Blue Dahlia

dimmer—dimmer every year—but sweet. Luke was too young to remember his father clearly. It seemed so unfair. If she moved forward in her relationship with Logan while her boys were still so young ...
    It was a little like no longer missing home, she supposed. It seemed disloyal.
    As she walked into the showroom, she spotted a number of customers with wagons, browsing the tables, and Hayley hunkering down to lift a large strawberry pot already planted.
    “Don’t!”
    Her sharp command had heads turning, but she marched right through the curious and, slapping her hands on her hips, glared at Hayley. “Just what do you think you’re doing?”
    “We sold the point-of-purchase planters. I thought this one here would be good out by the counter.”
    “I’m sure it would. Do you know how pregnant you are?”
    Hayley glanced down at her basketball belly. “Kind of hard to miss.”
    “You want to move a planter, then you ask somebody to move it for you.”
    “I’m strong as an ox.”
    “And eight months pregnant.”
    “You listen to her, honey.” One of the customers patted Hayley on the arm. “You don’t want to take chances. Once that baby pops out, you’ll never stop hauling things around. Now’s the time to take advantage of your condition and let people spoil you a little bit.”
    “I’ve got to watch her like a hawk,” Stella said. “That lobelia’s wonderful, isn’t it?”
    The woman looked down at her flatbed. “I just love that deep blue color. I was thinking I’d get some of that red salvia to go beside it, maybe back it up with cosmos?”
    “Sounds perfect. Charming and colorful, with a whole season of bloom.”
    “I’ve got some more room in the back of the bed, but I’m not sure what to put in.” She bit her lip as she scanned the tables loaded with options. “I wouldn’t mind some suggestions, if you’ve got the time.”
    “That’s what we’re here for. We’ve got some terrific mixed hollyhocks, tall enough to go behind the cosmos. And if you want to back up the salvia, I think those marigolds there would be fabulous. And have you seen the perilla?”
    “I don’t even know what it is,” the woman said with a laugh.
    Stella showed her the deep-purple foliage plant, had Hayley gather up several good marigolds. Between them, they filled another flatbed.
    “I’m glad you went with the alyssum, too. See the way the white pops the rest of your colors? Actually, the arrangement there gives you a pretty good idea what you’ll have in your garden.” Stella nodded toward the flatbeds. “You can just see the way those plants will complement each other.”
    “I can’t wait to get them in. My neighbors are going to be green with envy.”
    “Just send them to us.”
    “Wouldn’t be the first time. I’ve been coming here since you opened. Used to live about a mile from here, moved down toward Memphis two years ago. It’s fifteen miles or more now, but I always find something special here, so I keep coming back.”
    “That’s so nice to hear. Is there anything else Hayley or I can help you with? Do you need any starter, mulch, fertilizer ?”
    “Those I can handle on my own. But actually”—she smiled at Hayley—“since this cart’s full, if you’d have one of those strong young boys cart that pot out to the counter—and on out to my car after—I’ll take it.”
    “Let me arrange that for you.” Stella gave Hayley a last telling look. “And you, behave yourself.”
    “Y’all sisters?” the woman asked Hayley.
    “No. She’s my boss. Why?”
    “Reminded me of my sister and me, I guess. I still scold my baby sister the way she did you, especially when I’m worried about her.”
    “Really?” Hayley looked off toward where Stella had gone. “I guess we sort of are, then.”
     
    WHILE SHE AGREED THAT EXERCISE WAS GOOD FOR expectant mothers, Stella wasn’t willing to have Hayley work all day and then walk close to half a mile home at this stage of her pregnancy. Hayley groused, but every evening Stella herded her to the car and drove her home.
    “I like walking.”
    “And after we get home and you have something to eat, you can take a nice walk around the gardens. But you’re not walking all that way, and through the woods alone, on my watch, kid.”
    “Are you going to be pestering me like this for the next four weeks?”
    “I absolutely am.”
    “You know Mrs. Tyler? The lady who bought all those annuals we helped her