Lucky 33 (Love in the District #2)

30. Roses are Boring

CHAPTER 30

ROSES ARE BORING

A my had given up on meditation an hour ago. Katie had good intentions, but Amy would never be a meditator. She had given it her best shot for ten minutes and she wasn’t going to feel bad about it.

With a decent amount of evening still ahead of her, Amy settled in to watch a little trashy TV. That would take her mind off her problems for a while. A sharp knock on her front door made Amy jump and drop the dinner leftovers she was eating out of the paper container.

Right on that expensive rug. I guess we’re making up for the pizza stain that never was. She looked longingly at the stain, wanting to remove it as quickly as possible, but the knocking started again.

“Hang on; I’m coming,” she called to the impatient visitor.

“Hi, are you Amy Mansfield?” the delivery man asked, juggling a glass vase of daisies and his tablet.

“Yep, that’s me,” Amy answered, anxious to find out who the flowers were from.

Can they be from Drew? Is that too much to hope for? Daisies aren’t romantic, though.

“Okay, sign her and tap there once you’re finished,” the delivery man said. “Weird order. It’s specifically 33 flowers. The shop t old the guy that our flowers only come in dozens for arrangements like this, but he didn’t care. He said to just do whatever with the extra three.”

It has to be Drew. I wish this guy would leave so I can read the note.

“Yeah, so anyway, I’m going to take those flowers to my girlfriend. She says I never do anything sweet, and I think snagging the extras for her is pretty nice. Okay, later.”

Glad I’m not his girlfriend. I’d rather be single.

She carried the vase to her kitchen table and looked closely at the arrangement. It was pretty. There were— apparently— 33 cheerful white and yellow daisies and lush greenery. The envelope taped to the vase was thick.

That’s odd. Usually, it’s just a piece of paper with a typed message. Must be the invoice in there.

Amy excitedly tore open the envelope. She found the standard typed note and a folded piece of printer paper. She started with the note:

Roses are boring.

Daisies have meaning.

Can we meet and talk

After you finish cleaning?

- Drew

Amy felt faint. This is good, right? It has to be. He wants to meet up with me. He picked out flowers with meaning. I don’t know what that meaning is, but it has to be a good thing. She read the note multiple times, searching for subtext. All she came away with was a strong feeling of hope and a slight queasiness at him wanting to meet up.

That could be for anything. He might want to get back together. Or he might be telling me that this is his final farewell and to stay far away from him. If he wanted something romantic, he would have sent roses. Right?

My rug! Even thoughts of Drew needed to be put aside when a stain was working its way into carpet fibers. Amy got her cleaning kit an d worked at the stain. It wasn’t coming out immediately. This is why you don’t let spills sit.

Amy had to laugh at herself. If she’d known that all it took to get her Drew thoughts to pause was to potentially ruin her rug, she would have sacrificed it long ago. She sprayed the stain with another solution and set a timer on her phone to let it work on the stain.

Back to that card . She read his card one last time and pondered the meaning of daisies. She was feeling nosey, so she looked at the invoice. It wasn’t an invoice at it. It was an entire page of information on what daisies symbolize. He’s a teacher through and through.

She began reading:

This florist has an unreasonably strict character limit for their cards, so I had to include this extra note. I didn’t handwrite it because you’d never be able to read my scribble, and I want you to be able to read everything clearly.

You probably know this, but I think it’s cool. Flowers can be used as their own language, and daisies have a lot to say, just like me. In the Victorian Era, daisies symbolized innocence, loyalty, and an ability to keep things secret. You could give someone a bunch of daisies to mean their secret was safe with you. In a roundabout way, I’m hoping that these daisies will show you that we can trust each other and that I had no intention of deceiving you.

In a more literal way, daisies have importance in Norse mythology, where the daisy is the sacred flower for the goddess of love and beauty. For them, daisies symbolize new beginnings, and they serve as a reminder that we all need a fresh start every once in a while. I hope you’re interested in discussing that with me at Le Chat Noir tomorrow night after work. If so, meet me there at 7:00 p.m.

