The Gardens Part 2
☕ Coffee, Pie & Surprise
Part Five: Three Roses
The café finally emptied sometime after midnight.
Not all at once.
Slowly…The way good evenings end.
One conversation finished and another followed people out the door.
Chairs scraped across the floor. Coffee cups gathered beside the sink.
Mateo wrapped leftover pie in foil while Eloise tried convincing him she needed four slices for “medical reasons.”
Nobody believed her.
Not even Eloise, herself… But she still got the extra slices anyway.
Outside, the courtyard glowed with lantern light.
The fountain sparkled quietly to itself…As if it hadn’t spent the evening throwing everyone’s lives into this new chaos.
Violet lingered near the doorway watching people drift home.Theo was stacking patio chairs.Maren was still talking to him.Neither seemed in much of a hurry.Violet smiled.Some things were becoming very obvious.
“Your brother looks happy.”Lucinda’s voice appeared beside her.
Warm.
Unexpected.
Like she’d simply wandered into the thought Violet was already having.
Violet watched Theo laugh at something Maren had said.
“He does.”
“It’s nice.”
“It is.”
For a few moments they stood together in comfortable silence.
The Gardens settling around them.The fountain humming softly somewhere in the distance.
A breeze carrying the scent of rosemary and autumn leaves through the courtyard.
Then Lucinda suddenly pushed herself away from the doorframe.
“Come on.”
Violet looked over.“Come on where?”
Lucinda considered this.“You know, that’s an excellent question.”
“That’s not encouraging.”
“It wasn’t meant to be.”
Violet laughed despite herself
Lucinda pointed…
“There.”
“What?”
“That.”
“What?”
“That thing where you laugh before you remember you’re trying to be sensible.”
Violet rolled her eyes.“You’ve known me for six hours.”
“It’s been a very productive six hours.”
And before Violet could come up with a reply, Lucinda started to saunder down the lantern-lit path behind the greenhouse. Not quickly and surely with no purpose.Just wandering.
Violet followed.
Mostly because she wanted to know what happened next….
The Gardens felt different after midnight.
The café lights faded behind them.
The paths grew quieter.
Crickets hummed somewhere near the herb beds.
Moonlight silvered the edges of the leaves….The whole place felt dreamlike.
Lucinda stopped beside a wind chime.Touched it gently.Waited for it to sing.
“That’s lovely.”
“It’s a wind chime.”
“I can see that.”
They kept walking.A few minutes later Lucinda crouched down beside a sleepy orange cat perched on a stone wall.The cat blinked at her.Lucinda blinked back.The cat left.
Violet laughed.“I think you offended him.”
“I was being charming.”
“You were staring.”
“There is a difference.”The cat clearly disagreed.
By the time they reached the rose garden, Violet had stopped wondering where they were going.It turned out not having a destination was surprisingly relaxing.
The rose bushes climbed over old iron arches, heavy with late blooms.Deep red roses curled among glossy leaves.
Moonlight caught on the petals.
Everything smelled rich and sweet.
Lucinda stopped walking.
Violet immediately sighed.“Oh no.”
Lucinda looked innocent.
A terrible sign.“
They’re beautiful.”
“They belong to Lark and Finch.”
“I know….”
The answer was much too cheerful.
Violet followed her .“Lucinda?.”
Lucinda wandered closer to the roses.
“What?”
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Whatever you’re about to do.”
Lucinda studied a rose thoughtfully.“I haven’t decided yet.”
“That’s somehow worse.”
A laugh escaped her.
She couldn’t help it.
Lucinda turned…Smiling.“There you are again.”
“What?”
“You keep having fun.”
Violet shook her head.“You make it sound contagious.”
“Maybe it is.”
The answer settled somewhere unexpectedly warm. Lucinda reached toward one of the blooms.
Stopped.
Looked at it.Looked at another.Then another.“I’m taking three.”
“Of course you are.”
“One felt rude.”
Violet laughed.“One felt rude?”
“Too lonely.”She pointed.“Two was acceptable.”
Another point.
“But then this one got left out.”The third rose sat slightly apart from the others.
Violet stared at her.“You’re assigning feelings to flowers.”
“I’m assigning observations.”
“You are impossible.”
“According to several people.”
Carefully, almost reverently, Lucinda clipped the roses.One.Two.Three.
For a moment she simply stood there admiring them. As pleased as if she’d discovered buried treasure.Then she handed one to Violet.
Violet blushed.“What am I supposed to do with this?”
“I don’t know.”
The answer was immediate, honest and completely unhelpful.“I just thought you’d like it.”Something about that landed differently.No more teasing.Not a dramatic speech.Just a simple thought.Violet took the rose.“Thank you.”Lucinda smiled.The real smile again.The one that slipped out when she wasn’t trying.
They wandered back through the sleeping gardens carrying their stolen flowers.Talking about nothing important.
Coffee.
Music.
Whether ghosts could get cold.
Whether the fountain had always been dramatic or if that was a recent development.
The conversation drifted wherever it wanted.Neither seemed interested in steering it.Near the fountain, they paused.Lantern light shimmered across the water.The roses glowed dark red beneath the moon.Violet looked down at the flower in her hand.Then at Lucinda.“You know Lark and Finch are going to notice.”
“Oh, definitely.”
“Immediately.”
“Without question.”
A pause.
“Want to see how long it takes?”
Violet laughed.A bright, effortless laugh that echoed across the courtyard. And before either of them realized it, they were walking again.
Talking.
Laughing.
Going nowhere in particular.
.Exactly where they wanted to be.🌹❤️👻✨
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