Page 92 of The Perfect Deception
Dina shuddered. “No thanks, I’ll leave it to you. And I’ll pick a movie tonight and let you know.”
As they sat down to eat, Dina’s phone buzzed again, and she shut it off.
“You’re sure?” Tracy said, eyeing the phone.
“He’ll get bored. It’ll pass.”
“Okay. In the meantime, I should probably plan on only using your home phone to reach you, huh?”
Dina laughed. “For the time being.”
The next morning, a pot of basil, tied with a yellow ribbon, arrived for Dina at the library. She frowned as she pulled the card from the envelope.
“If it be a sin to covet honor, I am the most offending soul.”—Adam
“Mmm, that smells so good,” Tracy said as she walked by. “Where’d you get it?”
“Adam.”
“He sent you basil?” She started to laugh. “So he went from stalking your apartment, to texting non-stop, to sending you an herb?”
Dina started to giggle. “It’s so strange.”
“There has to be a reason. Let me think about this one.”
“Trace, there’s a card, too.”
Tracy’s mouth dropped when she read the card. “Did you know he was this odd when you were dating him?”
Dina blinked. “No.”
“Don’t cry, sweetie. Let’s enjoy the game.” Tracy picked up the pot and brought it to her desk.
Without the overpowering scent of basil, Dina was able to breathe again and after a few attempts, she focused her thoughts on organizing the children’s programs for May. Just when her stomach started to rumble, Tracy returned with the pot.
“I figured it out. He’s actually pretty clever, you know.”
“Do I want to know?”
Tracy put her hand on her shoulder. “It’s up to you.”
Dina sighed. “Fine, tell me. Why is he sending me herbs?”
“Not ‘herbs,’ a specific herb. Flowers and herbs and trees all have specific meanings. Basil means ‘good wishes.’ Colors do too, and yellow is for apologies. The Shakespeare quote is also an apology.”
“Yeah, I got that part.”
“He put a lot of effort into this one.”
“Still doesn’t change my mind.” Dina rubbed the yellow ribbon between her fingers.
“I never said it should. Do you want this or do you want me to keep it?”
“You keep it.” Memory of all the gold flowers he’d sent her for her reunion flashed through her mind and she shivered. It had been thoughtful, but over the top. And thinking of them made her remember the disaster of the reunion.
“Want to grab lunch?” Tracy asked.
“No thanks, I brought my own today. Besides, I haven’t been focusing on work very well and I need to get stuff done. These piles aren’t going away nearly as fast as I’d like.”