“How are the tulips doing?” Evelyn asked as she made her way behind the counter. 

John passed the counter on his way to the back to go ‘wake the plants up’. It was nice having someone else to help open the shop in the morning.

She pulled out her records and quickly flipped to the day the dark blond haired young man last came to visit. Thomas. That was his name. Thomas and Emma. It even sounded cute together! 

“They look like they’ll flower any day now. I’m certain my mother will love them,” he paused with a sad smile on his face. “I’ve actually come because my mother always put tulips on the table during the flower festival. I’d like to honor that tradition for her sake.”

What a sweet boy. “I’m sure your mother would be happy to know you are honoring her in such a way.” Evelyn paused for a moment, unsure if she should go into business mode or try to console Thomas more. She decided to try for a bit of both, “Do you have other family members here for the flower festival?” 

He shook his head. “No, my dad was enlisted for the war, and one day his letters just stopped coming home. I don’t know if he’s dead or if he’s alive and just decided to leave us. I’m their only child. My mother’s brother, two sisters, and their family are around,” he stopped and made a grimace that showed his feeling toward his extended family. 

Evelyn wished she could just hug this poor boy. He and Emma both needed good company and comfort in their lives. If she was commenting on this particular part of a story, she would have sent virtual hugs to the characters, but this was her life now. A shop owner didn’t hug a stranger she’d met twice.

Evelyn steadied herself. The only thing she could do was help this ship sail. “Do you want a vase with an arrangement of cut tulips or to rent a pot of tulips for the duration of the festival?”

Thomas looked slightly surprised. “Renting a pot of tulips is an option?” 

“Yes, I realized that flowers are often wanted for special occasions, and then people don’t know what to do with them, so I added pot rental in,” in truth Evelyn loved her flowers. While cutting them off when they were wilting was healthy and allowed the plant to put more effort into more flowers instead of going to seed, flower arrangements were made by cutting the flowers off right when they were most beautiful.

“I’ll go with the rental,” he said. He took a breath as if to say more, and then didn’t. 

He truly was a perfect match for Emma. He even was planning to rent a pot as well.

“Let’s go over most of the contract here, and once John finishes prepping the greenhouse for the morning you can pick out the tulips you want,” Evelyn said while glancing at the back door. John should be finished soon, but she didn’t like taking customers back before all the plants had their morning care finished. 

Thomas nodded. “Sure.”

“Any other people or pet’s in the living space you will be putting the tulips? Anyone you can think of that might be coming over?” he started to shake his head, and then paused. Oh no, did he already have a significant other or someone who might become one?

“Mostly not, but my relatives might show up. I shouldn’t have any other visitors though unless one of my mother’s friends comes to give condolences,” he scratched at his head and looked as if he was thinking quite hard. “I think that’s it.”

“Ok, we have a small deposit in addition to the rental cost I will need you to pay when you come pick up the flowers, but you will get the deposit back as long as the flowers come back undamaged,”  Evelyn wrote the deposit amount onto the contract with a note ‘potential visitors’ next to it. 

“Renting for the 5 days of the flower festival. Picking up the evening before,” Evelyn stated while writing the terms down on the paper. She left a blank space for the cost. She made a note of ‘Tulip Color:’ but then left a blank space next to it. At the bottom of the page she made sure to write the same pickup time as Emma. She finished and turned the paper toward Thomas. “Does this work for you?”

He read it over. “How much will 5 days cost? You’ve left it blank.”

“I have some more rare colors and varieties of tulips, so the cost depends on what you pick out,” Evelyn explained.

John chose that moment to open the door from the back bringing in some tulips for the counter. 

“Actually, I don’t need to go to the greenhouse. I think those purple tulips would be my mom’s favorite,” Thomas pointed at the pot John was carrying. 

Purple was a color mainly reserved for nobility, except when it came to flowers. Purple tulips were fairly common and were the color she had the most of. She wrote in the color and the base price for tulip rental on the contract. “There, does this work for you?” she slid the contract back over to him.

He read it over and nodded. “Can I borrow your quill to sign?” 

She handed it over. It was quite useful that paper was readily available in this fantasy world and that the kingdom they were in required everyone to learn to read. 

It seemed like most children went to school for a couple hours a day during the winter months and then worked for their families or as an apprentice the rest of the time. 

Thomas signed and handed back the contract. She put her name and then her own signature. “See you again in two days.” She said as she stashed the contract to her day before the flower festival fulfillment pile that was growing quite large.

“Thanks, have a good day,” Thomas said with a smile as he waved and left the shop. 

She pulled out her inventory list and marked one pot of purple tulips as out for the duration of the festival. She still had a good number of pots left, but inventory was starting to get tighter as more people pre-ordered before the flower festival. 

In the past she’d just been a maid during the flower festival, but now she was going to be able to experience it as a flower vendor. She couldn’t wait to see all the couples giving each other flowers as their ships sailed off into the beautiful sunset! 

She sighed happily, and didn’t notice the askance look John gave her as she daydreamed about seeing Thomas and Emma being smitten with each other when they would meet in her shop in two days. 

“He seems a little young for you,” John pulled her out of her daydream and she looked a little puzzled before she realized what she must have looked like. 

“Oh, I’m not interested in him. I was just planning on setting him up with the girl who got tulips yesterday evening,” Evelyn replied with a smile.

John chuckled. “I should have figured it was something like that. I was surprised to see you interested in someone, but you seem smitten with setting people up together.”

Evelyn couldn’t help the gigantic grin that came to her face. “Yes! It’s called building a ship. You stick the two people who seem like a good match together on a ship, and you watch them sail away!” She paused and clutched her heart dramatically. “It gives me warm fuzzies to see other people happy together.”

“We don’t have any water near here, and I think putting people on a ship would be a little mean to them,” John deadpanned.

Evelyn blinked a couple times as she tried to process what he meant. “I didn’t mean actually. I meant metaphorically.”

He gave her a small smile. “I figured, I just couldn’t resist teasing you a little.”

And then he headed back through the door to the greenhouse before Evelyn could reply. He moved surprisingly fast for a man with a limp.