Page 69 of Poetry of Flowers

“Oh sweetheart, do you think a cop would look like me?”

“Then why do you ask so many questions?”

He pointed at the table where he sat before with a gorgeous woman and a little boy and girl who looked almost identical.

“Those are my wife and kids; we travel around with them to show them the world before their real life starts. My brother and his family wanted to join us, but he jumped off because his daughter got sick. Our bus still has space for four other people.”

“What if we were killers? Would you let us near your children?” Was this a good question to ask, maybe our only hope to even keep traveling on our own?

“For the protocol, we are not killers,” Theo told Devon and raised his hands.

“No worries, bud, I know. You don’t look like killers, and trust me, I know how they look. Spent a few years in jail for something I didn’t do,” he replied.

“My twins also know how to defend themselves pretty well, they got it from their mother. That woman is a firebird, kicked me in the nuts when we first met. The love of my life.”

Looking at the woman with the blond short hair cutting her son's pancakes, he smiled. It was an honest smile, and the look in his eyes told me that he was truly in love.

“Sounds like a lovely story,” Autumn giggled.

The sound of the door opening made me turn my head to see my best friend storming in. There was anger in his clenched jaw, and sadness in his eyes.

“Why was your card declined? Is the problem solved?” I asked him right away while he eyed the man beside me.

“No, my bank got problems. I won’t have my money back till the end of the week,” Kayden answered, nodding towards Devon. “Would you mind taking your arm off my friend?” he asked firmly.

Devon didn’t even touch me, but he still pulled his arm away and stood up.

“If you want to accept my offer, I’ll be right over there. If not, have a wonderful tour, guys.” And with that returned to his family. The little girl held up a waffle that looked like a dinosaur. Her father acted amazed.

I could tell that he wasn’t a bad man.

Kayden sat down beside me again, his thumb brushed over my knee.

Forwards and sideways and...

Was he writing something with his finger?

B— E— E— S

Bees.

Oh, Kayden.

When we were younger, we had agreed on a word we could use in tricky situations, when we were uncomfortable or sad and didn’t want to say it right away because there were too many people around. Bees seemed like the perfect word for us because it was short, and these animals were quick, just how we would handle those situations.

I slid my hand under the table over to his leg, he was wearing jeans while I just wore some jogging pants, so I wasn’t sure if he would feel my touch when I drew a question mark on his thigh.

“What now? I didn’t bring any money,” Autumn asked in the round while she played with her hair.

“Let me think about it, okay?” Kayden answered and wrote another word on my knee.

L— A— T— E— R

Later.

I didn’t think so, Mister.

Moving my finger again, I simply wrote N-O.

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