Finally, and most importantly, daisies are composite flowers because they are two flowers that have blended in complete harmony. So, they have a meaning of true love. Take that, roses .

I hope these daisies make you smile and that I’ll see you for dinner.

Amy was dying to alert the troops of the good news in a group text, but she also wanted to keep their meeting quiet in case something went wrong. She was fairly sure he wanted to get back together, but she had been wrong before.

There was one person who it was safe to tell: her sister. Laura and Amy had made a deal to be open and honest with each other a year ago.

Amy: I got flowers and a letter from Drew. He wants to meet up.

Laura: That’s awesome! What kind of flowers? What did the letter say?

Amy sent Laura photos of the flowers and two notes.

Laura: You’re meeting up with him, right?

Amy: Of course.

Laura: Hey, no one can predict your behavior anymore. You've been a different person since turning 33.

Fair.

Amy: I’m excited to go out with him, but I’m afraid to get my hopes up. It seems like all good news, but you never know.

Laura: Can you stop with the negative thinking? What looked like it wouldn’t be good news in all of that?

Amy: What if he doesn’t want to get back together?

Laura: That makes no sense. He wants new beginnings and true love with you. He wants to share secrets with you and trust you. What more can he say?

Amy: But, seriously. What if he doesn’t want to get back together?

Laura: I don’t think that’s going to happen. But he might not be ready to propose. Can we hope for something in between?

Amy: Don’t be an ass.

Laura: ??

Laura: How about this? Go in with no expectations. Enjoy being with him. Just let him talk.

Amy: I can do that.

The following day at work was the longest Amy had ever endured. She spent the entire time thinking about what Drew might say and then telling herself to stop thinking about it. It was a mental tug-o-war that would have exhausted her any other day, but she had enough adrenaline to fuel her anxiety and be excited about her date.

Finally home, Amy washed her hair, shaved and exfoliated all over. Who knows where the night may go? She had known what she would wear if she had the chance to spend time with him again for weeks. The navy-blue bridesmaid dress that she had worn on their “fancy date” to the Kennedy Center. It might be overkill for Le Chat Noir, but Drew liked it and she felt pretty in it.

I wonder if Drew is nervous. Does he know I’ll show up, or is he worried I won’t?

After she was all fixed up, Amy debated over her jewelry. Is it presumptuous to wear the necklace he gave me ?

She put it on and studied her reflection in the mirror. Amy couldn’t decide whether to wear the necklace or change it.

Drew was vulnerable in his letter. I can be, too. Also, this necklace is pretty, and I used to wear it every day, so it’s not that much of a statement to wear it tonight. If things don't go well, I can always take it off in the bathroom.

Amy arrived at the restaurant and saw Drew waiting at the table they had sat at on their first date, the night they had shut the restaurant down after talking for hours. She remembered that night fondly and thought about how it was the last time she had slept alone for a while. She couldn’t believe it. Drew stood up and was wearing his same gray suit and open-collared blue shirt from their night at the Kennedy Center.

“So, you wanted an excuse to wear your dressy clothes, too?” he asked, his eyes twinkling. “You look stunning, Amy. I’m so happy you decided to join me.”

“There wasn’t a question. Thank you for the flowers and the note. It was so sweet, which shouldn’t have surprised me.”

“Oh, you flirt,” Drew said with a grin.

“I want to start by apologizing again for everything. Actually, no, it’s not fair to use a blanket apology like that. First of all, I took you for granted. Instead of being giddy that someone as awesome as you wanted me, I sabotaged everything.

“Secondly, I had no right to dig into your past. I especially shouldn’t have gotten anyone else involved in your business. I felt honored that you told me the whole story. Thank you for sharing it with me. I agree that it was unfair and terrible. You had every right to keep that in your past and never share it again.

“Thirdly— thirdly? Is that a word? Anyway, thirdly, once I invaded your privacy, I should have brought my concerns to you like an adult and not kicked open your door screaming about it. I’m sure that was awful for you. No one deserves that, especially you.

