Maybe This Time(41)
“He makes a good point. The food is pretty amazing.” I flicked another grape off the table. “That said, I don’t know if our town is ready for this change. Jett might be a little out of touch with his client base.”
“I’ve heard my dad say that to Jett so often that I’m surprised Jett hasn’t commanded it never to be said in his kitchen again.” Micah was quiet for a moment, then said, “I’m sorry Jett didn’t turn out to be an in for you.”
I poured the water from a vase onto the grass and tucked the empty vase away in a box. I shrugged. “I don’t need an in. I’ll get there. I’m just glad he seems to be working out for you guys. Maybe the Birmingham event will lead to more referrals.”
“That’s what my dad hopes.”
“Well, I’m sure Andrew will feel much closer to home in Birmingham.”
A shadowy figure walked up behind Micah and into the ring of light from the overhead park lamp. It was Kyle.
“Hey, Soph, you want to go grab dessert?” he asked.
My stomach jumped in surprise. “Right now?” I looked at my phone. It was after ten o’clock.
“Yes, you should go,” Micah said too quickly. “I’ll take Gunnar home in the flower van for you.” She had arranged this, I was sure of it. She widened her eyes at me.
If I hadn’t wanted to go out with Kyle, I wouldn’t have gotten so upset about his rejection earlier. This was what I wanted, right? “Right. I mean, sure, okay, sounds good.”
“Cool.” Kyle walked toward his Mustang. Apparently I was supposed to follow.
“Cool,” Micah echoed.
“Can’t decide if I’m mad at you,” I said.
“Have fun,” she said with an innocent smile.
I caught up to Kyle just as we passed Andrew and his dad loading the last of their things into their car. Andrew lifted his hand in a wave and I moved to do the same when Kyle reached back and slid his fingers between mine. By the time I got over the shock of Kyle holding my hand, Andrew and his dad had climbed into their car and driven away.
LILY
With a large, trumpetlike shape, the lily seems to want to announce its presence from rooftops. And yet it is said that a lily symbolizes the soul departing from life and being restored to innocence. Not really sure who sat around once upon a time deciding which flower symbolized what, but the lily drew the short end of the stick on that one. Instead of trumpeting away at parties, it has to attend a lot of funerals.
I brought in the last arrangement and set it on a side table in the chapel, beside the three other flower arrangements. Lilies. They reminded me of the town gas station, which seemed random, but the owner there kept a jar full of pens at the register. And on the ends of those pens were colorful fake lilies, their stems attached with green floral tape.
For the last two weeks, though, that gas station had reminded me of Kyle. When he and I had left the park to get dessert on the Fourth of July, nothing in town was open. So Kyle drove us to the gas station, and we sat in his Mustang with the top down, eating Hostess cupcakes and watching bottle rockets light the sky. It should’ve been romantic, but then Kyle said, “I could spend every Fourth of July for the rest of my life right here,” and I knew. I knew that the quiz I had taken with Micah was wrong. Kyle and I weren’t compatible. At least that’s what I’d thought that night. Then I’d spent the next two weeks wondering if I was just sabotaging myself. If I was trying too hard or not trying hard enough. If I was reading into things or not reading into things enough. After all, if I’d been thinking about this, about Kyle, for the last two weeks, didn’t that say something?
“That’s it?” Caroline asked, bringing me out of my memory. I looked up to see my boss pointing to the lily arrangement I’d just set down. I had already brought in the large standing spray that Caroline had spent the entire morning on. The family had ordered it and it would stand by the casket at the front of the church. “Four arrangements?” Caroline added, frowning. “Nobody else ordered one?”
Funerals were different from most events we did. The flowers for funerals depended solely on attendees’ orders. And John was … well, John. Not exactly the winner of any popularity contests. “Yep, just four.” I wasn’t about to tell her that I had bought one myself when I saw how few orders we had. I liked John. I liked him even more after our interaction at the Valentine’s Day Dinner. It was the best fake money I’d ever spent. Remembering that brought a lump to my throat.
Caroline looked at her watch. “We have time. Will you run back to the shop and grab two or three more arrangements from our half-off fridge?” The half-off fridge was full of flowers that hadn’t sold in their prime. Caroline shook her head. “Poor old bugger. He was grouchy in life so people are trying to prove a point with his death.”
“I think he was misunderstood,” I said.
She waved her hand at the flowers. “There’s no misunderstanding here.”
“I’ll run to the store.” I walked down the aisle between the pews and to the outer foyer. A side room was open and the Farnsworth family was gathered there for the viewing. It was very quiet. The open casket sat on one end of the room and John’s family sat in chairs lined up on the other. I was sure they’d already said their goodbyes and now had no idea what to do with the lifeless form in the room.