Page 122 of Wallflower in Bloom

“How are you feeling about the Plant-a-Rama talk since you’ll be solo?” Rose turned to Violet.

Violet’s stomach turned. “What if no one shows? What if everyone shows?” she said suddenly.

“Just think of all the people you’ll help,” Lily said as she bounded down the stairs to Bloom.

Violet turned the thought around in her head; the more people who were there, the more she could help.

“You’re not the same girl you were, Violet. You’re not the junior in high school, you’re not the first grader, and you’re not even who you were in May. You’re literally the face of our store, and you’re doing great.” Rose ran a hand down Violet’s hair. “You are so strong, especially for other people, and you’ll kill it by yourself.” She wrapped Rose in a hug and was grateful for the older sister who never abandoned her.

Rose straightened as she grabbed her keys to head downstairs. “Now,” Rose said with a sneaky smile as she opened the door to Bloom. “How long do you think it will take until Lily and Nash kiss again?”

Ten minutes later, with an open bag of Oreos in hand, Violet walked out of the back door of Bloom looking like a cave-dwelling snack gremlin.

Unfortunately, she walked right into the Founder’s Day information booth pathway, and Jennifer caught her eye.

Jennifer waved her over. “Violet, you haven’t returned my calls or my texts.”

“Yeah, I’ve been busy,” Violet said, wiping her eyes and pulling her shirt down. Jennifer always commented about how her clothes never fit.

“We definitely need your help for the end-of-summer pool party. Can I count on you to head up the snack committee?”

“Um,” Violet said slowly.

“We’ll just need a couple dozen cupcakes in the next few days, and for you to secure sponsorship from a couple of businesses around town, no big deal,” Jennifer said, smirking.

And suddenly, like a montage, Jennifer’s face smirking at her for the last ten years all solidified into one thought: she doesn’t like me.

A friend is someone who likes you. And I don’t need to bend over backward for someone who doesn’t like me.

“I have changed. Rose was right,” Violet said out loud to Jennifer’s confused face.

“Uh, okay?” Jennifer looked at her as if she was crazy.

Violet straightened her spine. Every inch. “And the word you will hear from now on is ‘no.’ I am now a former people pleaser, fully in recovery, who is willing and happy to tell you to go to hell.”

The word no felt strange but so, so good.

Jennifer’s shock elongated her already overly long face. “You are—”

“I don’t care what you think I am,” Violet said, moving past her to go home, already done with the conversation. “Because I’m brave,” she said to herself, “and bold and taking up every inch.”

The next day, Violet nervously tugged at her shirt as they walked through the Plant-a-Rama Home and Garden Show. She’d opted for a mint-green Bloom shirt with her ‘Let’s Be Weird Together’ phrase that had gone semi-viral from the last episode.

Aaron had insisted on rolling her shirt up so it grazed the top of her high-waisted, wide-leg linen pants. He’d gathered her t-shirt tight to her body, pinned so it fit snugly, showing off her waist, and rolled up the t-shirt sleeves. They’d styled it with dangly earrings and fresh-faced makeup.

“Now, don’t forget,” Rose said. “Plug the store and tell them to check out our website for 10% off.”

Lily smacked Rose’s arm. “You’re gonna freak her out even more. She has too many things to remember already.”

“It’s fine. I’ll be fine,” Violet said to them as they looked at a map of the exhibition. “It’s only going to be a few people who have questions about plants, right?”

They walked across the convention hallway and peeked inside their scheduled room.

It was packed with hundreds of people staring at a lone microphone on the large stage.

“Holy clover, I’m gonna barf.” Violet leaned over so she wouldn’t pass out.

“Nope, you’re not.” Rose turned her around and dragged her back up. “You got this.”

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