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“Obsessed with you?” He casually leans on a bookshelf. “Yeah. She and my sisters probably figured it out before I did.”
“Reece,” I hiss before realizing my mistake and pulling the hood on my head tighter. I’ve been careful to keep my hair covered since we left the cabin. That’s all I need is someone to recognize me.
“What’s the big deal? You already met Breckyn. It’s only a matter of time before you meet the rest of my family.”
I nod at the stack in his arms. “Do you have enough cash for all those?”
“Yes?” he says like a question.
“I’ll be outside while you check out.” I sidestep him and leave without another word.
Sooner than I was hoping, Reece finds me across the street, standing in the flurries, staring at a mural between two buildings.
I point at the larger-than-life white flower floating atop sparkling water with stars soaring from the petals up to billowing clouds. “Is that a Water Lily?”
Bag in hand, Reece keeps his distance from me, but glances at the painting, immediately answering, “It’s a Lotus.”
It’s ethereal-looking.
“What does it stand for?”
“Beauty. Purity. Hope. Rebirth. Perseverance. The Lotus grows in shallow waters, mostly ponds. It’s born in the mud at the bottom of the water, where the seed takes root. Without knowing what’s waiting for it overhead, the bud pushes up through the filth and darkness to bloom above the surface, perfectly clean. It’s one of the most beautiful flowers in the world, but the fact that it overcomes its hopeless beginnings, makes it one of the most revered, too.”
I side-eye Reece.
“What flower are you?”
He shifts on his feet. “Not a Lotus.”
Me neither. But here, I feel like I could be.
Unfortunately, here is not reality. Here is a fictional story Reece and I are writing in real time, except when we reach the end, that’s it, it’ll just end. There is no clean, untouched happily ever after for us.
I close my eyes and imagine what it would look like if there was—our families blended, a pod of females with Reece right at home in the middle. He’d be comfortable because that’s what he already knows. I’m the one who didn’t learn that life. I only know how to survive like an apex predator, not thrive like one.
“Can you call her?”
“Who? My mom? You want to talk to her?”
I shake my head but open my eyes. “You talk. I’ll listen.”
We find a café open for afternoon tea service and use their complimentary Wi-Fi at a back booth, away from the other patrons. I remove my coat but keep my sweatshirt’s hood up.
Putting his phone on speaker, Reece calls his mom.
“What’s her name?” I ask while it rings.
“Gwen. Gwendolyn, but no one calls her that.”
Gwen Souza answers, a smile in her voice.
“Hey, Ma.”
“What’s today’s order?”
Reece smiles, too. “No order. I picked up enough flowers yesterday to last through the weekend.”
He did? I’ve only seen the Roses and the Sunflowers. Did he bring up more?
