Secrets, Songbirds and Succulents

As Molly Green drove the Patty’s Plant Place delivery van, the only sound was the continuing five-second switch between static and music as her coworker, Theo Alexopoulos, fiddled with the radio. Molly tapped both thumbs on the steering wheel but remained painfully silent, thankful it was only a short drive. The static to music ratio drove Molly nuts. She wasn’t used to driving in the Patty’s Plant Place van with a copilot as she usually delivered just one living flower arrangement at a time. However, this was a big delivery, and so Theo tagged along. He never did find the station or song he wanted before they arrived at the community park, just a mile away from the garden center.
“I really expected more people to be here on such a sunny Friday,” Theo said as Molly pulled into a parking spot near the park’s gazebo. The only other park visitors were a runner—who was barely visible at the other end of the park—and a young family playing in the playground.
“You’re right. I thought more people would be setting up before everything starts tonight.” She hopped out of the van, meeting Theo at the back, who was already opening the double doors.
“Yeah, yeah. Seems like they already set up all the tables and tents and such.”
The annual Hawthorn Heights Buckeye Trail Town Festival was set to start that evening at 5:00 p.m. It celebrated the town’s commitment to the Buckeye Trail, which snaked its way around the entire state of Ohio in a big loop. There were a number of trailheads throughout and near Hawthorn Heights. The festival would bring in people from around the region to visit their small town.
“We are here early,” Molly said. “I’m just happy that the people staffing the booths later will enjoy our arrangements when they arrive.”
“I like that. I’m sure they will.”
Theo pulled out one of five tall, slim, brown pots stowed in the back. Humming as they worked, Molly went for the lighter load: a crate containing leggy, bright sunflowers in smaller pots. Even those small pots had Molly puffing as she lifted them, so she sure was glad Theo was there to lift the bigger pots. They placed their load into a wagon, which was soon filled with not just sunflowers, but also potted ornamental cabbage, potted orange dahlias, dried eucalyptus, a bundle of interesting sticks, and dried grasses.
The park’s gazebo had sets of stairs leading to the landing on three sides. The large, white-painted structure acted as a stage at the community park and had electrical hookups. It faced a lawn that sloped up and away, a natural amphitheater. Molly and her friends and family often enjoyed summer concerts here. Theo arranged the pots: one on each side of the front steps and three along the opposite wall.
“Okay, do you like this setup? This one more to the left?” Theo asked.
“No, I like it,” Molly replied. “This looks great.”
She stuffed a folded cardboard box into the bottom of the pot nearest to her on the steps to take up some of the room on the bottom. Then she placed a potted sunflower on top of the cardboard and dug a hole in the soil for accompanying dahlias and cabbage. She’d thought about growing them all together in their display pots but was thankful she opted to grow them separately to ensure they were all the size and quality she wanted for the festival.
“I gotta say, this flower combination looks a lot better than just a bunch of mums thrown on the stage,” Theo said as he watched her.
“I know everyone loves mums, but I wanted to do something a little different this year,” Molly said. “It took some planning to get the sunflowers and dahlias to bloom at the right time, but I really like them. And they’ll be delivering pumpkins to display here later this morning, too.”
“I’m glad you were able to convince Zack to try it,” Theo said. “These arrangements are tall and eye-catching. Mums are short, even if they have a few different colors.” Zack Conley was the mayor of Hawthorn Heights. As teens, Molly and Zack worked together at Patty’s Plant Place. He was valedictorian of the class ahead of her own.
“He called the shop yesterday,” Molly said, pausing as she shook a cabbage out of its pot. “He told me they’re going to raffle off the arrangements on the last day. I thought that was a cool idea.”
“Yeah. And the winners will definitely know who made the arrangements. Free advertising.” Theo moved the plants, sticks, and dried material around to their pot destinations as Molly worked on each one individually. They finished the work within the next half hour.
“Let’s go see how they look from the top of the hill,” Theo said as Molly walked down the front steps, wiping her hands on her jeans. “Race you to the top!”
“Race me? What? You always win!”
She followed Theo up the hill anyway. She ran up—or perhaps better described as falling upward awkwardly over and over—the grassy crest. Theo wasn’t even winded when Molly got to the top long after he did, wheezing and leaning with her hands on her knees.
“Yeah, yeah,” Theo confirmed, hands on hips. “Colorful, tall, autumnal. People up here will think so, too.”
“You don’t usually have such strong opinions about our living flower arrangements, Theo.” Molly chuckled even though she was still catching her breath. She pushed her bangs out of her eyes. Molly usually wore her brown hair in a short, asymmetrical pixie cut, but the hairdresser didn’t cut enough off the front this time. From their vantage, Molly could see the rows of tents for vendors, food trucks, and a straw bale maze. She knew they’d be setting up games for kids later in the day, too.
