Chapter 18

When he was released from the hospital, Brian insisted on going back to the estate he owned in Alpharietta. So, Sienna ended up driving him there, while he lamented about his beautiful car being gone. He had had the BMW for six years and had loved every chrome inch of it. Finally, Sienna told him that if he didn’t stop complaining soon, she would dump him out onto the highway. Though he knew she wouldn’t do that, he quieted down, anyway.

When they pulled through the gates of his home, Sienna looked around, admiring the beauty of the place.

“It’s forty two acres large,” Brian told her. “I’ve been over all forty two and love every square foot of it.”

The house was a lovely brick and wood structure. Flowerbeds bloomed beautifully in front of the house, and Sienna knew that there was a large garden in the back with fountains and pathways. Brian had talked about it when they had planted his gardens in Lexington.

Brian limped to the door and unlocked it.

“Home sweet home,” he murmured, stepping in.

Sienna followed him in and grinned. “Brian, this place is beautiful! I can definitely understand why you’d want to stay here. Did you pick out all this beautiful furniture?” she asked, admiring the luxurious furnishings in the parlor.

“Wait until you see the kitchen,” he promised her, then winced a little.

“Oh, Brian! You need to sit down,” she said and helped over to an armchair. “I bet your head is killing you. Do you want anything for it?”

Brian shook his head. “No, no. My head feels fine. My side just hurts a little bit when I walk.”

Sienna sat down in a chair across from him. “Then, I guess you just won’t be walking anywhere.”

“What about the bathroom?” he wondered.

Sienna rolled her eyes. “I meant unnecessary walking. If you need anything to eat or drink or to take your medicine, I’ll do it. Okay?”

Brian nodded.

Later that night, after she had given him medicine that knocked him out, she called Faith to tell her that she planned on staying in Atlanta for awhile. Faith would have to work the shop for at least the next four days. When Faith complained, Sienna promised that she would be paid extra. Faith relented, then asked how Brian was doing.

“It’s been all over the news, you know,” she informed Sienna. “You were on there, too. I liked the dress, except you looked really upset. EXTRA says that you’re Brian’s new girlfriend. Is that true, Si? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

Sienna sighed. “Why did I think I wouldn’t show up in tabloids? Yes, Brian and I decided to date,” she told Faith and winced at the shrieking sound that came over the receiver.

After calming her cousin down and reminding her to check various things at the shop each day, she hung up. She walked back into Brian’s room to make sure he was asleep and found herself watching him. How had he come to be a central part of her life in such a short amount of time? she wondered. When she began to leave the room to hunt out another room for herself, she was stopped.

“Don’t go,” Brian called to her. “Just stay with me. Please.”

Sienna looked into midnight blue eyes and ended up sleeping with her head cushioned on his good arm and her hand resting over his heart.

The following morning, she woke before him and, dressing quickly, began to wander through the rest of the house while coffee brewed. She found lovely furnishings in every room, and dozens of pictures were scattered throughout the house. Many were of the Boys on the tour bus, backstage, and at home. There was a candid taken during what looked like a barbecue, where Kevin seemed to be yelling at AJ for burning the meat. Nick and Howie were laughing at them, while Brian and Leighanne were engrossed in each other, smiling at each other.

“Kristin took that picture,” Brian explained, as he moved slowly into the room and saw what she was looking at. “We had gotten a two day break on the Millenium tour. Finally. Kevin came up with the idea of a barbecue, so we managed to finesse a barbecue grill for the secret villa we were staying in off of Route 1, outside of Big Sur in California. Man, AJ wanted to try his hand at grilling and, when he burned it all, Kevin was so pissed. It was classic,” he smiled, remembering.

“So, who else was there besides you guys, Kristin, and Leighanne?” Sienna asked.

Brian cocked his head to one side, trying to remember. “I think Mandy was there. Oh, yeah, she was. I think she was in the kitchen with the Wrights when this picture was taken,” he told her, then, wincing a little, he lowered himself into a chair. “Is that coffee I smell?” he wondered.

