Page 12 of Pocket Full Of Posies (Snowberry #2)

The tropical blooms are starting to go dormant now that the weather has gone cold. Even I had to put on a pair of long overalls and a sweater today. My feet remain bare, and I decide to stay inside the greenhouse. Coaxing the moss on the ground to grow and thicken, I create a padded soft carpeting to keep my feet warm as I stand behind the worktable we worked at the first day I met Kai.

I’m not assembling bridal bouquets and centerpieces today though. Instead, I’m working on transplanting a few succulents. Using clippings from the large jade and carefully repotting them in small clay pots. Succulents don’t do well in cold weather, but inside the greenhouse they’ll root and grow over the winter and be ready to sell in spring.

For two days Kai showed up at the nursery and followed me around, attempting to help as I worked. He’s friendly with people but not overly friendly or flirtatious with anyone. Well, anyone but me. Any chance he got he would lean in close to my ear and whisper things that made me blush, then he would lick or kiss or gently suck on my ear before pulling away and leaving me panting.

It's not all sexual. There were plenty of times we sat in comfortable silence or Kai let me ramble on about the importance of proper soil for specific plants without complaining I was boring him. He was also very helpful in trimming the larger bushes and moving some rather pesky large rocks.

Sage seems to be warming up to Kai more. Chatting with him when we sit together to have lunch or nodding approvingly in passing. Kai’s always surprised when it happens but tries to cover it up with his blasé attitude, but I can tell he secretly likes it.

Today, however, he hasn’t shown up like he had before. I shouldn’t be expecting him to wander in with his usual swager at any moment. It’s not like he’s an employee or has any purpose to be here every day. But I am a little bummed when I don’t see him.

I tell myself he doesn’t have to be here every day. I’ll see him when I see him. We didn’t make plans or schedule anything. This is normal behavior between tw o _ dating ? _adults, right? I don’t know if we are dating or not since I’ve never dated anyone before. It kind of feels like we are but I don’t want to assume. I’ll just wait till Kai brings it up.

With all the orders and influx in business, we’ve brought in our part-time workers to help out. Mainly high school aged kids wanting to make a little spending money. There’s one shifter, a human, and a fairy. Meaning we have plenty of people to work with customers, so I don’t have to.

Tobias joins me at the table, leaning on his elbows to watch me work. His lavender wings flutter behind him flashing veins of silver in the light as his piercing white eyes watch me closely. I know he’s watching my colors, it’s something I’m used to. Not only because all fairies can do it, but because I’ve been around Tobias my whole life. Fairies can see emotions as colors surrounding a person like an aura. Tobias watches as the colors of my aura shift with my emotions, though I have no idea what my colors have been lately with all the emotions I’ve been going through. I’m sure it’s clear to Tobias watching me, seeing my colors is a lot easier to understand than feeling the emotions they represent.

“What are you doing here so late?” I ask to distract from his inspection of my colorful emotions.

Not only can he see and understand my shifting flowers, but he also sees my emotions as colors around me. It’s like a double whammy I can’t escape from. Thankfully he’s always been a lot easier to talk to about things than Sage. Where Sage is all protective big brother, Tobias is the calm, nonjudgmental one.

Usually, he’s at Ugly Mug by now working the morning shift, since it’s the busiest.

“Working the closing shift today. Not going in for a few more hours. What about you? Any plans?”

“No.”

“You waiting for Kai to show up?”

I look up at him through my lashes and notice his far too perceptive smirk. He liked Kai from the beginning. I wonder if he saw something in his aura. Should I ask him? Would that be weird? Intrusive?

I go back to filling the pot with soil and sticking the clipping in its center. I contemplate lying and telling Tobias that no I am not waiting for Kai to show up. But what’s the point?

“Maybe. He’s been here nearly every day so I just kind of thought he’d be here again today.”

“I’m sure he will be eventually. I saw a few cars arriving this morning heading towards his house so he might be busy with his family.”

Oh. I hadn’t considered that. It makes sense. I knew they would be showing up soon since the equinox is only a few days away. Kai and I even assembled the floral arrangements for the house. Endo helped pick them up and take them back. I didn’t go. I thought it would be intrusive to go into their family home without a proper invitation.

I nod, accepting Tobias’s reasoning.

Kai probably won’t be by for a while then. I feel strangely claustrophobic knowing I’ll be spending the day in the greenhouse without him. I’ve never felt confined by my greenhouse before. The sensation is odd and I’m not quite sure what to do about it.

