Chapter 23 #2
Cindy pulled back. She wiped her face. “I have to go,” she said. “I’m sorry, but I can’t stay.”
Ava nodded. “I understand. I wish I could make this better.”
Cindy grabbed her hand. “Thank you for telling me. I know it wasn’t easy, and you’re worried about hurting me, but you didn’t
do anything wrong.” Her voice cracked as more tears fell. “It wasn’t you, Ava. No matter what, you’ve always been there for
me.”
When she’d left, Ava returned to the kitchen to put away their half-prepared lunch.
She supposed she could use the food for a casual dinner that night, not that she could imagine herself feeling hungry.
Right now her stomach was churning from what had just happened and the knowledge that it was all going to get worse before it got better.
Victoria stared at the box Shannon held in her arms. “You brought plants? Are you babysitting them for a friend? Can’t they
be alone for an evening?”
Shannon laughed as she walked into the condo. “These are for you.” She handed over the box. “I have potting soil in my car.
I’ll be right back.”
She disappeared down the hall, leaving Victoria with three plants. She carefully put them on the kitchen counter, not sure
what purpose they served.
Shannon quickly returned with two bags of potting soil and a tote with what Victoria would guess were gardening tools.
“I’m not really a plant person,” Victoria told her as she set the bags next to the box. “I travel for work.”
“You used to travel for work,” Shannon said cheerfully. “But we both know you’re giving up the stunt work. Besides, you don’t
have anything living in your place. It’s sad.”
“I’m sure there are about a gazillion dust mites in the carpet,” Victoria told her. “I’m working on taming one of them and
turning her into a pet. I plan to call her Katherine.”
“Until then, you’re going to have plants. Don’t worry—I picked the easy ones, and if you get into trouble, call me and I’ll
come save them.”
“What if they gang up on me and I’m the one who needs saving?”
“I’m a phone call away.”
Victoria knew that Shannon was teasing, but it was nice to think about someone being that willing to help her out.
In the past couple of years, she’d lost touch with many of her friends.
Some of it was how much she traveled and that they had different interests.
Hanging out with Shannon reminded her that she liked being social.
Shannon pulled newspaper from the box and turned to the table where dozens of index cards were spread out. “Can we move those?”
Victoria hurried over to pick them up. “Sorry. I’ve been working on my screenplay. I’m struggling with this one part at the
end, but trying to deal with it made me wonder if the problem started earlier in the story.” She waved the stack of cards.
“Trying to fix a completed screenplay can be daunting, so I broke it down by scene. Each scene is on a card.”
Shannon looked at the top card. “Flying to the island. Meet-cute. I don’t get it.”
“I say what happens in the scene in a couple of sentences. This is the opening. My movie’s a romantic dramedy. Half drama,
half comedy.”
“Oh, I get it. They’re on a plane, then they meet. Did you fix the problem?”
“No, and I’m starting to think it might be unfixable, which is depressing as hell. Let me put these in my office, then we’ll
order takeout and deal with your plant issues.”
When she returned to the kitchen, Shannon had spread newspaper over the table and was setting out three pretty pots. Victoria
picked up her phone.
“I was thinking Mexican. There’s a place by me that does great street tacos. I have limes so we could make margaritas.”
“Perfect.”
She quickly placed an order, then moved close to the table. “So plants, huh?”
“It’ll help your life force.” She pointed to a tall plant with long, thin stalks or shoots or whatever in a wavy light and dark green.
“That’s a snake plant. It’s toxic to pets, so if you adopt, the plant has to go.
” She pointed to a shorter plant with thin, cascading leaves. “A spider plant. Not toxic to pets.”
“What’s with the yucky names? Can’t I have something like an angel plant?”
“You’re a newbie. You need to start with plants that aren’t easy to kill. When you’ve proven that you can be trusted with
these, I’ll bring you something fancier. Once we get these potted, I’ll show you how much to water them. You’re going to wait
for the soil to get completely dry to water them again. I’m not kidding. No overwatering.”
Victoria grinned. “You’re really tough.”
“Not always, but I can be.”
Shannon put small rocks in the bottom of the three containers, then added some soil. She showed Victoria how to take the plant
out of its plastic container and make sure the roots were loose and ready for their new home.
“I’m not a big fan of dirt,” Victoria said, “But this is fun.”
“I love dirt.” Shannon’s tone was cheerful. “I love everything about gardening—even the boring parts. The most fun is planning
out a refresh of someone’s yard.” Her tone turned wistful. “Every now and then, one of Aaron’s regular customers wants to
make a few changes. I’m the one who talks to the owners to find out what their yard goals are, then comes up with a plan.”
“Yard goals?” Victoria teased. “Like I want my roses to be happy and planning a career in banking?”
Shannon laughed. “No, more like how they want to use the yard. Maintain versus no maintenance. Or if they don’t want to do
the work themselves, how much they’re willing to spend on upkeep. Do they want to attract butterflies?”
Victoria pointed to her Lego creation. “I’m very pro butterfly.”
“Some people are afraid of them.”
“What? No. They’re beautiful.”
“They’re flying bugs. Not everyone is into that.”
Victoria supposed that was true. “It’s nice that Aaron has a landscaping business and that you enjoy it so much. He must appreciate your help.”
