Page 9 of Until We Weren't

“You’ll never guess who I just ran into at the grocery store,” Gretchen said.

Destiny continued to plant the flowers then she stopped and looked up at her mom. “Oh, am I really supposed to guess? Uh, I have no idea.”

“I talked to Faith,” Gretchen said matter-of-factly.

Destiny’s hands stopped and she sat back as her butt rested on her heels. “Hmm.”

“That’s it? Hmm?” Gretchen said.

“What do you want me to say, Mom? Faith wants nothing to do with me. And if I wondered before, she made it abundantly clear this morning when I ran into her at the nursery. She bumped her shoulder against mine, knowing I wouldn’t do anything, yet hoping I would,” Destiny said, her voice rising with anger.

“That’s a lot of information from a brush of the shoulder,” Gretchen said.

Destiny looked up at her mom and groaned in frustration. “Just because we broke up doesn’t mean I don’t know who she is. Well, I thought I did.”

Gretchen kneeled down next to her daughter and put her arm around her shoulder. “You do know her,” she said softly.

“Mom,” Destiny said, carefully pulling away and standing up. “I can’t. I’ll fall apart.” She took a couple of steps away and went back to planting the remaining marigolds.

“She’s scared of something, honey,” Gretchen said. “I could see it in her eyes.”

Destiny sighed loudly. “I know she is. But she will not take, nor does she want, help from me. If you only knew how many times I’ve seen that frightened look in her eyes and convinced her to trust me. It worked and we were happy, until we weren’t,” Destiny said. “I don’t know what she thinks I did, but she’ll never trust me again and I’m the last person she’d ask for help.”

“Maybe not,” Gretchen said. “Something seemed different about her.”

Destiny stood up and her shoulders slumped. “Not with me. She was just as angry and venomous as ever when I ran into her this morning. We’ve been over this, Mom. It’s been three years.”

“Yet neither one of you have moved on. All you do is work,” Gretchen said.

Destiny let out another deep breath and looked into her mother’s eyes. “Enjoy the marigolds.” She gave her mom a sad smile and walked to her truck. “Bye, Dad,” she said, opening the door.

“I love you, honey,” Michael said, walking over to her.

Destiny paused and smiled.

“You know I don’t like to butt into your life,” he continued.

Destiny raised her brows. “That’s why we get along so well.”

Michael chuckled. “I don’t think your story with Faith is over.”

Destiny nodded. No, she thought. As long as we’re both in the landscaping business and occasionally run into each other, Faith will continue to be the nemesis in my story.

She started her truck and drove away. Destiny used to believe that someday Faith would tell her what she did, but she was beginning to think she’d never know. After seeing her this morning it seemed that Faith was even further away. Maybe that’s what seemed different to her mom. Destiny knew she had to stop hoping or she’d end up a sad, lonely old woman.

A bitter laugh escaped her throat as she pulled into her parking space at her apartment. “You’re forty-two years old and you’re already a sad, lonely woman. Great,” she groaned.

4

“Have we received payment for the Collins job yet?” Faith asked as she walked in from the shop after getting the crews lined out for the day.

“Yep,” Amy replied. “We received payment yesterday.”

Amy’s job was to take care of the office and do the payroll. Faith was slow to trust her with much in the beginning, but as the business grew and Faith needed to be out in the field, someone had to be in the office.

As the years passed, Amy had become the closest thing Faith had to a friend. She explained to Faith that her trust issues came across in a very negative way to her other workers. There had been times when Amy smoothed things over to keep a good worker from quitting.

“Were you nice this morning?” Amy asked, looking up from her computer.

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