“Fourthly, which can’t possibly be a word, I promise I will never hurt y ou again. Or I’ll do the best I can not to.” Amy flopped back in her seat, exhausted from her monologue.

“Lord. Are you done?”

“I think so,” Amy said, her face heating with embarrassment.

“No more apologies. We’ve already done this too many times. I get it. You made a mistake. It sucked. I forgave you. We need to move on.”

“Okay, let’s do that. Tell me what I’ve missed. What’s new with work? How are your parents? What have you been doing on weekends?” Amy said, relieved to be getting into friendly territory.

“Where to start? What you’ve missed. Okay, that’s easy. Nothing. I haven’t had a lot of free time since the semester started since I’m teaching a full course load and I’ve been ‘gifted’ with some new grad students to mentor. I used to think that was an honor as a young professor, but now I know it’s just someone above me in the department pawning off their work. The students are good so far, but they’ve needed a lot of handholding for their research. I’ve barely had a chance to work on my research since my non-teaching hours have been dedicated to them. Pray for me, Amy. Grad students don’t bring in my funding.

“As for my parents, they’re great. I’ve invited them up here for Thanksgiving. I know that’s a while from now, but it gives us all something to look forward to. I know they’d love to meet you. I told them all about you.”

I hope nothing in the last month.

“If you have any hotel suggestions for them, I’d be so grateful. Weekends have been dull. I’ve gotten in a little basketball, but far less than usual. I’m going to get paunchy with all this work and so little exercise.”

“You’d still be perfect, so I’m not exactly feeling sorry for you yet,” Amy said with a flirty pout.

“Now, tell me what you’ve been doing,” Drew said, smiling.

“I’ve been really boring. The only fun thing I’ve done recently is take Belinda’s son, Ollie, to the National Children’s Museum in Penn Quarter . He’s so cute. He’s a little over a year old and so talkative. He calls me ‘Me-Me’ since he hasn’t mastered ‘Amy’ yet.”

“That’s so cute. I love kids, especially that age. I have a cousin who is a little older than Ollie. She has no filter and says the wildest things. It’s the best to hang around her, but you have to be prepared to have your insecurities pointed out in the most innocent, observational way. I think she’d like the Children’s Museum. She’s the kind of kid who needs to be occupied and have her energy directed toward productive things. She’s too smart for her own good, and she’ll take apart your appliances to discover how they work if you turn around for too long.”

He loves kids. Great, now I’m back to imagining our future family.

“Laura used to be like that when she was little. She’s always been interested in solving mysteries and digging up information. We’re all lucky she uses her talents as a journalist since she could use them for evil instead.”

I hope that didn’t remind him of me digging up his secrets. Drew looked unphased. Phew.

“She’d be a good academic. We need more curious people in the field.”

Amy and Drew stayed at the table talking until the staff gave them pointed looks. “We’re making a habit of overstaying our welcome at this place,” Drew said.

“It’s hard to cut a good evening short. Hopefully, they don’t remember us from the last time,” Amy said slyly.

Drew helped her out of her seat and guided her to the door with his arm slung lazily around her shoulders. He turned to her, blushing slightly.

Cute. I’m probably blushing, too.

“It was good to spend time with you. I’ve missed hearing your laugh and the pleasure of what you think about things. There have been so many obnoxious student emails and stories from work that I’ve wanted to tell you just to get your take on them,” Drew said .

This is good. This is really good.

“I’ve missed you so much. You’re really my other half,” Amy said. That might have been a little much.

“I agree. That’s why I was wondering if you’d be interested in going out again sometime?”

Amy’s blood pressure shot through the roof, and she felt lightheaded with disappointment. “Oh, well, huh,” Amy played with her necklace, trying not to look hurt. “I mean, yes, I would,” she said quickly, since Drew’s expression told her he noticed her shock, and she didn’t want to make things worse.

“Amy, did you think I asked you out tonight to get back together?”

Yes.

“Of course not. That would be ridiculous."

“That’s what I was thinking,” he said, kissing her cheek gently. “We have lots of time.”