“It’s fun,” Shannon told her. “I’m not big on the office work, but he has a part-time person who takes care of that. We’ve
talked about expanding into more design work, but I’m not sure I know enough to help him with that. We’ve considered him hiring
a freelance landscape architect, but that would be really expensive.”
“Couldn’t you do it on a job-by-job basis? So only for the customers willing to pay?”
Shannon nodded. “That would be the plan. Aaron wants my help with finding the right person, but I’m not sure I’d be any good
at interviewing.”
Victoria stared at her. “Why do you do that? Why do you start from a place of saying you can’t and automatically assume you
wouldn’t be good at whatever it is?”
“I flunked out of college. I don’t know what to do with my life. I’m not exactly a supermodel for success.”
“You’re twenty-four. No one expects you to have conquered brain surgery by now. But you work with people all the time, including
what I assume are difficult real estate clients. You understand how Aaron likes to work and what his goals are. Why wouldn’t
you be good at hiring the architect?”
Shannon blinked at her. “I never thought of it that way. I guess I do have some skills.”
“Have a little faith, kid.”
“Sometimes that’s hard.”
Victoria watched her carefully put the snake plant into the pot. “I get that. Normally I’m brimming with overconfidence, but
lately I’m questioning everything. Mostly my writing. Sometimes how I feel about my mother.” She sighed. “My dad was telling
me some stuff about how strong she is, and it got me to thinking that maybe I learned to be tough from her.”
“Is that bad?”
“No, but all my life she’s been the one I’ve tried not to be like. What if by paying such close attention to what I swore
I didn’t want, I end up just like her?”
“There’s a scary thought.” Shannon poured soil into the second pot. “I went to talk to her about failing at the cinematography
class. It wasn’t a pleasant conversation.”
Victoria winced. “Sorry about that. I know she didn’t yell, but sometimes the pointed questions and blunt pronouncements are
so much worse than a raised voice. How bad was it?”
“Bad. She seemed shocked that I still have no direction in my life and asked me what I’ll bring to the table when I marry
Aaron. She also told me I was a horrible daughter for not telling my mom about the engagement.”
“Yikes. That’s intense. You must have had a lot of wine that night.”
“I repotted houseplants to make myself feel better, and then I had wine.”
Victoria got that. If she’d had a similar conversation with Ava and she hadn’t been dealing with a broken leg, she would have
taken a martial arts class, then settled in with tequila.
“Not to pile on, but at some point you’re gonna have to tell your mom about getting married.” She held up a hand. “I know,
I know. You don’t want a double wedding.”
“I’m starting to think I don’t want a wedding at all.”
Victoria stared at her. “But you love Aaron. Don’t say you’re having second thoughts.”
“I’m not. I want to be married. I want us to start our lives together.” She tucked the second plant into its pot. “I went
with my mom to see the dress she liked so much. It’s stunning, by the way. She’s ordered it, and she’s going to look incredible.”
“She is. And?”
“She wanted me to try on the princess dress she’s been dreaming about her whole life.”
Victoria eyed her lean, willowy body and delicate features. “Let me guess. You looked amazing in it.”
“It looked good.” Shannon sighed. “But I couldn’t feel it.”
“The fabric? Is this a textile issue?”
Her friend laughed. “No, I wasn’t into it. I kept thinking that I don’t want a big wedding. Not in the traditional sense.
I want to stand with Aaron and quietly get married. Just us. Okay, and maybe immediate family, but that’s all. I’m glad planning
the wedding is making my mom happy, and I want to help her with it as much as I can, but I don’t want to do it for myself.”
“That will break your mother’s heart.”
“I know. Aaron’s mom will probably feel the same way. I’m living with the idea.”
“Great. So we’ve solved all your problems. You’re getting married and not having a wedding. I like it.”
“That’s only one problem. I have others.”
“Not really. You’ve figured out what you want careerwise, so what else is there?”
Shannon stared at her. “No, I haven’t.”
Victoria rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, it’s so obvious. Go into business with Aaron. You love him, you love his company. But
you’ll want to make sure there’s a prenup in place saying you get a piece of the business if things go south.” She paused.
“I know, you’re desperately in love and will be together always, but shit happens, and if you’ve given fifteen years of your
life to grow his business, you should get a cut of it.”
Shannon shocked expression was almost comical. Her eyes were wide, her mouth hanging open. “I can’t go into business with
Aaron.”
“Why not?”
Shannon tried speaking, but failed. “Can I?”
“You kind of already are. Why not make it official? And if you’re worried about—to quote my mother, and let’s all pause and
think about how much I hate doing that—bringing something to the table, go to trade school. They have to have some kind of Life with Plants certificate you can earn or even an AA. You’d learn
things and, you know, hang with dirt.”
“You’re making sense.”
“I resent that you sound surprised.”
“Sorry. I meant, wow, that’s so smart and specific, and why didn’t I think of it?”
“You would have gotten there. Besides, the writing thing? I’m very good at brainstorming.” She glanced toward her office where
the offending and unhelpful index cards were stacked. “At least, most of the time.” She looked at Shannon. “You good?”
“I’m better than good. I have direction and a plan, and thank you.”
“Anytime.”