20. Daisy & Daffodil

Daisy Daffodil

Hadley was filling the coffee pot for her father when he walked into the kitchen. "Morning, Dad. Coffee will be ready in a minute."

"You drink coffee now?"

"No, but I was up and saw you hadn't come down yet so thought I'd help."

"I see.Thanks."

"You're welcome." Hadley quietly navigated the kitchen, mop in hand. Her father sat at the table with the daily newspaper and an Otis Spunkmeyer blueberry muffin. Every few minutes Hadley noticed her father would rub his fingers together, releasing crumbs onto the floor. The floor she was actively cleaning.

When the coffee pot beeped, they both looked up. "I'll get it," Hadley offered. She moved to the cabinet and grabbed a mug. She prepared the coffee the way she knew her father liked it and walked it over to him. He nodded his acceptance before promptly returning to the sports section.

Hadley never got used to the silence that fell between her and her father. When her mom was alive, the space between them was filled by music, laughter, and love. With her father, it was either deafening silence or anger. Sometimes both. Hadley debated her father's seemingly neutral mood while she prepared herself a bowl of Rice Krispies in milk. She decided now was as good a time as any to tell him about her job. "So, I wanted to tell you something," Hadley said, with a mouth full of crackling cereal.

"Ah, the catch for me takin' this cup of coffee?" he set down his newspaper and wiped his hands, causing more crumbs to fall to the ground. He looked at her and gave an exaggerated roll of his hand, indicating for her to start speaking.

"No, there's no catch," Hadley mumbled.

"Then, speak up. Get on with it."

"I got a job yesterday. Well, I start today. I have to leave in a few minutes, actually."

"Is that right? Where is this job at?"

"At Daisy five minutes early. There were only two cars in the parking lot. Both empty. She grew nervous when she reached the flower shop's main door and noticed the lights were off. She turned to scan the parking lot again right as a third car pulled in.

"Hey, Miss Hadley," Steve said as he stepped out of his car, thermos in hand.

"Hi, Steve," Hadley waved.

"I hope you haven't been waiting out here long. I'm usually a few minutes earlier but I had the darndest time gettin' out of bed this morning," Steve chuckled. "Nothing this here thermos of coffee can't fix." Hadley matched his smile with her own and assured him she had just shown up. "Alright, then, that's good. Let's get us inside and I can show you the ropes."

"Sounds good."

Steve spent the next fifteen minutes walking Hadley around the store, pointing out the different sections. He showed her how he organized his flowers by variety and not by color. He also showed her the row of floral display fridges on the side wall of his shop. He explained how the coolers were designed to utilize high humidity to help protect the petals and leaves from drying out and the appliances were designed to hold a mild temperature, so the flowers never get too hot nor too cold. He demonstrated how to do temperature checks on the coolers, which would be an important responsibility of hers.

Once the tour ended, Hadley and Steve stood at the cluttered front desk. Hadley took a mental inventory of everything surrounding the register: notepads, loose paper clips, rubber bands, small scissors, a collection of pens, and random notes scattered over the desk. Behind them was a telephone attached to the wall. Hadley would be responsible for answering the phone and writing down the order. She would then confirm the contact information and required pick up date and time.

"Sometimes you'll get a customer who is not sure what they want or who has a ton of questions. If you ever are unsure, just ask them to hold and flag me down. I'm always here to step in and answer the tricky stuff. You'll learn more than you think and be able to answer some questions yourself eventually. For now, feel free to grab my attention."

"Okay, I can do that. So, write the order down and get all the information. What do I do then?"

"You can take the paper and place it on the left side of the register. That's what these other papers are. One of these days I'll get a better system in place. For now, the phone orders placed on the left haven't been started. Once I grab the order and pull the arrangement together, I'll stick the paper on the right side of the register. Once a customer pays and picks up the order, the paper goes into a big bin in the back. Once a week, I'll take the papers and organize them alphabetically in case a customer ever wants to order the same arrangement again." Hadley nodded along but was surprised to hear how disorganized the ordering process seemed and wondered if papers ever got lost. It was especially surprising since yesterday the lady at the dry cleaner told her this place was always busy. I should think of some ways to help Steve get a better system in place. Caught up in her thoughts, she startled at the sound of the phone ringing.

