Thursday rolled around. It happened to be my birthday. I was tempted to give myself the best present ever and not go to work, but Mr. Greyson and I were presenting on Friday to Premier Bank in Nashville. They were a billion-dollar asset financial institution, so weneeded all the prep time we could get. At least I was going to be able to have dinner with my family that night before they left for the Magic Kingdom the next day.
I came in at a normal time. I figured I deserved the extra sleep. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Delfia had placed a large bouquet of balloons in my office for me before I arrived. She really was the best. Her hug and homemade blueberry muffins weren’t bad either. Just the two of us enjoyed the muffins together in my office. We didn’t feel like dumb and dumber were worthy of them, but I felt kind of bad about it later that morning when I got a surprise delivery of flowers.
They weren’t just any flowers, either, they were my most favorite of all-time flowers, that only one person would know about. I stared at the beautiful pot full of columbines in disbelief. I didn’t even know you could order them like this. There was no note, which made Delfia super curious, but I had no doubt who they were from. Columbines were Colorado’s state flower. They grew wild in the mountains. FYI, it’s illegal to pick them, but Ian—I mean Mr. Greyson— forgot to mention that to me until it was too late. I still had those illegal flowers pressed in a journal somewhere. I loved the white and purplish-blue petals. I delicately touched the ones right in front of me.
Why did he have to be nice to me? And why did I have to remember lovely hikes in the mountains, breathtaking views, and kisses with the only man I ever loved? I knew I needed to go and say thank you, but I was hesitant. I considered sending an email, but I had better manners than that, even though he may not agree. I reluctantly got up and opened my door.
Delfia was still trying to guess who the flowers were from. She listed off five more men. I shook my head no at each wrong name. “Is Mr. Greyson in?” I interrupted her.
She looked at me suspiciously. “Yes.”
“Is he with anyone?” And by anyone, I meant Ms. Dumber. She shook her head no.
I could feel her stares from behind as I cautiously approached his door and knocked. It didn’t take long for him to grant permission for me to open the door. I did so quickly before I lost my nerve. I walkedin and shut the door behind me as fast as I could, so no one else would see me or hear me.
He looked surprised to see me, but his eyes lit up. “Ms. Bryant.”
“Um . . . Mr. Greyson.”
“Please have a seat,” he offered.
“That’s okay. I just wanted to say thank you.”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “For what?”
I knew he was lying, but I wondered why he would. “I know the columbines are from you. You and I may be the only ones in this state who know what they are.”
“Or that it’s illegal to pick them in the wild.” He grinned.
“Anyway, thank you.”
“Happy birthday.”
“Thanks for reading my employee file and remembering.”
His smile faded away. “I’ve never forgotten.”
“Oh.” I always remembered his too. June 16th.
His eyes burned into mine from across the room, and suddenly I wanted to cross the professional boundary line. “Thank you,” I said again, flustered, before I ran out of there.
I didn’t even react to Delfia’s detective work and knowing looks as I walked past her. “Did you know that columbines are Colorado’s state flower?” she called with delight in her devious voice.
I ran straight to my bathroom and stared at my flushed reflection in the mirror. What was wrong with me? I decided not to answer, because the answer was ridiculous. Instead, I went back to my desk and tried to concentrate on my presentation for tomorrow before I sent it back to Mr. Greyson. His new laptop was better than mine, and he thought it would be a good idea to use his for tomorrow’s presentation.
No matter how hard I tried to concentrate, my eyes kept drifting toward the beautiful flowers, and my mind kept landing on the man who sent them to me. By four, I decided to call it a day. It was my birthday after all. With my balloons and flowers, I made a beeline for the exit. It took me a while to exit the lobby as I had lots of birthday wishes. It was a nice way to leave work, but I wanted to make a quick exit. I wasn’t feeling like myself. I was so out of sorts that on the drivehome I debated whether I should cancel my birthday dinner with my family or not. Physically, I was well, but I felt weird, if that made sense.
When I arrived home, I carefully placed my flowers front-and-center on my kitchen table. I put the balloons on my coffee table. I didn’t want anything to distract from the beauty of those darn flowers. They had become like that silly note he wrote about the coffee filters. I kept staring at them like they would reveal some secret. I finally had to force myself to walk away and get ready for dinner. There was no use in canceling. I knew my excuse of “I felt weird” would never fly with my sister. She would be over here psychoanalyzing me if I gave her such a reason.
As soon as I walked into my sister’s home, I was happy I hadn’t given into my odd feelings. Court and Sam immediately flew into my arms with birthday greetings and hugs and kisses. They pulled me into the kitchen. It smelled amazing. Amanda and Zane were finishing up dinner, but each took a break to give me a hug. I was definitely feeling the love. For dinner, my sister was making one of my favorites: sweet and sour chicken with homemade fried rice. I felt terrible she was going to all the trouble right before she was leaving on vacation.
She waved off my concern. “I love you, Kelli Jelly.”
I sure loved her.
Dinner was beyond amazing, and the cake that followed was just as good or better. Amanda made another favorite of mine, lemon cake with blackberry frosting. She really was Betty Crocker, and I adored her for it. I especially enjoyed the company as I listened to my nieces talk about flying to Disney World the next morning. They were so excited.
“It’s not too late for you to come,” Zane and Amanda said.
