Over the next few minutes, we finish our drinks, settle our tabs, and head out. On the sidewalk out front, Aiden claps me on the shoulder. “Where are you parked?”
“The sunflower farm. I walked here. Gotta drive up to New York after this so I figured I’d enjoy the fresh air while I can.”
“Oh,” he says, his brow furrowing. “Well, do you want a ride back? I should probably talk to Eve anyway.”
“The storm?”
He nods.
“Sure, I’ll take the ride.”
I follow him along the sidewalk to his truck and get in the passenger side as he starts it up and pulls out, melding easily into the line of cars that meander down the main road.
He turns off at the next cross section to avoid traffic and zips along back road after back road until we reach the sunflower farm, blowing right past the parking lot and heading straight for the bungalow nestled within.
Aiden’s headlights bounce along the dirt road, and just as we reach the house, Eve emerges from the field dressed in her usual overalls. She has a streak of mud across her face and her arms are overloaded with sunflowers that she packs into the open back of a flower truck. Her eyes narrow as she stares us down, but she doesn’t stop what she’s doing.
But when Aiden kills the engine and she realizes who’s pulling into the drive, she stops in her tracks.
“No,” she says, when Aiden gets out of the car. She barely seems to register me getting out the other side.
He shrugs. “Look, I hate being the bearer of bad news, but I feel like this one is going to be bad.”
She takes a few quick steps and stuffs the sunflowers into the back of the van, closing the door behind them and smacking the side twice. “You’re good, Carl!”
Carl, presumably, waves from the driver’s seat and starts the engine, puttering carefully down the dirt road we just came from.
“How sure are you?” she asks.
He stuffs his hands into his pockets. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think you need to prepare.”
She puts her hands on her hips. “Fuck.”
In the silence that ensues, I feel the need to say something. “Can I help?”
Her gaze flicks to mine. “Why are youhere?”
“I’m parked in the lot,” I explain, throwing a thumb over my shoulder.
“Oh,” Aiden says. “Sorry, I just assumed you’d be parked at the house.”
Eve cocks her head to the side at Aiden’s words, and then turns her attention to me again, her eyebrows raised as if to ask me what the hell I’m doing spreading our business all over town.
But he was my friendfirst, Evie.
She lets out a long breath. “I’m not going to lie—I had a feeling too. That’s why we’re doing flower deliveries at ten at night. Hoping to get them out before the flower shops get overloaded with discounts. But…” She shakes her head. “Fuck, this is the end of the season, isn’t it?”
I rear back. “What, one storm and the season is done?”
She gestures to the sunflowers behind her. “These are my hardiest sunflowers already. If a storm takes them out this late in the season, they won’t grow back. At least, not in a way I’m comfortable charging full price for.”
“I’m sorry, Eve,” Aiden says. “I just—you know the animals always know. And the animalsknow.”
She nods. “No, it’s not your fault. Thank you for telling me. You’re my favorite weather vane.” She lets out another deep sigh, shaking her head as her gaze turns to the fields around us. “I guess I have to sell as many flowers as I can, huh?”
“Yeah?” Aiden asks.
She nods. “I don’t think I have time to fiddle around with a spreadsheet and figure out the loss of the rest of theseason versus the gain of chopping ASAP. My gut is telling me to chop.”
