Chapter Sixteen
AARON
“Hi, Aaron.”
I glanced up into the sun and adjusted the baseball cap on my head.
“Hey, Roberto. What’s going on? Finished with school today?”
“Yeah. Whatcha doin’?”
He crouched next to me. I’d finished tiling the upstairs bathrooms and started working on the backsplash in the kitchen. Five back-breaking hours later, as a reward for all my hard work, I’d decided to plant another row of flowers on the side and in the front of the house. The past hour found me turning over the soil and edging the flowerbeds in preparation, before heading off to the garden center.
“Gonna go buy some flowers. Wanna come?”
His eyes lit up. “Yeah. I gotta go tell my mom, though. Can you wait for me?”
“Of course. Havta wash my hands first anyway.”
He took off down the street, little legs pumping, and I couldn’t help laughing after him. The sun was out, Frankie was home in our bed sleeping, and life was pretty damn good. For a second last night I’d gotten a weird vibe from him, like he was afraid of me, but then we talked it out. His story had freaked me out a bit, but I worked it through in my head that Frankie had taken care of the situation and learned from it. Me smashing the guy in the face and yelling at Frankie wouldn’t have solved anything.
Sweat trickled down my neck and forehead, and I wiped it off only to view my dirty hands and realize I’d probably smeared it all over my face. “Oh shit.” I rolled my eyes at my own stupidity and took the front stairs two at a time to go inside and wash up. I’d finished wiping my face free of dirt when I saw Roberto standing at the front window.
“Be right there,” I yelled out through the open front door.
I shoved my wallet into my jeans pocket and grabbed the keys to the car. “Let’s go, buddy. Mom said it was okay?”
“Yeah. Rose is like one of her best friends, so I gotta say hi and invite her for dinner on Sunday.”
We drove the two blocks down and scored a parking spot right in front. I spotted Javi’s lanky six-foot-two frame in the crowd, helping customers outside with the flowers and bushes, and Rose had at least ten people in line at the counter. Even from the street, I could see the frantic expression on her face through the wide front windows. Seemed like everyone in Bensonhurst decided to work on their garden today and came here for supplies.
We entered the store, and Roberto ran behind the counter. “Hi, Rose. I can help. I can put stuff in bags for you.”
“Thank you, honey.” Her fingers flew over the cash register. “You’re a lifesaver.”
Deciding to lend my own helping hand, I left Roberto with Rose and walked over to Javi, who had several couples waiting for him to finish with a person who was having trouble deciding between getting all pink or all white azaleas. I decided to help him out, and after greeting him with a wave, asked the group, “Who’s next? I can take care of you while Javi’s finishing with his customer.”
At Javi’s startled expression, I gave him the thumbs-up, then proceeded to sell a couple two flats of impatiens, two flats of begonias, and one flat of bachelor buttons. Now they wanted to buy some rose bushes. I brought them over to the beautiful Queen Elizabeths.
“Will these give me lots of big roses? That’s what I’m looking for.”
“Absolutely,” I assured the young woman. “They’re very hearty, and not only are the pink flowers gorgeous and multiflowering, but they smell great too.”
“How many should we get, do you think?” She gazed up at her husband and rubbed her pregnant belly.
“As many as you want. The garden is your playground like the kitchen is mine.” He put his arm around her. “But you need to get off your feet, so make a decision soon.”
She rubbed her stomach again. “Yeah. I can’t wait to have this baby already, especially before it gets too warm. Let’s go with six.”
“Sounds good. I’ll pick you out some nice ones. Why don’t you go inside and sit down? I know Rose has some chairs in there.”
“Thanks.” Flashing me a grateful smile, she touched the velvety petals of one of the roses. “I can’t wait to sit in the garden with my baby and have all these beautiful flowers surrounding me. Growing up in the projects, I never thought I’d get lucky enough to have a house with a garden. It’s all I ever wanted.” With her husband holding her arm, she walked inside, and I made sure to pick her out the sturdiest bushes with the most buds on them. Her garden would be the envy of all her neighbors.
Roberto was in his element, helping Rose, and I’d helped the guys load up the couple’s plants in the delivery van when I spied two magnificent, white Moondance rose bushes in the corner of the lot. I knew Josephina loved white roses, even though they were prone to black spot, and I would have loved to add to her collection, but at forty dollars a pop, their price was too rich for my blood.
I bent down to sniff their raspberry-sweet perfume.
“Hey, thanks for helping out.”
