three
In all fairness, plant advice wasn’t the only thing Jamie wanted to give her. It was nothing she’d admit so shortly after meeting the other woman, but she’d love to see her again. She’d love to sit down and chat, for them to really get to know each other, plus, Jamie wanted a new drinking buddy.
Drinking with her friend Owen, the baker from the patisserie down the street, had recently exchanged his drunken rambling subject from underrated cheeses to the woman he was madly in madly in love with. The worst thing was that he didn’t even realise it, he would just go on and on about how smart, thoughtful, kind, beautiful and other nice words she was. Whenever Owen would be in the same room as his dream woman, Hannah, he’d have this awfully silly smile on his face and he always looked at her as if she were the creator of the universe.
Hannah would mirror his dumb smile and laugh away the compliments he gave her. They were hopeless, Jamie had witnessed this many times. She was getting sick of it. She didn’t want to meddle, that’s not the kind of thing she would do, but she wanted them, so badly, to realise they were in love with each other.
She liked them both a lot and considered them to be her closest friends, other than her darling plants. There was an invisible barrier between the two of them that made them oblivious to the adoration they both had for each other, it was as if they couldn’t even imagine the other having feelings for them, that they didn’t deserve them.
Only Jamie could see that barrier and she could see that they both deserved each other very much. She had many times told Owen, both drunkenly and soberly, that he was the person most deserving of love in the entire world. Owen was always flattered, but never believed the florist’s fond words.
Another drinking buddy would be nice. She had only talked to Dani two times, seen her a lot more, but the American had quickly hit a soft spot somewhere deep inside of her and that wasn’t easy to reach. Jamie had buried that spot a long time ago, dug it down under many layers of dirt and built a big wall around it. It was surrounded by warning signs and barbed wire.
Dani had just waltzed in there, not seeing any signs, tiptoeing around the wall and easily jumped right into the spot. That scared Jamie a little, but she was also intrigued, wanting to know who the blonde woman was, what she liked and disliked, what made her smile and what her lips tasted like.
She found herself thinking of Dani all Friday, wondering what she would be doing that evening, all Saturday, wondering if she’d be with anyone, all Sunday… All weekend, her mind had been drifting to the pretty American woman.
She’d been thinking of an excuse to see her again, to talk to her again.
The florist had thought of going over to the coffeeshop, absolutely not to give coffee a chance, but to order a cup of mediocre tea, she knew it wouldn’t be as good as from the old shop, and have a chat with the barista she found so interesting.
Maybe she’d catch her on a break and get her to sit down with her, talk about everything, or nothing in particular, Jamie just wanted to see her again.
She had shared her thoughts with Owen over the weekend, he was very excited she found someone interesting, the words he used were ”crushing on someone” but Jamie wouldn’t be using them.
He fully supported her plan of going over to get something to drink and hang out with the American. After a few drinks the conversation switched to one about Hannah and her beautiful eyes. Owen found everything about her divine, he could probably make an entire speech about how lovely her left eyebrow was.
On Monday morning Jamie had watered all the potted plants in the shop when she peeked out of the window to catch a glimpse of Dani behind closed doors, taking down chairs from tables. She could walk over, order a cup of tea and use breakfast as the reason she’d go there. She could ask if her thyme had given any effect, make some clever joke about it and smirk, she’d noticed the blonde blushed easily.
She could ask Dani to sit down with her, assuming the place would be empty, she could ask about her day, her weekend, her-
The bell chimed as the door was pushed open and a man looking deprived of sleep walked in. Poor lad seemed stressed.
After two hours of planning the design of a bouquet that seemed liked it would be given to the queen herself, Jamie let out a sigh of relief. The man that came in had been sent by his fiancée to talk about the flowers at their upcoming wedding. As they only decided on what the bouquet would look like after two full hours, they had scheduled a meeting a few days later. The man wanted everything to be perfect, he seemed to be more of a perfectionist than Jamie when it came to flowers.
That was until she learned that the fiancée had sent the man out to get everything in order for the wedding, she had decided what was being done and she made him do it all. The woman seemed like a control freak.
As soon as he walked out the door, Jamie turned the ”Open” sign and went out herself. Her legs carried her across the street to the new coffeehouse. Through the window she could see Dani looking busy with something, eyebrows furrowed adorably and her bottom lip slightly being chewed on. She opened the door and set her foot at the lot for the first time since the tea shop was in business.
