Kicked the Bucket

by CeeCee James

  AJ had said it was a chrysanthemum, but it was unlike any I’d ever seen before. I typed in the name in the search bar and waited to see what would come up. I ended up scrolling through the pictures to find the one that looked like our flower, spindly with curled petals. I found it, but it made me frown. The description said that it was a fairly rare breed that gardeners were working hard to bring back.

  Where in the heck had Emma picked it up from, then? Had they succeeded in bringing it back enough that it did grow in the wild?

  The roadblocks were driving me crazy. All questions and no answers. I decided to swing for the fence and started a new search through Nikki’s friends on her social media. It seemed like an impossible goal, but maybe I could find something out about Harry.

  Two seconds after I typed his name into the search bar I giggled. Sure enough, he popped up. Okay, so who was this guy who was so scary? I was about to find out. I clicked the profile.

  There was no profile picture and no last name. Instead it was some character from a game, or so I assumed. What was up with this generation? I clicked through his profile and saw something that made my spine stiffen.

  It was a picture of Nikki. She was looking into the camera with big grin, her eyes hidden behind a pair of enormous sunglasses.

  I remember William saying that Nikki’s boyfriend was extremely jealous. What had he thought of Harry having Nikki’s photo? Who was this guy?

  Carefully, I hopped off the fence. The dried wood made a whisking sound against my pants. I brushed myself off to make sure there weren’t any tiny slivers clinging to me. Rosy completely ignored me now, face buried in a pile of purple clover flowers.

  As I stared at the flowers, it came to me where the chrysanthemums may have come from. And now was as good of time as any to find out.

  Chapter 15

  I hesitated at calling Officer Orville again to share what could amount to another hair-brained idea. No. I was going to have to look into this question myself. And one of the most obvious places to get flowers was at a florists.

  It wasn’t a hard search. There were only two florists in our town of Cedar Falls. I could make a quick visit to both and then maybe swing back and grab some lunch on the way home.

  I jotted down their addresses and then checked to be sure I had the photo of the flowers from the porch still on my phone. Scrolling, I found it and studied the spoon shaped petals. I might finally be on the right track into figuring this out.

  I hurried inside to grab my keys, change into some jeans and fix my hair a bit so I didn’t look like I’d just rolled out of bed. Which I had.

  Okay, where was that dog so I could lock up the house? “Jasper? Come here, boy.”

  Scrabbling of his toenails let me know he was up in Emma’s room, sneaking around. Great, what kind of food did she leave in there. He ran downstairs and immediately pounced on his frisbee and stopped at the front door.

  “Jasper….” I said, a little exasperated.

  He whined and his eyes rounded into two sad puddles.

  I gave up. How could I resist such cuteness? It wasn’t humanly possible. Besides, in my own misery, I hadn’t given him much attention this morning. He needed a little TLC.

  “Fine. I’ll throw it a few times. But that’s it, okay?”

  I opened the door, and he raced out, smashing into the buffet on the way and knocking off Emma’s tiara. He was out in the yard before the crown quit vibrating against the floor. Groaning, I picked it up and followed him outside.

  He was in a fine mood. The dog skipped around me, his tail wagging like a flag.

  “You ready?”

  He barked in answer, an awkward woof! with his teeth clenched around the toy.

  I tugged the frisbee away and threw it. Jasper took off after it. His ears flopped as he jumped through the tall grass. It was amazing that he could find it buried in the underbrush, and I smiled as he reemerged with it along with a few grass tufts hanging from his mouth

  I threw it again. Every last bit of my hope was pinned on one of the two florists knowing something about the flowers. If I had to search in other towns it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

  Speaking of haystacks, this time Jasper came back with a sticker branch riding piggyback. And, instead of the frisbee, he had something blue hanging from his mouth.

  “What did you get into?” I muttered as he dropped the sodden fabric at my feet and panted. I gently pulled the sticker branch off of his fur and then examined the disgusting wet material.

