When You See a Marigold

In her youth, young Rowan played and explored just as any kid would. She fearlessly swam in the creek that teemed with life behind her farmhouse. She harassed various critters with her tiny, chubby hands, barring no actual malice, just sustaining her child-like curiosity. This was her life, every single day, sunset to sundown. It was a good little life, a happy one - yet, she was ever so lonely. She wished with all her heart for a friend, someone her age to enjoy all the excitement of her property with her. To her great surprise, the universe eventually granted her wishes. One fateful morning, as Rowan scoured her driveway searching for the perfect rain puddle to splash in, she spotted him. Her big blue eyes followed a lumbering moving truck, cruising lazily along the dirt road that ran for miles in front of her house. It pulled into the driveway not too far from her and from what she could tell, inside of it held a woman and a young child. A boy just around her age! This boy proved to be her closest friend throughout the majority of her childhood years. Sam was the exact opposite of Rowan, always chasing after her and begging for her to slow down as she whipped through the fields like a streak of blonde lightning. He was a nervous child, afraid of bumps and bruises, crying when he received them. Sam outright refused to swim in the dirty creek with his counterpart, instead, he simply watched Rowan flip about as he twisted his hands nervously in his dark curls. They were inseparable, or so they thought. One fateful evening, Rowan scampered across her lawn, determined to go and fetch her beloved friend. Instead, she was met with that very same moving truck from all those years ago. Sam left in the same white carriage that he was brought to her in. Her little heart was devastated

Time moved forward and Rowan grew older, Sam becoming a fond memory of her past. She wouldn’t let him go so easily, it wasn’t in her nature to do so. She searched high and low for him, combing through their hometown and even through the social media websites, finding no trace. Finally calling it quits, she forced herself to make new friends with her classmates. She fell in love many times through her teen years, poor Ro could never land a happy relationship to save her life. All of her boyfriends turned out to be unfaithful liars, not owning up to half the man she expected to fall in love with. Disappointed each and every time, yet, not entirely surprised. This only got worse as she graduated high school, the scoundrels got their greedy little fingers on cars and cell phones and went crazy with all of their fiendish desires. Her heart ached for real and true love, the love of a soul mate. Sadly, not long after graduating, she threw her hands up and stopped trying to find it, giving up on the matter. She sniffled to herself alone in her room, Sam would have never been this dishonest, whoever held his hand now was sure to be a lucky woman.

Ro spent the rest of her time touring colleges, penciling down ideas, and taking aptitude tests, trying to figure out what she wanted to do with the rest of her adult life. Most results pointed to careers such as law, which she gagged at. Fresh out of ideas and running on her last fume, she decided to take a nice stroll through her ever-growing hometown. As she walked past the buildings that have been standing strong her whole life, she noticed a peculiar-looking shop. She was bone tired and worn down from all the soul searching and this new place she stumbled across seemed pretty promising. The lilac building sat snug between a boring law firm (yuck) and a unit bank. Sheer curiosity (and maybe a lack of better judgment) drove Rowan through the front door of the enchanting building. There, she found an elderly lady, draped in a deeper purple than the building. Her aura gave off such soothing vibrations, she was absolutely lovely. Rowan did what anyone in her predicament would have done, she forked over an ungodly amount of cash and got herself a tarot reading from the sweet-looking lady. She sat pensively as the woman’s nimble fingers flipped through the cards. She silently nodded to herself, her cotton grey hair bouncing with each movement. She clearly was understanding something that Ro didn’t, but the pictures on the cards looked nice. She would never admit to her peers that she asked about when and where she would meet the love of her life. It embarrassed her beyond belief, Rowan was a girl of pride, especially when it came to her independence. Yet, she wanted nothing more than a dreamy, steamy, and faithful romance. Finally, the woman spoke, pulling her out of her anticipation.

“The day you find a single Marigold is the day the love you seek will unfold.”

