At some point in the dreary day, Evelyn felt hungry and figured it must be lunch time. John was still out in the greenhouse and it was still raining. 

The thought of harvesting lettuce was unappealing in the rain, though she should check the rain barrels. She had bread, butter, and fruit preserve she could eat for lunch instead of lettuce, though it would mean she’d have to buy bread tomorrow; the day before the flower festival. She looked out at the constant deluge. It would have to do. 

She stepped out into the greenhouse to check on John, and saw him sitting on a stool next to the roses. “Everything ok?”

He looked surprised to see her. “Uh, yeah. The roses just needed company.”

The roses seemed quite fussy recently. She wouldn’t complain though as their blooms were highly popular, especially among young couples. 

“I’ve looked at our schedule for the next two days, and the first day of the flower festival will be quite long. I’m going to make lunch, and then we can talk inside the shop.”

“Okay,” John said as he grabbed his cane and began the process of standing. 

Evelyn left him to it and went up to her apartment. She quickly spread some soft butter and apple fruit preserve, which was pieces of apple preserved in honey, on the last two pieces of her loaf of bread and then headed back downstairs. John was inside and leaning against a wall.

“Feel free to take a seat and eat as well. No one has come to the shop today. I think most people are avoiding making unnecessary trips outside today,” Evelyn said as she sat down in one of the chairs near the counter. 

John took a chair near her. He pulled out what looked like a bundle wrapped in a handkerchief and opened it up to show his lunch of bread and cheese. Not too different from her own today. 

“On the first day of the flower festival I’ve calculated that to get our normal opening work and first orders ready we will need to start two hours early,” Evelyn stated the facts. It would mean getting ready when the first rays of light were touching the horizon. She took a bite of her lunch.

John scratched at his head and then looked slightly concerned. “Will we be able to be up that early? I normally wake up when I hear the roosters around town crowing.”

 Evelyn nodded grimly. “I think we get up as early as we can and just start working as soon as we can.” It was hard to wake up at a specific time without an alarm clock. 

He looked thoughtful and took a bite of his bread. He chewed, and swallowed. “What happens if I arrive before you unlock?” He asked.

“I want to give you a key to the shop tomorrow evening,” Evelyn stated. 

“What?” His eyes widened. “But what if I came after hours, or what if someone steals the key and comes barging into your home?”

Evelyn bit her lip to keep from laughing at the first comment. “Why would I be afraid of you coming in even if it is after hours? You’ve been alone here with me multiple times during the day.”

“Well, what if I wasn’t a decent man? If someone stole the key they wouldn’t be decent,” he insisted.

“You seem quite decent and honorable to me. I hired you because you seemed kind in the interview, you’ve been nothing except courteous and considerate since then. Also, what would you even be doing if you came in during the middle of the night? My bet is talking to the plants because you couldn’t sleep. I don’t think you would be so absent minded as to let the key get stolen, and if you are truly worried someone would steal the key and break in to harm me, I can also lock the door to my apartment above the shop.”

“I,” he stopped after saying I and his cheeks flushed a gentle pink. “I live at the rest house. It would be quite easy for someone to steal from me. And not all the men in the room I rent are decent folks.”

The rest house was a building where people could rent a bed in a room full of other people. Some were up for nightly rent, and some were rented on a monthly basis. Traveling folks often rented the nightly ones, and lower income single folks in town often rented a bed on a longer term basis. John’s worry made a lot more sense.

“I’ll lock my apartment door tomorrow, and you keep the key on a tie around your neck while you sleep. It would be hard for someone to steal it then,” Evelyn had some leather laces that would work to make a quick necklace for him to keep it close.

He thought about it while eating some more bread. “What about the cash box?”

“I bring it up to my apartment at night,” Evelyn replied.

He ate some more bread. “I guess as long as it’s only tomorrow evening. If people don’t know I have the key it should be fine.”

As Evelyn munched on her own bread she thought about his living situation. Living at a rest house seemed a bit rough. She didn’t have a ton of room, but she could set up a mattress in the bottom of the shop that she could move up stairs every morning. 

“I don’t have much space, but I could let you sleep down in the shop area if you wanted to leave the rest house,” Evelyn voiced her thoughts in an off hand manner not really thinking much about it. She’d shared an apartment with other guys when she’d been in college. 

John looked horrified. “That would ruin your reputation. An unmarried woman sleeping in the same house as a man? No one would be willing to visit your shop.”

“I hadn’t thought about that. I can lock off my apartment as I mentioned. Don’t men and women both use the rest house?” Evelyn defended herself even as she remembered that many historical fantasy worlds were very rule bound about such interactions which was actually kind of funny considering it was more recent eras that had rewritten much of history to match their stricter interpretations of male and female relationships. 

“Men and women are in separate rooms, and as such it would be scandalous for a man to enter the upper levels that belong to the women,” John stated. “If it was anyone except you, such an offer would seem like a proposition.” 

Evelyn’s eyes widened and she blushed as she started to actually realize the implications of what she had suggested. “I didn’t mean it as such. I just felt bad that you would be sharing a room with a bunch of other people when I have some extra space.”

“I know,” he interrupted her. “Which is why I said if it was anyone except you. It was an innocent offer, but please don’t go offering it to other men.”

“I wouldn’t,” Evelyn declared, and then stuffed food in her mouth as the unwanted thought flashed through her mind that it would be nice to live with John, but she wouldn’t be willing to offer that to anyone else.

He raised an eyebrow in a skeptical look, but he didn’t say anything and took another bite of food. 

As the silence stretched on, Evelyn realized she had to change the topic. “I can cook eggs for breakfast for both of us the morning of the festival, so don’t worry about eating before you come here.”

John laughed and almost choked on his food. Evelyn wondered what she had said so wrong this time.

He took a deep breath. “If the lady wishes to feed me, I will not turn away food,” he said calmly, but his face was bright red. 

What was wrong with feeding someone?