I just wanted to do what I wanted to do for a living.
If that meant working with plants by having to be a cashier in a plant shop, I’d take it.
“I’m heading out, thanks for covering tomorrow,” she said as she slung on a coat.
“Of course, just a shame it cut into my social calendar like this,” I teased.
She shot me an annoyed yet amused look as she left.
I waited a moment to make sure nobody else was coming into the shop. Once I was sure I wouldn’t be disturbed, I slipped into the back. This was my garden, of sorts. In exchange for letting her sell some of my clippings, Marie let me use her machinery for my own hobby. I had a small collection of plants that only seemed to grow in this area, and extremely rarely at that.
My prized find so far was a bright blue colored rose that I couldn’t find the species of.
Even fake-colored roses were nowhere close to the vibrancy of this rose, the pure and bold blue that saturated every centimeter of every petal. I’d never seen anything like it before, and I wasn’t really sure what allowed it to grow this color. I’d only found this one small specimen, just barely in the shadow of purple ridge, and since then I’d been desperate to find another.
If I could make them pollinate, if I could growmore, there would be so many possibilities ahead of me.
Marie would have to stop trying to push me to move forward.
She’d see I was already working on it.
The bell on the front door rang out, and I let that line of thought go.
“Welcome!” I called, making my way through the beaded curtain.
The air in the store felt different immediately.
Denser, in a way, like I had to work to pull it into my lungs. With it came the sweet smells of honeysuckle and tangerine. He walked off to the left side of the store, looking at the zinnias, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
I’d never seen a man this tall in my life.
Well over six feet, his hair looked black, but as he turned his head to look at things, it glimmered an assortment of colors the way raven wings do. His dark green eyes kept flitting up to me every now and then, as if taking me in.
Why wasn’t he saying anything?
I’d usually offer to help a customer, but something had me glued to the counter.
His clothing looked expensive, like more than I could afford if I saved up a year’s worth of wages. It was tailored to his body, the sleek lines revealed muscle in bulk underneath. Looking back up to his face, I decided I’d have to say something. Just looking at him raised the heat in my face and body; I felt an unexpected hunger blossom inside me.
He didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of Ember Abyss, but even as a human, I wasn’t sure that I did either.