Free Love in Bloom by Arlene James

running off at the mouth. When they got to the shop, he started to get out and go around to open her door for her, but she hopped out before he could get a boot on the ground.
    “Thank you for a lovely evening,” she called from the curb. “And for all your help this afternoon.”
    “Sure,” he replied, waving. “No problem.”
    She closed the door. As he pulled away, he heard her say something. It sounded like “Just part of your official responsibilities.”
    Why that made him squirm, he didn’t know. It was only the truth. He was her SOS Committee contact and host. Nothing more. He had done what he was supposed to do where she was concerned, and now that he’d laid out the facts, he could fulfill his official responsibilities without fear of any misunderstandings between them. Finally he could relax around her. He was sure that he’d start to feel good about that anytime now.
    * * *
    Staring down at the dark, empty street the next evening, Lily set aside her prepackaged dinner, her meal largely untouched. Earlier that morning after her flowers had arrived, she had worked on the arrangements that she had promised the other business owners, pouring everything she had into the work, aware that much depended on the success of this “scheme,” as Gayla had put it. Throughout the afternoon the Independence Day decorations had come down, and the Grand Opening banner had gone up. Spanning the street, it declared Monday as the “Heart of Main Street GRAND OPENING” and named the new businesses in town: Cozy Cup Cafe, Sweet Dreams Bakery, Love in Bloom, Happy Endings Bookstore, The Fixer-Upper and Fluff & Stuff. Spurred by that reminder of the looming opening and the hopes of the town, Lily had stayed so busy that she’d barely had time to think about Tate or Isabella or the previous evening’s events. Yet everything he’d told her had hovered in the back of her mind.
    She had held it off by hurrying to the grocery to fully stock her freezer, refrigerator and pantry, paying to have what she couldn’t carry, including numerous cans of tiny shrimp, delivered by a teenage boy in a beat-up Jeep. Now, however, with the day done and downtown all but deserted, she could no longer hold the shadows at bay. Instead she let the dark clouds roll over the horizon of her thoughts and faced facts.
    She was a fool when it came to men. She continually built emotional castles in the air around men who cared nothing for her. Most had never known she even existed. Tate, at least, had recognized her interest. He’d seen that she was intrigued by him and his daughter, despite her best intentions and better judgment, and he’d let her know that she shouldn’t pin any hopes on him. She should be grateful to him, not moping around and disappointed.
    Lily stared across the street at the yellow light behind the window shade of Miss Mars’s apartment and wondered if she would still be here in another fifty or sixty years, sitting alone, eating frozen dinners and staring down at an empty street. If so, she hoped she would be as good-natured and sweet about it as Miss Mars. Lily couldn’t help wondering if that old dear had ever had her silly heart broken. Did she have a sister, for instance, who had married the man with whom she’d fancied herself in love? Lily could not even call home to Boston for fear of hearing about the newlyweds, who were no doubt back from the honeymoon by now and at the law firm, taking the world by storm. No, it was better to sit alone and concentrate on what was important.
    This town was important. Making her business a success was important. Living the life that God had ordained for her was important. That mattered most of all.
    After a while Lily went to her room, got out her Bible and read until her eyes grew heavy and she finally slept, comforted. For the moment at least.
    She woke the next morning uneasy, however, and no matter how industriously she worked, for some reason Lily couldn’t seem to pull the