Rowan sighed. “Indeed.”
“But, Indigenous people will survive anywhere. Everywhere. We keep moving forward; we reclaim and rewrite the story.”
Rowan kissed her on the cheek, and Juniper overwhelmed herself with the need to ask the one burning question she’d ruminated on all day, for years before this moment.
“Would you have loved me here too?” She whispered.
Rowan turned her around in her arms. The whites of her eyes were glossy as she swiped the inner corners with her fingers.
“I have loved you in every version of my life that I’ve lived, every version I will live. You’re it for me, Juniper. You always have been.”
Juniper struggled to steady her voice. “You found your way back to me.”
Rowan kissed her tenderly and wiped the tears she didn’t know she’d been crying with her thumbs as she cupped her face. “Always.”
Plants teach us about the interconnectedness of all living things, about flexibility and resilience, about collaboration and mutualism, about all the various ways you can cultivate your own strength.
Chapter 24
“Do you feel ready?” Rowan asked Juniper as she sat on the edge of their hotel bed the next morning.
Juniper tilted her head from side to side and slid on her heels. “I don’t know. I guess.”
“Do you want to go over the presentation one more time?”
“No. I got that part down. I’m nervous, generally.”
“Everyone here wants to hear everything you have to say.”
“If you say so.”
Rowan reached for her hand and pulled her to sit on the bed next to her. She furrowed her brows. Juniper spread her thumbs over them to smooth them back out.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m only worried that you feel like people don’t want you to be here or don’t care about what you have to say.”
“It’s just that this is like the culmination of my life’s work so far. And I’m presenting about it to people I don’t know. I don’t know that they’ll understand why it’s so important.”
“I don’t think anyone could hear you talk about your life’s work and not understand, very deeply, why it’s critical to our survivance as Indigenous people.”
Juniper blushed. “Thank you. That’s very kind.”
“I’m not trying to be kind, Junie. I’m being honest. Fuck what everybody else thinks anyway. You get to show up everyday and tell the world who you want to be, how you define yourself. You don’t leave it up to them to do it for you.”
They kissed and lingered there for a few moments before Rowan added, “Also, I’m sorry, but you look really hot.”
Juniper play-shoved her shoulder. “Shut up. So do you.”
She bit her lip at the thought of sliding her hands inside her jacket shoulders to push it off her body. She’d undo her tie, maybe leave it on the bed for later. Then she’d lift her shirt from where it was tucked inside her pants…
“I know that face. Coffee in the lobby before we get carried away?” Rowan interrupted.
Juniper grabbed her bag and sighed. “Safe bet.”
With fifteen minutes to go before their presentation, Juniper teetered nervously on her heels behind the curtains at the side of the stage in the ballroom. She hadn’t known before this morning that due to the overwhelming interest in their presentation, their room had shifted from a standard conference room to one that could accommodate much more seating. This room had screens to broadcast her face. And she had been mic-ed up with Rowan.
“You’re going to be great. You have always been enough. You are more than enough in this moment.”
