“Hey, Pen. You OK? How’s the new place?” Noah’s tone was warm and familiar and April had no doubt that he still spent a lot of time with Penny. They’d been in the same grade in high school, and Noah had always been close with Penny’s boyfriend, Ethan.
“Great, thanks to you.” The woman grinned up at Noah before she shifted her green eyes to April. “Oh my God, April, I’d heard you were back in town! How’s it going?”
April steeled herself, trying to inject as much humor into her voice as she could manage. “I mean, I ditched my fiancé and left my life in New York behind to move back to my hometown, so not exactly thriving at the moment.” To April’s surprise, she found any self-consciousness about her situation melting away under Penny’s warm gaze.
“Ha, you’re preaching to the choir. I was convinced I was never coming back to Magnolia Springs once I left for San Francisco, but here I am ten years later, right back where I started. You never know, it might work out better than you think.” Penny spoke so quickly that April could only blink in response, unsure what to say in return. “So, are you doing some work on this place? Such a shame it’s been closed for so long—the building is gorgeous.”
April squinted, trying to see what Penny saw, and agreed that with alotof love and TLC, this place could be pretty again. “Yeah, we’re trying to decide what to do with it now it’s ours.”
“What sort of thing are you thinking about doing? I know there’s been talk of renovations in town; it would be good to have more businesses based up this end of Main Street.”
“Oh, I don’t know—”
“April wants to open a florist,” Noah said, smiling, and April’s words faded away at the look of delight on Penny’s face. Her eyes flew wide and her mouth formed a smile so bright that April wondered how it didn’t hurt.
“That would be amazing! Oh, that’s just what we need. Something to bring some life back into this end of town.”
“I’m really not sure about it,” April backtracked, narrowing her eyes at her brother who shrugged innocently. “I don’t have any experience running a florist—”
“I didn’t have any experience running a restaurant until I opened my place,” Penny said, gesturing quickly across the road, and continuing before April had a chance to look at which storefront she’d pointed to. “And I think we’re doing pretty well. If you think you want to do it, then you should give it a try. What’s the worst that can happen?”
Typically, that kind of question didn’t do well in April’s mind, though her anxiety meds helped somewhat. She managed to spiral internally at a questionthat was supposed to impart confidence. What was the worst that could happen? She could fail, waste everyone’s time getting this pipe dream off the ground, ruin her father’s legacy,andwind up broke by the end of it.
As if she could see those doubts on April’s face, Penny winced. “It’s hard,” she admitted. “But it’s also fulfilling. I can’t imagine doing anything else now.”
“Nothing worth having comes easy,” Noah said, nodding in agreement. “Something our dad used to say.”
Now,thathit hard for April. Her dad had parroted the phrase constantly, and clearly it had stuck because hearing it now almost felt like a sign. Wasthiswhat April should have been doing with her life all along? Following her passion to a calling she’d only ever dreamed of? She was still hesitant, no doubt about it, but the thought was kind of exciting, too.
“Think on it,” Penny said, like she could sense April was wavering. “My fiancé works in interior design, so I’m sure he could help you out. He and Noah have already worked together before on my place.”
Noah nodded. “Ethan’s a great guy. And I hear he finally put a ring on it, huh?”
Penny laughed, the sound light and carefree, and April was certain that if she ever felt like that, she might float away. “Last month, yeah.”
“Congratulations,” April murmured, eyes on the sparkling ring on Penny’s finger and remembering the way her own ring had gleamed as it had flown through the air and caught Tyler in the face.
Noah seemed to notice how April had stiffened at the mention of Penny’s engagement, and he thankfully understood this was their cue to leave. “Well,” he said, clearing his throat loudly, “I’ve gotta get back to work, and April has a ton of errands she needs to run in town, don’t you, Bug?”
“Oh, uh, yeah,” she said, pulling herself out of her daze and plastering a smile on her face. “It was really good to see you, Penny. I guess I’ll probably see you around!”
“Don’t be a stranger.” Penny returned April’s smile, and something about it filled her with a renewed sense of hope as she headed off down Main Street.
April’s positive mindset had been quickly worn away as she ticked errands off her mental list. Why was it that you could leave the house looking spectacular and not see a single person you knew, but you left the house one time in shabby overalls and green hair and you saw everyone you’ve ever known?
It was true that small-town life had its downsides, and this was definitely one of them.
As she walked into the grocery store to buy some bits that her mom had asked her to pick up, she felt like she couldn’t turn the corner without someone coming over to her to offer their condolences. To make matters worse, as she was walking down the baked goods aisle, she instinctively reached for a packet of mini pecan pies, before catching herself. They were herdad’s favorite snack, and of course he wouldn’t be at home to eat them. Teary-eyed, she turned away from the shelf, only to find old Mrs. Ashley stood directly behind her.
“Oh my—” April barely stopped herself from cursing as she took a hasty step back, quickly wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “Hi, Mrs. Ashley. It’s good to see you.”
“You too, dear. I just thought I’d come over to tell you how sorry I was about Martin’s passing. He was a wonderful man.” Mrs. Ashley’s voice was kind, but as she spoke April found herself fighting the urge to run from her.
“Uh, yeah, thank you,” she muttered, turning and rushing off with her basket before Mrs. Ashley could say anything else.
She told herself that people were just being kind, but after her tenth sympathetic smile of the day, April was ready to scream. Buying socks and underwear shouldn’t have been so difficult, but it didn’t matter whether she was in the big grocery store or in one of the clothing boutiques so she didn’t have to keep borrowing her mom’s old clothes, every experience was the same. The recognition, the pity, the soft smile like she might fall to pieces right there on the sales floor.
It made her paranoid.Shouldshe be constantly falling to pieces in the middle of the clearance rack and fitting rooms? Was it wrong that she was going about her everyday life when her dad would never againgo about his? She hadn’t thought so, but with every gentle touch to her hand or shoulder and the soft “how are you doing?”, she became a little less sure of herself. It was like receiving reminders one after another after another—Your dad’s dead. Your dad’s dead. Your dad’s dead.