Page 57 of Petals and Plot Twists
And in less than five minutes, I’m going to be in the garden with Sophie.
“Hey, where’s Willa?” I ask Archer as we step onto the elevator.
“I’m not sure,” he says. “At this hour, probably about to start working.”
“You should call her,” I say. “Have her meet us up there. She’d probably love to see this, too.”
“She’s already seen it,” Sophie says. “She was with me when I bought it. We met the artist and everything. Actually, that’s not true. Willa saw asmallerplanter, the one the artist had on display in her shop. I wanted one that was slightly larger, so the artist agreed to make it for me.”
“See?” I say. “Then I’m sure Willa would want to see the bigger one. You should definitely call her.”
Archer narrows his eyes at me, like he’s trying to puzzle out why I’m so concerned about getting his girlfriend onto the rooftop. But she’s my only hope at this point. That way, whatever the flower does or doesn’t do, it’ll be doing it for Archer and Willa no matter what’s happening between me and Sophie.
“I’m sure she’ll see it eventually,” Sophie says. “I wouldn’t want to disrupt her morning.”
The elevator reaches the top floor, and we make our way down the hall, Sophie walking ahead. When she reaches the stairwell door for us, she holds it open, stepping to the side so we can pass by. I go up the stairs first, and I make eye contact with Archer.
“I can’t go out there, man,” I say, voice barely above a whisper.
He frowns. “Why?”
I glance around him at Sophie, who is coming up the stairs behind him.
“Because her flower is out there,” I whisper.
It takes Archer a few seconds, but he finally seems to grasp what I’m saying. As soon as we reach the top of the stairs, he shifts his hands forward, pulling the crate into his chest. “I’ve got it,” he says. “Go.”
“Are you sure?”
When he nods, I let go of the crate, hovering long enough to make sure Archer really is in control of the cumbersome crate. When he nods one more time, I spin on my heel and head back down the stairs.
“What happened?” Sophie asks as I pass by her. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just…sorry. I’ve got to…” I don’t finish my sentence, I just wave a hand over my shoulder in what I hope indicates an urgent, unidentified need that I must attend to right this moment.
I take the stairs all the way down to the second floor, where I push through the access door, opting to head to my apartment instead of Sophie’s. I haven’t been there in a while, and I need to grab some clean clothes anyway. As soon as I step inside, the lights start flickering just like they were doing before I moved out.
I’m really,reallygetting tired of this apartment.
I rummage through my drawers, gathering the things I need, then head downstairs to Sophie’s. It’s only been a couple of minutes, so I’m banking on her still being on the roof unpacking her crate. I hope she is, because I don’t want a confrontation right now, and I’m positive she’s going to ask why I ran away.
Luckily, her apartment is empty, so nothing waylays me as I walk quickly to her bathroom. Once inside, I close and lock the door, leaning against it with a sigh.
I need a shower.
And something to eat.
And I really,reallyneed to be honest with Sophie.
Tonight,I think. I’ll tell her everything tonight. She has a stupid Operation Soulmate date, but as soon as she’s back from that, I’m telling her everything. About the job offer. About my feelings. All of it.
I’m out of the shower, wrapping a towel around my waist when a knock sounds on the bathroom door.
“Hey,” Sophie calls. “Just checking on you. Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah. I’m good,” I say. “Just got out of the shower.”
“Okay,” she says back. “I have Pepto Bismol if you need it. Or maybe some ginger ale?”
