Chapter 9
Sage
This morning, I’d spent time double-checking moisture levels on our sale plants and rotating transplants.
Wild Bloom was part florist, part plant shop.
When I was little, I loved plants more than anything, but it was hard to just sell those.
It was the flowers that drove my customer base most of the time, although the craft side of my business did really well.
I was still a little thrown by the arrangement that had been left, so today I was doing a little extra fussing with the stock.
There was just this tingling at the back of my spine that weirded me out and made me wonder if Cedric had forgotten about it or if we had a vendor in the shop.
Neither option seemed plausible, but both were better than the alternative.
What I should do is talk to Wade, but that didn’t hold much appeal. My brothers would lecture me, and I wasn’t eager to hear it.
The bell over the door gave a cheerful jingle, and I had just enough time to shove my hands deeper into the pockets of my apron before my sister Delphina breezed in with a paper box tucked against her hip and flour dusting the sleeve of her sweatshirt.
Phiny kicked the door shut with the heel of her tennis shoe and blew out a breath. “Lila sold out of lemon scones before nine, but I managed to snag a couple.” She lifted the box and waggled it. “I had to fight Lila for them.”
“I doubt that very much,” I said, tugging a strand of red hair from my mouth as the fan kicked on and sent a warm gust through the shop.
My shop was less boutique and more organized chaos.
Old thrifted bottles lined the shelves above the counter, some that I’d hunted for specifically for their colored glass.
Pressed flowers were framed and hung in clusters on the wall near the register, petals flattened between the pages of my press before being carefully mounted with a strip of washi tape.
Those seemed to sell super well, so I kept making them.
There were baskets of dried lavender, crocks filled with wooden-handled shears, and a ladder on wheels that groaned whenever I climbed it in my rubber boots.
“You moved the monstera,” she said.
“I rotated her. Vera was feeling neglected. She started to grow wonky. Even though she’s staked, she still wants to grow the way she wants.
She’s a stubborn lady.” The plant was gigantic, and I needed to rotate it on the stand, but with the large lily pad leaves stretching far into the shop, it made it a more unwieldy job than you’d think.
Vera was one of my favorites, so I was partial to her.
Phiny snorted and set the box on the counter. “You say that like she filed a complaint.”
“I would never ignore a formal grievance from a plant. Maybe a sibling.” I winked at her. Especially after two of them hadn’t given me much-needed information about a certain someone. “Especially you.”
“Ha. Never.”
She was right. I’d never ignore her. Maybe Wade. Well, that was a lie, too. I felt incredibly blessed to have the family I had. I never took it for granted, even for a second.
She peeled open the box and shoved a scone into my hand before claiming one for herself.
We ate in companionable silence for a moment, crumbs scattering across the counter I’d built from reclaimed barn wood with East’s reluctant supervision.
I brushed the crumbs into my palm and flicked them into the trash, then reached for the mister because my hands liked to be busy when my mind wasn’t.
I had some orders to fill, so I should be doing that instead, but I couldn’t help myself, apparently.
Phiny leaned against the counter and lowered her voice, the way people did when they were about to share news.
Not the kind that was sad, but the sort that they wanted to savor.
The gossiping kind. “So,” she began, drawing the word out.
“I hear Rhodes hosted a little housewarming over at Castleton with the boys.”
I rolled my eyes and walked to a philodendron that needed a little attention. “If by housewarming you mean beer and testosterone with our brothers, then I wouldn’t be surprised. My guess is that they invited themselves.”
“Kipp told Hattie and East told Lila, who told me while I was icing cinnamon rolls,” she said, ticking off the chain of information like she was verifying that it was solid. It did make me feel a little out of the loop. “And I would just like to say that I feel betrayed.”
“Why on Earth do you feel betrayed? Because a grown man you’ve known for twelve minutes had our brothers at his house?” I sprayed her, making her jump.
“Stop, weirdo.” She batted at me. “He bought Castleton,” she corrected. “That is the betrayal. And apparently, he has a kid. We didn’t even know.”
“I am not the keeper of the Castleton estate.” Even if it had always felt like it was supposed to be mine. “And,” I waved the mister at her menacingly. “So what if he has a little girl? Opal is adorable. It’s none of our business, Phiny. I’m sure Wade knew.”
