A New Bloom

We tried once, though maybe there more than that. The first time was when we were teens; puppy love and all that nonsense. It fizzled out after we graduated high school and I left for university.

I enjoyed my college years, complete with friends, nights out to dinners, the occasional party but mostly evenings in with pizza, wings and sodas because alcohol wasn’t our thing. We bonded over period dramas, raging against the idiot parents who we knew were making the best of their situations but sometimes the kids needed a wake-up call too. We argued over masterpiece series, cheered at operas on tv and laughed at the hysterics of shows from overseas. We studied, attended lectures, wrote papers until our eyes were bleeding and the clicking of keyboards haunted our dreams. The horrors persisted but so did we.

Eventually, that hallowed day called “Graduation” arrived. We ascended the steps and walked across that stage like we owned it. I remember the sea of faces, my classmates in front and the mass of friends and family just beyond them. A swarming mass of humanity that shook the stadium with such fervor that surely the walls of Jericho would have crumbled. Reasonably certain we were heard in the surrounding counties.

I found my mother, took the photos and together we drove home for a quiet weekend. My friends would join eventually for one last round before we parted ways to work and the new chapter of our adult lives.

“Your grandmother is very proud of you,” my mom mentioned as we rounded the curve that led up to the bed and breakfast she owned. “She knew you would be fine, despite all my worries.”

“I told you I would be fine.”

“Yes well, I’m your mother.”

“I know, and you’re the best mom ever.”

The Seven Roses Inn, the family bed and breakfast, passed down from mother to daughter since my great great great grandmother Minerva Lee built it with her husband, though I couldn’t tell you which one. She had 2, I think.

The building sat in front of us and honestly, you’d think it grew there. It was more sprawl than tall with beige stucco, cheerful multicolored terracotta tiles, tall windows to let in plenty of light and a couple acres of open space for walks, pictures, or just existing. We had a terrace or two for the party rooms so folks could be outside but no smoking though. That would see you promptly removed and charged a cleaning fee.

I stepped out into the cool air, finally feeling like I could breathe after all the excitement and people.

“Do we have guests or can I claim my usual room?”

“Let me think…. I know your friends are expected soon, we are having a couple guests on Monday just for the day. There is a bit of a party next weekend but they have one of the walkout rooms so you should be fine. You know where the key is, right?”

“Yes, I do, the one with the pink ribbon. Kept under the desk at the entry. Who are we expecting on Monday?”

My mother paused, a tell I knew to meant it was someone whom I either disliked or Mom disliked but she was doing this cause someone else badgered her about it.

“Do you remember Dawn Middleton?”

I recoiled at the name. “Oliver’s mother. She was nice enough, he was a complete sack of a man.”

“I know, I know, trust me. You know it, I know it, Dawn knows and so does Ollie.”

“Oh really?” I set the ribboned key down and faced Mom, “He finally grew up?”

“Dawn finally put a boot in his arse after you left for university. He had some idea that you would wait for him but when she came home from your seeing off party and told him that you 100% got into your car and rolled out, complete with photographic evidence, he fell apart. She told him to get his bags together and get to work. That if he gave one single care about you, he would grow up and make something resembling an honest man out of himself.”

“Did he then?”

“Seems he did 2 years at the local school before apprenticing out into a union job at the local solar farm. The work pays well, sucks in the summer but it keeps him busy. I may have let it slip to Dawn that you were coming home for a couple weeks before starting your new job at that publishing company. She wanted to see you and she hinted that Ollie wanted a word before you vanished again.”

I turned the key around in my hands, thinking. Ollie may have been a little lazy but he wasn’t stupid. He remembered the little things, such as how I liked my sandwiches cut or what I wanted when I was sick. He knew I liked pictures of things more than people. I wasn't pretty by any means but I did have a few requests for dates. I rejected all of them, even the captain of the soccer team was turned down by me, much to his shock.

“You know, I had a lot of guys ask me out while I was away. Captains of the sports team, couple guys on the debate team, even a few from my classes. I turned them all down.”

“Cause of Ollie?”

“When you put it like that, I guess so. They were all too flashy, too loud, too arrogant and I just couldn’t. One had the audacity to talk trash about our family inn at a small party so I threw my drink in his face, said he wouldn't know legacy if it came up and bit him AND asked him to dance so I left. Proper embarrassed him too.”

“Nadia told me about that when you all came home for mid-terms. She’s coming next week, right?”

“Yes ma’am, Nadia, Zoe, Wren and Sadie. Harper couldn’t, her job starts soon and she needed the time to move. She tried to move the date but folks wouldn't budge. I asked her to bargain for Christmas and we could all be here for it.”

“Shame, Harper did well for herself, all things considered.”

“She did, we’ve all got her address so we’re going fill her mail with all kinds of care packages.”

“Of course you are. I expect as much from you ladies. Go on and get some rest. Dinner will be in an hour, or in the fridge if you pass out. You know the rest.”

I took the key with its now faded pink ribbon, claimed my room in west corner of the property and face planted into the bed.

“So Ollie is coming by and wanted a chat. This should be good. Guess I can hear him out, won’t hurt anything.”

Monday came too quickly for my liking and with came Dawn (pun intended) and Ollie. While mom and Dawn chatted in the parlor, Ollie and I sat around in the kitchen staring at each other.

“Solar farm, eh?”

“Pay is decent, hours aren't too bad. I’m off on weekends but do have an on call once every few weeks. Couple major turnarounds in winter and spring to make sure the systems are up to par but nothing too outrageous.”

Good for you.”

“How the publishing?”

“Haven't started it yet officially but its a carry over from when I was interning with them; liked me that much apparently. A lot of reading mostly. Also a fair bit of making it look good on the internet too. There’s more but I’m not about to bore you with it.”

Cue more awkward silence then Ollie spoke up

“Look, I acted stupid. I was lazy, stupid lazy and had a major fit after you left. We were always together, I never thought you would leave, you know? Then mom come in with a picture of you waving bye from your car and I lost it. So, I got my bags together and here we are. Its always been you, you know. I cant see me with anyone else, even if it never goes romantic and we stay platonic. You’re always going to be my person.”

I sighed and pondered the hot cocoa in front me, tiny marshmallows dancing around on its surface.

“I had opportunities, you know. Not many but enough. I turned them all down, embarrassed one of them pretty badly.”

“Harper told me about when she came back for her sister’s wedding. If you ask me, old boy deserved it.”

“He did, yes. Wait, which sister?”

“Hildy, I think. “

“No kidding. Good for her!”

“Yeah, Thora, her wife, is good people.”

“Good for them.”

We sat in a comfortable silence, listening to the faint chatter of our moms across the way.

“I'm not asking for anything romantic, not asking for any promises but I’d like to have my person back. If you’ll allow it. If it can be a thing again.”

I thought about it. Lot of good memories there, of school lunches, weekends at the mall, phone calls on weekends when I didn’t come home. Letters that had stopped coming by the end of first term. Newspaper clippings from the solar farm article and my publishing announcement. There were some sad ones in there, me driving away knowing he wasn't there for it and the day the letter didn’t come. I wanted my friend back too, I realized, and here he was.

“The crew will be here next week, think you can get the time off?”

“already did, was hoping to spend some time with you first.”

“come on, I’ll convince mom to let you and Ms. Dawn stay a while.”

As we went to go ask, Ollie took my hand and pulled me into a hug.

“I’ve missed you, Neva. I’m glad you came back”

“Me too, Ollie.”