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“What’s your point?” I found this woman to be a little exhausting. Maybe in my normal state I’d find her delightful, but not right now.
She blew out an exasperated breath. “My point is, my customers don’t just walk out of here with a single rose. Mother always said no one could beat my selling skills.”
I pictured Tara beating down her customers with her selling skills so they would buy anything just to get out of the shop. “Okay. Thanks for the information.” I walked out, but hesitated at the door.
On a whim, I asked, “By the way, do you know Chad Buckingham?”
“Chad? Sure, he was a few years ahead of me in school. Why?”
“Has he ever bought flowers here?”
I couldn’t tell you what was so funny, but Tara’s loud snort followed by laughter startled me. For such a petite thing, these were some big noises.
“Chad? Buy flowers from me? Over his mother’s dead body.” Her laughter reduced to giggles.
Tara just killed off all my patience. “What do you mean?” I stepped back closer to the counter.
“Do you live under a rock? Everyone in Glendale Falls knows his mother, Mrs. Buckingham, possesses one of the most beautiful rose gardens this side of the Atlantic, rivaling any English countryside cottage garden. Look up there, see those?” She pointed to the wall behind her head without turning to look herself, where a row of five second place purple ribbons stuck to it.
“Yeah?”
“Mrs. Buckingham has won the first place blue ribbon for her roses every year at the summer state fair for as long as I can remember. The woman is obsessed with roses. Sadly, my garden cannot compete. But I won’t give up. Mother always said to never give up. One day, I’ll take first place.”
The dots were connecting for me. “Let me get this straight. If Chad wanted to give someone roses, he wouldn’t come see you. He’d likely go get them from his mother’s garden?”
“I assume so. He could go right out there and snip off whatever blooms he wanted. Oh, and you should see her greenhouse. The glass gleams year-around. I was lucky enough this one time, in girl scouts, to go on a field trip there in the middle of winter. She served us little girls tea in the middle of her huge greenhouse. Well, her maids did. We all sat on white wicker chairs in our pretty white dresses with pretty little white gloves on, drinking tea from dainty china cups, and listened to her talk about the proper care of rose bushes year-around, all the while she had a knife in her hand, stripping thorns off the rose stems. Wouldn’t want you lovely girls to get blood on your dresses now, would we? She said as she handed each of us a rose to take home. I immediately pressed mine between a bunch of books. I still have it. What to see?”
It was my turn with my mouth full agape, processing the information now cruising quickly through my brain. “Help me understand. The ground is frozen outside in winter, and roses won’t bloom. But she has some blooming in her greenhouse?”
“Yep, year-around. Lucky rich bit—I mean, woman. Mother always said to kill people with kindness, so I shouldn’t call her the b-word, at least not to her face.” She smiled at me, so innocent and lovely and brilliant, with no idea she’d just given me the best gift ever. My freedom.
I reached across the countertop, pulled her to me by the shoulders, and kissed her once on the lips. “Tara, you’re the best. Thank you so much.” A smile stretched across my face, ear to ear, and I couldn’t stop it.
She turned a deep shade of pink. “Oh, I-I don’t know what I did, but you’re welcome.”
“What you did was help me solve that little mystery I mentioned. Now, don’t be alarmed, but the police might come in here this week asking the same questions I did. Just answer them truthfully, the same as you did with me, and everything will be fine. In fact,” I chuckled, then pointed at her purple ribbons. “I have a feeling Mrs. Buckingham won’t be much competition for you anymore. Thanks, Tara.”
After jogging back to my car, I called Jace and told him everything Tara had said to me. I ended with my conclusions. “I think Chad was trying to frame me the entire time. And about those photos and video evidence not showing my face, of course it wasn’t me in them. He and I are about the same build. I wouldn’t put it past him to videotape himself placing those roses under the windshields. I just don’t know how to prove it. It got me wondering though, if there are any other camera angles from other campus cameras that might show his face?”
“Perfect. Leave the rest to me. I’ll call the lawyer, then I’ll call the police captain in Glendale Falls. We’ll get some search warrants for the college campus and for the Buckingham home. We’ll compare the roses to be sure, but I think we’ll have your name cleared in no time.” Jace’s voice, full of confidence, was the shot in the arm I needed right then. “Now go home, get some rest. I’ll keep you posted as things progress. Oh, and I’m serious. If it doesn’t work out getting your degree, jump into police work.”
I thanked him again and clicked off. Then my thumb hesitated over Mia’s name. My heart ached, no—burned for her. My first impulse was to call and tell her everything, to share my life with her again, to blend our two worlds together between family cultures, and share our daily pressures. I wanted to protect her, to make life easier for her, and fuck, I wanted to make love with her all night long. But I forced myself to put my phone away instead.
She needed space and time. And I needed it too. The semester hadn’t turned out like I’d planned, and the future with her wasn’t as clear to me as it once had been. I had my crap to work through, but borrowing some of Jace’s confidence, I was certain we’d work things out, eventually. Because no matter what, we’d crossed the line. She was mine, and there was no going back.
19
MIA
The drive home from work was quiet and lonely. I didn’t feel like listening to music. Slow music would drag my mood down even further, and I certainly didn’t feel like listening to music that would pep me up. I was perfectly happy being miserable.
As for the lonely part, the feeling worsened with every passing day. I hadn’t seen or talked to Teddy. Once a constant figure in my life, he wasn’t a part of it at all while I dealt with Papa being in the hospital, Mama freaking out, and sharing responsibility for the motel with Diego.
Thankfully, two days ago, our dad went back home, on the mend from whatever ailed him. I was back to having time on my hands. Too much time, gauging by the thoughts constantly plaguing me about Teddy.
Guilt set in once I realized he had been willing to take the fall for me. He didn’t turn in any alibi. He had a court hearing date coming up, and Dean Perez had no choice but to suspend him from campus. Even with all that, he never once gave us up. He was willing to sacrifice himself, so my job remained secure.
What kind of man did that? The kind with the purest of love and the greatest of honor. This was the stuff of my romance novels. The only thing missing was Teddy riding up on a stallion and whisking me away to his castle. Okay, that was taking the analogy too far.
