The Secret Garden (GirlxGirl)

Primrose

The very first flower my mother gave to my father was a rose that she'd picked from her neighbor's garden. One that she could have gotten in trouble for picking but she did it anyways. She said she'd done it to show my father that she would do anything for him, no matter the consequences and he told me that it was the day he realized that those words held true for him also. I'd never met two people more in love than my mother and father. Even after seventeen years of marriage they were as strong as ever.

The first flower my dad ever gave my mother was a primrose, he told my mother that it conveyed his feelings for her but because she wasn't an expert on flowers like he was she needed him to tell her what it meant. 'I can't live without you', he told her and four months later at the age of nineteen, they were married and not shortly after that, I was born.

I love Primroses.

-

"Could you tell me about the night it happened?" I ask Glen as we sit in the Garden. It's Wednesday night. The night before Spencer is scheduled to be taken off life support. I have a plan; which Glen, Madison and I will put in action tomorrow. But for right now, if I'm gonna spend the rest of my life in prison for said plan, I wanna spend this last night in the most magical place I know.

"The accident?" He questions. I nod. "I don't know much." He says and looks down at his hands. "Only what the police told us."

"Could you tell me that?" I ask. I need to hear it. I need to know. He nods and sighs before starting.

"It was raining outside and Spencer was supposed to be coming home from school. She was late of course because she'd forgotten something in her locker. She was always so forgetful." He says and closes his eyes tight. "She called my mom and told her that she was gonna be late and that we should start dinner without her." My mom didn't like to start dinner unless everyone was home. She'd always been like that. So she told Spencer that we would wait on her. And we waited and waited for three hours. We didn't find out about her accident until an hour later when my mother called the police station and said she wanted to file a missing child report. My dad had left to go find her a short before that." He stops and clears his throat. I know how painful it must be for him to talk about it.

"Take your time." I tell him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"They say that the other driver was drunk and that he ran a red light and smashed into the driver side of Spencer's car. The car flipped over a few times and she hit her head pretty hard." He finishes with another sigh.

"Wow." Is all I can say.

"Yeah." He nods. "She should have died, they told us that. My sister is laying a hospital bed and the doctor tells us to look at the silver lining, that she could've died." I don't know what to say so I don't say anything. "So I punched him." Glen says and chuckles.

"You didn't?" I laugh along with him.

"I did." He nods and continues to laugh.

"Classic." I says as we both sigh out of our laughter.

"Are you sure your plan is gonna work?" He asks me after a moment. Truth is... I don't if it's gonna work. I'm hoping and wishing a praying that it will.

"I don't know." I tell him honestly.

"Thank you for trying anyways." He says turning to look at me.

"I'd do anything for her." I tell him and he smiles.

And I would... do absolutely anything for her.

-

"Mom I don't think it's a great idea for me to come back." I tell her through the receiver and I can hear her sigh.

"Ashley it's been long enough, you need to come home. I miss you." She tells me in a soft voice. I have been extremely unfair to her. But Los Angeles isn't right for me. There's nothing left for me there.

"I can't." I tell her.

"Ashley, I know that things were hard after your-"

"Don't mom, please." I interrupt her. I don't want to talk about my father.

"All I'm saying Ashley, is that you're not being very fair to me. I lost your father as well and now you're trying to tell me to give up my daughter too." She says and this time I sigh. I don't say anything for a moment, contemplating my next move. I've been on the road for a while, it would be nice to sleep in the same bed for more than a day.

"Okay." I breathe out.

"Okay you're coming home?" She asks, joy evident in her tone.

"Yes mother, I'm coming home." I clarify.

"Wonderful. Your room is just as you left it and if you want a job there is always a place for you at the store." She says gleefully.

"Okay mom, I gotta go." I tell her and we say our goodbyes.

-

If only I knew then, that the phone call between my mother and I would be the best thing to ever happen in my life.

She got me to come back to LA.

To the Garden.

To Spencer...