Blossoms of Love

by J. M. Jeffries

Greer tilted her head up to him, and he kissed her. “It’s crazy in here.”

  “This is the best time. My favorite part.”

  As he looked closer, he saw she did appear exhilarated. Her face was slightly flushed, her eyes bright and excited despite the dark circles ringing them. A flower petal clung to her T-shirt, and a couple of narrow green leaves were caught in her hair. The aroma of flowers had been overpowering at first, but Daniel had finally grown used to it.

  “When does the judging start?” He was anxious to get to that part of the parade.

  “Preliminaries are tomorrow. The final judging the day after.” A volunteer approached her and asked a question about a particular flower she couldn’t find, and Greer told her to check in the flower tent.

  Daniel slid an arm around her waist and pulled her close. “How about a quick dinner later?”

  “A quick dinner is going to be fifteen minutes, twenty max,” she said with a harried look on her face.

  “I’ll bring the food.”

  “Bring enough for Rachel and Chelsea, too. Lots of protein. We need energy. Tonight is going to be an all-nighter for us.”

  Rod Ortega grabbed Greer’s arm. “I need you. Sorry, Mr. Torres.” He dragged Greer away.

  She gave a half turn and waved at Daniel. He waved back, realizing that this woman had turned into the love of his life. Falling in love had been so gradual, he hadn’t realized it until this moment. She was feisty, independent, practical and perfect. So perfect he wanted to rush right over to her and tell her, even as he watched her climb aboard a float to study whatever Rod was pointing at.

  The women he’d dated before Greer had been so different from her. The starlets, the ingenues, the models had never shown the level of independence Greer had. She made her own decisions and stuck by them. She didn’t expect him to choose what she should eat, or wear, or even think. Daniel had almost fallen into the same trap as those models. He hadn’t wanted to be bothered with small decisions, with the little things in his life, until he realized other people were making bigger and bigger decisions on his behalf and he put a stop to it. Greer never expected anyone else to make decisions for her.

  Daniel watched her. She knelt down on the float while talking to Rod, who nodded. Then she stood, smiled at Rod and patted his shoulder. Daniel could almost imagine her soothing him over something. Then she jumped down from the float, summoned by Chelsea further down the aisle.

  The director tapped Daniel on the shoulder. Daniel hurried back to his temporary set, ready to film the final segment of the show.

  Chapter 10

  Daniel was nervous. He stood in his spot on the finished float. Nick and Michelle on their dance floor performed a simple waltz to the music they’d chosen. The fourth person on his float was Cecile Holloway. He had chosen her for her ability to transcend the barriers forced on women actors. To him, she had finally come into her own, still a butterfly at eighty-three.

  Cecile was an Oscar contender for her last role. She fumbled with the buckle on her safety belt, and Daniel reached over to help her.

  “Thank you, Daniel.” Her tone was as gracious as always. “I’ve always wanted to be in the Rose Parade. This is a dream come true. I tried out for Rose Queen when I was in high school but wasn’t chosen.”

  Daniel grinned at her. “I’m glad I could make your dream come true. This is a celebration of life, and you epitomize exactly that. You’re still in high demand in an industry where most actresses are on the shelf by the time they’re forty. I wanted to show the world that a person’s value isn’t about how they look, but how they think.”

  “I’m eighty-three years old, and sometimes my thought processes stutter.”

  “But they seem to stutter in the right direction and are still firing on all cylinders. Even I have senior moments, and I’m only thirty.”

  Cecile laughed. The sound of the hydraulics was a constant buzz as the butterfly wings rose and fell.

  Daniel watched the judges as they walked around the float, making notes on their clipboards. He couldn’t contain his nerves.

  Down the aisle he could just see Logan’s float, specifically the huge rainbow that went from front to back. The float was so beautiful, it took Daniel’s breath away. In fact, all the floats were gorgeous, and he wondered how the judges could decide who won which trophy.

  Greer walked down the aisle with Chelsea. She stopped to give an encouraging smile at Daniel.

