Denise sighed. "Sweetie, I don't know. You got her attention with the rosebush though."

Jody sat up. She had gone to Denise's house and planted the rosebush by the far edge of the patio. Ellen would be able to see it from her bedroom window. "Did she like it?"

"She sat out there and cried until I made her come in," Denise said. "I swear that girl is so stubborn. I tried to get her to call you and work this thing out, but she won't do it. I know she misses you, and I'd bet my last dollar that she's still in love with you."

Jody's heart soared. "Maybe I could drop by tomorrow and see her."

"I don't think that's a good idea, Jody. You can't push her. She's thinking about joining a support group. She was talking to a woman in the waiting room today who told her about a breast cancer support group she has been attending. Ellen seemed pretty excited about it."

"Ellen is never going to change her mind," Jody said. "Why can't I accept that and move on?"

"Don't you start feeling sorry for yourself," Denise snapped. "I don't have enough energy to take care of both of you at once."

Jody felt ashamed for whining. "Denise, I'm sorry. I know you must be out of your mind with worry."

"I'm so tired. The emotional pounding she's taking is wearing me out. I see her struggling, and there's nothing I can do to help." Denise drew in a long shaky breath. "And now we're starting the renovations on the shop. You're working seven days a week. I know it's hard for you and Eric when I have to be out with Ellen. I feel like I'm letting everyone down."

"You're not letting anyone down. I'm working seven days a week because I choose to. You're tired. You're trying to work, plus take Ellen in for her treatments, and I know you've stayed late several times to complete orders." She heard Denise sigh as she continued. "You need to start taking care of yourself. We shouldn't have agreed to give up our vacations this year because of expanding the shop. That was a mistake."

Denise yawned. "You're probably right, but what choice did we have? The renovations have to be completed before the guys go back to school in August. I'm going to bed. We can talk tomorrow."

Long after Denise had hung up, Jody continued to lie across her bed and stare at the ceiling. If only there was some way she could convince Ellen to let her back into her life, Jody thought. She could be a help to Denise. Suddenly it hit Jody what she could do to help Denise. She would make the call tomorrow. Smiling, she switched the light off and finally drifted into a restless sleep.

The following day, Jody called the temp agency and made arrangements to hire a temporary full-time employee who would be in charge of making deliveries and filling in wherever needed.

Two hours later as Jody, Eric and Oscar were going over their plans on how to begin the renovations, the new hire arrived. Jody took in the wide, purple streak that ran through the girl's hair, the nose ring, and the sun tattoo that peeked from beneath the sleeve of her T-shirt.

"I'm Ra," the girl said around an enormous wad of orange gum.

"Ra?" Jody asked, unable to tear her gaze from the orange ma.s.s.

"Yeah, as in sun." She looked at Jody as though Jody were a cretin and raised her shirt sleeve to expose the sun tattoo.

Jody rubbed her hand over her hair and noticed Eric look at Oscar and roll his eyes. She hadn't slept well after Denise's call last night and was exhausted. "Ra, are you old enough to drive?" she asked.

"Like, yeah." She managed to drag the latter word out into three syllables. "How do you think I got here?"

Jody nodded. "Good. Lose the gum, and the att.i.tude. The next few weeks around here are going to be hectic and hard on everyone. You'll be making the deliveries by yourself. Do you know your way around the city?"

Ra started to express her three-syllable answer to life, but she caught herself and simply nodded.

"Good," Jody said. "Eric will help you load the van for the first couple of days, to give you a feel for the most efficient way to place the arrangements. After that, you're on your own."

Eric appeared at Ra's side. "Come on, I'll help you load the van," he said.

Jody watched the two until they disappeared into the workroom.

"Were we ever that young," Oscar said at Jody's elbow.

Jody turned to him, struck a pose and said, "Ye-ee-ah."

It was the first of July before they were finally able to start the actual renovations. Oscar had proven himself invaluable in showing Jody how to wade through the paper maze of city hall. He had helped her obtain the necessary permits to begin the renovations. Jody swung the sledgehammer with all her strength. She was already looking forward to the larger works.p.a.ce the remodeling would provide. In addition to the showroom's garden display, Oscar had drawn up plans to tear out a smaller section from the back portion of the wall. The opening would be become a double-wide entrance between the two shops. The card shop was much larger than the flower shop had been, so its back portion would become the new workroom. The old workroom would be converted into an office and a small kitchenette.

Jody continued to pound out chunks of the wall. It felt good to push her muscles to their limit. She was beginning to appreciate why Sharon enjoyed lifting weights. Jody was working in the now-empty card shop, attempting to break through the wall. The vast emptiness of the room made the hammering reverberate loudly.

At Oscar's suggestion, they were going to start the demolition from the card shop in an attempt to help keep the noise and dust to a minimum. They had also hung a curtain of heavy black plastic across the end of the flower shop. The curtain hung about five feet from the wall to allow them a small working area and to help stop the dust that would be present when they finally broke through the wall. Jody suspected dust was going to become a major issue before the construction ended.