”Coffee giving you a hard time?” She asked, standing in front of the counter.
”You came!” Dani shot up her head and surprisedly exclaimed.
”What?” Jamie was confused. ”You’ve been expecting me?”
Maybe she’d seen the thousand times Jaime had looked over to her.
”Uh, the guy from the bakery down the road came in this morning with a basket of muffins for the shop.” Dani gestured away towards the bakery.
Oh no.
”Said he was a fortune teller, but then introduced himself as Owen.” Dani continued.
Fucking Owen.
”He told me I would get a surprise visit from the florist across the street.” She smiled.
”Can’t even get breakfast in peace these days, Owen is bloody everywhere. Wish I could escape that man.” Jamie joked, hiding the fear that she’d possibly been ratted out by Owen.
While she wasn’t one to meddle in other people’s relationships, Owen definitely was.
”What can I get you then?” The barista asked chuckling at her customer.
”You any decent at tea? Any sort is fine, won’t go near coffee. I’ll have a muffin as well, but don’t tell Owen about that, don’t want to give him the satisfaction.” The florist leaned on the counter and looked the other woman in the eyes. For a split second she thought she saw an uncertainty in the blonde’s look.
”Uhm…” Dani looked around the coffeeshop, as if looking for someone, although she was the only one who worked there that morning. ”Sure. Just a second.” She turned around to the kettle.
”Gotten any increase in strength or courage lately?” Jamie asked, referring to the thyme she’d gifted her the other day.
”Not really, but it’s been a really cute detail to the counter. Thank you for that, again.” Dani cast a quick glance over her shoulder and flashed a smile.
”No problem, just being neighbourly and all, good to have nice people around.” Jamie stood on her toes to catch a look of Dani’s work. She winced quietly as she watched Dani put way too much sugar into the cup.
”Any luck with the nanny-jobs, Poppins?” Jaime quickly added as she pretended not having seen the crime she just witnessed before her eyes.
”I’m looking for teaching jobs right now, but I’m not finding anything permanent. Might have to start as a substitute, although that would be hard while working here.” She turned around and put the cup down next to the muffin.
Jamie braced herself and skeptically looked at the steaming cup. Dani didn’t seem to notice the look as she swept the money off the counter and put it in the cash registry.
The brunette brought the cup to her lips and blew carefully on the hot water.
Cheers, then.
”Blimey,” she not-so-discreetly cursed. ”Dani, no offense I know you’re American, but this is horrible.” She laughed and put her tea, if it could be called that, back on the counter.
”So I’ve been told,” Dani nervously smiled. ”I’m usually not in charge of the hot drinks, but since I’m the only one here I had no choice.” A small laughter escaped her lips.
Jamie shook her head and smirked.
”So what are you good at then? I’m sure there’s more to you than a pretty face and bad tea-brewing.” Jamie could see Dani’s cheeks change colour as the blonde looked down at her feet.
”I think my talent lies with teaching, I’m pretty good at coming up with creative solutions.” Dani shared. ”Another reason why this job doesn’t really suit me.”
”Can’t disagree with that. I think you have greater potential, to be honest.” Jamie tossed Owen’s muffin in her hand before she took a bite of it.
”You don’t even know me, you just know that I can’t make tea.” Dani laughed, flustered.
”Yeah, don’t want you trying that ever again, so kids it is, Poppins.” Jamie teased, shooting a wink across the counter.
”Yeah, thanks.” The blonde said in a sarcastic tone in an attempt to seem unbothered, but Jamie could see the blush creeping up her cheeks.
The bad barista must’ve been a person who got flustered easily, she would blush at almost anything that was said. The florist could just wink at her and her face would turn pink. Unusual. But by now, Jamie had figured out that Dani wasn’t like everyone else, she wasn’t unusual, but rather special. Jamie was set on getting to know the woman better.
The door flew open and a couple ran in, it had started raining outside. They captured the attention of both women and Jamie straightened up.
”Alright then, thanks for the poison, I’ll see you around.” Jamie winked at the other woman and headed for the door.
”Bye…” The American said with a small wave. She then looked over at the couple who seemed completely lost in each other’s gaze. ”What can I get you?”