Chapter One : Stella
Dropping the last packed box onto the gray hardwood floor of my new apartment, I let out a breath of relief and exhaustion. Moving on my own is definitely not as easy and calm as they make it look on those cheesy love story movies I binge watch. Nonetheless, everything seems to be heading in the right direction for me. A new apartment in a new state, new job if they accepted my application, and just a new life all together. I left all my turmoil behind in Arizona as I now live in Colorado.
My mom, Stacy, didn’t like the idea of her daughter moving to another state, especially alone. She begged and pleaded for me to move in with her because she has a spare bedroom, but I knew I couldn’t put my mother in danger of him. I would never forgive myself. Besides, I felt I was at a good age to live on my own anyways since I’m twenty-five years old as of last month, November fifteenth. I need to have my own responsibilities as an adult, and to me, this is the right move, literally.
As I gazed at the empty room that I would soon make my living room, I moved the boxes labeled living area, and began unpacking them. For now, I would take advantage of the living room being carpeted to act as a place for me to sit until I saved up enough money to get a couch, or maybe a recliner. Most of my money went towards the first few months of rent for this apartment. For the money, it wasn’t too bad in my opinion. The apartment is one bedroom, one bathroom, that included a fully stocked kitchen so I wouldn’t have to buy any kitchen appliances, and a living room.
Sitting down on the beige carpet to separate my items, I gently picked up a picture of my mom and I on Christmas a year ago. I always admire how beautiful my mother is; perfectly straight brunette hair, high cheek bones, flawless skin to be forty-five years old, and her hazel eyes that shine like stars. Smiling at the picture of the two of us, my eyes shifted to the others in the background of the picture. There he was. Standing in the back, staring daggers into the back of my head, with a glint of murder in his eyes. My smile faded as chills travelled up my spine. The uncomfortable feeling crept onto my arms, leaving chill bumps in its path. I now had a sense of paranoia like I was really being watched as I turned around to scan my surroundings.
Satisfied that I was alone in my apartment, I turned back towards the picture when my phone rang. The sudden noise made me jump as I dropped the picture onto the carpet. Using a shaky hand to reach for my phone, I saw that the caller is my mother. “Hi mom,” I greeted, a shaky tone to my voice.
“Hi sweetheart! Did you make it back to your apartment with the last of your boxes? You didn’t call me.”
“Shit,” I cursed to myself for not remembering to call her when I got settled. “I’m sorry mom. I got sidetracked going through these boxes.”
“You had me worried. I just wanted to make sure you were ok, but it seems you are. Just promise to call me later when you get done unpacking ok?”
“I will mom. I love you.”
“I love you too Stella.”
The line disconnected, and I was left in the silence of my apartment once more. I really needed this change to work. In the back of my mind, I knew it would’ve been a smarter idea to make sure I had a job lined up in Colorado before moving out here, but I let my impatience take over and moved as soon as I had the amount of rent saved up for the first few months.
“I don’t think you should do this Stella. At least just stay with me and we can find you some place nice in the area that’s safe,” my mother’s words played in the back of my mind. Even if it wasn’t exactly the smartest move, I had to move forward with it, because it would teach me a lesson about responsibility on my own, without anyone else.
Running a hand through my mid length brunette hair, I looked around at all the unpacked boxes and felt a panic attack trying to emerge. “Alright Stella. You’ve got this. Just one box at a time,” I said aloud to calm my nerves.
I awoke the next morning and stretched on my makeshift mattress. It was going to cost me more money to have my large items sent to this apartment from Arizona than it would for me to buy a new bed. So, I made the executive decision to just buy a new one when the time came. Thankfully, I scored a deal with my apartment being on ground level, so I had my own front door that led outside, so it would be easier for me to get a bed into this place.
Today, my plan is to go to a local grocery store and stock up my fridge, and maybe swing by a flower shop to send my mother some flowers since her birthday’s coming up soon. Making my way over to the piles of neatly folded clothes in the corner of my light gray walled room, I shuffled through the different options I have. Unfortunately, Arizona was an extremely hot state, whereas Colorado is more on the chilly and rainy side this time of year. I made a mental note to find a clothing store to invest in thicker jackets than the ones I own. Gathering my skinny jeans, pink long sleeve shirt, thin gray hoodie, and my boots, I made my way to the bathroom to get ready for the day.
After leaving the grocery store with enough food to last me for a week, I placed everything in my freezer bags in the trunk of my charcoal gray SUV. Hopping into the driver’s seat, I used my GPS to figure out how to get to a local flower shop if they have one. Lucky for me, there’s one on the way back towards my apartment.
Pulling into the parking lot of MIMI’S FLOWER SHOP, I quickly parked, and made my way down to the outdoor flower area. Bits of pink, blue, and red caught my attention the closer I got. The sweet scent of the flowers filled my nose as I approached the little gate to enter.
“Hi! Welcome to Mimi’s flower shop! Here is a rolling cart in case you have a bunch of flowers you would like to buy!” A young girl with short blonde hair and freckles greeted.
“Thank you,” I replied with a smile to the young girl, taking the rolling cart and pushing it towards the array of colors. Back in Arizona, there weren’t many flower shops in the area that I lived in.
My goal was to find my mom a bouquet of Pink-shell azaleas. My mom used to have them growing up and has always wanted to get some but of course Arizona doesn’t sell them. Moving my way down one of the walkways, the colors danced in my eyes. Every flower was just as beautiful as the last, but I focused on finding the azaleas.