"Perfect timing. I'm going to flip our door sign to Open. Why don't you try your hand at answering the phone. I'm right here if you need me."

Hadley looked at Steve with wide eyes but with the sound of the next ring, she quickly pivoted to answer. "Hi, this is um, sorry, uh, D- Daisy and Daffodil. Sorry. How can I – may I help you?"

"Jesus. You'll be fired in no time."

Hadley's heart pounded."Wh-what?Hello?"

"It's your father, moron."

"Oh. Hi. Are you ordering flowers?"

"Clearly not. I was checking to see if you were lying about the job. I'd work on that introduction, or you'll be kicked out before you know it."

Click.

Steve looked quizzically at Hadley as she gently placed the phone back on its hook. "Wrong number?"

"It was just my dad." Hadley forced a smile. "He wanted to wish me a good first day." Her cheeks flushed hoping that Steve hadn't overheard her father's harsh words.

"How nice." She could tell he was being genuine. She smiled and gave him a slight nod, not wanting to correct him.

Hadley continued to answer the phone each time it rang. She stumbled through the first few, her dad's words on replay in her head. You'll be fired in no time. By the fourth call, Hadley's voice steadied. By the fifth, she had a seamless interaction. Her confidence grew as she fell into the routine and started to feel less self-conscious.

Steve stayed busy creating beautiful bouquets and arrangements. Hadley watched in awe as he pieced together different types and colors of flowers from the tables around the store. Each arrangement was better than the last. She leaned against the desk and wondered how he managed to think up such vibrant combinations. Steve only came over to the desk to grab an unfulfilled order or when it was time for someone to pick up or pay for an order. He told her he planned to teach her how to operate the register but wanted her to become comfortable with one task at a time.

She appreciated that he wasn't trying to push her too quickly, but wanted to make sure he knew she wasn't lazy, so when the phone was quiet, Hadley worked on straightening the written orders to the left side of the register. She sorted them by which order was due the soonest. Once that was organized, she used the slow moments to sweep the floors and dust around the displays. Whenever she passed a cold case, she peeked at the thermostat to confirm it was the right temperature. She tried to stay as noticeably busy as possible. She didn't want Steve to think she was slacking. She didn't want her father to be right.

At 11:30, Steve walked over and told Hadley she could wrap up for the day. She was in the middle of dusting a small table of pale blue and purple hyacinths.

"Okay, if you're sure. I can keep dusting if you want."

"This place is already cleaner than it's been in months," Steve said with a smile. "I appreciate your hard work, Hadley. You did great today."

"Thank you. It definitely took a few tries before I managed to get a phone order correct."

"That's just part of learning. No one is perfect ever, but especially not in the beginning. You gotta let yourself learn first." Hadley nodded, with a growing smile on her face. "Go ahead and finish that table but then you can call it a day. You'll have put in three hours which I think is pretty great for day one. Especially at your age."

"Okay, that sounds good. I appreciate the chance to work here. I hope I organized the front desk okay."

"It looks great actually. I'll see you at the same time tomorrow?"

"Definitely!" Hadley finished cleaning the display table in front of her before hanging up the duster and grabbing her bag. "Thanks, again, Steve. I'll see you tomorrow." Steve smiled and waved back at her before returning his attention to the bouquet of dark pink roses, white asiatic lilies, and lavender set before him.

As she walked, Hadley peeled back the wrapper of her oatmeal granola bar and gulped down the water bottle that Steve offered her. She planned to pass her house and continue straight to Dorothy's farm. She was buzzing from a successful morning. She decided she didn't care whether her father was home and if he'd see her walk past the driveway. She doubted he would rush out the door to stop her. She was too excited to tell Snow White all about the different flowers she saw today.

