AllFreeNovel
Share Us
If he wasn’t going to sleep and he wasn’t going to open up, then the only other thing I had to keep him on track was his nutrition.
“Mr. Lowell! I’m headed to the grocery store again. We’re out of milk. Do you want anything?”
I knew he wouldn’t answer me, but I wanted to proceed as if things hadn’t changed. Sometimes, a solid routine for patients like Hayden was a necessary evil to keep their heads above water. I stood there for a few seconds to see if he would answer me, then I grabbed my things and headed for the door.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes!”
The truth was, I had been doing some research. Combing through the books in his library and making my way upstairs whenever he napped after his physical therapy. I saw pictures of him and an older man that looked a little like him. The smile on his face lit up his eyes, and I would stand there for what seemed like hours staring at those pictures. I saw pictures of him and his sister and him with his mother. Family vacations and beautiful scenery pictures of the beaches and places he had visited.
But there was always a common element.
Flowers.
He was an outdoors kind of guy, and I couldn’t imagine what this type of injury was doing to him.
I ran to the grocery store, yes. But then I made a stop by my old floral shop. I hadn’t resumed the flower arrangement deliveries because I wasn’t sure what kind of space we would be working with. Some picky apartment complexes in the city didn’t allow certain types of arrangements to be delivered to their places because of allergies or other rules. But now that I’d gotten a feel for the place I had an idea on how to make Hayden feel better.
“Grace!”
“Hey there, Emilia,” I said with a smile.
“Oh, my gosh. Come give me a hug.”
I embraced my friend and held her tightly as I breathed in the scent of the flowers around me.
“Job that hard?” she asked.
“How could you tell?”
“That sigh of yours. It’s always telling,” she said. “Come. Sit down and talk with me.”
“I can’t, actually. I have milk in the car and I need to get back soon.”
“That man giving you a run for your money?”
“I don’t think there’s a statement to describe the type of difficulty Mr. Lowell is,” I said.
“That’s what happens when you strip a man of his ability to showcase his strength. It’s that fragile male ego.”
“It’s more than that, but I don’t have enough time to get into it. I do, however, want to resume the floral deliveries.”
“That’s great! That means I can see you more often,” she said with a grin. “Where to?”
I rattled off Hayden’s address before Emilia looked beyond her glasses and into my eyes.
“You know that place has a strict ‘no exotic flowers’ policy, right?” she asked.
“I do.”
“So that mean no orchids.”
“I’m aware.”
“What kind of arrangements do you want then?” she asked.
“Is it possible for you to deliver floral arrangements of daffodils and carnations?”
“An odd choice. Any reason why?”
