“I have to admit I’m pretty blown away right now,” Rowan said, furrowing her brows in awe.
“Is that so shocking?” Juniper quipped.
“No,” Rowan drew out cautiously, “that’s not at all what I’m saying. What I’m saying is this is probably the most impressive feat I’ve ever seen one person accomplish.”
“Thanks,” was all Juniper could muster, because yeah, it had been hard fucking work.
And also, she was still teetering somewhere between uncertainty about why she wanted what was happening between them to keep happening and then wanting desperately to reinforce her outer shell so that it stopped happening. Being too amenable to Rowan’s warm energy felt like she was running the risk of revealing too much, more to herself than to anyone else.
“I’m trying to wrap my head around this timeline. You just started getting paid for this?” Rowan prodded.
“Technically I haven’t even gotten my first paycheck yet. I think that comes Friday,” Juniper said with a hint of a laugh.
Rowan paused and furrowed her brows again. “What’s your other job?”
“Only Fans,” Juniper deadpanned.
Rowan raised her eyebrows quickly but dropped them right away.
“No, I’m just kidding. I run my mom’s food truck,” she said as she jabbed an elbow in Rowan’s direction. She couldn’t help but seize that opportunity to tease. Teasing, the age-old Native way to show someone you like them. No, that couldn’t be right. That you’re… cool with them.
“I mean I support that too, 100%, but damn, yeah you got me,” Rowan laughed, then her gaze softened. “You do all this unpaid during the week and then run the food truck every weekend?”
Juniper cleared her throat. “Mhm.”
“Did you… go to school for this?” Rowan asked tentatively.
“That’s a long story,” Juniper confessed, but just enough of a confession to answer the question without divulging any more information than was necessary.
She didn’t want to add any more to that explanation, about how her plans had gotten so derailed, about her self-consciousness over how far away she was from where she wanted to be. Especially not to someone who had advanced degrees from prestigious schools who just confirmed she was equally knowledgeable in ecology as she was law. Juniper wanted to keep riding the high she had been experiencing this morning for a little longer. She wouldn’t blame herself for that.
“I will say, everything I needed to know, I learned from the land,” she added before turning to walk again, this time less in an effort to distance herself from what she had been feeling and more in an effort toward feeling something else entirely. Something undefined as of yet, but perhaps something positive nonetheless.
???
Rowan continued to follow Juniper on her very thorough tour, jotting down as much of the detailed information for each new plant as she could. She had a lot to learn and that excited her,a lot. Somewhere around the middle of the tour,she felt some of their previous tension dissipate, iciness thaw, as they each became more comfortable with the other as who they are now. It had become evident that they both wanted to share and wanted to learn, and that felt comfortably like old times, without the burden of the pain that had previously come with it.
And somewhere else around the middle of the tour, as they had gotten lost in a very nerdy conversation about saline and non-saline environments, a spark re-ignited somewhere much deeper inside of her. She struggled to admit to herself that the spark was less about the content matter, as deeply fascinating as she found that, and more about the tour guide, who seemed to be an endless well of knowledge, perspective, and insight. She found that downright captivating. That, however, felt more dangerous by the minute.
When they reached the far edge of the garden, she watched Juniper beam like a literal ray of sunshine as she knelt down to admire the loose clusters of wildflowers dotting the landscape in various shapes, heights, and colors.
“I didn’t plant this part of the garden to serve a real purpose, I guess other than to spark Indigenous joy.”
“That’s reason enough, don’t you think?” Rowan added with a soft smile as she squatted beside her, their knees almost touching.
She caught a glimpse of a smile on Juniper’s face too, and her heart may have skipped a beat. That was unexpected. And it was contagious. Rowan felt her own smile growing wider.
“These are silene caroliniana. We call these wild pinks here. These particular flowers do serve a purpose though. They contain brassinosteroids. They kind of help strengthen the immune system of the other wildflowers around them. They make their other wildflower friends stronger.”
Rowan watched as Juniper lightly ran her fingers along the edge of one of the bubblegum pink flower petals and brought her nose in to smell the fragrance. The way her eyes fluttered closed felt almost seductive, and stirringly reminiscent of theway she’d seen that happen before. But there was something so different about Juniper now. She had always been impressively powerful, intense, and capable. But whatever this was was drawing Rowan in like a magnet. She almost felt helpless, and a little silly, with how easy she was succumbing to its pull.
“If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to see some butterflies or hummingbirds over here today. I noticed the pollinators normally come out around noon,” Juniper said as she turned to look at Rowan, who realized she had inched even closer as the current images and memories blended together in her mind.
She snapped out of it and stood up, pacing a few steps away, becoming particularly interested in the other flowers. She had absolutely no idea what they were. They were beautiful, though nothing close to how beautiful she thought Juniper was in this moment. But she needed to leave that alone. Or maybe one more look wouldn’t hurt.
She glanced back and took in the full sight of her. So much about her had changed with time, but in this moment, all she saw was her best friend of eighteen years who also happened to be the girl she had accidentally fallen in love with that summer. She had on an old powwow t-shirt, well worn with time, cut-off jean shorts, and short gardening boots. Her long, coffee-colored hair was in a loose braid that had fallen over her shoulder. How lucky she felt to finally see a reflection of that profile picture she’d admired in front of her. Rowan’s fingers itched to tuck a strand of hair that had gotten loose behind Juniper’s ear. She shoved her hands in her pockets to stifle any uncontrollable urges she might feel to actually do so.
“Those are white aster,” Juniper answered with a head nod, without needing to be asked.