  It definitely had been exposed to the elements. Sticker burrs stuck to it. I gently shook it to open it and a black spider crawled out, making me squeal. Forget about it. I wiped my hands on my pants and called Jasper toward the house.

  He followed me pretty cheerfully until we got to the porch. There he balked.

  “Come on,” I wheedled. “Time to guard the house.”

  In response, he plunked his rear down.

  I tried a firmer tone. “Jasper, come here.”

  Now he was flat on his belly, melting into the dirt. I gave his collar a slight tug. He didn’t budge.

  “Jasper!” I shot a glance at the house. What treat did I have to tempt him?

  He let out a nasally whine.

  I bit the inside of my lip. Well, I was just looking at different floral shops. And his leash was still in the car….

  Like a lightbulb going off, I realized what was going on. He’d remembered going with me and decided that’s the way it was going to be from now on. Had the rascal planned this from the beginning and that’s why he wanted to go outside in the first place? Under the guise of the frisbee?

  I was impressed. “You tricky dog. You trained me.”

  His brown eyes looked pitiful as he made an eyebrow bump raise.

  Sighing, I headed to the car. “Come along, then.”

  He was up like a flash and beat me to the car. I opened the back door, and he jumped in, making his leash on the seat fall to the floor.

  I climbed in and adjusted my rearview mirror to see him. “You know, this isn’t going to be much fun. Just errands and stuff.”

  Fully content, he stretched out and panted his doggy smile.

  Silly dog. I started the car and drove to the first floral shop.

  The business was called Daisy Chain. I parked down the street from the display window, which was stuffed with white flowers in a wedding scene. I glanced at Jasper, wondering how I was going to navigate this.

  “You’re going to be a good boy, aren’t you?” I snapped the leash onto his collar and let him out.

  With a jerk, he tugged me nearly off my feet as a squirrel chattered from one of the sidewalk trees.

  “Jasper! Stop! You have to be a gentleman.”

  He ignored me—one with barking at the squirrel. I tried to step in between them to cut off his line of sight. He twirled around me, trapping my legs in the leash. One sharp tug, and I was down.

  The floral shop door opened and a pink-haired woman hurried out. “Holy cow! Are you okay?”

  I stared up at a woman from underneath Jasper’s belly, who’d been dragged down with me. “Hello. You’re just the person I wanted to see.”

  She ran over to me. “Here, let me help you. I haven’t seen someone fall that spectacularly since my drunk boyfriend at the skate park.”

  Terrific. I’d made a joke of myself.

  The woman helped me up even as Jasper licked her hand, completely enamored with her.

  “Hi buddy, I’m Cindy,” she said, bending down to scruff his neck.

  I brushed myself off.

  Looking as innocent as a baby, he gave a happy whiff of a bark.

  “You are so adorable! So handsome! What a cutie pie,” she cooed.

  I scowled. Cutie pie here managed to get me a nice rip in the knee of my new jeans. He was as happy as a clam.

  Still scratching his neck, the woman looked up. “So you wanted to see me? Need some flowers?”

  “Well, I�
��ve been getting some from a secret admirer. I was wondering if they came from your shop.”

  “Oh.” She sounded intrigued. One more final scratch, and she was up on her feet. “What kind of flowers were they?”

  “I have a picture.” I started to scroll through my phone.

  “You sure you want to know who sent them? These types of things can be fun if you let them play out. I’m not sure I want to spoil the poor guy’s confidence.”

  “I’m sure.” I handed over the phone. “What do you think?”

  She glanced at the picture. Her eyes widened in surprise. “Welp, wow. I’ve definitely seen these before.”

  Chapter 16

  Bingo! Finally! I had an answer. “You have?” I couldn’t keep the excitement out of my voice.

