Chapter Text
As a florist, Sam very much enjoyed his work, most of the time. Dean handled a lot of the hard labor – making sure the flowers were kept chilled and watered, keeping track of their inventory, receiving shipments, and yelling at suppliers when shipments were late or wrong. That left Sam free to handle going out to get more local supplies, design arrangements, and take care of the paperwork. It was a good system that worked well, and their front desk clerk Jo kept either of them from having to deal with people most of the time.
Most of the time, Sam loved it. May was the exception. He and Dean both struggled with the demands of Mother’s Day. Working on the arrangements only made Dean remember their mother. Sam didn’t even have that. He couldn’t remember his mother at all. Normally, the best way for Sam to forget something that was bothering him was to throw himself into work – the distraction of Valentine’s Day helped him forget that when he went home, he was alone there. Mother’s Day didn’t work like that. Work just reminded him that his mother had been gone almost all his life.
Most of the vendors at the farmer’s market knew Sam, and either left him alone or sympathized with him in the week leading up to Mother’s Day. One of his favorites was Hannah Michelin, the person who ran Heaven’s Iris’s stall. Outwardly, she didn’t mention a thing or say anything that would indicate that this week was any different from any other week, but she’d have a box containing a “defective” iris she discovered while she was setting up that she would insist Sam take with him. Sam never could see the defects she was talking about, but Hannah refused payment when Sam offered it the next week. After the second time, Sam accepted the gift for what it was.
He’d saved Heaven’s Iris for last, so it was quite the disappointment when he got there and Hannah wasn’t running the stall. The man running it seemed to be a perfectly nice guy, based on how he was interacting with the customers ahead of Sam, but he wasn’t Hannah. Just what he needed today. Still, he could definitely use the flowers he bought from them, so he stuck to the plan. Get what he wanted and get out so he could be back at his shop by eight.
When he handed over his card to pay, the man looked at it and narrowed his eyes. While the machine was running, he reached under the table and pulled out a box. “My sister told me to watch for you and give you this when you came. She said you would understand.”
Sam opened the box to find two irises, one blue and one white. There was a note tucked between them. He decided to read the note later and closed the box up, smiling at the guy. “Be sure to tell Hannah thank you from me. Where is she?”
“She broke her leg last week, and Father didn’t want her trying to work the market when she can barely stand.”
“Oh, no! I’m sorry to hear that and hope she has an uncomplicated recovery.”
“I’ll pass that along to her along with your thanks.” He handed Sam back the card.
At the shop, once the flowers were handed over to Dean to put away and add to the inventory, Sam got to work. The first thing he did was put together an arrangement of bright, cheerful flowers surrounding a single blue iris. He added a card – “We had a buildup of defective flowers and I thought you might like them” – and marked them for delivery to Heaven’s Iris for Hannah. That done, he started working on the rest of the orders for the day, which kept him busy until Dean smacked the back of his head. “It’s 2 o’clock, dude. Go eat something.”
“Is it? Huh.” Sam waved him off. “I’m not hungry, and I’ve still got a few orders that I need to get done because they’re getting picked up today.”
“After four. I checked. You’ve got time to take fifteen and sit down and eat something before you pass out. You’re starting to look a little shaky, man. I know this time of year’s hard on you, but you gotta eat, dude.”
“I’m fine, Dean.” Sam tucked a pink carnation into the arrangement he was working on. “I’ll probably be finished in an hour, and then I’ll eat. I promise.”
“Yeah, if you haven’t passed out by then,” Jo tossed back from the front counter. “Don’t make me call Mom.”
Ellen would leave her bar and march down to the shop to drag Sam back with her and force-feed him lunch. Sam so did not have time for that. “Fine. At least let me finish this one that I’m working on right now. I’m almost done, five minutes, tops. Okay?”
“Five minutes, and then I’m strapping you to a chair and airplaning your food at you if you haven’t headed for the food refrigerator,” Dean promised.
When Sam grabbed his chicken salad, he spotted the box and remembered the note that was in it. He hadn’t thought of it all day – too busy – but now he had some free time and brain. Might as well read while he ate. Less temptation to just wolf it down and be back at work in five minutes, incurring Dean’s wrath and risking Ellen’s. The handwriting was fancy, rather old-fashioned, but easy to read.
Sam –
I’m sorry I missed you today. It’ll probably be a few weeks before Dad lets me work the market again, which is fine by me except for missing this week. It’ll give you a chance to meet my brother Castiel. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned him – our local beekeeper. I think you’ll really like him, if you give him a chance. He knows I’m giving you his phone number. He’ll still be surprised if you actually call, but that’s him not believing anyone would do it, not him not knowing you have his number.
Sam stared at the note, quickly shoving it into his jacket pocket when Dean came in to check on him. The last thing he needed was Dean teasing him about this. Dean gave him an odd look, but didn’t comment on it, instead handing him the phone. “Some chick calling to talk to you specifically. She wouldn’t tell me what it was about, so probably expects you to drop everything and make her an arrangement to pick up in fifteen minutes.”
Sam huffed in amusement and took the phone. That had happened a couple times, and they usually refused to believe that their demands were unreasonable and impossible. One of the nice things about working for himself and his brother – he didn’t have to play nice because of some ridiculous corporate policy. “Hello, this is Sam.”
“Hi, Sam. I heard your partner, and no, I do not expect you to drop everything and make me an arrangement. You already did.” Hannah. Sam relaxed, a huge smile coming to his face. “Charlie just dropped off the flowers. They’re lovely. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Why doesn’t your brother believe anyone would call him?”
Sam could hear the eyeroll. “He’s awkward, somewhat shy, and gets along better with bees than people. He figures that the one constant in every failed friendship or romantic relationship he’s ever had is him, and therefore he’s the reason he can’t seem to have one. You strike me as the kind of guy who can handle the awkward.”
“Because I’ve got it too?”
“Exactly. Once you get through the awkward, Castiel is a great guy. I figured the worst that happened is you didn’t call, or you called but it didn’t work out. Castiel wouldn’t be any worse off. But if it does, and he gets a friend out of it…”
“Heh. I’ll think about it. I hope things go well for you in recovery. I need to get back to work. I’ll be glad when this month is over.” He hung up the phone and only too late realized that Dean had been standing there listening the whole time. “Oh, don’t start.”
“Dude, I will do your remaining work for you if that’s what it takes to get you to call this guy.”
Sam groaned. “Don’t do that. You’re great at taking care of the flowers, but you can’t arrange them to save my life. I’ll call him. Later.” Sam ate the last couple bites of his salad. “I’m getting back to work. The less you argue, the more time I’ll have to call later.”