Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
THE ART OF FLORALS
JULIANA
Present
I walk into the Whitman house, which is bustling with energy.
Camden’s grandmas insisted that neither Camden nor I lift a finger for Easter.
Those were their words. Actually, more specifically, Grandma Nancy lifted her hand and said, very properly, “Neither you nor Camden shall lift a finger this Sunday. Donna and I have got it, and we don’t want to hear another word about it. ”
It feels weird to only come in with flowers and not laden down with all the food I’d normally prepare…but kind of nice too. Camden spent the night with me last night, and we slept in this morning. I woke up to him between my legs. That was beyond nice.
He tickles my side and nuzzles my ear. “What are you thinking about? Your cheeks are all red.”
I shoot him a look. “I’ll give you one guess, Mr. Wonder Tongue,” I whisper.
“Mr. Wonder Tongue? That is an excellent nickname.”
“You deserve it,” I say, lifting a shoulder.
“There you are!” Grandma Donna says. She has a stack of something knitted in her hands. “Come on back. Everyone’s here.”
She lifts up two sweaters. One has a bunny standing with a blue tie around its neck, and the other is a bunny with long blonde hair standing in a yellow dress.
She hands Camden the one in a yellow dress and gives me the one with the blue tie.
Camden and I look at each other for a beat and then have to look away because I don’t want to get the giggles.
“I made these for you to wear for our Easter photo,” she says.
“Wow, Grandma Donna,” Camden says. “You’ve outdone yourself.”
He pulls the sweater over his button-down shirt, grinning at me when his face pops out, hair going everywhere, and I have never loved him more.
“Amazing,” I tell her. “Thank you.” I put the sweater on over my dress, and Camden pushes my hair out of my eyes, kissing me softly when he’s done.
“Thank you,” he whispers so only I can hear.
“Oh, you two are adorable,” Grandma Donna says.
My parents and Jackson and Dove walk in behind us, and hugs are exchanged all around. Grandma Donna hands them their sweaters, and I laugh when I see Jackson in his. The bunny looks just like him, complete with the attitude.
“Hello!” Uncle Hal says as he walks in. “What have we here?” He studies our sweaters and grins when Grandma Donna hands him one. “Why, thank you, dear,” he says. His sweater has a Ralph the rooster look-alike, and Uncle Hal is thrilled.
She nods sweetly, and her cheeks flush when she looks past him. I turn back to see Papa Hector holding a huge bouquet of flowers.
“For you,” he says as he hands them to Grandma Donna.
“They’re beautiful,” she says.
“As are you,” he says, ducking his head.
“He’s fucking flirting,” Jackson hisses in my direction.
“I think you call that courting,” I hiss back. “Something you wouldn’t understand…”
“I call that weird is what I call it. They’re old enough to be—”
“Our grandparents?” I supply helpfully.
He pretends to gag, and I sock him in the stomach.
He doubles over, and my mom snaps her fingers.
“Am I gonna have to separate you two?”
“Sorry, Mom.” I shoot her an apologetic look, and she winks at me.
“Aww look, how sweet,” she says, touching my arm.
Papa Hector is wearing his sweater, which has a very distinguished-looking bunny wearing a sweater vest and bow tie.
“Exquisite,” he says as he pats the sweater down.
Jackson looks at me and mimes throwing up. I act like I’m gonna punch him again, and he stumbles as he tries to get away from me.
“Come on back,” Grandma Donna says. “I’ve been hurrying to finish everyone’s sweaters, and Nancy has been working overtime in the kitchen. I think Grayson needs the Easter egg hunt to happen before we eat, though. The little guy is so excited.”
When we walk back to the kitchen and great room, everyone is already in their sweaters. I put my hand over my mouth to cover my laugh. The sweaters have everything from bunnies to hens to eggs and carrots. It’s the cutest display of knitted yarn I’ve ever seen.
Milo’s carrot-holding-the-hand-of-a-pea sweater is almost enough to make me lose it.
“Don’t,” he says, pointing at me, his lips twitching.
“Aren’t we cute?” Goldie says, leaning into him with her matching sweater and smiling over at me.
“The cutest,” I tell her, laughing.
“Uncle Camden! Juju!” Grayson runs over and throws his arms around my legs and then Camden’s. “Now we can do the Easter egg hunt! My friends are waiting outside. Come on!”
“Where’s Tull?” Camden asks Goldie as we head out back.
“Oh, just you wait,” she says, laughing.