  Finally the judges ended their scrutiny and walked away. Daniel’s breath exploded out so forcefully, he realized he’d been holding it in.

  He unbuckled his safety belt and then helped Cecile down a set of stairs on the side of the float.

  “What do you think?” he asked Greer.

  “I think you have a good shot, but then again, I think all my babies are beautiful.” She grinned at him, her face flushed. “So now we’re going to check and make sure the float engine is working properly.” She spoke into the walkie-talkie she held in one hand. “Start her up, Rod.”

  “Roger that,” Rod responded.

  Nick and Michelle joined Daniel and Greer, all waiting anxiously. The engine sounded rough, as though it were coughing. Then a cloud of white smoke billowed upward.

  “Greer,” Rod said, his voice crackling over her headset. “We have problem.”

  Greer said, “We have less than twenty-four hours to fix it.”

  Daniel shrugged off his jacket. He climbed up the stairs and hauled open the lid over the driver’s compartment. “My turn to take a look.” He held out a hand for Rod, who climbed out.

  “I’ll get my tools,” Rod said. “This isn’t a catastrophe.” Then he added solemnly, “I hope.”

  Daniel didn’t answer. He unbuttoned the cuffs on his shirt and rolled up the sleeves.

  * * *

  Daniel was darn sexy with his sleeves turned up as he slid under the chassis on the wheeled platform to take a look at the motor. He rolled back out, a smear of grease on his face.

  “What’s wrong with the motor?” Greer asked.

  “Sounds like a blown gasket,” Daniel replied. “I’m going to need some parts. I’ll make a list, and you can send someone to the nearest auto parts store and get what I need.”

  “How long will it take?” Greer was always ready for the unexpected to happen, but a blown gasket didn’t sound like a good thing.

  “I need to get at the engine. We may need to pull it out.”

  “What about a new engine?”

  “Do you know how much these things weigh?” Daniel asked. “I can fix it.”

  “And I’ll help,” Rod said as he dropped his toolbox on the ground.

  Greer worked hard to keep her nerves under control. Catastrophes happened, but this was the first one to occur within twenty-four hours of parade day. “You can fix motors?”

  “Yes. Along with collecting cars, I also work on them. Besides, with a lot of siblings, there wasn’t always extra money, so I had to learn to do all sorts of things as a kid. If I wanted a car, I learned how to take care of it.”

  “Wow,” Greer said, admiration filling her. Another part of Daniel had just been revealed. He could not only explain the mysteries of the stars to her but also fix a motor. He’d be handy to have around the next time she had a flat tire and didn’t want to get her hands dirty.

  “When are the winners announced for the trophies?” he asked as he rapidly wrote his list. He leaned against the float, a frown on his face.

  “They’re not announced. You’ll see.” She patted his arm. “Stop worrying and fix the motor.”

  He saluted her. “Will do.” He and Rod opened the canopy over the motor and spent a few minutes looking it over.

  Greer turned away, ready to tackle the other minor issues that had arisen. She had a feeling this was
going to be the longest day of her life.

  * * *

  Greer stifled a yawn. The Winnebago was chilly, the heat just turning on. The night was so cold, Greer could see her breath as she opened the refrigerator to grab something to eat. She finally found some sandwich meat and two slices of bread.

  Rachel was repairing the area of the float around the engine canopy that had been damaged by Daniel and Rod as they worked, and Chelsea was at a last-minute meeting with the float committee.

  A knock sounded on the door. Greer opened it and found Daniel standing outside, a garment bag flung over one shoulder. Grease stained his hands. Lines of fatigue scored his forehead.

  “Can I spend the night?” he asked. “I’m too tired to drive home. And I have to be back at two a.m.” Daniel gave her a hopeful look.

  “You’re more than welcome to sleep here.”

  “Aren’t your sisters spending the night, too?”

  “You can join the slumber party. I see you’re already prepared.” She nodded toward the garment bag.