Continuing to run my hands through the petals of the flowers I passed, my eyes spotted some azaleas. Quickly moving towards them, I read all of the labels until I found the ones I’ve been searching for. My heart leapt with joy as they actually had some available. Even though this type of flower has no scent, they’re still beautiful nonetheless. That was another reason why my mom loves them so much as she’s very sensitive to smell but has an obsession with flowers, so they’re perfect for her.
Grabbing one bundle of the flowers, I placed them gently in my cart and continued to move on. I was in search for pink roses. Yes they were expensive and I didn’t have the extra money to buy any for myself, but I at least wanted to see if they had any so I can get some in the future.
Rounding another corner past a bundle of blue and purple flowers, I found the area that was strictly roses. My blue eyes lit up as I approached the pink roses. Leaning down, I breathed in the lovely scent. They had individual pink roses that I contemplated on buying for myself, but I knew it would cost a good bit to ship the azaleas to my mom, and I wanted to buy a bundle of roses for myself at a different time.
Plucking out one of the individual pink roses, I attempted to bring it up to my nose when my phone rang. My body jerked at the sudden noise again and the rose fell to the ground. “Shoot!” I whisper yelled to myself as I pulled my phone out of my back pocket.
“Hey mom.”
“Hey sweetheart! Everything going ok today?”
“Yeah, everything is going good. I’m just getting some shopping done.”
“I’ll let you go, just call me later ok? I love you!” My mother’s voice always sounds so cheerful and happy. I envy her.
“Love you too mom, I’ll talk to you later,” and then I disconnected the call. Stuffing my phone back into my pocket, my eyes scanned the ground when I spotted the rose I dropped. Kneeling down, I went to reach for it when a hand reached at the same time as me to pick it up. Looking up, my gaze was met with a pair of deep green eyes, that mimicked the color of pine trees. His face is flawless. Sharp jawline underneath a full brunette beard that connected to his brunette hair on his head. His lightly tanned skin made his eyes pop.
“I believe you dropped this,” he spoke up, as the two of us stood simultaneously. He extended his hand out, handing the rose to me. If I had to guess, he’s roughly 6’0”, which is tall since I’m only 5’5”.
I gazed down at the rose in his hand, my heart hammering in my chest for whatever reason. “Thank you,” my voice came out shaky.
“You’re welcome,” his voice sounded husky, but nice to my ears. It was soothing in its own way. “I see you like pink roses, and azaleas.” His eyes gazed towards my cart behind me.
Turning to eye the flowers even though I already knew what I had, I turned my gaze back towards him. “They’re for my mom. She loves azaleas but in Arizona we didn’t have any flower shops where she lives. But yes, I do love pink roses.”
“So you’re visiting from Arizona?” His right eyebrow raised slightly, causing heat to form in my cheeks.
“It’s complicated. Long story short though, I now live here, but she still lives in Arizona. Her birthday is next week so I wanted to ship some flowers to her. I see you like Tulips,” I attempted to divert the subject off of me.
Hanging his head, he gazed down to the burnt orange and neon yellow tulips in his hands. He smiled slightly to the flowers. “They’re for my grandmother. She’s in hospice and I try to take her flowers each week. It helps boost her spirits, if that makes any sense.”
I felt a swelling sensation in my heart at the sweet gesture that this man showed towards his grandmother. It was also a sad situation that she was in hospice. I didn’t know much about the medical field, but I knew hospice was an end of life situation. “Well that’s nice,” I quietly replied.
His eyes locked onto mine as if searching for something. “What’s your name?”
I hesitated as I felt like I already confessed too much to a stranger. “Stella.”
“Stella. That’s a beautiful name. I’m Alex, nice to meet you,” he bowed his head slightly, causing me to blush once more. “Well, I have to get going so I can take these flowers to my grandmother. It really was a pleasure to meet you.”
“You as well,” I smiled slightly and watched as he walked away.
Sorting my racing thoughts, I placed the pink rose back and browsed a little bit longer and then headed towards the inside of the building to pay for the flowers.
“Hi! You must be Stella!” The cashier lady greeted. Her hair was in two neatly braided ponytails.
“Um, hi?” I politely questioned, trying to figure out how this girl knew my name.
“I only know that because you’re the only one with azaleas in your cart. They have already been paid for, and the shipping cost to Arizona as well. I just need the address of where you want to send them.”
Furrowing my eyebrows, I stared at the girl for a moment, confused about what she just said. “I’m sorry. Did you say these were already paid for? I just walked up?”
Giggling to herself, the cashier stared at me with a permanent smile. “I’m fully aware Ms. Stella, but Alex already paid for them, and the shipping cost. He said that it was a just a friendly gesture and that he wanted to take care of it for you. So, if you don’t mind, just fill out this little slip with the address of where this is going and we will have them shipped out today!” She cheerfully explained.
Looking at the pen that was being handed to me, I took it, still confused as I filled out the paper with my mother’s information, along with a message telling her happy birthday. Sliding the paper back to the girl, I laid the pen down and handed the flowers over.
“Thank you! I hope you have a great day! Also, welcome to Colorado!”
Blinking a few times, I smiled slightly. “Thank you,” and then I quickly turned to leave the flower shop. Walking back up the path to my SUV, I hopped in and rested my head on the headrest. My thoughts invaded my mind with a question: What just happened?
