Petal [h.s.]

FIFTY-NINE - PINK PAINTED FLOWERS

Then one day, a couple of weeks after I got home, he woke up early in the morning, got dressed in a suit and declared that he couldn't work from home for one more second. I could tell that he was irritated by my constant presence, but I didn't understand it. He told me that Jessie was coming to stay with me while he worked. He must have been seeing me daily if I'd been living and working with him for the last couple of years.

To distract myself from questioning things further, I made pancakes as I waited for Jessie to arrive. The kitchen felt cold and unfamiliar to me. I kept automatically reaching into drawers, expecting to find a certain utensil only to find something completely different. I was growing increasingly frustrated and was grateful that Jessie didn't show up until after I had launched a spoon at the wall, after mistakenly grabbing it for the fifth time.

Jessie walked in as I was plating the pancakes, stacking them neatly for her. She was dressed as if she was going into the office and seemed to be in an annoyed mood. Her eyes flickered over my form and then landed on the food I had prepared. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Oh, I'm not really-" She stopped herself mid-sentence, clearing her throat as she forced a smile at me that I knew was fake, "Pancakes are new."

"Are they? They felt natural." I said, frowning slightly, "What do I usually make you for breakfast?"

She didn't speak for a moment as she put her bag down on the kitchen counter, "Um, iced coffee?"

"That's it?" I tilted my head. That didn't feel right.

"Sometimes a bagel?" She suggested, shrugging, "We just don't spend many mornings together since you-"

Jessie pressed her lips together, her eyes darting away from my face. I watched her think of something new to say to me, watched her scramble to find some other way to end that sentence. My eyebrows pulled together in the center, body straightening out.

"Since what?" I asked her, slowly pushing over the maple syrup and bowls of cut up fruit in her direction. She sat down gingerly, swallowing hard as she picked up her fork, keeping her eyes down on the plate before her.

"Jess?" I prompted her, my voice a little more stern.

"I'm not supposed to tell you." She said timidly, stabbing a strawberry and popping it in her mouth. She looked up at me as she chewed, her eyes searching mine, "But apparently you getting into that accident has given me some sort of brand new conscience, so I'm going to anyway."

I crossed my arms over my chest, studying her carefully. She took her time chewing that stupid strawberry, her eyes a little dark as she relaxed back in her chair and sighed heavily.

"You don't work with me." She said, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, "You never have. You've refused for years, actually. You stole money out of your trust-"

I straightened out, eyes going wide, "I what?"

"You stole money out of your trust and you opened a flower shop in the Wasteland. That's where you've been for the last two years, that's what you've been doing. You never worked for our dads." She explained, her voice tight with some emotion that I couldn't quite read.

"The Wasteland?" I asked her, my tone incredulous, "I despise the Wasteland, why would I ever..."

"It's all you could afford. I think you expected profits to be a bit better than they have been, and thought it would be worth it? I'm not sure. You don't tell me anything anymore, not that I blame you..." She trailed off, turning her gaze away from mine again, "Your dad changed after he lost your mom. He got meaner, angrier, harder to be around for you. You guys fought a lot and you started to spend more time with Buffy, who also lives in the Wasteland now. Then one day, your dad called me after work and asked me where you were. I had no idea, of course, but I had your location still on my phone and so... I tracked you, followed you into the Wasteland where I saw it. Your shop. Flower Boy, it's called. You did it all behind our backs. We had no idea until it was too late and he's... he's never forgiven you for it."