Twenty minutes later, she was passing her house, with its very empty driveway. Despite telling herself she didn't care, she still breathed a sigh of relief. A few minutes after that, she was at the farm. She practically jogged across the field to Dorothy's front door so she could change and get to her happy place: the horses.

***

"Well, don't you look nice. Come on in, dear."

"Thank you!" Hadley rushed through the door and grabbed the spare clothes out of her bag. "Do you mind if I use the bathroom to change?" Hadley was already halfway through the house.

"Of course not. I'll pour you a cold glass of tea before you head to the stable."

"That sounds great, thanks!" Hadley changed quickly and met Dorothy in the kitchen. She gratefully picked up the glass of iced tea and finished it with a few loud gulps. "Oh man, I was definitely thirstier than I thought."

Dorothy chuckled at the girl's reeling energy. "What has you lookin' nice today?"

"It's a long story but basically my dad told me I needed to get a job. You know, since I'm old enough to be working."

"Hardly old enough, dear. It's bad enough you're doing so much work here on the farm, now a job, too? Are you sure you can balance both? You really should be out playing with your friends and enjoying your childhood." Dorothy focused on the strawberry shortbread cookie dough she was mixing, though her concern was hard to hide.

"Yeah, it's okay," Hadley shrugged. "I actually found a job that's only for a few hours in the mornings. You know that flower shop down at the strip?"

"I sure do. He puts together some wonderful flowers."

"Yeah! That's where I got the job. Steve, he's the owner, he seems really nice so far. I just started this morning."

"Well, you sure seem happy," Dorothy said as she turned to face Hadley. She handed her the cookie dough spoon as a taster.

"I think it went pretty well. It took me a few times to not mess up the phone orders, but I got it by the end."

"Good on you, not giving up."

Hadley smiled hearing Dorothy was proud of her. With a slight nod to herself, she stuck the spoon in her mouth. Her teeth scraped off the bit of raw dough as she let out an immediate groan of appreciation. "Mm, strawberry! This combination is going to be so good, I can tell."

"Thank you, dear. We'll see! Now, I'm sure you're excited to get to the horses but promise me one thing first?"

"Sure…"

"If it gets to be too much, the job and the stables, you need to tell me. It's great if you can balance both but you're still just a kid. Please remember to have fun. Don't let it start to overwhelm you. I know your dad's wantin' the job for ya, so if you need to come here less, that's okay."

"I can do both," Hadley blurted.

"Just promise me."

"Okay. Yeah, I promise. But I think it'll be easy to balance. Really. Steve is kind so it makes the job easier and it's not a far walk to here. It's like you said, I'm just a kid. Kids are full of energy!" Hadley let out a giggle and displayed a wide smile, meant to assure Dorothy.

"Yeah, yeah. You enjoy that endless energy while you got it. Shoo, I know firsthand it doesn't last forever. Go on now, don't let me hold ya up. Just remember to talk to me. And keep that promise. If you start to get overwhelmed, we'll find a way for you to slow down. Deal?"

"Deal." They smiled in agreement before Hadley skipped out the door in pursuit of the stables. She wanted to keep her promise to Dorothy. It was a nice thought to be able to slow down. But it wasn't reality. Not the reality Hadley knew anyway. In Hadley's world she was never doing enough. She never was enough.

As she approached the stables, she paused. Before trading her clean white shoes for the old muck boots by the door, Hadley turned around. She took a deep breath and stared out at the expansive green. This was Dorothy's home. It was where she made her memories. The ones with her husband and the ones after. Hadley believed if she didn't pull her weight, like she was made to at home, then Dorothy would lose all of it. The thought sent a chill down her spine. She couldn't let that happen. Wouldn't.

Hadley felt determined. She would work at the flower shop to appease her father while continuing to help Dorothy on the farm. In a month, she would add in school and homework. She could do it. She shook out her arms, releasing the heaviness from her shoulders. She chose to ignore the pressure on her chest and instead rallied the endless energy she claimed to have and entered the stables.

She would find a way to balance her job, her homelife, the farm, and eventually school. No matter what.