Her Flowers and my loneliness

Act 2

Her aforementioned flower shop seemed to come into view in the blink of an eye. We travelled up the road a ways, made a right turn and then we were pulling into the tiny gravel parking lot covered on all sides with vegetation.  Some in pots, some in plots but everything was lit up by soft outdoor lights that lined the drive in and the surrounding area.

“Just sit in the truck for a bit, I need to unload.  I’ll be right back.” She left the car running and let the heat continue to flood the cabin of the truck.  She had turned it on when my shivering became too evident to the both of us. My feet ached finally registering the hell they had just gone through.

She lifted the tarp and unveiled a tiny habitat of flora tucked into every corner of the bed of her truck.  My eyes widened at the sight. The soft yellow outdoor light glinted off of the petals of at least a hundred tiny flowers clumped together in potted bushes.  They shone in an array of colors and no matter how hard my mind searched I could not find the name of them anywhere in my collective memory.

With a creak and click she opened the back and grabbed the first 2 massive pots.  Her round curvy frame obviously hiding toned muscle where my thin tiny one lacked it.  Still I felt just as useless sitting and watching her work as I had when I was packing my things into the box now sitting on my lap earlier that day.  

Without another moment of hesitation or thought I turned the heat off and turned the key in the truck to preserve the gas keeping it alive and swung my door open.  When my heels hit the gravel underneath I stumbled slightly before I turned around and placed the box on the seat I had just been sitting on.

By the time I closed my door and walked to the back of the truck she was already carrying the next 2 pots inside the now lit shop.  I look down at the ground and sigh as I slip off my shoes. Ignoring the pointed stones beneath me I grabbed one pot and trudged to the walkway of her store that is paved by randomly placed larger smooth stones.  They became a cool relief on my beaten feet. She gave me a smile as she passed by and the unfamiliar movement in my heart in response had me walking faster towards the shop and away from her infectious happiness.  

After I opened the door I had to pause and take in the sight before me.  My breath left my lungs in a rush and my eyes rapidly blinked as if the sight before them could disappear at any moment.  On my next breath in the sweet sweet scent filled my nostrils and my mind worked to inscribe every detail to its lobes.

I had just walked into the sort of flower shop they can only recreate in animated movies or vaguely describe in a book.  Floor to ceiling it burst with flowers and greenery. As my eyes continued to take it all in I began to see the organization in the beautiful mess.

Above my head were floating rocks with various plants growing atop them and hanging pots to suit any front porch.  To my left there seemed to be mostly bushes and outdoor plants. I also spotted the four pots she had already brought in.  

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”  She said from behind me, making me jump and spin on my heels.  Somehow I managed to keep my footing as I leveled my gaze with her lips.  Of course she was taller than me, most people were.

“Take what as a compliment?”  The question bubbled from my lips as my eyes roamed slowly over her face now that I could see it in the full light.  She cracked another smile and shifted the two potted plants in her arms.

“That look in your eyes.  Knowing that I can grow plants that make someone look at them like that is one of the greatest compliments.”  She nodded her head to what was now my right and her left while I looked at our feet and willed my face to stop heating up.  “Come on, you can set that down over there.”