It was obvious.
While Meg ate snacks, Amy was finally able to give the presentation on the flower design. She really knew her stuff. The flowers were local to Harrogate, and there was a whole language behind the meaning of the flowers. After her presentation, she walked through the various arrangements, and the Svensson girls took pictures of the flowers.
Say something to her,I berated myself as she chatted with Meg and the girls.Stop being such a dunce.
Meg and Hunter took the girls out to look at the animals. Amy busied herself with packing up the flowers.
Maybe you should just grab her and kiss her.
But what if she hadn’t actually been flirting? What if she was just being nice, like she was to the Svensson brothers at the couples shower?
“I can help you with those,” I told her, helping her manhandle a box.
“Oh!” She jumped then laughed. “I didn’t realize you were still here. I thought you left with Meg to go to work.”
“I thought you might need some help. And I wanted to say goodbye to my brother,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound creepy.
“That’s sweet of you.”
“To be fully honest,” I amended, “I may have wanted to steal a bit of your time.”
“What for?” She blinked up at me. “Wedding planning?”
Kiss her.
“Amy!” Alfie yelled, running into the barn. “Do you have time to help me with my biodome?”
He plunked a big glass bottle on the table along with his worksheets.
“I certainly can!” Amy said brightly, flipping through the sheets.
Cockblocked by my own brother.
Amy frowned. “Are the fish mandatory?”
“I’m not sure,” Alfie said. “But all the examples my teacher showed had fish.”
“I don’t think they’re going to survive in that glass bottle,” I said, picking it up. It was a bit bigger than a two-liter soda bottle.”
“That’s why you put the plants in there,” Alfie said. “I need some help picking the correct ones, though.”
Amy tapped her pen on the table. “I have a better idea. Do you know what a succulent is?”
* * *
Ten minutes later,Amy had helped Alfie pour rocks, sand, and dirt into his bottle. Then she let him select two small succulents from a field of them in one of the greenhouses.
“Succulents are very on trend right now,” Amy told me as Alfie perused the selections. “A lot of people suck at taking care of succulents. They are finicky and need a lot of sun and little water. I buy half-dead ones for stupid cheap then nurse them back to health.”
“How about these?” Alfie asked, coming over with a spindly succulent and a flatter one with broad red leaves.
“Great choices!”
Using a pair of chopsticks, Alfie carefully placed the plants into the bottle while Amy guided him.
“How are the fish supposed to live in there?” I asked, frowning.
“The worksheets don’t say they have to be fish,” Amy said. “Just that you need a plant, an animal, and air. So we’re going hunting!”