  He stepped into the Winnebago. “I picked my suit up at the cleaners this morning before I came over for the rehearsal.”

  She stepped back. “Are you hungry?”

  “I could eat.”

  She opened a cabinet and pulled out a bag of cheese doodles.

  He looked at the bag and then at her.

  “This is how we celebrate New Year’s Eve. Cheese doodles and braiding our hair.”

  He dropped the garment bag over a chair, and with one eyebrow raised, he broke open the bag. “I’ll take the cheese doodles, but my hair is way too short to braid.”

  She laughed. “Sit down. I can make you a sandwich.” She opened the refrigerator for two more slices of bread. After liberally spreading mayo and adding turkey meat, lettuce and cheese, she turned to hand the sandwich to Daniel, only to find his head leaning back against the wall, his eyes closed. She set the plate in front of him and sat down across from him to eat her own sandwich. When she finished, she made up a bed for Daniel.

  The Winnebago slept eight. Two sets of bunk beds resided on either side of the RV, which was usually where Greer and her sisters slept. The master bedroom at the very back was reserved for her parents. Daniel was too tall for the bunk beds, and since her parents had decided to stay in a local hotel, the master bedroom would work for him.

  When she finished, she took a quick shower and then went to wake Daniel, only to find him eating.

  “When you’re done eating, take a shower. I made up the master bedroom for you.”

  “Want to share it with me?” he asked with a flirty grin.

  “No. I need my rest, and so do you.” She glanced at the clock over the sink. “It’ll be two a.m. before you know it. Let’s get some sleep.”

  Daniel looked disappointed. He finished his sandwich and dragged himself to the bathroom while Greer crawled into her bunk. Later, Greer heard him fall onto the bed just before Chelsea dragged herself in. Greer had no idea what time Rachel returned, but when her next thought surfaced, her alarm was blasting away. Two in the morning was not a civilized time to wake, yet she had no choice. It was parade day. Despite her fatigue, Greer had bowls of cereal ready by the time everyone else woke.

  “Eat some cereal,” she told Daniel as she emptied her own bowl, went to the sink and washed it. Rachel emerged from the tiny bathroom yawning while Chelsea tugged a brush through her hair. Four adults made the Winnebago feel crowded.

  Daniel sat at the table, looking out the window at the parking lot. Absolute chaos reigned as floats exited the tent and headed down to the parade start. He marveled at how the parade supervisors got the massive floats into position.

  “When do I find out that I won?” Daniel asked.

  “The winners will know at the beginning of the parade route. Boy Scouts bearing banners will step in front of the float as it moves into its parade position. Did I ask you if you had a plan B in place? What will you do if neither of you wins the Sweepstakes Trophy?”

  “Logan and I will talk later. We did consider the possibility. At least, I did, but Logan didn’t want to think about it much with his big ego.”

  Greer laughed. “Ouch.”

  “Are you sure you two are best friends?” Chelsea asked as she downed a huge mug of coffee.

  “That’s how boys play.”

  “You two are grown men,” Chelsea said.

  “Only on the outside,” Daniel said with a chuckle. “What do the trophies look like? I just realized you have all these photos in your office, but no trophies.”

  “You won’t win a physical trophy. You receive a beautifully framed photo with a banner on it announcing which trophy the float won.”

  “All I’ll get is a photo?” He’d been imagining a big golden statue that resembled an Oscar, and now he felt somehow deflated.

  Greer just shook her head. “All right, people. Time to get cracking. Daniel, let’s go.”

  She grabbed her jacket and stepped out of the RV.

  * * *

  At 2:00 a.m., the morning air was cold and crisp. Overhead, stars twinkled, reminding her of the night she and Daniel had viewed the cosmos through his telescope. Greer’s breath billowed out in a cloud of steam. Though the air was cold, the morning was expected to be clear and sunny, unlike the year she’d been Rose Queen and temperature were in the forties.

  “What happens if it starts to rain?” Daniel asked.