This prophecy led her to her current position. Rowan hummed sweetly to herself as she swept the wooden floors of her little floral shop. The business was more than booming, something even someone as keen as herself never foreseen. She didn’t mind it, she loved the success that came with it and she learned to love each and every flower. She learned every single meaning and helped people all over piece together glorious bouquets. Never once did she find a single marigold. Within her shop’s escalation, the notion slipped her mind. Only did it resurface when she unlocked the shop doors at 9:00 am on the dot, and on the patch of soil, cozied up to the shop’s sign, was one, single marigold. It swayed in the wind as if it were waving hello. Its bright yellow bloom greeted her like the morning sun. She froze in the doorway, drooping her broom in pure disbelief. Today was the day!

“Thank you so much, please come again!” She waved each customer goodbye with an almost creepy amount of pep. She wondered which customer would fall unquestionably in love with her today. Would it be a baker? A construction worker? Oh, it could even be a pencil pusher looking to spruce up the office! The possibilities were endless! Not a single person took the bait. Around lunchtime one of the old farmers who sold her stock winked at her. She silently prayed that it was not him, because if so, she was doomed to be alone. Several people of colorful backgrounds filtered in and out. That day broke records when it came to foot traffic, dang near everyone in town ambled through the door! None of those people were interested in having a conversation outside flowers and what they needed them for. They paid her prices, said their farewells, and went on their merry way. She drove herself into the ground attempting to be more personable, more likable, more giggly, flirty, anything! As long as it screamed, “Hey I’m interested in you!” Her glimmer of hope was soon snuffed out as she sold her last stupid bundle of stupid red roses.

“These are for my wife!”

“Good for her.”

Her mood completely plummeted as the sun set lower and the clock hit 5:55 pm. Five minutes until closing. The marigold fluttered outside the window, earning a heated glare from a scorned Rowan. ‘What a load of crap’ she thought as she flicked the main lights off in a huff. Her feelings lodged themselves in her throat, threatening to spill over in tears if she made the wrong move. She hated tasting defeat, it was a hard concept to swallow. Not harder than the wave of loneliness that crashed over the poor girl. Suddenly, the entrance door chimed, breaking her free of her pity party. It was exactly one minute, that’s right, sixty whole seconds before she closed the shop. She must have forgotten to lock the door in her fit of rage. What kind of jerk came in right before closing?

“We are closed” Rowan snapped as she slammed a flower pot down on its display.

“I -I'm sorry, I just needed” the man stammered, appalled by her behavior. Perhaps he should have come sooner.

“Well, you will have to wait for tomorrow.”

“But it’s for my mother!”

Rowan looked up from her task, preparing to chew this man out. She never got the chance.

“Listen, I get it but -” she stopped mid-sentence, eyes glowing with recognition. Her mouth fell agape, losing every bit of malice she held in her body.

“Sam?”

The toned man with a mass of curly hair only gawked back at her. He was fiddling nervously with his keys.

“Ro, is that you?” He looked like he had seen a ghost, saying her name in a whisper.

“Sam! Oh my goodness!” She threw herself unabashedly into his strong arms.

He hesitated before wrapping her up in the warmest hug of her life, happy to have her in his arms. This felt like a dream for both of them.

“I’m closed, but I won’t charge you, get what you want for your momma.” She beamed up at him.

“Ro,” He said resting his hands on her shoulders “I looked everywhere for you.”

“Really? I looked for you too!”

They laughed, tears filling both of their eyes as they broke apart. Sam explored the shop and Rowan prepared some tea from her secret stash ( her small closeted break room.)

“You know, my mother loves marigolds.”

“Yeah? We only have one, you can take it to her.”

They chattered longer than they both should have, missing each other’s company more than anything in the world. They had so much catching up to do, after all, so many stories to tell. Yet, they mostly reminisced on the joy they had together as children. Sam never expected Rowan to do something as feminine as run a flower shop, to which Rowan argued it took a lot to run ANY business at all. He missed her tenacity. Around midnight, Sam slid Rowan his phone number before bidding her goodbye, promising to take her to lunch soon. She would take him up on that offer and unlock exactly the kind of love she always dreamed of. She would dance under the stars with him, frolic through their childhood fields and even settle down and have a family of their own. Outside, a field of marigolds would grow as she had never seen before. Rowan and Sam certainly learned to love the color yellow.

The End