Chapter 1
Tallulah
"Mom?"
My daughter called to me from the front of the house where I'd just heard the door open and close.
"I'm in the kitchen," I called back.
Slowly, I poured my homemade kombucha into a swing-top glass bottle using a funnel. I kept the drinks in a small refrigerator at Simply Well, my herbal store and wellness center. I usually sold out every week, and regular customers often asked me to make more. Maybe one day I would, but for now, small batches were enough to keep me busy, adding a few extra dollars to my bottom line.
Blossom walked in as I poured the last drop of golden liquid and closed the swing top.
"How was your date?" I asked.
She appeared in front of me, a curious smile on her face. Her skin was a couple of shades lighter than mine, and her natural curls were cut low on her oval face, giving her a modern, self-assured look. She seemed happy, but also like someone holding onto a juicy secret.
"Must have been good," I remarked, tugging off my gloves.
"I'm getting married!" she blurted.
Huh?
Stunned, I stared at her. "M-married? To who?"
"Manuel, Mom! Who do you think? The guy I've been dating."
Blossom and I had a good relationship and told each other everything. After her father and I divorced when she was in middle school, we became closer. I knew all about her struggles with puberty, her crushes—including the one on her science teacher in tenth grade that thankfully only lasted a few months before she moved on to a boy her own age.
I distinctly remember our candid conversations about sex and being safe, and when she was ready, I took her to the doctor for birth control. She never hid bad grades from me, and I knew about her serious boyfriends. All two of them.
I knew they were serious because she brought them home to meet me. Since I hadn't met Manuel, I had assumed they were in a casual relationship.
"Yes, you did tell me about him, but I had no idea the relationship was this far along. You met right before graduation, didn't you?" I successfully kept the alarm out of my voice.
She nodded vigorously. "In February. One minute we were sharing a meal in the park beside our favorite food trucks, and the next we were inseparable. It's been a whirlwind."
I was normally a chill, go-with-the-flow kind of person, but my laid-back personality flew out the window when the topic of marriage came up. If nothing else, I had instilled in my daughter the importance of picking the right life partner. Yet she had met this young man her last semester in college—only four months ago—found out they were both from Ellington, Michigan, and now they were engaged.
Whirlwind was an understatement.
It's possible I hadn't been paying as much attention to her relationship as I usually did since I was dealing with uncertainty about the future of my wellness center. A company out of Texas had recently bought the building where I leased space, and I and the other shop owners were concerned about what that meant for the future of our businesses.
"Well, congratulations. Let me see the ring."
She grimaced. "Don't be weird, okay? I don't have a ring yet. Tonight we had takeout at his apartment—our favorite meal from the Korean place up the street. He cut a strip from the takeout bag and taped it around my finger. It has our initials on it—M & B."
She proudly extended her hand and stroked the white paper with black writing, her face fixed in an adoring expression, as if it were a piece of fine jewelry. My God, she was a goner. Manuel hadn't planned, and my daughter said yes anyway. This was so unserious.
"Oh." My mind raced for something positive to say.
"It's the thought that counts," Blossom hastily explained. "We're going to pick out rings together. Later."
Uh-huh.
I cleared my throat, opting for tact instead of chastisement. "Blossom, my love, marriage is a big deal, and you've only known this boy a short time. He didn't buy?—"
"He's not aboy. He's an adult, like me," she corrected.
