Page 106 of A Journey For Jasmine

“She is. Loves it here so far. I hope she keeps with that attitude, to be honest. But I’m staying out of it if I can. That was the agreement I wanted. Ivy will be trained to fill in in both stores. That is a must. She is going to be doing a lot of different things, but she has ideas and they seem to be good ones.”

“Do you think she’ll want to make changes here?” he asked.

“I think she is treading carefully in the flower shop, but I told her to treat it like she would anyone else. I’m open to things for sure. I want her to feel needed and appreciated.”

“That’s nice of you,” he said.

“I can be a nice person.”

“I know,” he said.

He picked up a flower from the pile she was pulling from and handed it to her. She smiled at him and put it in the arrangement. “Any place in particular you wanted to go for lunch?”

“No,” he said. “You can choose.”

“Someplace to get tacos or nachos. Not sure why, but I want something Mexican.”

“Then I’ll find a place,” he said, pulling his phone out and trying to do a search. “Is there a place around where you’ve had them before?”

“A few,” she said, giving him the names. He looked them up and they decided where to go.

She finished her arrangement and they left, just walking a block to where they were going to eat.

“It’s quiet in here.”

“Early yet,” she said. “Any particular reason you wanted to go to lunch?”

He debated telling her and decided to be honest. “You’ve seemed quiet the past few days. I wasn’t sure if you were busy or not. I just wanted to double-check. Texting or calling leads to miscommunication. It was quiet at work and took a chance.”

“Nothing really going on,” she said. “Just busy and adapting to so many changes at once.”

“I started to realize that. Ivy living with you and working together too.”

“She’s keeping me busy at night. Sorry if I haven’t been around.”

“It’s fine. I guess I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t a reason you were not around. If it was something I’ve done.”

“No,” she said. She put her head down to order from the menu and he wasn’t so sure but hoped that she wouldn’t lie to him.

They talked about Ivy and work some more. Ate their lunch. He brought her back to the flower shop and kissed her. “If you’re not busy tonight, I figured being Friday and all, you wouldn’t mind spending the weekend with me?”

“I’d like that,” she said. “I guess I got in the habit of just going there and took it for granted.”

“Oh.” Now he felt like a big fool.

“Don’t think anything of it. I’m glad you stopped in.”

He gave her one more kiss and left knowing that things would be fine.

36

One True Love

“Who was that just leaving?”

Jasmine turned her head to see Mrs. Grady walking in the door. The older woman came into the shop once a week to get flowers and chat.

“That was my boyfriend,” she said.

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