"Two souls are sometimes created together and in love before they're even born." -F. Scott Fitzgerald
When eight year old Beau Ruby met twelve year old Colton Caine, she had no idea she was meeting the love of her life. She had no idea she'd grow...
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The morning had been a dream. Surreal, almost, like I was living someone else's life. The whole night been a wonderful dream. I kept thinking I'd wake up alone in my bed, but I didn't. He was really here. My bed smelled like him. The shower smelled like him.
I was terrified to begin the clean up and reopening of the shop, but I knew I had to do it. Aunt Verne would hate the thought of her shop standing empty and filled with dying flowers.
I got dressed quickly, pulling on a pair of worn jeans and a fitted white T-shirt. I slipped on a pair of worn, broken-in leather sandals and went back downstairs. I washed our cups and breakfast plates, then walked outside and climbed into my Jeep.
Ever since the wreck, driving anywhere unraveled me. I couldn't sit in a vehicle without feeling the same sensation of the car rolling. Even though I had driven myself to physical therapy and back, I was still uneasy.
I cranked it and listened to it roar to life and rattle with power. I buckled myself in and squeezed my steering wheel just as my phone buzzed.
*Be careful on your way to town. I'll be up in the bucket by the time you get to town. Dinner at Belle's tonight?*
I quickly typed a response before dropping my phone in the cup holder and put the Jeep in gear to drive.
*Yes! :) I'll stay at the shop until you're done and we can meet there. Be careful. Hold on.*
I rolled the windows down on the drive and turned up the radio. I played Dave Matthews and The Fray for the first time in ages, and I sang along to every word. For once, it didn't hurt to be reminded of Colton.
I saw the bucket truck as soon as I turned onto Main Street. The rest of the businesses on the square were open for the day. Some doors were propped open, and some doors were closed with twinkle lights dancing around the frames. Some stores had potted flowers hanging from the awning in front of their stores. I made a mental note to make the front of the shop more presentable as I parked in a slanted spot in front of the door.
Colton was already high in the bucket truck, but I could make out his neon safety vest and orange hard hat from the shop. I took my phone out of the cup holder and put it in my back pocket before shutting the door of the Jeep and moving to unlock the door to the shop.
I didn't know where to start, so I made some phone calls. I called one of the flower shops in Yardis and explained the situation. Aunt Verne had the number pinned to a cork board in the back, so I assumed they knew each other. The woman who answered the phone apologized profusely for my loss and explained that she had been at the funeral. Apparently, she and Aunt Verne opened around the same time.
After talking to her, I began by sweeping the shop and cleaning up old, dead flower petals and stems that had dropped from their containers. I threw out plants that had rotted in their pots and watered any that still had a hint of green.
