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I pushed back the shudder about to wrack through me and I looked at Cherry again. “I should head back home and rest,” I said to her. “I’ll come around to help you out here tomorrow.”
Cherry chuckled. “Don’t worry, I have a part-timer working for me now,” she said then reached out and touched my chin. “Let me give you a gift. Tell Tommy it’s from me, and that I say it’s supposed to brighten up the house a little bit now that he has you staying there with him.”
Cherry got up before I could say a thing and she returned with a small vase of Lilies. “These are from my daughter’s garden. She brings them for me every week and I gift them out because I have a lot of flowers in the house already.”
“Thanks so much, Cherry,” I said, taking the vase from her. I leaned forward and inhaled the scent of the white lilies before smiling again. “I’ll give them to him.”
When I arrived at the house sometime later, Tommy wasn’t in the kitchen or the living room, so I set the vase down by the corner of the living room near the window and lifted the curtains to let fresh air and the streaks of sunlight come in.
I stepped away from the vase and admired my work to make sure the vase was in the perfect spot. A smile formed on my lips, and I sighed before I turned to walk out of the living room.
Tommy was standing there behind me when I turned around and the crinkle lines on his face deepened when he saw me.
“Hey, good thing you’re here, Cherry says I should give you this vase. It’s supposed to brighten up the place and …”
“What flowers are those?” he asked in an irritated tone as he dashed past me and picked up the vase.
“Lilies,” I answered at the same time he opened the window and flung the vase out. “Oh my … why would you do that?” I cried out, my eyes wide and round from the horror of what he just did. “Why would you throw that away?”
“If you want to stay here, then you need to stay put and not mess around with anything,” he said before he stormed away from me and into the kitchen.
I watched him, mouth agape as my fury slowly boiled over inside me.who the hell did this man think he was anyway?
Tommy
Thiswomanknewnothing!I sneezed twice as I went into the kitchen and raised my head because my nose started running.
My severe pollen allergy made me hate flowers. Even though I found them beautiful, I could never have them around me.
Leah didn’t know this, but she marched into the kitchen with me, prepared for a fight as she said behind me. “You shouldn’t be that rude. Cherry gifted you those flowers because …”
“Damn it, can you just be quiet?” I hissed and began rummaging through the lockers in the kitchen to find my nasal spray or some Claritin. When I found the containers empty, I recalled that I hadn’t gotten any yet because I didn’t think I would need them since I lived alone.
“God dammit,” I cursed again then rushed to the tap and turned on the faucet. After washing my face with running water, I sneezed twice again, and I felt my head spin.
“Are you all, right?” Leah asked and came up behind me. I felt her hand on my back and I spun around quickly before closing the edge of the counter behind me. I sneezed again and worry lines drew up on her face.
Her eyes suddenly rounded, and she blurted. “Oh, my goodness, you’re allergic.”
My reply was another sneeze, and I felt tears well up in my eyes. She moved away from me and ran out of the kitchen before I could catch my breath.
When she returned, she was holding a bottle of Claritin. “Here, have some of mine.”
I took the container from her, took out a pill, and swallowed it with water from the tap. It took a few minutes for the sneezing to subside, and the tightness building in my chest started to ease up.
I managed to get to a chair, and once I sat, I buried my face in my hands.
Leah still stood on the same spot, her spine ramrod straight when I raised my head to look at her again. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were allergic. Danielle loves flowers and …”
“Danielle takes after her mother,” I said to her before I looked away again and combed my fingers through my hair. “Try not to kill me while you’re here,” I said to her, then got up and walked out of the kitchen without another word to her.
Later that night, I felt relieved from my allergy episode, and I returned to the kitchen to find Leah cooking. She took off the apron she wore and offered me a shaky smile. “I hope you’re not allergic to the chicken soup because I made some. My grandmother used to make it for me whenever I got sick, and she taught me the recipe before she died.”
She blinked twice, and I weighed my options. I could either walk out of the house now and have dinner outside or sit here and indulge in Leah’s presence even though it was starting to make me feel uncomfortable.
Her smile was radiant, and she was even more beautiful when she tied her short hair in a tiny bun. I let my gaze run down the rest of her. She was wearing simple blue shorts and a white T-shirt. Her eyes were a clear brown that captivated me and caused my pulse to spike a bit.
I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t stop myself from agreeing to her offer of chicken soup. I told myself it was because the atmosphere smelled of rosemary and cinnamon my favorite spices, but deep down I knew it had more to do with the fact that I wanted to look at her some more.