  Any further questioning, however, was cut off by furious barking. The squirrel in the tree scolded us for daring to linger under his tree. Jasper wasn’t having any of that and made another dive. I nearly lost my grasp of both the leash and my footing again. This time I managed to stay upright. However poor Cindy was not so lucky. Like a deranged lightning bolt, Jasper had shot around her legs and now the leash bound them together at the knees. She toppled forward where I managed to catch her even as I was kicking myself for even thinking I could take Jasper anywhere. I was no dog whisperer, that’s for sure. That dog had a mind of his own.

  “Jasper! Please behave,” I begged while Cindy tried to untangle herself. “Sit! Stay!”

  He wagged his tail and tipped his head as if curious at the foreign words that were coming from his caretaker’s mouth. They must be strange since he never obeyed them for me.

  Cindy snapped her fingers and pointed to the sidewalk. “Sit.”

  Without missing a beat, his bottom thumped against the sidewalk with his tail still wagging against the ground.

  She grinned at my gasp as she finished untangling herself. Stepping out of the last loop, she said, “I’ve taken my doggos through a training course. Looks like he might benefit from it too.”

  “I guess so.” I scratched his head. Now back to the topic on hand. “So you’ve seen the flowers. Any chance that you remember the person who came in?”

  She gave me an odd smile. “Sure. Tall, dark, and handsome.”

  My mouth dropped.

  With a laugh, she clarified, “Also in a police uniform. A couple of cops came in with a photo similar to that. Only the flowers were in a pail. I’m guessing the flowers might be part of some investigation?”

  Like an unplugged sink, my hopes swirled around the drain. I managed to pull it together enough to smile and thank her. I hope she didn’t notice the crack in my energy.

  She tapped her chin. “I can think of something interesting about your picture, though.”

  “What was that?”

  “Well the arrangement in the photo mimics what we in the industry call a funeral celebration. How it waterfalls down one side of the vase. It’s unusual for a secret admirer to order.”

  I studied the picture. The flowers were cascading down one side.

  “It could just be a coincidence though. You never know. Anyway, I’m sorry I couldn’t be more of a help.” She patted Jasper again and then walked to her door and gave me a wave. “Come back if you need anything. We’re running a special on roses.”

  I led Jasper back to the car. “Thank you!”

  I opened the back passenger door. Jasper immediately flattened on the ground.

  Not again. “Jasper!” I whispered urgently. “Get in the car.”

  He wanted to obey. He really did. And, at the same time, he really did not. The struggle was real as he heavily rose to his feet. He stepped his front feet into the car, but kept his back feet firmly on the curb. Rolling his eyes back at me, he whimpered most pitifully.

  “Listen, I know you want to stay and play, but we have places to go.” I bent to scoop around his hind end and lift. I swear he flipped an internal switch somehow because his weight seemed to increase by a hundred pounds. I grunted and lifted, my purse banging me in the forehead, my nose smooshed into the dog’s back.

  “Come… on,” I huffed.

  He resisted for a moment but inch by inch, I got him into the back seat. Panting and exhausted, I shut the door. He stared out the window at me with droopy puppy eyes. A window, I now noticed, was decorated with a plethora of nose smears.

  I couldn’t take another florist visit, not with Jasper as my companion. I needed to get him home and maybe grab some aspirin. My back and knees throbbed as I eased down into the driver’s seat. I may have been more stubborn and won the battle, but Jasper definitely had won the war.

  “Home it is,” I gritted out and shifted the car into gear. While I drove I pondered over what Cindy had said. Was the arrangement done on purpose to send some message? But why to Tilly? The note had said thank you for the pictures. I wish I’d asked Cindy about the flowers in the pail—were they done the same way? And those strange chrysanthemums, AJ had mentioned something about that type being used in funerals as well, hadn’t he? I shivered.

  A thump in the back seat made me glance back. Jasper had stretched out on the seat with his nose on his front paws, obviously pouting.

  “Hey, it’s not my fault we’re going home. I told you to act like a gentleman. You acted like it was your first visit to a burger joint after being in quarantine your whole life.”

  He arched an eyebrow at me and then continued his stoic stare at the door.

