The Gardens Part 2
☕ Coffee, Pie & Surprise
Part Six: The Case of the Missing Roses
The first person to notice was Finch. Which was unfortunate. Because Finch noticed everything.
The morning sun had barely climbed above the greenhouse when he stopped in the middle of the path and stared at the rose garden.
A watering can hung from one hand.
A gardening glove dangled from the other….He didn’t move…He didn’t blink….He simply stood there.
Staring.
A few moments later, he cleared his throat.“Lark.”
No answer.
“Lark.”
Still nothing.
A deeper breath.
“LARK.”
The response came almost immediately.“What?”
“Get over here.”
The tone alone was enough.Within seconds, his twin appeared from behind the greenhouse carrying pruning shears and looking mildly concerned.
“What happened?”
Finch pointed.
Lark followed his finger.
The two gardeners stood side by side for a moment.
Silent.
Studying the roses.
Then Lark started counting…
Once.
Twice.
A suspicious frown appeared.“Oh.”Finch nodded.“Exactly!”
“There were thirty-seven.”
“I know.”
“There are thirty-four!!
“I KNOW.”
Both men looked personally offended.A cardinal landed nearby.Looked at the twins. Looked at the roses.Then wisely flew away.
By breakfast, half of The Gardens knew about the missing flowers.No one knew how the information spread so quickly.
It simply did. It always did….The Gardens had its own methods of spreading the news.
Good old fashioned word of mouth!!
Maren learned about the mystery while waiting for coffee.
Eloise heard before she’d finished buttering her toast.
Iris somehow knew before she even arrived at the café.
“Something just felt off!!” She said.
By nine o’clock, the missing roses were the most important topic in the neighborhood.
The Greenhouse Café buzzed with theories.
“Maybe it was deer.”
“We don’t have deer in the courtyard.”
“You don’t know where deer go at night.”
Mateo nearly dropped a coffee mug.
“A ghost deer?”
“Now we’re talking!!.”
“No we’re not.”Ravi groaned.
“Ghost deer would leave ghost footprints.”Zadie pointed out.
“What do ghost footprints look like?”
“Don’t ask questions you’re not prepared to have answered.”
The conversation immediately became
more ridiculous with wild conspiracies as the neighbors went on.
Theo was laughing.
Maren was laughing.
Even Eloise looked delighted.“This is the most excitement we’ve had all month!!”
She mused.
“Lucinda came out of a fountain yesterday.”Mateo offered.
“Precisely.what i was thinking too…”Eloise replied.
At a nearby table, Lucinda sat with a coffee.
A second coffee.
Maybe it was her third coffee she wondered….Nobody had been counting.
Except Mateo.
Mateo had absolutely been counting.“You’ve had four!!”
Lucinda looked genuinely shocked.
“Only four?”
Mateo pointed at her.
“That kind of attitude is why I started counting.”
Across the room, Violet laughed into her tea cup trying to hide her
face and her guilt…That was when Ravi noticed something. His eyes moved from Lucinda…To Violet…Then back again.Both women looked entirely too innocent!!
Nobody looked that innocent naturally.
Ravi sat up.“Oh no.”
Maren looked over.
“What?”
Ravi pointed.
“Those two know something.”
The café fell silent.
Every head turned.
Lucinda blinked slowly.
Violet still found her tea fascinating.Theo stared.“Wait.”A slow smile spread across his face.“No….”
Lucinda took a sip of coffee.
Maren noticed the rose tucked into Violet’s hair.Then at the matching bloom sitting beside Lucinda’s coffee cup.
“Oh my God.”Eloise gasped.“You didn’t.”
The grin on Lucinda’s face answered before she did.
Mateo actually leaned against the counter for support.
“The roses?”
“The roses….”Maren repeated.
Theo laughed so hard he had to put down his mug.
“You two stole the roses!!”
Lucinda held up one finger.“That’s a very strong word.”
“You stole them!!”
“They seemed interested in seeing more of the neighborhood.”
Lark looked horrified.“You kidnapped my flowers.”
“I borrowed their company.”
“You clipped them.”
“Technicalities.”
Violet covered her face.
The entire café exploded.Questions came from everywhere.
“When?”
“Last night.”
“Why?”
Lucinda looked thoughtful.“We were walking.”
“We know that.”
“There were roses.”
“We know THAT.”
Lucinda shrugged.“It felt right.”
Nobody had a response for that.
Meanwhile, Violet had given up pretending to be innocent.
Her smile kept escaping… Every time she looked at Lucinda she smiled..
.Every time she remembered standing beneath the lanterns last night she smiled
.Every time she remembered laughing so hard she nearly dropped the forbidden roses..She smiled even more…
Theo caught it immediately.
There was that big brother look.
The one Violet knew all too well.
“Oh.”Violet pointed at him.“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to!!”
Theo looked incredibly pleased with himself.“I wasn’t.” But shebknew better and he absolutely was about to tell everyone Violet had a new crush on Lucinda!!.
The conversation drifted on.
Coffee appeared.
More coffee appeared.
Eloise somehow acquired a yet another “second” pastry.
The mystery was solved!! Yet, the gardeners remained mildly traumatized as a community
… In all the best ways, of course!!
Closer together than they’ve ever been!!
And Lucinda Fox became the first resident in The Gardens history to be officially accused of floral mischief before living there a full twenty-four hour
s!!!
By late morning, the excitement had settled into stories.The kind people would be repeating for months.
Maybe years.
Remember when the ghost came out of the fountain?
Remember when she stole the roses?
Remember how Finch looked like he’d been personally betrayed over three flowers?
Outside, sunlight washed across the courtyard.
The fountain sparkled.
The roses swayed gently in the breeze.
And seated near the café window, Violet found herself smiling for no reason at all.
Or at least no reason she was willing to admit out loud. 🌹☕❤️👻✨
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