There's something about Amanda, now and again.

Because primarily, she's a mother. That's her Role. But sometimes, she likes to forget all about her children and take care of her other babies in the flower shop. She putters, adding water here, arranging stems there, adjusting heat and taking wilted ones away to some unknown fate.

The flowers love her for it. She's their goddess. Everything is so simple when you're talking to flowers.

She doesn't have to worry about her girls or her boy or anything like that.

Putter, putter goes the flower shop lady.

There is something to be said for the healing power of plants. Jayme loves to go puttering in his own shop, but he is terribly messy at times and drives his hired help mad.

At present though Mr. Jayme MacAllaidair's own flower shop is closed for remodeling. He does miss the smell though, and so somehow he has wandered in here today.

He is dressed the way he would dress in his shop, minus the name tag. He's wearing a pair of pressed khakis and a short sleeved white button down. He is as usual immaculate, being a wizard does help keep your clothes looking nice if you care to.

He scratches his bald head trying to place a smell as he looks around. "Is that Wisteria?" He asks softly.

Amanda glances up, full of smiles, and answers "Yes indeed it is. It's happy because of all the rain." It didn't rain today, but it rained yesterday.

"Were you looking for anything in particular, or just looking around?" It's her normal customer-dealing-with question, phrased in her normal, motherly-friendly tones.

She's a cheerful person, is Amanda. Bluff, uncomplicated, unassuming, practical, cheerful.

And she didn't stop her work just because she was talking to him.

Ah, multitasking.

Multi-tasking, some people find it rude when Jayme does it, but his attention span wanders so much otherwise, it let's the man function.

"I am merely looking, well and smelling, if there is a charge to sniff, I will gladly pay." he says smiling.


He walks to a nearby shelf to admire some Orchids, then some large purple Tulips.
"Very nice selection. " he comments.

Amanda liked him. He was funny.

So many people didn't bother laughing in their daily lives. Or really looking around.

"No charge for looking, my dear man. If you have any questions, just shout. I have to go put these darlings," she hefted a bucket of tiny yellow flowers up (from the knees, she wasn't looking to kill her back) "in the back."

"Of coarse, don't let me keep you from getting anything done." he says while he has a southern accent when he speaks there is a faint trace of something else as well.

Questions about flowers, from Jayme, at one time he would have had so many it made him nervous. Now he'd likely ask more questions about how she cared for them than he would the actual flowers.

He continued walking and looking around. The shop was very orderly and all the plants seemed be thriving. Still he sniffed at the air, it wasn't just plants he could smell, or even any particular flower. He believed he smelled magic.

Oh, indeed he does. Amanda and magic are synonymous. She uses touches of it in everything, just for that special touch. Most of her flowers go out with tiny spells of peace, love, and relaxation inbedded in petals or scents.

She's a witch, after all. And most of her business is husbands looking for forgiving wives. She does what she can.

And flowers that are sometimes used in spells (like roses) usually have a little something extra added. A tad of benevolent power. A touch of help.

Amanda, destressing the world one flower at a time.

As a side note, on the accent?

Amanda very much liked the accent. Yummy.

Yes, he can tell these are special flowers. Jayme doesn't alter the flowers in his shop, the thought never really occured to him for starters. His shop, however isn't his passion, nor are his rental properties. His passion, talking to people and helping tham feel better was in part why he wanted to go back to college. Had he played less football the first time he attended he might have gotten closer to the mark with the degree he chose. He never used the degree he had now, most of his regular customers and his employees would no doubt be startled to learn he was actualy a physical therapist. With all those things cluttering up his mind, it had never occured to him to spell his plants.

He likes the purple Tulips, something about them seems to keep getting his attention. He finds himself looking at them for the fourth time now. It's something more than purple being his favorite color.He will not probe the flowers, that would be very rude, magic without permission in another spellcaster's space. No, Jayme has better manners than thet. However he is curious enough that he has decided to buy them.

He needs something else though, something to take to his friend in the mental hospital perhaps. He takes the Tulips to the counter and keeps looking. He'll know what he's looking for when he finds it, something calming.....

It might be more difficult for him, given that he isn't a witch. Amanda's magic is fine-tuned for exactly this application, and she's been doing it for years. She's good.

And here's Amanda, back again from her foray into the mysterious back of the shop, drying her hands on a scrap of towel. "Finding what you're looking for?"

