Jewel Ann - Idle Bloom

The Green Pot’s bustling crowd has infiltrated every inch of the greenhouse. Alex is MIA with Sean, but Kai is here and today I’m genuinely glad to see him. Maggie and I would be buried otherwise.

“Good morning, old knitting neighbor lady.” I grip the flat of asters tighter, knowing that smooth voice makes me weak in the knees and everywhere else.

“Hey!” I turn, greeted with Oliver in his rugged work attire, Red Sox hat on backwards, and another day’s worth of facial hair growth. I continue walking to the front counter as he follows me. “Did Chance call in an order because I don’t recall seeing it?”

“No, we’re just about finished with the hotel’s garden, but we need another dozen red chard and six Italian parsley.”

I deposit the asters in the customer’s cart and ring her up while Oliver stands behind me.

“Sir, you need to wait in line,” Kai says.

“I’m waiting for Vivian,” Oliver replies.

“He needs a half dozen Italian parsley and a dozen red chard,” I say while swiping the customer’s credit card through the machine.

“Well, Vivian is busy so I’ll grab them, but you still need to go to the back of the line, sir.” Kai’s losing his politeness and I recognize the possessiveness in his voice as he says my name.

I sigh with a scowl. “I’ll get them. Take over the register.”

Kai huffs but bites his tongue while the corners of Oliver’s mouth pull up into a sly smile.

“Don’t act so cocky, everyone in that long line is shooting daggers at you.” I worm my way to the back.

“Yeah, well just think of this as returning the favor.”

“Excuse me? For what? Getting me drunk?” My voice elevates an octave.

“For sharing my mom’s cobbler.”

I stop and turn so fast Oliver nearly bowls me over with his forward motion. “You did not share! You took the last bite and made me lick the bowl like a dog!” I feel numerous sets of eyes on us and hear a few snickers in the background.

Oliver surveys our audience with a hesitant grin. “I didn’t make you lick the bowl.”

I turn and push through the backdoor to where the vegetable and herb seedlings are kept. “I only have ten red chard, but I do have six parsley.” After arranging them in the cardboard flat, I shove them into Oliver’s chest. “I’ll add these to Chance’s tab and now you owe me a favor.”

He chuckles. “What’s that?”

I shrug. “I’m not sure yet, but I’ll let you know.”

He wets his lips and explores my face with those intense blue eyes. “I wanted to kiss you.”

My nose wrinkles. “You did?”

He nods.

The calm façade on the outside masks the exuberant celebration going on inside my body. “Well that moment has passed and you can’t get it back.”

Oliver cocks his head to the side. “I can’t get it back?”

“Nope, it’s like the cobbler … gone forever. But I might let you lick my hand or brush my hair sometime, you know, as a consolation prize.”

He raises his brows and I wish I could read his mind, but he’s mastered the arcane expression.

“As much as I’d love to decipher what that look means, I have to get back to work.”

Oliver gives me a lopsided grin. “Later, neighbor.”

“So who’s the guy getting preferential treatment?” Kai asks as we piece together what’s left of the greenhouse after the tornado of people that tore through here today.

I sweep a pile of leaves and dirt into the dustpan that he’s holding. “Chance’s brother.”

“Oh jeez, another Konrad to fight off.” Kai shakes his head.

Unsure how to respond, I shrug my shoulders. I don’t want to fight off Oliver. Attack him? Yes. That’s the problem. I’m so intrigued by him I can’t see straight. My vision and my mind are blurred.

“Oliver is not Chance.”

“How do you know?” Kai stands dusting off the front of his shirt.

“Well, he hasn’t asked me out or tried to feel me up behind the compost pile.”

“Yet,” Kai deadpans.

“Yeah, well maybe I want him to.”

He empties the dustpan in the garbage and turns, resting one fist on his hip. “What’s that supposed to mean.”

It pisses me off that Kai acts like it’s absurd that I might be interested in Oliver. “It means exactly what you think it means.”

He shakes his head. “He doesn’t deserve you.”

“You don’t even know him!” I cross my arms over my chest, toe-tapping a staccato.

“Is everything okay?” Maggie flips her pin-straight platinum blond hair away from her face while digging her keys out of her purse.

“Everything’s fine,” I mumble.

“We’ll I’m pooped so I’ll see you Monday.” She pushes her studious, red-framed glasses up on her nose. I see that loving twinkle in her baby blue eyes as she leans in to give me a quick hug then shakes her finger at Kai. “Be nice.”

“Mags, I’m always nice.” Kai winks at her as if his boyish charm is going to work on someone who is older than his mom.

The crazy part is Maggie blushes every time Kai flashes his flawless smile. She’s never been married. Maybe she’s a closet cougar. I’d say she looks good for fifty, but truthfully she looks good for any age. She’s completely changed her lifestyle since her first cancer diagnosis by eating a plant-based diet and exercising every day. She’s thin and petite, the top of her head barely reaching my chest. Basically she’s Alex thirty years from now except Alex has larger breasts and her long blond hair falls to her butt.

“You’re unbelievable.” I roll my eyes at Kai as Maggie walks to her white Prius.

“Unbelievably charming? Unbelievably handsome?”

“Unbelievably arrogant.” I give him a playful shove.

“So where are you taking me to dinner?” Kai drapes his arm around my shoulders as I lock up the back door. For some reason, maybe self-preservation, my mind erased the promise of dinner I made to Kai this morning when he agreed to help out Maggie and me.

“Since you drove today, I was thinking a quick trip through McDonalds, my treat of course.”

Kai, showing off his manners, opens the passenger door to his grey Honda Pilot. “Superb idea! That will save us plenty of time to find some good porn on Netflix to watch while you give me a hand job on the couch. After all, I think that’s the best friend’s responsibility when the significant other is out of the country.”

Before I can respond he shuts my door and swaggers around to the driver’s side.

“You’re right, I’ll call Sean and see if he can fit you into his hand job schedule tonight. I have to believe that he knows how to stroke a dick better than I do. I’m sure Alex could please me better than you.”

“God, Viv! Talk as much as you want about you and Alex pleasing each other … I dig that shit, but if you ever mention Sean and my dick in the same sentence again, I will seriously lose my lunch in your face. Yuck!”

“So Casa Romero, you watch porn at your place and no hand job it is.” I laugh as Kai pulls out of the parking lot.

There’s nothing typical about my relationship with Kai. I hate him almost as much as I love him. The decision to never be more than friends again was mine and I haven’t regretted it once. However, I still get a pang of jealously when I see him with Kate. The lucid part of my brain knows it’s what they have, not who they have. Kai is my comfort. He’s familiar and as much as we joke around, I never feel the need to impress him. I know he would have chosen me, stayed with me, and eventually we may have been able to forget and love each other the way every human deserves to be loved.