A Woman in Search Of...

Later that day Wendy toured the nursery, starting at the right concrete walkway near the register until it curved around taking her to the other side of the walkway and back to the register area. On the way she checked the many bark paths leading inside the walkway. Everything would be finished tomorrow, and she couldn’t wait to be there alone and enjoy the work she wanted to do. She’d find just the right places for the plants sitting around, including the hanging ones. Carol and Marty Ann finished the potting area. Below a long shelf hung Wendy’s hand tools--clippers and several trowels and two pair of gloves. A couple of bags of potting soil, oak leaf mold, bark, and perlite were on the floor next to the area.

The space at the far end, near the emergency exit, was the forest area. To create the look she wanted she included many ferns. A few tall plants were toward the back of the area with some shorter plants in front of them. She’d add and change plants as new ideas came to her.

In the evening Wendy was in the living room on her hands and knees doing stretching exercises when the phone rang. She flopped onto the floor, took a calming breath and crawled the short distance to the phone.

“Hello.”

“Hi, it’s Marty.”

Wendy lifted herself up and settled into a chair. “Hi.”

“How’s it going?”

“Very well, the nursery is close to being finished.”

“Wonderful. May I interest you in going to dinner tomorrow night?”

Although apprehensive about dating again, Wendy felt she should give him a chance. “Yes, I’d like to, thank you.” She gave him her address.

“I’ll see you at 7:00, okay.”

“Okay.”

After they hung up, she surprised herself for accepting his offer so readily. She worried about being hurt again, but she needed to move forward. Finally, she shrugged and went back to her exercising