by Katie Dowe
“Your mom?”
“No, the woman you are getting married to.”
“I love your mother, sweetie, but we grew apart years ago and we could never seem to get it back. Charlene is a sweet girl and I know you probably think she is a bit on the young side, but I care about her very much and I don’t like to be by myself for too long,” he told her wryly.
“Tell Mom please, and don’t allow her to hear it from someone else,” she had advised him.
*****
“We have an order for some tulips, jasmine, and muscari, and Mrs. Hanover ordered some dogwood trees for her garden,” Maggie said as soon as she came into the store. The smell of the different flowers and trees hit her as soon as she entered and she went immediately to put away some small bulbs she had picked up on her way the store. It was eight-thirty and the beautiful spring morning had delayed her journey to the store as she had stopped to listen to the birds chirping and looked at the amazing array of flowers along the road. Spring was her favorite time of the year, and she always thought it brought a feeling of hope along with it.
“What about the order for Mr. Jenkins?” She sniffed a sprig of rosemary on her way around the greenhouse, stopping to put away her pocketbook and her spring jacket.
“Jake already took it.” Maggie passed her a latte she had brought on her way to work. “We have the wedding bouquets to deal with for Saturday and the bride called and said she is going to need additional jasmines and dahlias for the decoration.”
“Do I have time to finish my coffee?” she asked the woman teasingly, sipping the latte appreciatively.
“Barely,” Maggie told her with a smile, going off as she heard the front door bell chime. “We also need to discuss the arrangements for the spring festival,” she called out.
She had always known that she was going to be working with plants. When she was just a little girl, she had asked her parents for spades and buckets and had started digging in the dirt and planting things, making sure to water them and had watched them grow. The love for plants had not waned when she grew up but had heightened, and when she was in high school, she had already had her own backyard with fruits vegetables and flowers so it was natural for her to continue and she had never regretted it.
She had opened Beautiful Bouquets two years now and she was doing exceptionally well. The phone rang just then and she knew her day had started.
*****
David Hattori stared at the list of vehicles that had been shipped off from Japan. He had placed orders for high-end vehicles and there had been a little delay in his getting them in the country, but they were here now and orders had already been made to get them off his hands. Hattori Vehicle Imports and Exports was one of the most lucrative and successful businesses in the country and it had started with his grandfather, a native of Japan, who had come over with his family some sixty years ago. His grandfather, Matthew Hattori, had started the business selling used cars until he had upgraded to brand-new vehicles. His son, David’s father, who had been born here had taken over from him, had taken the business to the next level, turning it into a billion-dollar company. He had died of a heart attack a year ago and left the company to his son to carry on. His mother was still alive and spent her time doing pottery and decorating ceramics to fill her time.
There was a soft knock on his office door before it was pushed open. “You said I should remind you about the meeting in the conference room, David,” his secretary told him. She was a middle-aged Japanese woman who had been first with his father and now him.
“Thanks, Julia,” he murmured with a brief nod. He had been staring at the calendar and knew the dreaded day was coming up and he was not looking forward to it.
*****
“How about marigolds, Mrs. Robinson? Janice asked the elderly lady as she wandered around the store and looked at the various plants there. The woman had been a regular for the past year and she loved flowers and she was also one of her best customers.
“I was thinking of trying Camellia or Snowdrop or even the pansies,” she murmured. She had lost her husband three years ago and was childless so she spent her time puttering in her garden and doing charitable work around the neighborhood.
“I think those are good choices.” Janice hurried over to look for the requested plants and talked her through the caring of them.
“I might as well pick up some lilacs and peonies as well,” Mrs. Robinson told her. “Did I tell you I was having the members of the gardening club over this Saturday?” she asked, her watery blue eyes lighting up with a smile.
“You did not!” Janice said enthusiastically. “I wish I could be there, but I have a wedding this Saturday.”
“Your expertise could come in handy,” Mrs. Robinson said in regret.
“Next time perhaps.”
*****
Janice closed and locked the door behind her and pulled her dress over her head and went straight to the bathroom. She loved her plants, but for half the day she spent the time digging around her greenhouse and the smell of the plants and dirt usually clung to her. She set the tone for the bath, making sure there was music and poured some bath salts into the warm sudsy water. Pulling off her underwear, she sank into the water with a contented sigh. Her work hours were long, but she enjoyed it, but sometimes the hassle of the delivery was too much for the day and she had had to take the van to the mechanic for him to have a quick look at it. He had told her she needed a new alternator.
She soaked for an hour and then got out when the water was cooling and went to the kitchen to heat up some leftover soup.
Her phone rang just as she was about to wash out the bowl.
“Dad, hi,” she answered seeing his name come up.
“How is my favorite daughter?” he asked in his deep reassuring voice.
“Your only daughter,“ she reminded him dryly. “What’s going on?”
“Heard from your mother lately?” he asked her casually.
