Page 1 of Accidentally in Bloom

Chapter

One

ROSE

Rose Parker balanced precariously on the hood of her rental car, her stilettos sinking into the dented metal. She raised her phone above her head and hoped like hell for a signal.

“Damn these valley hills.” Rose glowered at the rolling, spring countryside of western Pennsylvania. It had taken her two plane rides and four hours by car to get from LAX to ten miles outside her hometown of Fairwick Falls.

AKA, the middle of fucking nowhere.

As Rose contemplated her odds of lighting her rental car on fire if she tried restarting it for the fourth time, a FaceTime call miraculously came through. She swiped up as if her life depended on it, almost losing her balance on the car hood.

A grainy video of her youngest sister popped onto the screen. She was wearing a hydrating sheet mask that reminded Rose of serial killers.

“Rosie Posey! Why aren’t you heeeeere? We miss you.” Lily giggled and held up a bubbling champagne glass.

“Oh my god, are you guys drunk already? It’s eleven a.m.”

Violet, their middle sister, popped onto the screen beside her. “You are very late, and Lily convinced me to open the champagne to get the Parker Sisters Hang Session started early.”

Rose bit her tongue to keep from exploding at her adorable, but currently very fucking annoying, sisters. “Guys, I’m stuck on the side of the road. Come get me.”

“Where are youohhhhaahhhh—” Violet’s voice went mechanical, and their faces froze.

“Vi? Can you hear me?” Maybe she could text them the address. But what the hell was this road even called? Rose had driven on it so many times as a teenager she never bothered to learn its name.

“You are—uh—the—” came the stuttered response through Rose’s phone, and then the call dropped.

Shit.

The backroad was nestled between the rural rolling foothills of the Allegheny National Forest. Tall oak trees stood in thick brackets all around her. Blocking the fucking signal.

The crushing weight of anxiety that came and went found its way onto Rose’s chest for the millionth time in the last twenty-four hours. She coached herself to breathe.

I’m not dying. It’s not a heart attack. It’s just my sympathetic nervous system trying to tell me what I already know: I am stressed the fuck out.

She couldn’t deal with a panic attack on top of a car in the middle of a two-lane country road. Not today. She needed to manage the life crumbling down around her.

Make a list. The safety of a simple, ordered list always made her feel better.

Top reasons I need to GTFO of Fairwick Falls ASAP

Number 1: Neolithic Cell Service.

“If what’s-his-face can pop up to space for vacation, why can’t I get a signal next to a field of cows?” she grumbled.

Number 2: Looming Irrelevance of My Professional Life.

Rose thought about last night — had that only been fifteen hours ago? — when she’d been called in for a “quick meeting” with HR before she left for her three-week vacation. Of course, they’d used that opportunity to fire her, the cowards.

She should’ve known better than to report sexual harassment to the bro-tastic HR manager. When a low-level employee reported an executive, the executive was never punished at her toxic male bullshit consulting company.

It had taken years for Rose to claw her way to the middle of the high-profile consulting firm. She’d regularly worked hundred-hour weeks and deferred every vacation.

She’d also finally — finally — built up a solid following on her podcast side hustle. She needed to maintain her hard-earned identity as the Fortune 100 Got It Covered strategy consultant. How could she face her audience when she’d been fired?

A ball of tension radiated in Rose’s chest as she stared at the second item on her list.

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