Sienna smiled, shaking off the irrational envy she felt. “Yes, that’s coffee. Unfortunately, the medicine you’re taking warns against taking any caffeinated beverage at the same time. So, you’re stuck with tea.”

“That’s just wrong,” Brian replied, shaking his head. “So, so wrong. And cruel. What am I going to do without coffee, baby?”

Sienna shrugged and gave him an innocent look. “I don’t know. Don’t look at me. Do you want to go into the kitchen, so we can see what we can whip up for you?”

When Brian nodded, she helped him into the kitchen. As she made the pancakes that he requested, Sienna asked herself why she was suddenly so jealous of Brian and Leighanne’s past together. It made no sense because what they had was done. It was over, and it was obvious that both of them had moved on. But, Sienna couldn’t help but wonder if Brian would ever look at her in that tender way he had looked at Leighanne in that picture.

That afternoon, she brought up the fact that she would have to go home soon, and Brian insisted that she needed to stay.

“That way, we can work on this relationship that we’ve just started, and you can help me heal faster,” he reasoned.

Sienna sighed. “Brian, I can’t. I want to, but I have a business to run. It’s not going to run itself, you know.”

“I know, I know. Isn’t Faith taking care of it, though?” he asked.

Sienna shook her head. “For now, but only because I told her I’d pay her extra. Besides, classes for the fall semester are starting next week, and then who’ll run the shop for me? I really do need to go back, Bri.”

Brian sighed. “All right. You’re right. I just want to keep you here as long as I can. I’m feeling selfish about us.”

“Are you serious about staying here, Brian?” she wondered.

He ran a hand over his face. “I thought I was for sure. Now, I’m not sure at all. I love my home here because this,” he gestured around him, “this is my home. This is where I’m most comfortable. But, I don’t want a long-distance relationship with you, Sienna.”

“Uh-uh, no way. Stop right now, Brian. I am not going to be the reason you leave your home and stay in Lexington,” she told him, firmly.

He shook his head. “My family’s up there, too. I don’t know what I want, Sienna. Really, the only clear thing I want is you.”

She smiled and moved to him. “Then we’ll stay with that for a bit,” she told him and kissed him.

Three days later, she left Atlanta and made Brian promise not to lift anything heavy, sit down a lot, and, if he wanted, just live in front of the television for the next three weeks. She had already talked to Leighanne about driving him to the hospital when he needed to get his stitches out. If she felt a twinge about putting Brian and Leighanne together, she squashed it, reminding herself that Brian was with her, and Leighanne had her own family.

Getting back to work was a relief, and Sienna relished being in her shop again. However, every customer that came into the store would ask her about Brian, and, when Mrs. Gaiman came back, she remarked that she had always known Brian would be the one to sweep her off her feet. Sienna had blushed and waved it all off, saying that it was she who had swept Brian off his feet.

Each night, Sienna and Brian talked on the phone, and, he got into the habit of calling her during the workday, just so he could hear her voice.

“It’s helping me recover when I hear your voice,” he explained when she told him that he couldn’t keep calling her while she was working.

Sienna had smiled, secretly thrilled. “Alright,” she relented. “If it’s helping you recover, then you can call whenever.”

In mid-September, Sienna finally gave in and realized that she really did need another person that would work at Sienna’s Flowers full time. She hired a young woman, freshly graduated from the University of North Carolina. Marlena Gregory was a born flower expert, Sienna learned quickly. She told Sienna that she had been helping her mother plant flowers since she was three. The two women bonded like sisters while planting daffodil bulbs in Sienna’s greenhouse. Though Sienna knew Marlena and Faith were nearly the same age, she realized that she liked the way Marlena was the complete opposite. She could be quiet as a mouse one moment, and Sienna would not hear a sound from her all day when she put Marlena to set up different displays. And she knew how to make the displays to perfection, and, sometimes, Sienna knew Marlena’s displays were better than hers. Yet, the young woman was still very nervous about her work, except when it came to what the flowers needed.

