Epilogue
One year later
Iris knew basically everyone at this party.
Big parties weren’t really her preferred setting, but the party she was attending today was one that she couldn’t miss.
It was a Saturday in July, the opening day of Greenehouse’s new location in Bridgewood.
Mother Nature had gifted them with beautiful sunshine, and the store was packed. Iris took up residence at the register, and her new employees donned their bright green Greenehouse T-shirts. Among them were Lily and Violet, who’d volunteered to help out on opening day. Xavier and Nick had volunteered to help carry items to customers’ cars. Dahlia and Benjamin greeted customers at the door. Now that Iris was a part owner of the company too, she’d finally convinced her parents to hire a manager at the Willow Ridge location.
Across the store, Iris’s gaze fell on Angel and Calla. Calla stood by Angel’s side, talking animatedly to Angel as he signed a few autographs for fans. Ray hovered nearby, making sure that both Angel and Calla were safe. All the while, Angel kept his ear bent toward Calla, listening intently as she talked to him about her most recent obsession, LEGO bricks. Last night, the three of them had sat around on the living room floor, helping Calla build a pirate ship.
Bree and Leah stood not too far away, talking and laughing, and Leah had brought Maxine too. She walked up to each customer, eager to be petted.
Iris had expected a high turnout for opening day. Over the past year, Greenehouse’s business had been booming, and Bridgewood residents were happy to have a florist/nursery closer to home again. But Iris couldn’t deny that another reason for their high opening day turnout was because Angel’s local fans, who were in the know, wanted a chance at seeing him. As long as they didn’t overwhelm the store and made sure to purchase something before they left, Iris didn’t mind.
Angel glanced up and caught eyes with Iris. He winked at her, and she smiled back. A year later, she still got butterflies when she looked at him across a crowded room. No matter how many people were around, their relationship still felt like a private secret between the two of them.
Angel had been good at protecting Iris’s privacy. They had an agreement that he didn’t post pictures of her or Calla on social media. And even though she accompanied him to some events, she didn’t walk the red carpet with him. Instead, she waited until he walked the carpet and she joined him afterward. She’d been his date to the Grammys earlier that year when he’d won Best Traditional R & B Performance for “Right Person, Wrong Time.” He’d thanked her in his acceptance speech for inspiring the song, and as the camera panned to her, she’d felt like her cheeks were on fire. But that didn’t outweigh how proud she was of him.
She was proud too of the way he’d handled his relationship with his parents. Although he still checked in with his dad, he’d set a clear boundary with Cora. Until she could speak to him respectfully, he didn’t desire to have much contact with her. He was hopeful that one day his mom would come around to accepting him for who he was, but he wasn’t going to let her lack of approval dictate his life. He was happy with himself and that was what mattered most.
After the viral success of the songs he’d performed at the open mic night, Angel’s label had finally come around to backing him in the R & B soul direction. His third album was composed of the songs that they’d originally rejected. And like Iris knew they would, Angel’s fans had supported him, and the new album brought sales success and critical acclaim. He’d be going on tour in September.
He would be really busy, and Iris was busy too, as always. But they did their best to make time for each other. And in those moments, when it was just the two of them cuddled in her bed with no cameras or fans watching, she got Angel all to herself. And she cherished every minute.
“Is this plant hard to kill?” Dominique asked, setting an orchid on the register with a frown. “Because I kill plants like it’s nothing.”
Paloma laughed and placed a prickly pear cactus on the counter beside the orchid. Her adorable son, Leo, was strapped to her chest in a baby carrier. “I told you to get a cactus like me.”
“And accidentally prick myself trying to water it?” Dominique asked, aghast. “I think not.”
Iris laughed. Every now and then, she missed being at Save Face Beauty. At first the transition had felt strange. Corporate America and the Save Face Beauty offices were all she’d known, and now she was a small-business owner. Her career path was different from what she’d envisioned in her early twenties, but she was a boss in her own right, and she was on a new journey that she was enjoying.
“Make sure to water the orchid once a week,” she instructed Dominique. “And make sure it gets lots of sunshine.”
Dominique frowned again, like she was unsure if she could handle those simple directives. “I’ll try my best.”
“The store is lovely, Iris,” Paloma said, coming around the counter to hug her. Leo squinted up at Iris and grinned. Iris smiled back, lightly touching his soft, brown curls.
“Thank you both so much for coming,” she said.
“Of course, you know we had to support you. Even if you abandoned us.” Dominique sighed dramatically but smirked.
Iris laughed as she asked an employee to take over her register. She walked Dominique and Paloma to their cars and hugged them goodbye. When she came back inside, Violet and Lily were standing by the stacks of soil, chatting leisurely.
“Um, hello,” Iris said, shaking her finger at them. “I don’t think it’s break time yet.”
Violet rolled her eyes. “You can’t fire me. I don’t actually work here.”
Lily smiled. “We just wanted to see how you’re doing.”
Iris looked at her younger sisters and smiled too. “I’m fine,” she said. Then she amended herself. “I’m good.”
A burst of laughter sounded from the other end of the shop. Calla was laughing at something Angel said to her. He was crouched in front of her. He placed a flower behind his ear and posed, holding his hands beneath his chin.
“She likes him a lot,” Lily said. “That’s a good thing.”
“Yeah,” Iris said softly.
She liked to think that Terry felt the same way. That he was grateful for Angel’s presence in her and Calla’s lives.
In the hallway of her home, they’d added another picture to the wall: a photograph of her, Calla and Angel standing in front of the T. rex skeleton display at the American Museum of Natural History. Angel’s arm was looped around Iris’s waist. They each had a hand placed on Calla’s shoulders as the three of them grinned for the camera. Leah had taken it for them.
It was one of Iris’s favorite pictures.
Violet and Lily ended their unofficial break, and Iris continued to ring up customers, grateful for the good business. When the afternoon rush ended, she felt a tap at her shoulder. She turned, and Angel was standing there, grinning at her, holding a pink rose.
“I think you might have dropped this,” he said.
Iris laughed, remembering the black rose that he’d returned to her years ago. “Thank you,” she said, taking the flower from him.
He wrapped his arms around her front and pulled her close, resting her back against his chest. He softly kissed her cheek.
“I’m really proud of you,” he said.
She angled her head to face him. “And I’m proud of you.”
She was well aware that people were watching them, but she was so in love, she couldn’t bring herself to care.
He smiled as he leaned down and brought his lips to her ear.
Then he sang a little song that only she could hear.