“Isn’t it Obvious?” Part One
This year to celebrate my birthday, I decided to write a story just for you! Enjoy!
Jasmine Reeves halted as soon as she saw her desk. A giant vase, full of pink and red roses, tulips, and peonies, sat between her computer monitor and a stack of files.
Who in the world had sent her flowers?
Today was her birthday. She hadn’t exactly kept that fact a secret, so there were a lot of possibilities. There must be a card or something inside the bouquet to tell her who they’d come from.
She searched through the red and pink blooms for a moment before finding a little white envelope with a note inside.
“Happy Birthday to a beautiful and captivating woman. I hope your day is as lovely as you are.”
She flipped the paper over to the back. There was nothing else. No signature. She couldn’t even make a guess based on handwriting since the message had been printed using a computer.
Captivating. What an interesting word. It almost sounded romantic.
She’d started the morning very disappointed to be working on her birthday. But these flowers sure made the trip to the office worthwhile.
Any other day of the year, Jasmine loved her job in the Acquisitions Department at the Highland Public Library. She’d been thrilled to land a position in the beautiful brick building downtown. Walking through the glass double doors, smelling coffee brewing at the tiny cafe in the lobby, spending her time among thousands of books—she loved it all. Just not on her birthday.
There wasn’t much worse than fluorescent lights and a gray cubicle on what was supposed to be the best day of the year. Jasmine had hoped to be sleeping late or brunching with friends right now. But instead she’d used up her few days of paid time off for Christmas vacation and a last-minute road trip to see her college friends for their spring break. They were all finishing up their senior years and she was working a real, adult job with no breaks for spring, summer, fall, or winter.
Jasmine pulled out her phone to snap some pictures. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gotten flowers and she definitely wanted to document this moment. She inhaled deeply with her nose in the middle of a bright red rose. They smelled almost as good as they looked. If only she knew who’d sent them.
A strange uneasiness grew in her belly. She was single, no husband or boyfriend or anything remotely close. What if the flowers had been sent by a strange man? Someone with bad intentions?
Jasmine had to figure out who’d given her the bouquet.
A cellophane package beside the flowers caught her eye. Inside were two pink cookies, and on the outside a bright yellow sticker read “Happy Birthday, Jasmine! From your coworkers at HPL”
Lisa, the branch manager at Highland was good about remembering birthdays with treats of some kind. In the short time Jasmine had worked there, Lisa never failed to make her feel welcomed. Jasmine knew she’d also have a shared birthday cake to look forward to at their monthly branch meeting.
Had Lisa sent the flowers? No, definitely not. But she might have seen who did.
Unfortunately, Jasmine had a virtual pile of spreadsheets to work through before she could even think about flowers or birthdays or anything but library books.
Happy Birthday to me.
“Hey, Jas.” Dylan Holloway, Jasmine’s work buddy, walked through the door at a quarter to one. “Happy Birthday!” He always gave the best hugs, and today was no exception.
“Thank you.” Jasmine pulled back from his embrace to grin up at him.
“Are we grabbing birthday tacos for lunch?”
“Yes, please! I’ve been looking forward to it all morning.” She stepped aside so Dylan could get a full view of the floral arrangement on her desk. “But first I need to figure out who sent me these flowers.”
“Oh?” Dylan’s eyebrows shot up. He stepped closer. “No card or anything?”
“There was a note but no signature.” She shrugged and handed the paper to him.
Dylan flipped it from front to back. “And you have no idea who might have sent you flowers on your birthday?” He tipped his head at her, waiting, as if the answer should be obvious.
“I have too many ideas, actually. It could have been someone from the office or a friend. Or maybe my parents.”
“You think so?” Dylan twisted his lips. “Do your parents often call you captivating?”
“Well, no.” Jasmine took the note back from Dylan. She scooped up her purse and grabbed his arm. “Come with me. Let’s ask Lisa if she knows anything.”
“Lisa is your first guess? You think those are from our branch manager?”
“Not her necessarily. But she might know who sent them. She sees everything in this place.” Jasmine’s eyes widened as she tugged Dylan toward Lisa’s office.
She knocked on the door. “Hey, Lisa.”
“Hi, Jasmine.” Lisa’s fingers hovered over her keyboard, but she pulled them back in and rested her hands on the desk.
“Dylan and I are headed out for lunch. Do you need anything?”
“Oh, no. Thank you.” Lisa smiled warmly back at her. “Are you having a nice birthday?”
“Yes, and thank you for the cookies.”
Dylan cleared his throat beside her.
“I have a question for you.” Jasmine bit her lip. “I got a really nice bouquet of flowers from someone. And I would love to thank them, but the note was unsigned.” She held out the card, by way of reference, and Lisa took it from her. Jasmine hadn’t meant to share the message with many other people, and now she blushed as she watched Lisa read.
Lisa looked back and forth between Jasmine and Dylan. “Wow. I don’t know who sent these.” She handed the card back to Jasmine with a smirk. “Sorry.”
“Okay, well thanks. Sorry to bother you.” She tapped the doorframe and stepped back. “See you in an hour.”
“Bye. Have fun, you two.”
Jasmine thought she heard a chuckle as the door closed behind her. Lisa sure was acting strangely.
Dylan sighed. “Now can we get tacos? I’m starving.”
Jasmine swiveled to face her friend. “I can’t let this go. I’ve got to find out who sent me the flowers.”
Dylan pouted a little. She’d never call it that to his face because pout was not a very masculine word. But he definitely stuck out his lip when he was feeling hangry or grouchy and she’d always thought it was kind of cute.
“We can do both.” She grabbed his hands in hers. “We can swing by my dad’s office on the way to the taco stand. And I’ll make a couple phone calls on the way.”
He groaned. “Am I driving on this wild goose chase?” He started for the exit without checking to see if she was following.
Jasmine skipped a little as she caught up to his long stride. “A quest. We’re going on a birthday quest to find the giver of flowers.”
Quest had a nice ring to it.
“Fine. As long as I get some tacos. And soon.” Dylan pressed the button on his key fob and stepped in front of Jasmine to open the car door.
Huh. “Well, thank you, sir.”
Dylan shrugged. “Can’t have you opening your own doors on your birthday.”
Jasmine sighed as she plopped into the passenger seat. This day had gotten very exciting.
Thanks for reading! Come back every day this week for the rest of the story.
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