She and Eric were taking turns helping Denise and Ra in the shop when needed. Ra had quickly proven herself to be a valuable a.s.set. Despite her less-than-professional appearance, she was a hard worker, often staying after closing to watch Denise prepare arrangements and help with cleanup.

As day after day had slipped by and Ellen continued to make no effort to contact her, Jody began to lose hope. Nights were the roughest. After a long day in the flower shop, she would go home and find enough ch.o.r.es to keep her busy through the lonesome hours until it was time to go to bed.

On the good nights, she was too tired to worry about anything or anyone. On the not-so-good nights, she paced the floors and tried not to think of Ellen. Then there were the horrendous nights when nothing could drive away the images and memories of Ellen. On those nights, she cried herself to sleep.

A chunk of plaster slapped against Jody's cheek and snapped her attention back to her demolition work. She set the sledgehammer down and wiggled her nose, trying to ease the pressure of the safety gla.s.ses. They irritated the backs of her ears, but Eric was adamant that she wear them. It had only taken a couple of swings of the hammer and the resulting explosion of drywall and plaster fragments for her to see the wisdom of his decision.

She stretched her back before resuming her work. A few seconds later, she shouted in exhilaration as the head of the hammer penetrated the drywall on the opposite side of the wall. She stopped hammering and peeked through the hole and saw Eric and Oscar on the other side.

"Hey, guys. I did it," she called through the opening.

"Only thirty more square feet to go," Eric said.

Jody stuck her tongue out at him. "Party p.o.o.per. Step back. I'm on a roll." She gave them time to move away from the wall and resumed her destruction with renewed vigor.

An hour later, the wall opening had been enlarged to Oscar's specifications. Jody rested while Eric cut through the wall joists with a reciprocating saw.

They were hammering in the new frame when Ra returned from making the deliveries. "Cool," she exclaimed as she peeked behind the plastic barrier and saw the hole in the wall. "Can I help bust out a wall?"

Jody's arm muscles were still quivering. "Oscar will be glad to show you the next spot he wants demolished."

The door chimed and Ra turned to see who it was. "It's only Denise," she reported.

"Only Denise, is it?" Denise said as she pulled the plastic aside and appraised the group.

Dust and drywall fragments covered Jody's faded work shirt and jeans. The guys, decked out in work boots, painters' overalls, hard hats and safety gla.s.ses looked prepared to handle whatever came their way. Eric had rounded out his wardrobe with a pair of leather work gloves.

"You two look like creatures from outer s.p.a.ce," Denise said as she pointed to Eric and Oscar.

Oscar took a few tiny steps and whirled. "Honey, this is the latest in macho male attire."

Eric rolled his eyes and said, "Give him a hard hat and suddenly he thinks he's one of the Village People."

"Who's that?" Ra asked.

Without warning, Denise and Jody began to sing "YMCA." Eric and Oscar quickly joined in. Within seconds the four had a flamboyant rendition going.

Ra shook her head as she watched them cavorting among the dust and debris. "And you think I'm weird."

Chapter Thirty-Four.

Jody made the last delivery of the day and headed back to the shop. The renovations had taken three weeks, but they were finally finished. Setting up the final inspection had taken almost a week, but at last everything was complete and signed off on. The shop was so beautiful, Denise and Jody had decided to have a full-blown celebration for the new Petal Pushers.

Jody ran advertis.e.m.e.nts in all the area papers and sent out flyers, and posters announcing the event had been dropped off at dozens of businesses. She and Denise arranged for a caterer and hired a local jazz ensemble to entertain the crowd of guests they hoped would attend.

Jody pulled into the empty parking lot. Despite the energy-stealing humidity of early August, she stood in the parking lot and gazed at the newly painted building. She experienced a burst of pride when she thought of all the work they had been able to accomplish by themselves. It hardly seemed possible that over two months had pa.s.sed since she talked to Mrs. Jimenez about purchasing the building. It was hard to believe such an amazing transformation could have occurred with the two buildings during that time.

Thanks to Eric and Oscar, the demolition and renovation had moved along relatively painlessly. The first couple of inspections had made Jody nervous, but she quickly realized that as long as the work met the legal standards, the inspectors didn't ha.s.sle them.

Jody locked the delivery van and went inside to get her backpack. She walked through the entire shop. Eric and Denise had everything prepared for tomorrow's celebration. The shop was as ready as it would ever be. She retrieved her backpack and headed home.

Jody lay in bed waiting for the alarm to go off. She had been too excited about the celebration to sleep much. She glanced at the clock; it was only seven. The alarm wouldn't ring for another thirty minutes. Impatient and knowing she wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep, she shut off the alarm and showered.

Afterward, she poured a cup of coffee and went outside. August was always horrible in San Antonio, but the last few days had been worse than usual. She was relieved to find when she stepped out that the humidity was low. It looked as though even the weather was going to cooperate today.