Out on the grass just before the sand and water, kids are running around with their parents looking on, and someone who’s dressed as a giant Easter bunny is getting his picture taken with the kids, one by one.
“No,” Camden says, putting his fist over his mouth as he laughs. “How did he ever find a suit big enough?”
Dylan walks up in his emo rooster surfer sweater and shakes his head sadly. “I tried to put it on, and I was just too tall.”
“Hey! You’re here!” I nudge him, and he turns before giving me a huge bear hug.
Next he hugs Camden, who runs his hand over Dylan’s floppy hair.
“I haven’t seen you in person since I heard the good news,” Dylan says. “I like it.” He nods. “Have to say, I’ll miss the way you insulted Camden so thoroughly, but this is really nice.”
Camden puts his arm around me and leans in to kiss my hair. “Trust me, this is much, much better.”
Dylan looks at his phone when it dings, smiling as he responds.
“The fam’s been noticing that you smile at your phone a lot,” Camden says. “I don’t remember you doing that unless there was a girl on the other end. Something you want to tell us…about anyone in particular?” He lifts his eyebrows.
Dylan’s mouth opens and closes, and he puts his phone in his pocket. His hand goes to the back of his neck, and he rubs it. “Just wrapping up handing everything over to Rudy. I’m going to California on Tuesday, but I’ll be back in a few weeks…for good.”
“I can’t wait to meet Bill,” Goldie says, walking up to us. “I hope he and Kevin are best buds.”
“They will be,” Dylan says. “Bill hasn’t met a dog he doesn’t like.” He motions toward the house. “The bathroom’s calling.”
He turns and jogs to go inside, and I look at Camden. “He didn’t really answer your question, did he?”
“No, he did not.”
“Oh, are you talking about the girl he’s always talking to?” Goldie asks.
“You know it’s a girl?” Camden asks, leaning in.
Noah walks over. “Are we talking about Dylan?” he whispers. “I heard you say something about the girl he’s always talking to…”
Goldie leans in, and Erin walks over, kissing everyone on the cheek.
We all lose it over her sweater: a hen with a tight red dress and red lipstick.
Once the commotion has died down, she points at Goldie. “You had gossip face when I walked up. Spill.”
“We’re talking about Dylan,” Goldie says. “So I don’t have a name, but I might’ve seen the contact of a long thread he had going, and it was a flower.” She looks around expectantly.
“A flower,” Noah says flatly.
Goldie nods excitedly. “Right? It’s so obvious. Who else would he save as a flower emoji?”
“What kind of flower?” I ask.
“The cherry blossom,” she says without hesitation.
“You know the names of the flower emojis?” Camden asks.
“Yeah,” she says. “Obviously. What kind of artist would I be if I didn’t know that?”
“Hmm,” I say, pulling out my phone and studying the different flowers. “I’m impressed. I wouldn’t have known that.”
“That’s our girl,” Erin says. She leans in. “But I feel we’re getting derailed here. Do we know who Cherry Blossom is?”
“No idea,” Goldie says, shoulders falling. “And he’s being so cryptic. It’s not like him at all. Dylan has never been able to keep a secret to save his life. We stopped telling him about any Christmas presents we’d bought for each other because he’d spill every time.”
Everett blows a whistle and the Easter egg hunt starts, so the conversation pauses as we watch the kids run in every direction.
Camden pulls my back against his chest. “I love this. Being here with you…my family. You’re everything I wanted in my life, Juju.”
I look back at him, and the look in his eyes is so sweet that I turn to face him. “It feels so good, doesn’t it.”
He nods and looks sheepish. “I went through a phase of calling you every night…a few phases of it, actually.”
My eyebrows crinkle. “When? I don’t remember you ever calling me every night.”
“I, uh…I hung up. Every time.”
“What?” I think back and remember one week in particular where it seemed like I got a call around the same time every night. “That was you? I was starting to get creeped out when it stopped.”
“I started staying away from the bottle more. That helped.” He laughs.
“I wanted to say how sorry I was for ruining everything between us. And more than anything, I wanted to tell you that you were never just a way for me to pass the time. Being with you was the only time I wanted the moments to stand still.”
“I wish I’d known.”
“Me too.”
“Let’s not waste any more time. Okay?”
“Okay,” he says.
“We say how we feel, and we don’t look back with regret…at least not so much that it wrecks the right here, right now.”
“I like this plan.”
“And I promise when you call and breathe heavy, I’ll talk dirty to you instead of hanging up.”
He laughs. “Makes me want to call you right now.”