I sighed. “You’re right. My career comes first. I’ll come to Toronto.”
It was the right choice. Even if it made me feel terrible. Even if I would be letting down Rowan and June.
“I’m really sorry about the timing, sweetie, but it will be grand. Let’s find time to hang, just us. Bring your FIT portfolio and everything you’ve done this summer.”
After chatting a few more minutes, we hung up. Nilusha was right. It probablywasgoing to be great.
I glanced down the street. Bakewell was busy. Tourists, locals, and, of course, flowers everywhere. I’d thought the aesthetic of this town was both way too much and lacking in variety when I first got here. It was so strange how comforting Main Street had become to me now.
The Lilybuds door opened, and Shar came outside. “Just wanted to see how you—oh, Tahira, have you been crying?”
I shook my head, wiping a tear. “No, I’m fine.”
She tilted her head, concerned. “That face doesn’t look fine. Is this about the weekend?”
I exhaled. “Yeah. I’m stuck. I do need to go to Toronto to do this thing, but if Gia and I leave, Rowan and June will be short a team member.”
“Why don’t they find someone else?”
“It’s two days before the Bloom. Who would drop everything to help them like that?”
“There has to be someone. Rowan and Juniper are so well liked.”
Wait.Leanne couldn’t do it because she was going to some rabbit thing, but she’d also said she wished she could spend the weekend with Rowan and June. Leanne thought of Rowan as her brother, and she thought of June as her...well, I didn’t know what she thought of June, but shedidgive her flowers on Tuesday. It couldn’t hurt to ask her.
“Hey, Shar,” I asked, “is there a bus or a car service or something that could get me to the Langston farm today? I need to talk to Leanne. In person. It’s an emergency.”
Shar chuckled. “Of course not. This is Bakewell. We don’t even have Uber. Why do you need to see Leanne?”
“I just do.”
Shar looked at her watch. “The store is pretty slow—how about I drive you? We can ask if June will come in for a few hours to help Gia.”
“You’d drive me all the way there?”
“Of course! You’re my favorite niece! Call Leanne, see if she’s home. I’ll call June. I wouldn’t mind saying hello to Joanne Langston, anyway. I need to thank her for those tahini cookies she brought me last week. They were so delicious!”
Thirty minutes later I was in Leanne’s barn with her. June had agreed to come in to Lilybuds for a few hours to cover for us. Shar was in Leanne’s mom’s kitchen talking recipes or something.
“I wasn’t surprised you wanted to talk to me,” Leanne said. She was cleaning out one of the rabbit hutches, somehow with the rabbit still in it. “We’re not really the ‘hanging out alone’ kind of friends, but apparently we are the ‘ask to fill in for me at the Bloom so my boyfriend won’t be upset that I’m hanging out with models and my ex-boyfriend’kind of friends.”
I cringed. “Rowan told you.”
She raised a brow. “You do realize he and I are best friends, don’t you? He tells me everything.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. I was saying that too much lately. My eyes watered. “Damn rabbits.”
She blinked at me a few seconds, then motioned me outside. “C’mon, let’s get you away from these biological warfare bunnies.”
We sat on the boulders outside. It was quite a different view during the day. The brilliant sun made the neighbors’ crops seem to glow yellow.
“So, was I right?” Leanne asked. “Youarehere to ask me to take your spot in the Bloom.”
Leanne had always seen right through me. I couldn’t impress her with my popularity or my followers, or charm her using compliments. I had no choice but to be honest. But I wanted to be.
I nodded. “You said you wished you could see Rowan and Juniper at the Bloom.”
“And that’s true. But I can’t say I’m excited to step in for you here—remember,I pulled outso you and your friend Gia could have a team for the competition.”
