Seven

SEVEN

Dahlia

" S he isn't you…"

I logged out of my email, letting his last three words hit my chest.

"Hosta plants need shade to survive, Dahlia!" Aunt Gertrude stormed into my kitchen, completely uninvited. "You left them out in the sun yesterday and you know better!"

"It wasn't on purpose," I said. "I just left the garden early."

"Yeah, I noticed that." She glared at me. "Right after staring at your phone for hours, looking as lost as you seem right now. Your mother would never do such a thing. She'd be highly disappointed in you."

I stood up from the table and walked outside.

"Don't walk away from me, girl." She followed me. "I'm talking to you. You didn't soak the magnolias and you left baby cypress trees in the sun. Don't you remember these basics?"

"No." I turned around to face her. "No, I do not."

I noticed tears falling down her face, too.

"I'm sorry." She pulled me into a hug. "I'm so sorry… I will help you remember later. Take the rest of the week off, okay?"

"I can't." I shrugged. "I don't have anything else to do but sit around and cry."

"Have you read the final letter your mother left for you?"

"No." I shook my head. "I'm not ready to read all the ins and out of gardening maintenance yet."

She let out a soft laugh. "That's in the ‘Dreams and Goals' binder she left…That's back at the store."

I was in too much pain to laugh.

"We still have time in our contract to cancel Everett's wedding order," she said. "If it bothers you, we don't have to do it."

"Don't we need the money?"

"Desperately." She placed her hands on my shoulders. "But we can figure out a different way to stay afloat."

"That's not necessary." I ignored the pang in my chest. "I'll treat it like any other customer's order."

She looked into my eyes. "Do you still love him?"

"I never stopped."