“I hear from Mom every day dad and you know that. What’s going on?” she asked suspiciously.
“She called me earlier and told me she wanted to see me urgently. Any idea what’s that about?”
“No idea whatsoever. Why didn’t you ask her on the phone?”
“She said she was not going to discuss anything of importance over the phone with me,” he said “I thought maybe she would have given you a hint as to what she had to discuss.”
“Not one.” She paused. “Does what’s her name know you communicate with Mom almost every day?”
“Her name is Charlene, honey, and you already know that,” her father said dryly. “She knows that I have been with your mother for so many years and we still have a connection. She understands.”
“She must be quite a woman,” Janice said with a laugh. “Are you okay, Dad?”
“Yes I am baby girl, thanks for asking and thanks for not making a big deal about me marrying another woman,” he said appreciatively.
“I am a grown woman now, Dad, and would rather you and Mom parted than to be miserable together,” she said honestly.
“Thanks hon,” he said warmly. “See you on Thursday?”
“Absolutely,” she responded. “Your time to pick up the tab,” she reminded him.
“Of course,” he said with a laugh. “Love you girl.”
“Love you too, Dad.”
*****
“That looks lovely.” Julie Hattori looked up as she heard her son’s voice in the doorway. She had been so caught up in painting the symbols on the cups that she had lost all track of time.
“David, I did not hear you come in,” she exclaimed, wiping her hands on the apron she put on over her clothes to keep it from getting messed up. She was an exquisitely beautiful woman, and her son took most of his looks from her with the same fine dark hair and haunted look on his chiseled face. David Hattori did not smile much and when he did, it was such a transformation that it was like a whole new person. He had taken the strong jaw and height from
his father and the regal bearing from his mother.
“You were so caught up in your work that you would not have heard a bomb drop,” he told her with a whimsical smile, coming into the room. It was a room she had made hers with large glass windows that let in the light from all angles and her work station set up to do her designs. There was even a mini-fridge in the corner loaded with cold cuts and fruits and different beverages.
“How was work?” She took off the apron and folded it over a chair, revealing the mint green kimono she was wearing.
“The vehicles came in today,” he told her briefly. He sat on one of the couches and looked around the room as if he was searching for something. “It was a good day.”
Julie sat beside him, not touching him but letting him feel her presence. Her son was grieving and was barely living and her heart ached for him. It would have been a little acceptable if he had been in love with her, but it had been an arranged marriage between two families and he had never loved her, but she had fallen in love with him and from the accident a year ago, he had been carrying the guilt with him.
“Will you be going in next week?” she asked him softly, knowing what he was thinking.
“It makes me feel better to work, Mother.” He stared off into space. He remembered her telling him that she had wanted a child and he had told her that to bring a child into a loveless marriage would be a mistake. She had died the week after on her way home from work. It had been a pile-up and she had been one of the fatalities. He never loved her and he always let her knew that. He had moved from the apartment they had been living in and came back home. His father had died a month after that.
“How about we go somewhere next weekend?” she asked him softly.
“We will see,” he told her with a fond smile. “I need to get some paperwork done so I will see you at dinner.”
Julie watched him leave the room with sad eyes and wished she could take away his pain. He had not wanted to marry her, but the families had thought it was a very good match and had persuaded him. Besides, Eileen Fujimoto had been in love with him since they had been a teenager and was never afraid to show it, the poor thing had thought that marrying David would have made him fall in love with her, but it had never happened.
With a sigh, Julie stood up and took up a photo of her late husband that was always on her desk. She had not been in love with him when they got married but had grown to love him as the years went by. They had thought the same thing would have happened to their son and Eileen.
*****
“How about this one?” Leah held up a soft blue dress with a flowing skirt for Janice to look at. They were in the mall after both she and Candace had dragged her from the store late Friday afternoon to go shopping.
“There is a sale going on and we need clothes,” Candace had told her firmly.
So now they were in the mall.
“I don’t have the breasts to carry off that neckline,” Janice said decisively.
“Of course you do!” Leah looked at her bosom critically. She was a nurse at the local hospital and was currently going through a divorce. She had started the proceedings last month after a trial separation that had not worked out. “Go and try it on.”
She did and was surprised that it actually suited her. They picked up a few more items to add to the pile that was already there before going to the cashier.
“I think I am attracted to Jeremy,” Candace said as soon as they were out of the store. She worked as an executive secretary at a shipping company and Jeremy was her immediate boss.
“That’s a really bad idea, Candace,” Leah told her grimly. They had stopped at the pizza place inside the mall and had ordered pepperoni and Coke. “Look what happened to Lance and me.” Her estranged husband was a fellow nurse at the hospital where she worked.
“That doesn’t mean it is going to happen to us,” Candace protested. She was tall and slender because she was always dieting and wore her shoulder-length hair in a chic bun at the nape of her neck. Leah, on the other hand, was petite and curvy with a short bob that brushed against her cheeks whenever she moved. “Anyway, the matter is moot considering that he does not even notice that I am a woman.”
