A Woman in Search Of...

In the afternoon the unexpected happened. She couldn’t believe after all these months Scott came to the nursery. What audacity to come here. What could he possibly want? She wanted him to disappear.

“Scott,” Wendy said without any emotion.

“Hi.”

Her face went blank. “What are you doing here?”

“I saw a flyer with your picture on it. I thought I’d stop by and say hi.”

“Okay, hi.”

“May I have a tour?”

She hesitated, reluctant to spend time with him, but said, “Okay, but I may be called to the front.”

“It’s fine.”

As they toured the nursery Scott asked a lot of questions about the space and asked about a few plants. Very much surprised by his interest since he never showed any with her garden. They reached the pond area and stopped.

“You’ve done a great job here, Wendy.”

“Thanks.”

“I also stopped by to tell you I’m changing to a different import company because I don’t want to travel so much.”

She stared at him. This came out of left field. “Really? Let me know how that works out. Thanks for coming by.” She wanted to end the conversation, so he would leave. She couldn’t deal with him and Marty right now.

He hesitated before saying, “I’m very excited for you.”

She smiled and watched as he went out the door. She needed to sit and think but a customer interrupted her.

“I’m interested in the Star Pine Tree you have, but I can’t take it now.”

“It’s okay. I can set it aside until tomorrow.”

“That’d be great thanks.” They went to the counter where the woman paid and left.

Wendy put the pine on the hand truck and wheeled it near the potting area. Her busyness for the rest of the day gave her no time to be fixated on Scott’s visit.

As soon as she got home, she called Cindy and told her about Scott showing up.

“What do you think he’s up to?” Cindy inquired after Wendy explained their conversation.

“I don’t know. I imagine he wanted to make sure I understood he wasn’t going to be traveling as much. Maybe he’s ready to change his priorities, by changing jobs.”

“How are you going to handle this?”

“I have no idea. I won’t believe anything until I see...I don’t know…something to believe.”

“All that aside, are you still in love with him?”

Wendy paused. One trait she admired in her friendship with Cindy, her honesty…no game playing. “No, I’m still so angry at him. Right now, I’m going to grab a bite and head to Hoffman’s.”