to the touch, even though the interior was still cool. I felt in my bones that something was wrong. An accident was waiting to happen. But I pushed that feeling aside because I had wedding flowers to deliver.” She exhaled, as if this revelation had taken a toll on her. “I should never have left the shop.”
Chris reached over to take Rose’s hand. It struck Claire that it seemed like Rose’s hands had shrunk or shriveled. They were once working hands, strong and calloused. Now they looked like an old woman’s hands, swollen knuckles and blue veins. Was that what seven years of aging did to a woman?
Before she could think much more about it, Chris spoke up. “I told you to go. I told you that I’d take care of the cooler. I should’ve. I just ... got distracted.”
“I was his distraction,” Tessa said. “I came into the shop looking for Rose, but she wasn’t there. Only Chris. I was upset about something, and Chris stopped what he was doing to help me.” She put a hand on her chest. “I’m responsible for the fire.”
“No, Tessa. It was my fault.” Jaime rubbed her face with her hands. “I had come into the workshop to get a ribbon for a bride’s bouquet. The ribbon had fallen off and someone stepped on it and I needed to replace it. I was in a hurry, and the only ribbon I could find was all wrinkled, so I put the iron on as hot as it could go and started to iron it, and that was when I heard Tessa sobbing about her neighbor.”
Tessa visibly stiffened. “You heard?”
Jaime nodded. “But I already knew.”
Claire blinked. “What neighbor?”
Tessa, leaning around Claire, ignored her. “Jaime, how did you know?”
“One afternoon, Rose wanted me to drop off some flower books for you. You didn’t answer the door. I left the books on the front porch, but as I was getting back in my car, I saw you come out of your neighbor’s house. It was pretty clear something was going on.”
“What neighbor?” Claire repeated. “You mean, the famous mystery writer? What was going on?”
Everyone looked at Claire. Suddenly, the light bulb switched on. Full wattage. “Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh my goodness.” How had she missed that ?
Jaime turned her attention back to Tessa. “I should’ve said something. I should’ve stopped it. I should’ve told Rose. I just ... didn’t know what to do.”
Tessa shook her head. “You couldn’t have stopped anything from happening.”
Jaime lifted her head. “I could’ve told Rose.”
Tessa coughed a laugh. “Jaime, don’t you remember what it was like being a teenager? I would’ve just become all the more secretive. You couldn’t have changed anything.”
“One thing,” Jaime said. “I could’ve done one thing. I didn’t turn off the iron. I heard Claire come into the shop and shout at Chris and Tessa—”
Claire waved her hand in the air. “Hold it. I’m still back with Tessa and the neighbor. You knew, Jaime? How could you have kept that from me?” Another light bulb in her brain switched on. Why was she always the last to figure things out? “So that’s why you came into the front room and shouted at me to leave them alone, that I didn’t know what I was talking about. I thought you meant Chris and Tessa. I thought you were defending them for sneaking around behind my back. I thought you had betrayed me like they had. But you meant Tessa and the neighbor.” She let out a breath. “No wonder you forgot to turn off the iron.” She dropped her head in her hands. “I’m responsible for the fire. No one else.”
“Claire,” Rose said in a quiet voice, “why don’t you tell us what went on that night from your point of view.”
Claire had to take a minute to pull herself together. Did she really have to say this out loud? Apparently, she did. Slowly, she lifted her head. “I’d come into the shop and found Tessa in Chris’s arms, and I just turned into a crazy woman. I thought they were together. I’ve always been so jealous of Tessa and—”
“Me?” Tessa said. “Why would you be jealous of me?”
Claire gave her a look. “Because of all”—she waved her hands up and down in front of Tessa—“ that .”
Tessa frowned. “Well, then maybe you should know that I’ve always been a little jealous of you.”
“Me? Why in the world would you be jealous of me ?”
“You say whatever’s on your mind and you don’t care what others think.”
“I care. Sometimes. Saying whatever’s on my mind was the very reason I got fired from my job in Savannah. I might have said too much.”
Chris snorted. “Think so?”
Claire frowned at him. But it was the first normal interaction between them this morning and it felt good. Still, she kept her frown on.
“Claire,” Rose said, “I believe you were telling us that you had turned into a crazy woman.”
“It was my birthday and Chris had promised to take me to Highlands for a special dinner, but then he didn’t show up when he said he would, so I went to the shop to get him. And there he was, holding Tessa.”
Chris lifted his hand. “I was comforting Tessa.”
Claire turned to him and locked eyes. “That’s not what it looked like.”
“That’s all it was, Claire,” Tessa said. “I’d never try to steal your boyfriend.”
“You never had to try. You just did it ... just by being you.” The look on Tessa’s face! Claire had had it all wrong. Tessa, Chris, all the anger and disappointment Claire had held on to. Seven years of feeling hurt and betrayed. And she’d had it all wrong.
Rose pulled her back before she could head down that long road of remorse. “Claire, let’s get back to that August night. What happened next?”
“I saw Chris’s magic circle of fire on the register counter. That circle ... it meant so much to me. He’d done that trick during the senior talent show and gave me that amazing kiss, right in front of everybody—”
“It was an amazing kiss,” Chris said.
Claire froze, locking eyes with Chris. For seven years she’d assumed that incredible, passionate kiss had meant something only to her, not to him. She felt her face start flushing red.
“Please continue, Claire,” Rose said.
But Claire’s mind had gone blank, her thoughts went missing. Chris had stunned her voice right out of her. She had to force herself to look away from him to try and remember where she’d left off. “So ... um ... so I picked up the circle of fire and broke it into pieces and...” Her eyes filled with tears. “Suddenly sparks went flying everywhere.” She splayed one hand against her chest. “Don’t you see? I’m the one who started that fire.”
