Page 101 of A Journey For Jasmine

“He just had his bottle and I figured the walk out here would knock him out. Any little motion seems to do it. He spends a lot of time in the swing.” Lily extended her hand out. “So nice to meet you. Your daughter was a godsend to me with the flowers. I was in over my head with everything and she took the pressure off of me and has complete control of it all.”

“Jasmine likes being in control,” Dahlia said.

“And my other sister,” Jasmine said. “Dahlia.”

“The accountant, right?” Lily asked.

“That is me. Or as my sisters like to say, the one that sits on her butt all day long.”

“My sisters say that of me too at times. Ivy, are you all settled in now?”

“I’m getting there,” Ivy said. “I’m unpacked. It’s been nice to visit with family and next week I’m going to buckle down and get on the job hunt.”

Lily looked at Jasmine and grinned. “I’m sure you’ll find something.”

“I hope so. Just watching Jasmine out here talking about her job makes me jealous. I want to find that.”

“I’m sure you will,” her mother said. “You’ll find your passion.”

“We’ll see,” Ivy said. “Maybe it will just land in front of me without me trying.”

“Nothing is that easy,” her mother said. “Remember that.”

“No,” Jasmine said. “Even if it does, you’ll have to work hard.”

“I’m not afraid of work or learning something new. I just want to love what I do,” Ivy said.

“Then you’ll find the right thing,” Lily said.

Lily went back in the house and Jasmine left with her mother and sisters and thought of those words for Ivy.

She could see her sister’s drive to find something to hold onto. She’d also answered all Ivy’s questions on not just the flowers in the greenhouses but how everything was done. Who did what and why. Her sister did have a questioning mind.

Maybe she should bring it up and see her sister’s thoughts. She’d wait until everyone else left though before she did that.

34

Letting Go

“How long do you have to work today?” Jasmine asked Wesley when they were eating breakfast on Labor Day.

“I’m going in for a few hours and then I’ll be home by no later than one. At least that is my plan. I could be earlier. I just don’t feel right taking the holiday off my first year. Plus I want to see how it is there.”

“I understand,” she said. “I appreciate you letting me stay here while you’re working. Ivy is excited to come hang out by the pool. It might have been a mistake to let my family come on Saturday night.”

“No, it wasn’t,” he said. “I was glad they came and had a good time.”

He hadn’t been sure she’d want to come over but was happy he extended the invitation. It gave him a better opportunity to see how Jasmine interacted with her family.

She didn’t hold grudges and there was part of him that could almost see her letting go of any anger she’d had toward the way she was raised.

It took a special kind of person to do that and he was thrilled to know she was his girlfriend.

He moved to a drawer in the kitchen and pulled out a garage door opener. “Here.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s for you to get in and out of the house. I don’t want you to feel like you’re trapped here. Didn’t you say that Ivy was going to stop and get a few things on the way?”

---