Several months have gone by since Kyojuro's visit, and I've thought of him every day since. The day that he left, I decided to dry his salvia flower. It's now framed on the shelf next to me. When I look at it, I can feel the fire in my heart flaring up for him again. Every time I'm feeling discouraged, I just look at that flower and think of him. Then I can handle anything. A few days after he left, I decided to sprout a few wisteria trees inside my shop. Taking care of them became a form of devotion to him. If these trees can make his job just a little easier by warding off demons, it'll be worth it. Now that the spring frost has (probably) passed, I'll need to transplant the saplings to the earth.
Senjuro visits almost every day. He did get a little quieter after his brother left, which I was afraid of, but he's more open than he was before. We talk about school, his mom, what he wants to do with his future. He's a really good kid. I leaned against the counter and stared into space, remembering how once near the end of winter he came to tell me that it was his birthday.
….
"I'm old enough to buy my own flowers now, see?"
He pointed at my 'free flowers' sign.
"Let me give you flowers!"
"Let me buy them like an adult!"
I grinned, then grabbed a pen.
"You know, I had been meaning to update this sign recently…"
I removed the sign and drew a line through the '13' and scribbled a '14' over it. When I taped it back to the counter, I heard Senjuro sigh dramatically in the background.
"Buy why?"
Aw, he actually looks upset.
"Tell you what. I'll keep giving you the ones for your mom for free, but next time you want to buy a full bouquet, I'll let you pay for those. Is that a good compromise?"
He beamed at me.
Was that his goal all along? Tricky little thing.
"Thank you!"
"You should let me make you a good luck bouquet for your birthday though."
"You should let me pay for it."
"But it's your birthday!"
"But you just said I could pay for flowers!"
"How about I take you out to lunch instead. My treat."
"Wow, really? Thanks!"
I flipped the sign to 'closed' and locked my shop behind me, and we headed over to our town's only restaurant. Miss Kiyo was working that day. I think that was the day he first got a crush on her.
"May I take your orders?"
"Yes, thank you. One bowl of udon noodles please. And for you, Senjuro?"
He looked flustered.
"Please make that two bowls. Please. Ummm…thanks. If that's no trouble."
She giggled at his awkwardness.
"Of course, coming right up!"
She left quickly, gathering orders from other tables on the way to the kitchen.
"Very smooth."
"I don't know what you mean."
His face was red, so I held back on laughing at him. Out loud, anyway.
"Just relax. She totally thought it was cute."
"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…"
"Anyway, will you still be helping plant all those saplings when they're ready?"
"Of course!"
He looked immediately more comfortable talking about flowers, previous embarrassment already forgotten.
Oh, to be so young.
We talked about plans for the flower shop until the bowls arrived.
"Thank you very much, Kiyo."
"No problem, enjoy! This is actually one of my favorite things on the menu here."
"Then we picked well!"
She bustled away again, and I noticed Senjuro grimacing at his bowl.
"Something wrong?"
"Udon noodles are so slimy, I actually don't like them very much."
This time I was unable to hold back the laughter.
"There, there, Senjuro. At least food always tastes better when you share it. Maybe it won't be so bad this time. Try it."
"These…actually aren't that bad."
…
Since then, he's been buying 'mystery bouquets'. All the flowers in them mean things like 'I like you', 'you're beautiful', 'I adore you', and other puppy love devotions. I've only been back to that restaurant once, but from the stars in her eyes I would say she's happy to be receiving them. She had a pink rose bud tucked into her hair, and I swear it came from one of his bouquets. I've let him start arranging his own bouquets, now that he has a better understanding of what their meanings are. He seems to be appreciating the extra responsibility.
Maybe I'll take him on as an apprentice. He's really quite good at it. If he's interested, of course. But today, we're planting wisteria.
The bell rang, and I heard Senjuro's voice.
"Good morning, Haru."
"Good morning, kid. And Ren."
Ren had started meeting him on his way in at some point, and now they normally arrived together.
"Feel up to planting some wisteria today? I have exactly twenty saplings here, all ready to transplant."
"Of course! Ren, watch the shop for us?"
Ren huffed and laid down on his bed in the back. I've cut a dog door into my shop's front door. Now he comes and goes as he pleases, so I don't have to worry about leaving the door unlocked for him. Senjuro and I stacked the young trees into a wagon beside a few shovels and some extra dirt and set off. It took several trips, but we managed to find sunny spots for all the trees on the perimeter of the town.
If these ones take, I'll see about planting some between buildings and on some empty lots.
"Senjuro, do you like helping out in the shop?"
"It's a lot of fun, why?"
"If you are interested, and it's absolutely fine if you're not, I can pay you a little to watch the shop for me twice a week. Then I could come visit these trees and see if they need any special care. It would only be in the afternoon, maybe the last hour we're open on Tuesdays and Thursdays?"
"You don't even have to pay me, that sounds fun."
"You will absolutely be paid if you're accepting a position of responsibility in my shop. Your help is invaluable, it's definitely worth it. Plus, you would have some extra spending money."
And if you're an employee, you get a discount on flowers that I definitely am not making up right now. It's at least 50% off all bouquets.
"That sounds great! My first real job, wow!"
Awww, he looks so proud. It's 75% off all bouquets now.
