“What are you doing here?” Kara asked her curiously after April had left. “Today is your day off.”
“Mark called and said you were super busy and asked if I could help. And boy, it looks like it has been crazy here this morning. Things are a mess! What’s been going on?” she exclaimed.
“I have no idea,” Kara answered. “And I’ve been too busy ringing up sales and helping people with their purchases to figure it out.” She frowned at her friend. “I didn’t want you to have to work on your day off, though. Mark shouldn’t have called you.”
“I don’t mind. Rachel has the day off from school, but she’s mad at me today for some reason only known to a teenager. So I was happy to get out of the house and away from all her teen angst for a bit,” Mary replied, then, turning to a customer, answered a question on how to stop squirrels from digging up spring bulbs.
The rest of the day passed by in a blur, and it wasn’t until very late that evening that Kara could finally pull the store’s front door shut and flip the sign over.
Pulling out the drawers from the cash registers, Kara wearily carried them all to the back office so she could tally the change, bills, and banking printouts. When she got there, she was surprised to find Mary lying on the couch in the office with a throw covering her legs.
“You’re still here?” Kara said to her in surprise. “I thought you had already headed home.”
“I ran out of energy and had to rest for a bit,” Mary replied. “I thought I’d just keep you company while you counted the tills, then help you lock up and head out for home when you did.”
“That’s nice of you. I’ll count up quickly so we can both leave,” Kara replied.
As Mary rested, Kara quickly tallied the day’s receipts. “We did more in sales today than we’ve done all month!” she said, her eyes wide as she turned to show Mary the totals when she was finished. “If the sales stay this high for a few more weeks, I’ll never have to consider selling the store. We’d be doing just great.”
“Well, that was the whole idea behind today, wasn’t it?” asked Mary, standing up and pressing a hand into the small of her back.
“What do you mean?” Kara asked, putting down the bank bag she was filling with cash and printed receipts. She looked quizzically over at her friend.
Mary looked thoughtful for a minute, then shrugged. “Well, I probably wasn’t supposed to tell you, but the mayor and some other residents have started a campaign to get everyone in Larkin Bay to come here for their gardening needs instead of going to the big box stores in the city. They’re hoping that if they can help you increase sales, you won’t sell the garden center to the developers.”
“Oh, so that’s the reason we were so busy,” said Kara. “I wondered. Well, that’s very nice of everyone, but unless we can maintain this level of sales for a few months, I’m afraid it’s not going to make much of a difference over the long run.”
“I know. That’s what I said too. But no one was really listening to my lone voice, so I stopped protesting. Besides, if they all want to throw some business your way while you’re deciding what you want to do, that’s just fine by me.”
Kara nodded slowly and picked up her jacket, along with the rest of her things. Mary carefully folded up the throw and placed it on the couch, gathered up her own belongings, and followed Kara toward the garden center’s exit. From Kara’s silence and thoughtful expression, Mary could tell that her friend was mulling over what the town had tried to do that day.
“Try not to let what happened today worry you,” Mary told her. “Everyone who came in was just trying to help.”
“Oh, I know that,” Kara replied. “And there were a lot of people who shopped here today, so obviously preserving the character of the town is important to them. I just wish that I didn’t have to make a decision that could affect so many people.”
Mary nodded sadly but couldn’t think of anything to say in reply that would help, so she simply held Kara a little longer when she hugged her goodbye before each woman got into their car and headed home.
Kara straightened on the bleacher seats beside Rachel while trying to keep a tight hold on Maeve, who was squirming in her lap.
“Some days I really hate my mother,” the girl stated.
Kara cuddled Maeve closer and smiled. “No, you don’t. You just feel frustrated by her because she’s telling you what to do. Which,” she stated, holding up one hand to silence Rachel’s response before she gave it, “she wouldn’t do if she didn’t love you so darn much.”
Rachel sighed heavily and looked away. “I know.”
“I can’t wait until Maeve hates me.”
Rachel laughed and took the little girl from Kara’s arms. “She won’t. You’re a cool mom,” she said and smiled as Kara rolled her eyes before the teen helped Maeve down the bleachers to play in the park behind the baseball diamond.
Left alone, Kara clapped as her brother’s team took the field. She smiled at Mark as he ran to first base, but quickly her gaze turned from him to watch Scott, who was playing shortstop today.
She sighed and ignored the flutter in her stomach just seeing him had caused. She watched him throw a ball to first base, then smiled and gave a little wave as she saw him look up to find her in the stands. He tipped his hat in her direction before going back to warming up with his team.
Kara took a look around her and saw that while the stands were decently full, Candy didn’t seem to be in attendance at tonight’s game. Kara placed her hands in her lap and decided that this was too bad—the more she got to know Candy, the more she liked her. She had different ideas and was very entertaining to listen to.
When the game ended, Kara went to retrieve Maeve from Rachel and slowly walked with her toward her truck. It didn’t take long for Scott to catch up with them.
“Hiya, Maeve,” he said, leaning down to high-five the little girl. “You’re up late. Did you watch the game?”
“No. I played on the swings. Don’t tell Mommy the time, though, or she’ll make me go to bed.”
“That she will,” Kara answered with a laugh, looking over at Scott. “But honestly, Mommy needs to go straight to bed too. She’s tired.”
Scott chuckled. “It’s been a long day,” he replied. “How are you, though? It was nice to see you in the stands tonight.”
“I enjoyed it. You played a great game too. How does it feel to be back?”
“Good. That’s the nice thing about a concussion. It effectively wipes away most memories of how you got it. So I wasn’t the least bit apprehensive about playing.”
“That’s nice.”
They stood in silence looking at one another for a minute before Kara blurted out, “When are you going into the city for your auditions?” at the same time that Scott asked, “How are things at the garden center?”
They both laughed.
“Never better. Sales are really good,” Kara replied.
“Great, and I’m going to the city in a couple of weeks to get more information about the commentating opportunity. I’ll let you know how it goes.”