“Well, I don’t usually deliver them and help set them up.” Theo still surveyed the scene. His black, curly hair was longer than Molly’s, stopping just below his ears. “These are public and a lot bigger than normal. I like them.”
“Such a great view from here.” Molly widened her gaze. “I guess I haven’t really stopped and looked around at the top of the hill. Is that Lake Erie?”
“I think so. All those tall buildings are definitely Cleveland.”
“It would be great to watch the sunrise from up here.”
They stood for a few minutes in silence, taking in the view.
“Oh look, there’s Ragan.” Molly jumped when Theo spoke again. “I wonder what she’s doing here. Let’s see what she thinks about the living arrangements.”
Theo sprinted back down the hill to the gazebo. Ragan was a trail guide and shopkeeper who worked at the hiking store next to Patty’s Plant Place, aptly called the Trail Guide. Molly didn’t recognize the young man who was with her. The pair had parked a few spots away from the Patty’s Plant Place van and were slowly making their way up the sidewalk toward the gazebo, pausing at each tree. Theo arrived at the gazebo before Ragan and her companion and met them on the sidewalk. Molly trailed after him, reaching the trio a minute later.
“ . . . so much more colorful. I wonder if they will attract more pollinators to the park during the festival,” Ragan was saying. Molly was always struck by how blue Ragan’s eyes were. “Hi, Molly. Your flower display looks great.”
“Thanks. I hope people attending the festival think so, too.”
Turning to the person she didn’t know, Molly made herself extend her hand for an introduction, hoping her hands weren’t too clammy. It was the social thing to do. So she would. “Hi. I’m Molly Green.”
The young man with dark hair took her hand without a smile.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Ragan said before he spoke. “I already introduced Quinten to Theo. This is my fiancé.”
“Hi. Quinten Alexander.” He nearly crushed Molly’s hand in his. “I’m on fall break from the University of Toledo. I’m in my last year of my JD, studying intellectual property law.”
“Cool. Nice to meet you.” Molly thought she probably succeeded in not wincing when she took her hand away.
“Yeah, that is really cool,” Theo said. “Neither of you mentioned a law degree. Impressive.”
“Well, I already have a master’s in law. I didn’t really know I wanted to be a lawyer right away. Taking the long route, I guess.”
“We met in undergrad,” Ragan told them, almost cutting Quinten off. “I’m from Northeast Ohio. You know, right here. But Quinten is from the Northwest part of the state. I didn’t really plan to come back, but I had an internship two summers in a row with the nature center during my time at grad school. Then the position opened up with the Trail Guide. I’m still finishing my thesis about changing bird populations in this area, so I’m concluding my research on the job. I’m nearly done.”
Molly already knew about all of this; Hawthorn Heights was a small town. Theo probably didn’t know, though, as he lived a few cities over.
“I bet birds are fun to track,” Molly said. “I didn’t know you were working on that. May would probably love to hear more about it.” May Flores-Sato was Molly’s twin sister. They were both part-owners of Patty’s Plant Place, unfortunately together with their cousin Shannon. The three of them inherited the place after their grandparents passed away seven years ago. But thankfully, Shannon didn’t work at the shop and rarely stopped by; she’d never been kind to the twins and was especially mean to May when they were in high school.
“Oh, is she a birder?” Ragan’s blue eyes went wide. “How did I not know? I’d love to share birding stories. She might even be able to add to my data about the local population.”
“Not everyone is quite into it as you are, Ray,” Quinten spat, rolling his eyes. “Molly’s friend probably doesn’t keep a log of birds she’s seen.”
“May is Molly’s twin. She’s a very numbers-oriented person. I’ll have to talk to her. She could be a great asset.” Ragan took a deep breath. “I’m doing a nest survey of the park today to help a colleague. These short dogwood trees are easy to access quickly. I guess Quinten is helping.” The couple shot eye daggers at each other.
“What else am I going to do? Hang out with your parents while you dig around in these trees?” Quinten’s tone made Molly uncomfortable, and she stopped herself from taking a few steps back.
“Maybe you could’ve hung out with Becca or Riley?” Ragan scoffed, then collected herself and took another deep breath. She turned back to Molly and Theo. “We’ll catch up later. Good to see you guys.”
With that, Ragan huffed off to the next tree without waiting for Quinten, pulling her purple vest closer to her body.
“Yeah. Nice meeting you,” Quinten said. “See you around.” He jogged after Ragan. When he caught up to her, he put his hand on her back, but she flinched away.
“Not the happiest of couples,” Theo said when they were out of earshot.
“I guess not. the Trail Guide staffers sometimes say that Ragan is hard to get along with, but she’s always been nice to us, hasn’t she?”
“I don’t know her that well, but we don’t work with her. She seems to be a lady on a mission. Driven. That might rub people the wrong way.” Theo shrugged. “Time to load back up. May is probably stressed being the only person at the shop.”
“Right. Let’s motor.”