If he asks her for advice, she can specifically spell something for the purpose. Most of the flowers on display are, well, generic in their spell-properties. She can do custom jobs, if she knows what people are trying to get.

It's doubtful he'd try, sometimes attention to detail is mentally staggering for poor Jayme.

"Something blue, and calming. A friend of mine needs more serenity in his life. I'm going to visit him in the hospital shortly." He says.

Then he adds,"How do you find time to Tweak them all?" He does look around to make sure no one else is about before he asks that. Nope indeed, he seems to be the only customer at the moment.

"Blue, blue... bluebells?" The little delicate blue flowers definitely fit her definition of calming.

And off she went, stopping with the bluebells for the main boquet, adding sprigs of a lacey white flower for accents, all the while explaining "It isn't really all that much work per day as long as I keep on top of them all. Most of them only have peace and relaxation charms anyway, and with the nightmares my kids used to have, I can do those in my sleep."

Especially Ted, who didn't deal well with the Sight and the scary images it brought him (until he concluded that they were only pictures and couldn't really happen; this has led to a whole new set of problems).

"Hospitals require a special touch- it'll only take a minute, no extra charge." She added the no extra charge bit with a smile, because after all, it is a business.

"Why thank you so much. And no charge for sniffing, excellent value." He says flashing his wide charming smile. Jayme tries to never take himself too seriously. He reaches for his wallet once everything is on the counter.

Poor Jenny must be rolling over in her grave, Jayme buying flowers from another shop. She would be mortified if she were alive. Let's be glad he isn't picking any up to visit her grave. I wonder if she would haunt him. Probably not.

Amanda grinned back at him. She did like the men with the senses of humor.

Speaking of which....

"I don't suppose you'd like to go out for coffee later?"

Don't look at her that way. Just 'cause she's a mom doesn't mean she can't date. And he likes flowers and is polite. In this day and age, that's rare as anything.

...her children would, of course, be horrified. Pooh to them, she'd say.

And while she's at the counter, ringing the flowers up, one hand is hovering over the bluebells.

Peace, sleep, healing. To those with magic, it'd look like a shower of faintly glowing sparks, landing like so many snowflakes all over the flowers, sitting a moment, and then melting into the delicate blue petals.

"That'll be 13.98." (If you have extensive knowledge of the flower industry and find this price completely awful, feel free to substitute a reasonable price or assume something is on sale.)

"Coffee, yes I do like coffee." He says handing her a twenty. "What time is good?" he asks, without missing a beat. Perhaps he's simply having a good day, normally Jayme flusters easily, he can be a bit bashful. Though recently he has been making a lot of new friends, ever since he quit seeing that quack of a grief counselor.

He's grinning as he accepts his change. "I'm Jayme, by the way." he says flashing his smile again.

"Amanda. Say, Saturday afternoon?" She can drop Teddy at the museum, the girls will be glad to see her gone... she can probably even get them to mind the store, for that matter. "Around one?"

This has cheered Amanda up immensely. It seems like aeons (well, years) since she's been on a date or anything. It was about time she went out and had some fun, now that the kids were old enough to be left alone for a bit.

She has finished enchanting the flowers, by the by, and they sparkle to magical sight.

It's quite pretty, in her humble opinion.

"Sounds good to me. Should I pick you up here then, Amanda?" he asks.

The flowers do have a pretty twinkle now. He hopes his friend will appreciate them, it's quite likely, Erik apreciates almost all of Jayme's thoughtfulness.

Jayme puts his wallet away before picking up the flowers gingerly.

Hm.

She didn't want to shock the girls too much. She'd tell them about her date at some point in the (distant) future.

"How about I meet you at the Bean?" She assumes he knows where it is, because really, who doesn't in this town?

He knows where it is, his countergirls are forever wanting things from there when he goes out to pick up lunch.

"Meet you there around one o'clock, Saturday. Yes, I can do that." He says smiling.
He's carefully craddling his purchases in one arm. " I look forward to seeing you then Amanda." He says with another flash of that brilliant smile of his.

"Have a good day." He says at the door as he pulls it opened to go.

He's a bit of a flirt, isn't he?

Amanda likes the smile well enough, but she likes the accent more. As I mentioned.

"You too, Jayme. See you Saturday!"

She's humming as she closes the register and goes back to work.

((You start thread in the Bean?))