“We’re, what I like to call, Plant Whisperers,” Marlena said to Sienna one day.

“Plant Whisperers?” Sienna wondered.

“Yeah, you know, like the horse whisperer. When we want flowers to do something, we have the special touch that will make them grow exactly the way we want them to. I always talk to flowers. It’s soothing for both of us, I think,” Marlena explained.

“Huh,” Sienna said, realizing that she did feel the same way.

The bell on the door jingled as the two of them set up a display of late fall flowers. Sienna looked over to see who had walked in, then let out a squeal.

“Brian!” she called out happily as she ran towards him. At the last moment, she remembered his injuries and hugged him gently. But, his arms came around her hard, and he tipped her chin up to lay his lips on her in a kiss that left her breathless.

“How’s your arm? Your side? How do you feel?” she asked him when she could breathe again.

Brian turned his arm. “Back to normal, and the scar from the stitches is fading really fast. The ribs can be occasionally sore still, but they’re almost perfect, too.”

“What about the headaches you got from the concussion?”

Brian knocked his fist against his head. “Gone,” he told her with a grin.

When she looped her arms around him for another kiss, he tapped her nose. “I believe we have an audience,” he told her and looked over her shoulder.

Sienna turned, then smiled. “Marlena! Come on over here,” she called over to Marlena, who was blushing at having been discovered watching the couple, fascinated.

She walked over to Brian and Sienna and held out a hand to Brian. “Hi, I’m Marlena,” she said.

Brian shook her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Marlena. I’m Brian.”

“I know,” she said, then blushed at being too forward.

Brian glanced at the nametag she wore. “So, Sienna finally broke down and hired someone to help her out, huh?” He grinned at Sienna. “I told you to do that months ago, baby.”

“I know, but I hadn’t found anyone so enthusiastic with flowers until Marlena. She’s great,” Sienna told him.

Brian turned to Marlena and smiled. “You must really be incredible because Sienna thinks that she is one of the select few to be blessed with an amazing green thumb.”

Marlena blushed again. “Thanks. I’ve been gardening since I was three. And, I graduated with a degree in botany from UNC in June. Plants are my world, and I’m really glad Sienna hired me.”

“Wonderful,” Brian said. “You’re going to have to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn’t overdo it, though. I’ve seen it a couple times, and she’ll never admit to it, either.”

“Because I’ve never overdone it. I always know my limits,” Sienna said, primly.

Brian and Marlena rolled their eyes simultaneously and laughed. “I’ll definitely keep an eye on her for you. You know, daily reports and all. Anyway, I’d better get that display done and get home, Sienna. It was nice meeting you, Brian,” Marlena added.

“You, too,” Brian told her. “By the way, were you a fan?”

“*N Sync the whole way,” she called over her shoulder, grinning when she saw his crestfallen expression.

Brian shook his head, sadly. “There’s one in every flower shop.”

Sienna laughed and, hooking an arm through his, walked to the back room. “So, tell me, Brian, what are you doing in Lexington?”

He sat in a chair and leaned back, watching her. “I decided to stay here. But not because of you,” he added quickly when she opened her mouth. “I realized that there’s nothing in Atlanta for me, right now. The Hearts Club is here, so my work is here. I’ve got family here, too. And, you, of course,” he added, reaching out and lacing his fingers with hers. “Plus, I’m looking to sign with a Christian label soon. Every label is located somewhere between Tennessee and Missouri, so Lexington’s a central base for me. And, it’s home. It’s my hometown, and, so, here I am,” he finished.

Sienna smiled and squeezed his hand. “I’m glad. I’m so glad because I didn’t know what I would do if you were far away. So, now what?”

“Now, you close up shop, and I’ll wait for you. Then, we’ll go out for dinner to celebrate. My treat,” he added.

“Don’t worry,” she told him. “I wasn’t thinking about paying anyway.” And she walked back into the storefront with his laughter trailing behind her.

***

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