“You’ve always loved that place. You’ve been talking about those damn greenhouses since you were little, and what you’d grow there.
Men are liars, and Rhodes is just another example.
He was married.” She looked furious, as if somehow he had kept something personal from us, and my eyes narrowed at her.
“I don’t know anything about him, and don’t care.” That was a bit of a stretch, but my interactions with Rhodes Collins could be counted on one hand and weren’t that exciting. It was less than a bit of a stretch, and Phiny gave me that long look that said she knew I was lying.
So what if the big hulk was hot? Pretty much all of Wade’s friends were, which was annoying. They also tended to be well-rounded people who were good at something, and I loved a competent man. It was probably because Wade had good taste in friends, but it did create an impediment to dating.
“The Castleton place is special,” I admitted, trying to move her away from the topic of Rhodes. “It was never going to be mine, though. That place was always out of my price range. He paid a sweet price for it, but it is going to cost a fortune to fix up.”
The truth of it weighed heavier on my chest than I cared to admit. If it were mine, there would be enough space to grow all the flowers I wanted year-round. No more buying from shitty suppliers. Inside, the air would smell like damp earth and possibility.
“He’s divorced now. Single and ready to mingle,” Phiny added, watching me too closely. “His daughter is starting school next week at the elementary school.”
“I’m aware.” The words came out a little sharper than necessary.
There had been two other customers in the shop already who had doled out that information just this morning.
Wildwood Meadows wasn’t short on the gossip mill.
“You’re sure changing your mind. Men are liars to he’s single and ready to mingle. ”
Phiny’s brows rose. “No need to bite my head off.”
I set the mister down harder than I meant to and wiped my hands on the front of my apron. “He’s Wade’s friend. He bought a house. That’s the extent of my emotional involvement.”
“Is it really?” She squinted at me, her thick dark hair swinging.
It was beautiful, all glossy and thick, and I had always been jealous of it, while mine was unruly and …
well, red. Hers was like a blackbird’s wing or that gorgeous shade between purple and black in the right light. “You called him Sasquatch to his face.”
“I stand by it. He is very large and tends to loom. That one isn’t too original, but I could use some other loomy creature names for him.” I grinned savagely, thinking of his reaction. “Chupacabra? Yeti? Troll? Colossus?”
Before she could dig further, the bell over the door chimed again, and Mrs. Carver shuffled in with her purse clutched to her chest and a scarf wrapped around her neck despite the mild weather. I pasted on a smile for her and moved forward in customer service mode, grateful for the interruption.
“Morning, Mrs. Carver. What are we saving today?”
She sniffed. “I think my hydrangeas are sulking because there aren’t any buds, and I’m wondering …
” She trailed off, and I gave her a sunny smile.
This was right up my alley, a chance to forget all about a new resident in our midst. He was not my problem.
Although I did need to remember my promise to Opal and get her a plant.
“Hydrangeas are dramatic,” I said gently, steering her toward a display of soil amendments. “They thrive on attention and a little acidity, much like the rest of us. It’s a good time to prune them. The nursery is where you should be asking these questions,” I chided.
Phiny snorted behind me, and Mrs. Carver’s mouth twitched despite herself.
My plant knowledge might be broad, but it was limited.
I was a hobby gardener for many things, but some of my customers thought that if you knew one thing about plants, you knew everything about them.
That definitely wasn’t the case. My specialty was flowers and houseplants.
While I grew some of the ones I sold, even those weren’t all grown here.
“You know enough for my purposes. There’s no reason for me to go over to the nursery when I was right at the bookstore.” Her mouth twisted in a frown, and if I didn’t know better, she was rolling her eyes. “You know your friend Lila is holding out on me…” she started.
“I wouldn’t know anything about that.” Abort.
Abort. My safety net was always that I could legitimately claim I was in the dark about the next title for the book club my friend Lila ran at Chapter & Crumb.
Phiny was covering a laugh. “Let’s go over what I would use at home.
” I knew Mrs. Carver, and she wouldn’t even bother calling them.
I walked her through some fertilizer options and scribbled instructions on a scrap of paper.