“We could,” Rowan said slowly. He walked over and bent to inspect the stand. “It’s solid metal, though. How?”
Addison shook her head. “It’s not rocket science. Cover it with sheet moss.”
It could work.
“We didn’t bring any sheet moss,” Rowan said. “Only the sphagnum moss we lined the frame with.”
“Well,” Vintage Dress Lady snapped. “You can make do with what you have, or you can go purchase what you need, but they’re not going to give you any extra time.”
Mrs.McLaughlin crossed her arms and smiled smugly. “Those are your options. If you’d like to leave, then—”
“We have a ton of sheet moss,” Addison said. “We’re covering our whole headboard with it. You can have some.”
Addison’s mother turned sharply to her daughter. “Addison, if they aren’t following the rules—”
“This is a dumb rule! We both know you’re just trying to sabotage them because you don’t want them to beat me! But it’s not going to work, because they’re going to beat me no matter what. This is Rowan! And his girlfriend is a real-life fashion designer! They worked harder and are just better at this than me. Stop being a stage mom and deal with it.”
Wow. I had no idea Addison McLaughlin had that in her. I smiled at her, feeling a little overachieving-mother solidarity, even though my mother would never sabotage someone else to get me ahead. As much as my parents were intense sometimes, clearly I could’ve had it so much worse.
“You’re being serious? We can have the moss?” Rowan asked, looking at Addison carefully.
“Yeah, totally.” She indicated our sculpture. “This is gorgeous. It should stay in the competition. And...you’re an old friend.”
Everyone dispersed at that. Even Mrs.McLaughlin and her mean-lady lackey left with their proverbial tails between their legs.
Addison winced at me. “Sorry about my mother. It took me way too long to realize how toxic she is. Congrats on your sculpture—it’s really amazing.”
I tilted my head. “Thanks.”
“You and Rowan are cute together. Love the shirts. Come grab the moss whenever.” She turned to June. “Hey, Juniper, my mom gave me some advance copies for books coming out next year that she got from the library. I thought you might want them for your Instagram.”
“Oh, wow,” Juniper said. “I’ve never had an advance copy before. I...what’s the catch?”
Addison shrugged. “No catch. Call it an apology for that stuff before. I don’t even listen to my mother these days. And she doesn’t know about your Instagram. Byee!” She flipped her shiny hair over her shoulder and went back to her team.
I looked at Rowan, but he just shrugged. Was it possible that Addison’smotherwas also commenting on June’s YouTube? I exhaled. And...now that I thought about it, that day at Hyacinth’s when Addison bugged June to help her with her Bloom team, it was her mother who’d pushed Addison to talk to us. Mrs.McLaughlin clearly wanted her daughter in the limelight.
I shook my head. We weirdly had a lot in common. “I’ll get the moss in a bit. Let’s get the rest of these begonias in.”
30
AND IT ENDS WITH TULIPS
After that drama had faded, we got back to our sculpture. Covering the stand with moss worked fine. Personally, I liked it better with the metal base than this weird furry green, but whatever. The dress itself was coming along perfectly, and from the looks of it, we were ahead of the other contestants, timing wise.
Soon, the festival opened to the public, and spectators started wandering through the Bloom grounds. They didn’t really bother us—most people who came to our station just asked a few polite questions about what we were making and then moved on. My parents and Samaya eventually showed up, each with large tote bags in their hands.
“I love country festivals,” Mom said. She pulled something out of her bag. “Look at this apron I found!”
The apron was navy with a floral print and a large llama on it, along with the wordsNOPROBLLAMA. I groaned. One day in Bakewell, and she was all into puns. She was going to love Rowan.
I finally introduced Rowan to my parents, and they subjected him to a full desi-parent interrogation with questions likeWhat do your parents do? Where are you going to university? What are you studying? What are your goals after school?He of course passed with flying colors, just like I knew he would. They must have remembered when I toldthem yesterday that I didn’t think the relationship would last, though, because they skipped the “What are your intentions with my daughter?” questions, thankfully.
“This is quite beautiful,” Dad said, pointing at the sculpture. “I think yours is the best we’ve seen here.”
Samaya grinned. “I’m totally taking credit for the dress idea.”
“Are you taking pictures of it for your Instagram?” Mom asked.
