“I don’t know that they were particularly. All plants are special. Some of them just have better stories.”
“Stories?”
I looked around, making sure no one was watching, then I pulled off one of the bleeding heart flowers. I held it up.
“Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess and a handsome prince. The prince desperately wanted to marry the princess but she refused him. To win her love he decided to ply her with gifts. First, he gave her two pink rabbits.” I peeled off the pink outer petals and turned them, giving them the shape of a pair of bunnies.
“But she turned him away. Next, the prince presented her with a pair of earrings.” I gently removed the hook-shaped white petals with a gold piece at the top.
“These she took but still she said she could never love him. The hopeful prince tried one more time, gifting her a pair of enchanted slippers made from the finest silk.” I showed Alfie the inner part of the flower, pink and white and in the shape of a slipper.
“Again, she turned away.” I let the piece fall to the ground and all I had left was the frame of the heart with the green stamen forming a line down the middle.
“The prince was heartbroken and pulled a dagger from his sheath and stabbed himself in the heart.” Gently, I removed the stamen, and placed it through the centre of the heart-shaped flower.
“The princess was overcome with grief and realised too late that she had loved him all along. She cursed her heart to bleed forever in atonement for her selfishness.” I let the final pieces drop to the ground and brushed off my hands.
“Personally I think they’re both fools, but I like the story.” When I looked up, Alfie was smiling at me.
“I love watching you do that. You come alive when you talk about all of this stuff. I have no interest in it but I want to learn more just to hear you talk about it.” He squeezed my waist. “Don’t tell me you couldn't do this for a living.”
“You love me. It’s different.”
“It’s not. Iseeyou. Even when you don’t see yourself.”
I turned and wrapped my arms around his neck. It was quiet here and I was grateful to have some privacy. “Thank you for not letting me spiral today.”
“Always.”
I leaned into him, just the two of us in this lush, alive space. Once, he had felt like a storm-stricken sea, battering me aboutwhile I clung on to my life raft. Now he was my oak tree, shielding me from the storm.
“Do you ever miss it? Being how we used to be in the first chapter of our lives? The intensity of it?”
“This is still intense. It’s just stable now. Back then I was panicked all the time. Holding onto you too tight and you fighting to get away but not wanting to leave me. It's fun for a while but staying on a ride too long makes you sick. I love you. I can say that now and not worry you’re going to laugh at me. Old Alfie was made up of shadows and secrets. I don’t miss him for a moment.”
Neither did I. This new Alfie was everything I wanted from the old one. I wondered about myself, if I had evolved like he had. I thought about how many excuses I was making about the next step in my career, how I was dragging my feet at the thought of striking out on my own. How many times had I told myself I wasn’t good enough? Wasn’t experienced enough?
He stroked my cheek. “What is it?”
“I think I still have some growing to do.”
An hour later, I was the proud owner of a brand new shovel. This one had a metal handle, decorated with a pink and white rose pattern. I was over the moon with it, and Alfie shook his head every time he looked at me holding it to my chest.
Continuing his day of distraction, Alfie insisted we have lunch in the teahouse attached to the nursery. I didn’t need much persuasion. Alfie looked strange in his suit, tucked away in a shabby chic corner of a woodland-style cafe. There was a wildflower bouquet on every table and a canopy of honeysuckle-covered branches overhead, serving as our roof. I felt like I was in a charming treehouse.
It was busy, filled with people coming here for a light Sunday lunch. Only a few people seemed to recognise Alfie and aside from the waitress who not-so-discreetly snapped a photo of us, we were left alone. Still, it bothered me. Alfie had made himself infamous more than a decade ago, he was hardly a movie star still trying to stay in the public eye. Yet, people coveted him. His wealth, his beauty. He was impossible to forget as I had learned too well.
I didn’t argue as he ordered for me. It would have bothered me once. Strange, the things you let go when you loved someone.
Alfie arched an eyebrow at me once the waitress had disappeared to get out drinks. “You’re either having naughty thoughts or a nice memory.”
“Do those two things have to be mutually exclusive?” I giggled. “I was thinking aboutL’Amour. Our first date there. If you can call it that. You made me eat seafood.”
“I didn’t make you. I requested and you obliged, because you like being told what to do sometimes. You just didn’t like that you liked it.” His foot hooked around my chair leg and I gasped as he tugged me around the table. He grabbed the arm of my chair and pulled me until there was no space left between us. That earned us some raised eyebrows but I didn’t care. “I remember having you pressed up against your front door. I had to remind myself your family was home.”
I closed my eyes, feeling a flush spread over my skin. I remembered that night all too well.
‘I can feel your heart beating out of your chest, trying to get to me. It aches for me, O’Connell. Other parts of you ache for me too.’