“Hold on a minute, Claire,” Chris said. “You can’t claim credit for what you didn’t know. I’m the one who’s truly responsible for that fire. That afternoon, I should have been trying to fix the cooler’s motor like I told Rose I would. Instead, I spent the afternoon practicing the circle of fire whenever there weren’t any customers in the shop.”
Jaime gasped. “Oh no you didn’t.”
Chris looked at her. “Oh yes I did.”
Despite everything, this moment brought a smile to Claire’s face. It conjured up echoes of similar conversations in the flower shop. Jaime was such a rule abider and Chris was such a rule ignorer.
Jaime’s forehead was furrowed in a frown. “Rose told you over and over that you weren’t supposed to practice your magic in the store. Too dangerous, she said.”
“I know,” Chris said, scratching his forehead. “I wasn’t listening much to anyone back then.”
A laugh burst out of Tessa. “Don’t you remember the fright you gave poor old Mrs. Smithfield when you tried to swallow the sword?”
“Yeah,” Chris said. “That one didn’t work so well. I punctured a tonsil.”
“I’d forgotten!” Claire said. “You had to get both tonsils taken out.”
“Chris,” Rose said, sounding weary, “let’s stay focused on that August afternoon.”
“Right,” Chris said. “Normally, the circle of fire has propane inside the ring. I had a performance that evening and hadn’t practiced the circle of fire in a while. So I went to the gas station to get propane, but they were out, so I had to buy a substitute gas. Acetylene.”
“Oh my goodness,” Tessa said.
“What’s that?” Claire said.
“It’s a highly flammable gas,” Tessa said. “I only know because Dawson uses it for welding. He’s always warning me to keep away when he’s using it. It’s very unstable.”
“Yeah. Not a good choice for a magic trick.” Chris scrunched up his face. “I’d just finished refilling the circle of fire when Tessa came in, all upset and crying. Then Claire came in, all, you know”—he waved his hands in the air to indicate the state she was in—“and then she must’ve pulled the trigger when she picked it up.”
“So, Claire,” Rose said, “let’s get back to that moment.”
“The sparks started flying and then Chris yelled at all of us to run for our lives. So we bolted out of the shop and down the street, and sure enough, suddenly there was an explosion coming from inside the shop. I kept on running. Right to the bus station.”
“So did I,” Jaime said. “I hopped in Tin Lizzie and took off.”
“I ran too,” Tessa said. “All the way to Saudi Arabia.”
“And that,” Rose said, strength back in her voice, “brings up the heart of the matter. You ran.” She looked at each girl. “All three of you fled Sunrise and left me to pick up the pieces alone. All of you ran but Chris. He’s the one who confessed to arson, just to avoid entangling the rest of us.”
“Why did you do that?” Jaime said. “The fire was an accident. We all played a part in it.”
Chris rocked his hand in the air. “Yes and no. I’m the one who brought a highly flammable fuel into the shop in the first place, despite being warned, repeatedly, by Rose. The fire investigator determined the fire originated with the acetylene. When I learned that, I knew how things would roll out. I’d already been in juvey for arson. It made more sense to plead guilty to third-degree arson than risk being charged with first degree.” He shrugged a shoulder in a careless way. “Prison was the best thing that could’ve happened to me. Turned me around.”
Rose lifted a hand. “Chris went to prison on an arson charge just to protect your reputations. All of you.”
Claire looked at Chris at the same moment he looked at her. He’d gone to prison to protect her . Shame pierced her soul, as sharp as an arrow. She’d had no faith in him. No faith in anyone.
Rose let that settle in for a long moment. “Running away bothered me, much more than the fire. The fire ... Jaime is right. That fire was an accident and we all had a role in it. Accidents happen. Buildings can be rebuilt. But not friendships. Not the kind of friendship that you girls had together. The three of you worked in harmony in a way I’ve never seen before, in all my years as a flower shop owner. There were times when I watched you all at work, and it felt like it had been choreographed. You brought out the best in each other. I knew I had something special here, and I tried to teach you everything about flowers that I could.”
“You did, Rose,” Jaime said, tears streaming down her face. “You taught us so well that we’ve all chosen to make careers in flowers. All three of us.”
“Separately,” Rose said. “Not together. That’s been the greatest disappointment to me. The first difficult moment you encountered together made you all run away, in different directions. God gave you a beautiful gift and you threw it away like it was worthless. You ran away and you stayed away.”
Claire cleared her throat. “Until you brought us back.”
A long pause followed, until Jaime crossed the room and crouched down in front of Rose, taking her hand. “I should’ve asked for your forgiveness a long, long time ago. I’m so sorry. I ran because ... I was scared.”
Claire dropped to her knees and scuttled over to take Rose’s other hand. “I ran because I was scared, but I was also mad.”
Tessa joined them, crouching down on the other side of Rose’s chair. “I think I was mad more than I was scared. Mad at the wrong person. And then I lost all the right people.”
“Running away is no answer. That was the reason it took me such a long time to try and find you girls. I had to wait until I could forgive you.” Rose held each girl’s gaze for a long, long moment. “And I have. I truly have. I needed to set things right, for my sake as well as yours. Time is so short.” Her face softened into a tired but sincere smile. “And now, there’s a rather important wedding to prepare for. Perhaps the most important one in Rose’s Flower Shop history. Chris, will you see the girls to the door? Time is short.”
Just then, Claire realized why Rose had been so absent these last few months, why she seemed so tired, so frail. As she walked to the door, she glanced at Jaime and Tessa. She could see that they were thinking the same thing. Rose wasn’t at all well.