Heart Breaking and Entering

9. fingers crossed

We stared at the card in shock, neither of us uttering a word as we gazed out at the sea of white bouquets. 

Thoughts and emotions swirled around my brain like a hurricane.  Anger raged toward Declan for not waiting as long as I'd told him to, disbelief that he'd been so stupid as to actually go through with this insanity, relief that Macie might see what an absolute idiot he truly was for sending her white roses not only once, but twice now.

I looked over at the blonde, whose eyes were misty and lips set in a firm line.  She parted them to speak, emitting a low, raspy tone nearly unrecognizable to her normal voice.

"That bastard."

Macie slammed the door and the house rattled.  With her back pressed up against it she covered her face with her hands.  I reached over to comfort her when she snapped up and locked onto my gaze, exhaling an infuriated breath. 

"Is this a joke?" She cried, a tear slipping down her cheek.  "Is this some kind of sick joke I don't know about?"

She was mad.  Okay, I could deal with mad.

"Please tell me why the hell he would even think to do this?  Especially after winter formal when I made a huge deal about him never listening to me and messing up the one thing I told him I wanted," she seethed, "Peonies."

I took a deep breath.  "Macie, I-"

"I mean, I spent the entire night just wishing he would at least dance with me to make up for it--but that's the problem--he didn't think anything was wrong in the first place. Maybe he thought about it and is trying to tell me he's sorry. I know it sounds crazy, but this has to be some kind of, I don't know, signal or something."  She shook her head and opened the door again, the sunlight reflecting off the white petals blinding me for a moment.  "I mean, look at this!"

"I know," I closed my eyes, "It's so bright I can't look."

She shut the door again.  "What am I supposed to do with this?" she yelled, incredulous.  "What am I supposed to do, Gemma?"

I held my hands out to calm her.  "Let's just take a breath, okay?"

Macie met my gaze with icy intensity.  Placing my hands on her shoulders, I inhaled deeply and waited for her to follow, which, reluctantly, she did.  Together we inhaled and exhaled for a few moments as her muscles slowly relaxed underneath my grip.

Her features began to soften as she leaned back against the doorframe, closing her eyes and exhaling another deep breath.

"Thank you," she said, slowly nodding.  "I needed that."

"I know." I smiled.  "Let's reset, okay?"

"I'll try," she sighed, crossing her arms.  "I'm so upset, I don't even know what to do with myself.  All of this is just too much, it's..." She let out a half chuckle, shaking her head, "...Insane."

"Well, that's Declan."  I laughed dryly.  I had my own frustration toward him not following my instructions for this whole flower fiasco, but I had to push that aside for now.  "So, what are we gonna do about this?"

"I don't know."  She shrugged, tightening her arms across her chest.  "What's a girl to do with thousands of flowers she doesn't even like?"

I took a glance around the house.  Barely a crevice was left unaccounted for in the small, cozy confines of the Murphy household.  It was a struggle merely hosting more than a few dinner guests, let alone hundreds of rose bouquets. 

"I guess I could take a few off your hands," I said, "You've seen how barren my house has been looking lately."

"Gemma."  She smiled.  "Your house is beautiful, it doesn't need a bunch of stupid roses to make it look nice."