“I like Kai,” Tobias announces with absolutely no prompting.

“Okay.” I really don’t know how else to respond.

“I know what people say about him, but that has nothing to do with what kind of a male he is, or how he feels about you.”

“How he feels about me?”

“Mhm.” Tobias nods his head, his long snowy white hair falling over one shoulder at the movement. “He’s quite taken with you, smitten even.”

“Is that so? He’s smitten with me? I think your age is showing Tobias.” I tease him only because talking about Kai’s feelings for me makes my heart beat like a hailstorm on a tin roof.

“Maybe, but it’s true. His colors change when he’s looking at you. Lots of pinks and purples.”

From the many times I asked Tobias what all the colors in a person’s aura means, I know pinks are affection and adoration, and purples are, well they’re sexual attraction and horniness. Knowing that Tobias knows me and Kai are sexually attracted to one another is beyond embarrassing.

“But there was also golden honey yellow. He’s always happy when he’s around you. You make him happy, and he makes you happy.”

“I suppose he does,” I admit.

“Don’t let Sage’s overprotective nature make you think you can’t feel for Kai the way you do. He just wants you to be happy, and if Kai makes you happy, he’s happy. We just want to make sure Kai is being honorable, which we would do with any male who showed interest in you.”

His voice is honest and pure, true as always. Tobias is one of the most honest and considerate people I know, and he’s never lied to me. Even with the hard topics he always manages to be candid without being cruel.

“Thank Tobias.”

I finish potting the plant in my hands and set it to the side with the others, brushing my dirty hands off on my pants. Looking around the greenhouse I remember something Calliope said to me when she came by to pick up the tea for Sticky Buns.

“You know, I think I’ll go visit Calliope at Sticky Buns today.”

My declaration shocks Tobias almost as much as it shocks me. I don’t think I’ve ever decided to go into town for no reason and without external motivation. Like my brother plotting in order to get me to do a grocery run.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea.”

Not ten minutes later I’m perched on my sunshine yellow bicycle pedaling down the street towards Sticky Buns . Generally, I walk everywhere but with the colder temperature, getting there a few minutes faster—and keeping my feet off the chilly ground longer—is worth hopping on my rarely used bike.

Parking outside Sticky Buns, I prop my bike against the brick wall. I don’t bother with a lock, no one steals bikes in Snowberry. With the sheriff being a shifter, he can sniff it out in less than an hour. Plus, everyone in town is super friendly and polite. I’m starting to think all the speciesism I thought others believed is all in my head. It’s hard to break old habits but I’m trying. Because I’m realizing I may be wrong.

Stealing my nerves, I lift my chin and walk into the bakery. When I walk into a public place, I always assume every eye there is going to turn and stare and judge, everyone going completely silent and waiting for me to move, then internally commenting and questioning why someone like me would be there. What really happens is; I walk in and only the two people nearest the door glance at me for a half second before returning to their own drinks and pastries, the light upbeat music playing over the speakers doesn’t screech to a halt but keeps playing. No one glares or does anything. Perhaps if I just lifted my eyes and looked around when I went out, I would realize that more people smile as I pass than frown, and no one cares that I’m here. Because I’m just another customer. Just another person drawn into the sugary goodness of Sticky Buns.

When I get close enough to the counters lining the back half of the space, Calliope spots me from where she’s sliding a full tray of cookies into the display case, a smudge of flour on her cheek and all over her apron.

Her hair is pulled back into two low pigtails, the length curled at the ends with a matching white bow barrette on each. When she sees me, she pushes up her glasses with one finger, smudging the lens with the same white flour on her cheek.

“Daisy! You’re here.”

Calliope rounds the counter and greets me with a giant hug that transfers some flour onto my overalls. We laugh and she tries to brush it off, apologizing between smiling giggles.

“I wasn’t sure you would ever take me up on my offer, but I’m really glad you did. Come on, pick something out and I’ll get us some tea and we can sit.”

“Is that okay with your boss? You won’t get in trouble?” The last thing I want to do is get her in trouble with her work.

“Not at all. She lets me take my breaks whenever I want. Plus, I can always threaten to quit, which she would never let me do because she loves my baking too much. She said she would kill to keep me in her kitchen. I think I’ll be fine.”

I didn’t realize she had become such an asset to the bakery. Not surprising, she is the most talented baker I’ve ever met. Which isn’t saying much as I haven’t met many, but still, she is the best.