  “You get wet.” Greer skirted a drill team of high school girls in yellow-and-green uniforms. “Stop worrying. There is no rain in the forecast. My dad once told me that we have a deal with God. If January first falls on Sunday, the parade is moved to Monday, and for that God promised not to rain on the parade.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Daniel said.

  “Considering the parade has been rain-free except just a couple times, I think we should take it on faith.”

  The Rose Bowl parking lot was pandemonium.

  Yellow school buses opened up to drop off high school bands from all over the country. Trailers let out high-stepping purebred horses decked out in luxurious silver saddles and riders just as ornately decorated. A line of antique cars heading the parade contained the grand marshal and various dignitaries. When they were given the signal, the first of the bands would fall into formation, and one by one the floats, the other bands and various horse teams would join in, slowly moving out of the lot to the staging area at San Gabriel Boulevard and Huntington Drive.

  Daniel looked stunned. “How does anyone make sense of all this?”

  “Stop worrying. That’s my job.” She hurried him into the float tent. The huge entry flaps were thrown back and floats were pulling out, ready to get into position. “Rod Ortega knows his job, so stop thinking about it. Just stand on the float and look pretty.”

  Every year brought a thrill of excitement for Greer. The parade never grew old.

  She walked a few steps, suddenly aware that Daniel wasn’t with her. She turned back to find him standing still, just staring at the bedlam. She went back and grabbed his hand. “Come on. You don’t have time for this.” She dragged him toward the float.

  Rod was already there. Nick and Michelle stood on their dance floor, waiting. Cecile Holloway stood at her station, looking fabulous in a dark green pantsuit and seeming happy. The parade wouldn’t start for six hours, yet excitement rippled through the waiting floats.

  “My first Rose Parade,” Cecile gushed when Daniel took his spot next to her.

  Knowing it was time to start moving, Greer wished everyone luck and jumped down from the float. She found Chelsea and Rachel waiting for her.

  “Come on,” Rachel said. “Mom and Dad are saving our seats.”

  They had seats in the grandstand just beneath the TV booth where the parade commentator
s were housed. At times like this, Greer wished she had roller skates to get her to the grandstand.

  Slowly the parade reached its starting point. In a couple of hours, another Tournament of Roses parade would be underway.

  Greer and her sisters half trotted down the dark side streets until they reached Colorado Boulevard and then eventually the grandstands with the commentators’ booth at the very top.

  Greer’s parents waved, and slowly she and her sisters made their way up the side steps and eased over to sit with their parents. Greer leaned against her father and closed her eyes. She still had two more hours to wait, but in the meantime, she could take a quick nap. Her dad folded an arm around her and pulled a blanket over her shoulders.

  * * *

  The beginning of the parade was still a few blocks away, and people stirred restlessly. Chelsea had volunteered to sneak into the area where the banners were held so she could see which floats won the trophies, but Greer told her no. She wanted to be surprised.

  Suddenly the crowd jumped to its feet. The sound car and the pace car turned onto Colorado Boulevard, followed by the banner with the year’s theme. After the banner was the tournament president with the opening ceremonies. Music swelled with the marching band and a flyover by a B-2 Stealth Bomber. The parade had begun.

  Floats, marching bands, horse clubs and antique cars moved past, followed by the grand marshal. Greer clapped hard and then tried not to cry when the float from Brocade Industries moved past with no trophy banner. She crossed her fingers. More bands, more horses, a cavalry detachment from Arizona and then Logan’s float. No banner. He hadn’t won the Sweepstakes Trophy. She clenched her hands.

  Chelsea leaned toward her. “Brian Kellerman won’t be gloating this year.”

  More bands, more horses and the Rose Queen and her court floated by. Daniel’s float was turning the corner, and Greer squinted, trying to see. No banner. Daniel hadn’t won his trophy, either. She hoped he wasn’t too disappointed.

  “There’s always next year,” her father said, patting her knee. “But look. Your float for Trident Airlines won the President’s Trophy.”