Mom and Mo stared at me.

“I know how it sounds but this place is going to serve some . . . unique clientele.”

“Like that girl, Marie?” Mom asked.

Marie was unique but probably not in the way Mom was hinting at. “Like Marie and that lady I met in town, Lucille. Dr. Grant’s pops bought something from us, and he’ll come back to buy more. We just gotta keep an open mind about the kind of people who might show up.”

Mom tucked the money back in the envelope. “Not gonna lie. I don’t like the way that sounds, especially after what happened before with the man out back. Remember him? Pawpaw Machete?”

Mo chuckled. “You’re overthinking it. It’ll be fine.”

I hoped she was right.

CHAPTER 21

As we stood in the entryway waiting for Karter to pick me up for the movies, Mom fussed with my phone. She laid a piece of clear packing tape across the broken screen and tried to tell me it was basically good as new. What she was really saying was that she stopped paying for the insurance on it and I wasn’t getting a new one anytime soon. I was just glad she didn’t press me about what happened.

“I’m glad you’re getting out of the house with Karter,” said Mo. “But when are you gonna let that rich girl take you on a date?”

“Maybe I’ll ask her out. But not because she’s rich,” I said. “I like her.”

“Whatever you wanna do, baby,” Mom said, smiling. “Anybody’s better than that heffa Jasmine or that man-whore Travis.”

“Mom! Come on. Jasmine wasn’t that bad.”

“You have your thoughts, I got mine,” Mom said smugly.

My ex-girlfriend wasn’t really ready to be in a relationship and our breakup was mutual, but all Mom and Mo saw was that she started dating a senior as soon as we split up. It was just too convenient for them. But Travis? Yeah, he deserved that title, and I broke up with his dusty ass as soon as I found out he was seeing not one, but two other chicks from different schools.

“You have your phone all the way charged?” Mo asked.

“Yup. And I’m bringing the charger with the wall piece and the car adapter.” I swear, sometimes leaving the house felt like I was going on a mission from which I might never return.

“You got cash?” Mom asked. “A lot of places only take cash. And take the Mace with you too.”

“Mom, we’re only going to the movies.” I gave her a big hug. “While I’m gone, you and Mo can watch Netflix, play Uno, whatever boring stuff y’all do when I’m not around. Don’t worry about me.”

Mom hugged me back. “Be careful.”

“I will.” I pocketed my Mace just to make her happy.

The doorbell rang. Mo answered it, and Karter tripped over the threshold.

Mo caught him by the elbow. “You okay?”

He straightened his T-shirt and smoothed the front of his jeans. “I’m good. Thanks.” He held a small bouquet of daisies in his hand.

“Are those for me?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, handing me the flowers. “Pretty, right? I—I know you like plants.”

Mom and Mo exchanged a quick, worried glance.

A crinkling sound drew my attention to the flowers in my hand. The long, milky-white petals elongated, and the sunny yellow centers brightened.

“Baby, why don’t you let me put those in some water,” said Mom as she reached for the bouquet.

Karter stared at the flowers, then back at me, grinning, but Mom was about to flip.

“It’s okay,” I said. “He knows.”

“You—you told him?” Mom was trying her hardest to sound calm.

“She showed me,” Karter said.

Mo grinned. “Y’all have been in that garden so much I figured he had to know something. Making friends, girlfriends, and money? We hit the jackpot out here, huh?”

I reached into the paper and grasped the daisies by the stems. The bouquet burst to life, sprouting a dozen more blooms as roots broke from the paper and reached for the ground, looking for dirt to bury themselves in.

“I think these will have to go in a pot,” I said. Mom took the flowers from me and set them aside.

“Ready?” he asked.

I gave Mom and Mo a hug and waved at them as we got in the truck and pulled off.

“I’m guessing you didn’t share your talents with your friends back home?” Karter asked.

I shook my head. “I tried to. I wanted to. But it never worked out right.”

“I’m glad you shared it with me,” he said. “I wish I had some hidden talent to show you, but I have zero cool abilities.” He laughed. “Oh, I won a spelling bee in the eighth grade, so if you need me to spell the word ‘advantageous,’ I’m on it.”

“Good to know,” I said, laughing.

“You liked the flowers?” he asked.

“I loved them.”

“I had a feeling if I brought flowers, you’d show off. I’ve been thinking about everything you can do and sometimes I wonder if it’s real, if that makes sense?”

“I get it,” I said. “It’s nice to not have to hide it. It feels great, actually.”

After trying and failing to get a signal on the radio he switched it off. “Let’s talk about this movie. We have two choices. One is a romantic comedy, and the other one is some indie horror movie. A vampire thing.”

“I love scary movies,” I said.

“Me too,” he said. “I don’t really like jump scares though, you know? I like horror movies that make you think. You seen Get Out?”

“Yes!” I was excited that we had a similar taste in movies. “Not gonna lie. When we first got here, that’s all that was going through my head. ‘Please don’t let an old white lady take over my body.’ ”

We laughed ourselves to tears as we pulled onto Market Street, parked, and got out. Trees draped in strings of white lights lit up the block.

I felt the familiar urge to bind myself, to be hyperaware of every single plant or tree in my immediate vicinity. As we walked along Market Street, the trees rustled but didn’t make too much of a fuss and I wondered if it might be because I was more at ease with my abilities than before.

“Here it is,” Karter said.