by Annie Rains
“Good morning, Ms. Locklear-Byrd,” the front office secretary said.
Halona decided not to correct the secretary for the tenth time. In a small town, everyone knew your name and, apparently, couldn’t remember if you had decided to change it. After her divorce, she’d dropped Ted’s last name. She’d wanted a clean break from her past, not realizing until later that one never truly broke free. “I got a call about Theo?”
“Yes, he’s in the nurse’s office.” The secretary pointed to a room down the hall but Halona knew her way.
“Thank you.” She took quick steps until she was standing in the doorway.
Theo looked up while holding his little hands over his belly, his face scrunched up tightly.
“Hey, buddy. How are you doing?” She walked over and kneeled in front of him.
“He doesn’t seem to feel well,” Nurse Johnston said. “No fever though.”
Halona could’ve guessed that much. He had been fine when he was eating Cheerios at breakfast earlier this morning.
“He threw up?” Halona asked.
Nurse Johnston nodded. “Just a little bit. Could’ve been something he ate or maybe a little bit of nerves.” She winked. “I hope he feels well enough to return to class tomorrow.”
Halona stood, keeping her gaze on Theo. “Yeah, me too. Want to come work at the flower shop with me today, bud?”
Theo’s face relaxed, and a smile touched the corners of his mouth. Nerves it was. Halona almost would’ve preferred he had a virus. At least then she would know what to do for him.
Grabbing his hand, she stopped back in the office to sign Theo out. Then she walked him back to her car, buckled him in, and cranked the engine. “School is important, you know. You can’t keep coming home just because you’re not happy.” She looked at him in the rearview mirror. The only sign that he’d even heard her was the stubborn lift of his chin.
With a sigh, she pulled out of the parking spot and drove back to the Little Shop of Flowers. Despite her worry, a little flutter of anticipation batted around in her belly at the knowledge that Alex was inside waiting for her. She ignored it, parked, and helped Theo out of the car. As soon as he darted into the store, he froze at the sight of Alex behind the counter.
“Hey, buddy,” Alex said.
After a moment’s hesitation, Theo took off running toward him, making Halona’s heart squeeze. Theo was shy with most people, even before his selective mutism diagnosis, but he’d never been that way with Alex. There was something between them that Halona didn’t quite understand. The same was true between her and Alex.
“Give me five, little man,” Alex said after the hug.
Theo gave the hit everything he had.
“Down low.” As Theo tried to hit him again, Alex yanked his hand away. “Ohhh, you’re too slow.”
Theo giggled happily.
“As you can tell, he’s sick,” Halona told Alex, approaching the two of them.
“Oh, yeah.” Alex’s face turned solemn. “Guess you better stay in bed all day and eat nothing but chicken soup. That’s what my mom used to say.”
No longer smiling, Theo’s eyes widened.
Halona redirected her attention to Alex. “Thanks for watching the store. Did anyone come by?”
Alex shook his head. “I had it easy. Just me and the flowers. They’re good listeners, you know.”
Halona gave him a curious look. “You talked to my flowers?”
“Of course. Told them all my secrets. They promised not to tell.” He winked at Theo, whose cheeks puffed back up into a wide grin. “Well, I’ll see you later.” Alex grabbed his flower arrangement for Mary Beth Edwards and headed out the door.
Watching him, Halona reminded herself to breathe. The flowers knew his secrets, and Alex knew hers. Well, one of them, at least. She’d made a promise never to tell anyone the rest of the story, and she intended to keep it.
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