Calliope drags me to the counter, and I point out a few cookies and a cupcake decorated with fall-colored leaves and thick creamy frosting. Sitting at the table she indicates, I wait quietly, looking around the shop and people within. Becca and her mate Julian sit at a table near the window staring into one another’s eyes like they’re about to start making out at any moment. Fynn is sitting alone in the furthest corner reading a book and nursing a cup of tea. Lifting his eyes as Calliope passes, he watches her make her way over to me. He only drops his gaze when he realizes I’ve caught him watching her.

The plate Calliope sets on the table is filled with cookies and my cupcake, two cups of steeping tea next to them.

“Thank you. These look delicious.”

“Wait till you taste them.”

I nibble on the edge of a warm gooey chocolate chip cookie and watch Calliope prepare her tea. Now that I’m here I don’t know what to do. Do I ask how her day is going? Do I tell her about mine? Should I compliment her cookies? Wait, I already did that. Ummm…

We sit in silence, while I internally panic on what to do and try to remind myself not to talk about vegetation of any kind. Calliope smiles at me and sips her tea and I take another bite of cookie, tapping my finger on my thigh under the table.

“I like your flowers today.”

“What?”

Calliope's compliment startles me and for a moment I don’t know what she’s talking about. Then I see her incline her chin towards my head and realize she means the flowers in my hair. Since I don’t know what flowers are currently blooming, I decide to just roll with it.

“Thank you.”

“So, what made you decide to come in today?” Calliope sets down her teacup and watches me with an unassuming expression. Friendly and open as usual.

“I don’t really know. Just thought I would. Trying something different I guess.”

Setting down the partially eaten cookie, I pull my teacup to me by the rim of the saucer it sits on and remove the metal tea infuser, making sure all the liquid is drained before setting it on the edge of the plate. The tea is a dark amber and tastes of cinnamon and honey. The warm heat of it chasing away any lingering chill from my bike ride over.

“I used your cinnamon to make the tea. Do you like it?”

“Yes, it’s very good.”

“You know you can talk to me the same here as we do at your house. There’s nothing different about being here.”

Except for all the people around us. But they’re all focused on their own plates and cups.

“I just don’t know what to talk about.”

“How about your new boyfriend?” Calliope teases with a grin and playful poke at my elbow.

“He’s not my boyfriend…I think.”

“Oh, he is so your boyfriend. He spends every day at the nursery following you around with a dopey smile on his face.”

“He does not.” Kai has spent a lot of time at the nursery, just this morning I was depressed when he didn’t show up right after opening.

“He so does. Anyone who sees the two of you together can see how much he adores you. It’s cute.”

Cute is not a word I would choose to describe Kai. Sexy, handsome, inquisitive, touchy, silly, and even sweet but he outgrew cute a long time ago.

“Why don’t we talk about something else?” I suggest, covering my blushing face with the expertly frosted cupcake and shoving half of it into my mouth.

“Okay. Like what?”

“Like what you’re going to enter into the Christmas baking contest this year, because this cupcake is amazing ,” I mumble around a mouthful of the most delicious cupcake I’ve ever eaten.

I may not attend the contest, but Sage and Tobias always bring me back a bag full of goodies, and this cupcake would put them all to shame.

“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Calliope blushes and readjusts her apron around her waist, attempting and failing to brush away more flour.

“I do. Because you would definitely win.”

“Well, I have been working on my peppermint recipes. They would be perfect for Christmas cookies or cupcakes.”

I can see Calliope’s wheels turning as she stares off, her eyes unfocused as she mentally catalogs the possibilities. Her smile slowly grows as she seems to get more comfortable with the idea.

“Maybe I will, but only if you come to the contest and taste them.”

Hm. Maybe suggesting she enter the contest wasn’t such a good idea. Now she’s going to make me come or miss out on her baking. As long as Kai comes with me, maybe I could go to the holiday event I’ve only seen from afar. It’s still a few months away. Maybe by that time I’ll be more comfortable around people.

In my newly formed pledge to be more social and put myself out there more, without fear of what others think of me, I give her my best smile.

“Okay then. It’s a deal.”

Stretching out my hand, Calliope shakes it once and we both break into smothered giggles at our ridiculousness, but the laughter eases my tension, and I relax.

Our conversation flows easily over the next hour as Calliope goes over her recipes and I do end up talking about flowers. Specifically, the ones me and Kai assembled for him to take to his family’s house.