“Consider yourself lucky,” Leah said, biting into her pizza with relish.
“In the meantime, Dad and Mom are at it again,” Janice told them with a grimace. She told them about the conversation she had had first with her mother and then with her dad.
“I bet those two are going to get back together eventually,” Leah predicted with a grin.
“Lord help us,” Janice said.
*****
Janet opened the door to let him in. She had just come in from the accounting office where she worked and had taken a shower and put on a loose cotton dress and had poured herself a glass of wine. Her heartbeat quickened as she looked at him standing there framed in the doorway, his dark brown eyes smiling at her. He was a very handsome man and she had always known that, no wonder he was irresistible to the opposite sex.
“Come on in.” She moved aside to let him pass. “I am surprised the bim- the fiancé is not with you.”
Richard looked at her wryly. “You were about to say bimbo, weren’t you?”
“Absolutely not.” She brushed past him to get him a glass to pour his wine. “I would never say something like that.”
“You are something else, aren’t you?” Richard took the wine from her and went into the cozy living room of the home he had lived in before he left five years ago. She had not changed a thing. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
“I want to sell the house,” she told him, sipping her wine and looking at him thoughtfully.
“Why?” he asked with a frown.
“Because I am alone in a four-bedroom house. You have moved on and have another life and our daughter hardly ever come around.” She placed her half-empty glass on the coffee table.
“I thought you loved the neighborhood,” he said.
“I do, but I am lonely here, Richard, and I don’t see the sense of hanging on to a house that hold so many memories of us,” she explained.
“What do you want me to say, Jan?” he asked her, leaning forward to look at her. She had always been a beautiful woman, and with age she had mellowed with only slight creases around her dark brown eyes. He found himself regretting that they were no longer married.
“I want your advice and I want your help in looking for a smaller place,” she told him.
“I am sorry,” he said suddenly.
“What for?” she asked him puzzled.
“For us not working out,” he told her softly.
He stood up and so did she and without any warning at all they reached for each other, their lips meeting.
Janet felt the stir of desire trickle through her and with a sigh she returned the kiss, her arms going around his neck. Whatever else had been wrong in their marriage, the sex had always been very good and it was no different now!
Chapter 2
“Someone looks very lost,” Maggie whispered in an undertone. It had rained in the early morning and the smell of the rain on the flowers was very refreshing. The wedding had gone on well and the bride had thanked her effusively for the lovely arrangements.
Janice looked up from the floral arrangement she was doing and saw him. He was of Asian descent and was tall and sober looking in an obviously expensive charcoal grey suit. He was looking at the various flowers displayed.
She left what she was doing and walked over to where he was. He did not seem to notice that she had come up beside him until she spoke. “What are you looking for?” she asked him softly.
He turned to look at her and she saw his eyes drifting over her face coolly before he responded. “I am looking for something to put on my wife’s grave.”
“Oh, I am so sorry,” she exclaimed. No wonder he looked so sad and distant. He was tall and dark and his black hair was combed severely back from a broad forehead and he had the most intense black
eyes she had ever seen. “How long?”
“A year today.” He turned back to the array of flowers. “I am afraid I don’t know what to choose.”
“What was her favorite kind?”
He turned back to look at her and his confusion was apparent. What sort of husband did not know his wife’s favorite flowers?
“I like tulips myself and snowdrop anemone,” she told him conversationally, pointing to the plants. “Or maybe pansies.”
“How about I get all of them?” he asked, giving her a grateful look.
“Good choice,” she told him cheerfully, going around selecting his order. She packaged the plants carefully and put some sprigs of rosemary there as well. He handed her a platinum card to pay for his purchase and she rang up the sale. She wished she could talk to him some more and find out what happened and if children were involved, but he was clearly not the divulging of information type.
She held out a hand as he was about to leave. “My name is Janice and thank you for shopping here.”
He hesitated briefly, looking at her slender elegant hand and then he took it in his with a nod. “David Hattori.”
Her eyes widened as he released her hand. “You are the high-end vehicles Hattori,” she exclaimed.
“I am afraid so.” A tiny smile actually lifted his mouth. He was quite a handsome man, she thought suddenly, but his face was etched in sadness that took away from it.
“I love your ads on television, but I am afraid I cannot afford even the tires on one of those vehicles,” she told him with a smile. He was caught by it and he stood there staring at her for a moment before he looked away. Janice’s smile was like a magnet and lit up her entire face as if there was a particularly bright light shining from within her. She had beautiful white teeth with a tiny gap in the front and she had dimples on both cheeks.
“Thank you,” he muttered and hurried away.
Janice stood there staring after him wondering if she had said something wrong.
“Someone certainly looked skittish,” Maggie commented, looking at the man’s departing back.