“I’ll speak with my financial planner about a cheque.” I tell Mateo once we are back in the closet sized room he calls his office.
He rattles my hand between his, bouncing on his toes as he shakes it up and down.
“We cannot thank you enough.”
“Confidentiality, remember.” I remind him. The last thing I need is for anybody to find out I gave away that much money.
A coffee van is parked outside, surrounded by the women from the Mothers Group. I join the queue, hands in my pockets as I wait. For coffee. For Madison.
She finds me sitting on the edge of one of the raised garden beds. My back is to the sun, but it’s heat spreads down my neck and under my dark t-shirt.
“Flowers?” She holds them out to me.
I never imagined it would feel this nice to be on the receiving end of a floral bouquet, no wonder women like it. Most of the flowers are white, but scattered between the puffy petals are some small yellow daisies.
“Thank you.”
Madison turns to rest next to me. Our thighs touch, tingles spread from the contact, making me shiver.
“So,” she starts as she nudges me, “why were you spending your Saturday morning on a tour of the community centre?”
I choke on my sip of coffee. I don’t know what to tell her. We started this with a lie that only served to get us into deep water, telling another lie doesn’t feel worth it.
“I have some money to donate. Why were you here?”
She grabs the flowers from my hand, whacking me on the head with them before returning them to my lap.
“Floristry class, dummy.”
“I thought your sister was the florist?”
“She is. We started coming to this class together. It was a way to know each other better. I did a florist class with her, she did a writing class with me.”
Her shoulders droop. Twiddling her thumbs and shuffling her feet, she hesitates before continuing.
“At least we did.”
Forgetting we aren’t meant to be together I wrap my arm around her and pull her close. She leans against me in a way that feels natural.
“Turns out I really enjoy playing with flowers. It makes me feel close to her even though she’s a plane away.”
“It’s normal to miss someone.”
She sighs into my shoulder.
“Is it normal to miss you?”
My heart acknowledges her admission first, but it spreads through my entire body like wildfire.
“I miss you too.”
The sound of cars coming and going from the car park fills the silence between us. We fall into one another, neither ready to move.
“So.” Tilting her head up, Madison’s mouth is so close to mine it hurts. My lips tingle, begging me to lean down and kiss her. To show her how far I’ve fallen. “Why are you donating money to the community centre?”
I don’t know why, but I tell her everything. About winning the money, about not wanting it, not deserving it. I tell her about the charities I’d researched and how none feltright. And I tell her how Mateo and the community centre needs the money, and how they deserve it more than I do.
“They helpeveryone, with whatever they need. Young adults learning to be parents, older adults struggling with technology, kids who need help with their schoolwork. There are no criteria, no boxes to tick before you can get help. They just help.”
