June March looked down at the time on her phone screen, her eyes glued to the numbers as she leaned against the side of her car. She let out a sigh as she realized the contractor was late, her heartbeat quickening when she saw she only had about two hours before had to get home for family dinner.
The wind was blowing fairly cold today , June pulling her jacket closer around her. She closed her eyes for a moment and really soaked in the outside air, knowing she would get too suffocated if she had waited in the car. She listened to the sounds of nature all around her and also she thought about how excited she was to see her place, thrilled to start a new chapter of her life and hoping that it looked exactly like she wanted.
The wind blew a bit colder and she got lost in the temperature, goosebumps rising on her skin as her thoughts got away from her. She choked on a breath as she saw the images of her sinking, triggered by the coldness of the air. The exact temperature of the water she had gotten lost in. Her hair stood up on her skin as she started to feel especially like she couldn't breathe, her eyes fighting to open.
"Ms. March! I apologize for the delay there was some traffic coming from my last job but I appreciate you waiting for me." June almost jumped at the contractors arrival, her head turning fast as he approached from his truck. She gave him a smile as her heart calmed, shaking her head and walking forwards to meet him.
"Oh it's no problem! I understand." She said in an edgy tone, shaking the man's hand and giving him a tight lipped smile. His eyebrows slightly furrowed at the panicked look in her eyes and he looked down at her hand, noticing how shaky it was as she pulled it away and shoved it into her pocket.
"You okay ma'am?" He asked, June feeling caught for a moment before quickly nodding and answering.
"Yeah, yeah of course. I'm totally fine." And she was totally fine now. And slightly thankful for him showing up when he did, leading her to break from that terrible attack she was bordering on. He shook away his slight worried and then started past her, gesturing for her to follow him.
"Alright well, I wanna say thanks for meeting me out here today, usually we don't work on Sundays but my wife's going in to get induced this week and I wanted to get you up here to look at the place and finish some paperwork for me so we can have this thing as a done deal."
"Okay great." June said, quickening her pace to keep up with him. She was already thinking about how long this would take, knowing she had to drive back and get the ferry in time, plus it had to be the ferry they'd let her take the car on so it was a hassle it shouldn't have to be. They walked up the paved road and over the small hill, Junes thoughts stopping when she saw it. "Oh wow."
She wished she could stop walking and really take it in, her heart filling with some enormous emotion she could hardly explain, pride maybe. Sitting in front of her was her own business, her hand lifting to her mouth as she looked at it.
It was a decently large building, one half of it a greenhouse and the other half a beautiful patio area. She had petitioned to have it on the mainland, for the flow of business and because she didn't tell anyone, not wanting her friends to be aware that she had made such a huge investment, the girl not entirely sure why she didn't tell them. Part of it was because she wanted something for herself, something separate from the island, something of her own. Another part of it was because she didn't want to be June March out here, out here she just wanted to be the plant nursery owner. She just wanted to be something different than what she was.
They approached the front and he opened the door for her, a bell ringing overhead as he did. She was thrilled by the space and the potential, her eyes catching onto the small stain glass windows she had requested behind the checkout counter.
"We already got your troughs and irrigation systems and sprinklers set up so you don't have to worry about that. Bill will be out on the 4th to turn the water on to make it in time for your opening." The contractor said, his hands on his hips as he watched her take in the beauty of her own secret place. She looked around and she could practically see it, the rows and rows of flowers and plants and cacti and trees she would put outside.
Rafe was essential in her plan to make this place happen, he had reminded her with that book for her birthday just how much she did love plants. And when she was racking her brain on what she should use her money for, she say nothing but a secure investment in running something she loved. It was an easy decision once she got all the plans drawn up.
When the kids had actually gotten their money it was a tough decision of what exactly to do with it for June. She had considered a lot of things; moving away, burning it, buying a house, buying a boat, disappearing off of the face of the Earth. After they settled with the government for what their finders fee would be, the group had gone out for a dinner, an amazing one that was the only good one they had all together after everything. June was sitting across from Pope, and the idea struck her, and she knew exactly what to do with some of her money. In a shocking move, June gifted Pope half of her money, to help secure his future, to make up for what she couldn't fix for him, and to pay him back for what had happened to the cross.
Looking at this place felt like the only right thing that she had ever done in her life, her heart full with hope and wonder as she thought of all the ways she could make this place her own.
"Your last payment went through so you don't have to worry about that, and also we got your order to go ahead and install these flowers, and it was easy so we had no problem with it. Although I would like to know what they are, they're beautiful and I really think my wife would like them." Junes face scrunched up in confusion and she followed the contractor outside, her lips turned down into a curious frown as he told her about something she didn't ask for.
"I'm sorry...what flowers? I don't remember putting an order in for flowers." She said, the man leading her around the side of a small refreshment shack. There were a couple troughs and big pots, all empty except for a wooden plant stand that she was 100% sure she never ordered. The contractor stopped there, his hands on his hips as he gestured towards the wooden box. Her jaw clenched and a wave a panic flew through her as she approached the flowers and quickly learned what they were, her body holding a small amount of shock alien with a large amount of disappointment and a captured feeling, as if she was once again reminded that she could never, ever be anything but who she was. She could never not be June March.
"Yeah they're beautiful, I mean...my wife would probably love them. What—what did you say they were?"
June lifted her fingers to the petals of the flower and her eyes were unblinking as she looked down at them, feeling a giant dark pit in the bottom of her stomach as she answered him. She knew exactly where these flowers had come from.
"They're uh...lilies. Peace lilies."
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Everything's fine but is everything fine and also will every remain fine?
