Page 44 of April Flowers

“Ralph, it’s so good to see you,” she said.

Ralph grinned and turned his eyes from Margot to Noah and back again. “Wow. I don’t know what to say. The two of you! Together! In my bar!”

Margot’s heart fluttered.

“Noah, explain yourself!” Ralph ordered.

Noah laughed. “We’re just old friends, catching up.”

“Am I going to have to kick you out for singing too loudly?” Ralph teased. It had only happened once, but it had been nearly two thirty in the morning, far too late for teenagers in a bar that should have carded them.

“We’ll try to behave,” Margot assured him.

“I don’t know if I can trust you,” Ralph said, winking. “Where are you at these days, Margot? I have this feeling I read something about you. Weren’t you written up in the paper? Something about your business?”

Margot’s cheeks were hot. “I own a little flower shop in Beacon Hill.”

Ralph snapped his fingers. “That’s right! I read about that shop. But you’re too humble. From what I remember, that flower shop isn’t so little.”

Margot waved her hand, caught off guard that he knew anything about her “normal” life. “You’ll have to come by sometime.”

“Why not just move the shop to Nantucket?” Ralph suggested, bowing his head as he added in a whisper, “We need some good bouquets around here. From what I hear, most of the rich folks who get married on the island bring their own florists from the city. Seems like there’s a market for it.”

This triggered a memory. “I’m actually helping out with a wedding in a couple of weeks,” Margot said. “It’s a spontaneous thing. I think they needed help.”

Ralph’s eyes widened. “You’re here longer than just a visit, then. Who’s getting married?”

“Hilary Coleman,” she said.

Ralph clapped his hands. “Yes! Of course! Hilary’s a dear, isn’t she? This dive bar isn’t her scene, but I see her around from time to time. Her daughter is a real spitfire.”

Margot met Hilary’s daughter Aria two nights ago at the Coleman’s place. Right now, that dinner felt like another lifetime.

Now, she was sitting at a bar with Noah. Now, she was entrenched in a thousand different mini-mysteries—trying to put together the secrets of her mother's life.

Suddenly, Ralph’s smile fell off his face. With a rag he kept behind the counter, he wiped the bar. “I heard about your mother, Margot. It’s just occurred to me that’s why you’re here.”

Margot bowed her head.

“It’s good you’re here. But family’s never easy,” Ralph said. “Lillian’s lucky to have you. I wish she knew that.”

Suddenly, the bartender Ron returned with a clipboard, ready for his chat with Ralph in the back room. To Margot, Ralph tipped an invisible hat and promised he’d come back over to “pester them again” before they left. When he disappearedwith Ron, he left Margo and Noah in a comfortable silence. It felt as though the past was thickening around them, like pudding cooked on a stove.

Margot turned her head to look at Noah. Her heart felt crushed with love for him. But was it today’s love—or a love from twenty years ago?

Margot didn’t know where to begin, so she tried, “Why did Avery know about me?”

She expected Noah to stiffen up, but his voice was quiet and warm as he said, “Sam brought you up the other night. I think Avery was overcome with curiosity. She’s never known me to have anyone.”

Margot was taken aback. She’d expected Noah to have fallen in and out of love over the years. She’d mentally prepared herself to hear about a failed marriage and maybe even a child somewhere.

“And you?” Noah asked. “I mean, are you seeing someone?”

Margot shook her head.

“I imagine you’ve seen a lot of people over the years,” Noah said.

Margot tucked a hair behind her ear. The conversation had gotten intense incredibly fast, and she struggled to keep up emotionally.Don’t cry.

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