As she did every morning, she checked the progress of each of the rosebushes. After a.s.suring herself that the plants continued to thrive, she sat on the swing and gazed at Belinda's Dream. The plant was covered in large, pink roses. Jody had sat by the rose and repeated her prayer for Ellen's complete recovery every single day since Ellen's surgery.

During that time, Jody finally admitted to herself that the only way she was ever going to be able to move on with her life was to erase as much of Ellen as she possibly could from it. The cleansing was proving much more difficult than she had antic.i.p.ated, because no matter where she looked she saw something of Ellen.

Sometimes it was nothing more than the beauty of a sunset or the song of the wrens that pulled Ellen to the forefront of Jody's thoughts. But not a single day went by without memories of Ellen working their way into her heart.

Jody had briefly considered moving away from San Antonio, but she quickly realized she couldn't. There was too much of herself in the city, and she couldn't leave Denise with the shop now that it had been renovated. She accepted the fact that she would have to find a way to live with Ellen's memories.

As she drank her coffee, she allowed her hand to gently brush over the petals of the roses. They would always remind her of Ellen. Tears burned her eyes as the memories grew too painful. She escaped into the house and began to clean until it was time to get dressed.

Jody chose a soft pastel-blue shirt and a pair of navy blue slacks. The clothes would be dressy but comfortable enough for the long day ahead of her. On her way out, she picked up a package and a folder. The item in the package had been her idea, but the items in the folder had been a joint decision between her and Denise. She smiled. If the paperwork in the folder was met with approval, as she hoped, today would indeed be a grand day.

Jody was the first to arrive. She opened the register and prepared the cash drawer for the day, started a pot of coffee, and began to remove the displays from the cooler.

Denise came in while she was pouring her coffee. "It's me," she called out as the bell rang to announce her presence.

"I've made coffee," Jody called back.

Denise came into the new kitchenette. She was wearing a new gray suit that she had bought for the grand opening. She gazed around and shook her head in amazement. "I still can't believe it's finished. I'm so happy with the changes."

Jody handed her a cup of coffee.

"Did you bring the paperwork?" Denise asked.

"It's in the blue folder on the desk."

"Jody, do you really think he'll agree?"

Jody shrugged. "We won't know until we try." The bell rang again. She looked at Denise and smiled. "Speak of the devil." She grabbed the package and the folder and followed Denise into the showroom. Eric and Oscar had come in together.

"What a beautiful shop," Oscar cried out. "Oh, I do wish I had the name of the extraordinary designer who created this masterpiece."

"I have something here that might help you with that," Jody said, handing him the package.

"What's this for?" he asked as he ripped it open like a kid at Christmas.

"Just a little something extra to tell you how much we appreciate everything you've done for Petal Pushers," Denise said.

"Honey, the check you wrote out yesterday told me that," he teased.

"Then consider this a small bonus," Jody said.

Oscar opened a box and pulled out one of the cards. "Look." He turned it to Eric. "Embossed business cards." He held up a card and read it aloud. "Oscar Zamora, Interior Designer. I like the sound of that. Thank you." He hugged Jody and then Denise.

"We realize you have another semester before you graduate, but there's no doubt you're well on your way," Denise said.

Jody saw the look of sadness in Eric's eyes. He also had only one more semester before he would graduate and leave to help his father.

As if sensing his thoughts, Oscar hugged Eric. "I don't want you to move to Montana."

Denise nudged Jody, who picked up the folder and offered it to Eric. "We thought that maybe...What I mean is, if you're not dead set on moving back to Montana ..."

Denise took the folder from Jody. "For heaven's sake, Jody, he'll be gone six months before you even give it to him." Denise handed the folder to Eric.

The small group grew silent. Oscar was practically bouncing on his toes with curiosity.

Eric opened the folder and read for several seconds. He stopped once to look from Jody to Denise, then continued reading.

"What is it?" Oscar asked, unable to keep still any longer.

Eric suddenly closed the folder and turned his back to the group.

"What?" Oscar demanded again.

Finally Eric rubbed a hand over his face and turned to them. His eyes were red, but he had regained control of himself. "It's partnership papers for one-third interest in Petal Pushers," he said to Oscar.

Oscar's jaw dropped, and for once he was speechless.

"I don't know what we would have done without your help these past few months," Denise said.

"This is too much." He tried to hand the folder back to Jody.

She pushed it away. "I know you have some kind of offer with your father, and if it's something you want to do, then you should take it. But if not, we would like you to sign your name on the bottom of that contract."

"I can't," Eric said. "It's too much."

Jody shook her head. "We don't think so. You're as much a part of this shop as either of us. You've never once complained about the extra hours or the last-minute calls to come in and work. You did almost all of the carpentry work on the renovation. We think you deserve an equal share."

Eric looked from Jody to Denise and finally at Oscar, whose eyes were gleaming with hope.