“Yeah,” Gia said. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t photograph your urban clothes with flowers around them.”
“Did you post the pictures of the sunflowers?” Rowan asked.
I tilted my head. “No...I thought those were...just for us.” I loved the pictures from the sunflower field so much—I looked at them all the time. There was one in particular, where Rowan wasn’t looking at the camera, but the sun was hitting his face just right. In my red shirt, surrounded by all those bright-yellow flowers. It was so stunning.
Keeping my brand consistent wasn’t the only reason I hadn’t posted them on my feed. Every time I thought of that perfect day—the warm sun, the picnic, and, of course, our first kiss—it was a memory I wanted to keep special. Not share with the world.
One side of Rowan’s mouth upturned. “You’re not ashamed of me, are you? I agree I would have looked better in one of myownshirts, but yours wasn’tthatbad...” I knew he was joking, so I poked him in the ticklish spot on his side.
He yelped, then leaned over to start tickling me back.
“Hey, now,” June said. “Can y’all save that for when there are no family members around?”
Rowan laughed and sat up straight. “Seriously, though, Tahira. I don’t mind if you post them. Whatever happened to artists selling themselves as much as their art? Your followers may want to see a less...curated side of your life.”
Maybe? I had to admit that, unexpectedly, flowers—and Rowan, of course—had become a big part of my life. And he was right: I was the one who said the artist represented the brand as much as the art did. I pulled up that picture on my phone. It did kind of work for my brand, anyway. The flowers were monochromatic. And the shirt was very visible, and very me.
Why not? I quickly wrote up an Instagram post while Rowan watched. I added that picture, with a few more from the sunflower field. Honestly, I kind of liked the idea of showing him off a bit more. I grinned as I hit “Share.” “Done. All my 20K followers will see how hot you looked in that field that day.”
He tightened his arm around me and looked at me like he wished we were alone.
Gia groaned, looking at June. “Oh God, they’re at it again, June. C’mon, guys, it’s been half an hour. Let’s get back to work. Because I—”
I stood. “I know, G. You have a date later.” I held out my hand to Rowan. “Shall we finish our work?”
A week later, on Sunday night, Rowan, Juniper, and I were having tea and oatmeal cookies on the patio couches in the garden. We’d been dating for two weeks now, and things were going so well that I’d just had dinner with the Johnstons, which was awkward but fine. The weather was beautiful, and I was conscious of the fact that the Bloom was a week away. After the Bloom, Gia and I had a week and a half in Bakewell before we needed to go back to Toronto to get ready for school to startin September. I wanted as much time as possible in this garden before I couldn’t be here anymore.
“Was anyone able to help you figure out how we can hold the lily petals together?” I asked Rowan. After gluing the frame, we’d tried adding some moss and flowers a few days later, but the glued petal tips snapped open. Rowan had said he would ask around at work to see if anyone had any ideas.
“Yeah, Leanne’s dad said he could show us how to weld them. I don’t know why I didn’t think to ask him first. He’s a contractor—he welds plumbing pipes all the time.”
Oh. That was a simple solution. “Perfect.”
“Yeah, he’s free Tuesday night, so we can have our Bloom meeting at Leanne’s place, and use his supplies to weld. Then we can test it again. Leanne will bring the plants we need from the nursery to practice.”
“Oh.” I turned to Juniper. I was pretty sure June had barely seen Leanne since the Lily photo shoot a few weeks ago, and that was intentional. I’d seen Leanne, of course. I mean, I was dating her best friend. But June was still trying to avoid her.
“You good with that, June?” I asked.
“Sure,” Juniper said. “It’s fine, I can go.”
“But—”
“What’s going on?” Rowan asked. “Why wouldn’t June want to go? Actually,” he said to Juniper, “Leanne said today that she thought you were avoiding her.”
Juniper didn’t say anything.
“Juniper doesn’t need to hang out with your friends if she doesn’t want to,” I said.
He shook his head. “No, of course she doesn’t. But Leannewasher friend, too. The three of us were inseparable as kids.” He looked at June again. “Did Leanne do something to upset you?” He glanced at me, no doubt remembering when I’d accused Leanne of being one of the harassers on Juniper’s YouTube.
“No, there’s nothing,” June said emphatically. “It’s fine. I’ll go to Leanne’s. I’m not mad at her.”
“June, you know you can talk to me,” Rowan said.
Juniper shook her head. I thought she might cry.
I put my hand on Rowan’s knee. “Rowan, leave her be.”