  “Suit yourself.” I straightened my spine. If he wanted to pout, well that was on him.

  I glanced in the mirror again.

  He looked miserable.

  Sighing, I swung into the first fast food restaurant I came across. Jasper sat up on his seat and looked out the window.

  In the drive-through, an obnoxiously cheerful voice informed me that their double bacon burger was on sale and then asked me what I’d like to order.

  “One double burger and one doggy ice cream,” I said. Jasper barked in excitement. I glanced down at my torn pant leg. “And a biggie French fry.” I deserved it.

  I pulled up and paid at the first window while Jasper tried to cram his face between the seat and my window to say hi to the worker.

  “Aren’t you so cute!” the worker cooed.

  My knee throbbed in disagreement. We rolled up to the second window and a bag was passed through. And finally came the dairy treat in a paper burger box.

  Jasper scrambled like he was on ice, trying to get through the two front seats.

  “For Pete’s sake, hang on a second, and I’ll give it to you.” I tried to shift forward and at the same time keep him corralled in the back seat. Slowly I edged into the first empty stall I saw and then opened his ice cream. There was no easy way to do this. I set the container on the back seat and let him have at it.

  Oh, he did. And somehow managed to dip both ears and the top of his nose into it in the devouring process.

  “Good grief,” I turned back around in my seat. Reaching into the bag for a French fry, I pondered how I was going to get the soggy cardboard container away from him before he ate that as well.

  My eyes settled on a hotel across the street. Grouped in a manicured bed that bordered the parking lot was a mound of flowers. I was surprised to see they were chrysanthemums. Maybe the flowers were more common than I thought.

  Jasper started barking right in my ear. I jumped so hard I nearly hit the roof.

  “What the heck is going on with you?” I grumbled, looking around for what had set him off.

  A car had moved into the stall next to me. The window was rolled down and the passenger waved wildly.

  It was the mom from the park the day before.

  I rolled mine down.

  “Chrissy, right?” the woman said.

  “Oh, it’s Chelsea. By the way, you should let your son know that Emma says thank you for the flower.”

  “The flower? It wasn’t for Emma. It was for you.” Her eyebrows crinkled. “I would have t
hought you would have known that by now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He said he was meeting you later that night for a date. He was trying to surprise you.”

  “I’m confused….”

  She flushed. “I think it’s me that’s confused. Your boyfriend came up to my son and asked him to put the flower in your backpack. Said you’d be back for it later and he wanted to surprise you.” Her brow creased. “I take it you’re more surprised than I expected.”

  “Yeah, I really am. For one thing, I don’t have a boyfriend. Can you describe what he looked like?”

  She glanced at the driver, her head moving in an agitated manner. “Well, this is awkward. Uh, he was at the edge of the park. I actually was about to freak out when I saw him talk to Billy. It was just for a second and then Billy came running over with the flower. It was getting dark by then so I didn’t get a good look at the guy. Blue jacket, brown hair. Average build.” Her worried eyes locked onto mine. “I’m sorry I don’t have more for you. I actually only got a bit of the conversation from Billy. Honestly, with the way that kid pays attention to anything I say to him, I was surprised he remembered that much.”

  Jasper snuffled his ice-cream chops on my shoulder, having finished his treat. I was thankful for the distraction because I was so taken by surprise. Then the clerk from the fast food restaurant showed up at their car and handed them a bag of food. Billy’s mom waved at me and rolled the window up like she wanted to cut off all ties with me. Obviously, the conversation bothered her as much as it did me.

  “Well, wasn’t that interesting?” I asked Jasper. I started the car and carefully backed up. I guess it was time to call Officer Orville after all.

  Chapter 17

  Before I could make my phone call, Polly called me in to work, explaining that Pam had gone home with a headache. I dropped a reluctant Jasper off at home, changed my pants, and left a message for Officer Orville explaining to him the new information about the flower. Then I headed to the thrift store.