***
Kristen arrived home from her morning stint at the soup kitchen. She pulled out her phone to check messages, but realized the battery was dead. She plugged it into the charger in the kitchen and walked outside.
Kristen found herself standing in front of the garden bench overlooking her mother’s rock garden. Hundreds of miniature alpine plants grew among the rocks, some rare and some common, but each beautiful in its own way. This early in the season not too much was blooming, but the aubrietia carpeted the area beside the dwarf Alberta spruce in bright pink, while miniature yellow jonquils poked through mats of blue creeping phlox. Over in the corner, a large clump of species tulips pushed their heads through the mulch, promising a colorful bloom before long.
Kristen bent to pull some weeds. She had fallen behind in her weeding chores, and the garden was beginning to be overgrown. Her mother would never have let it get into this condition.
How she missed her parents. If Mom had been there to advise her, she never would have handled the situation with Matt so poorly. Of course, if her father were here, she never would have even had to deal with it. Dad would be handling the business and Kristen would be focusing solely on the wedding. Kristen smiled to herself. Her parents would love Matt. Her mom would be feeding him homemade dinners and her dad would be dragging him around to museums and auctions.
“Kristen?” Donna’s voice was calling. “Kristen I saw your car. Are you here?”
“Over here,” Kristen called.
Donna found her beside the garden. “How charming. This is your mother’s rock garden? ”
Kristen nodded. “She loved to work in the garden.” Kristen mentally changed gears from her feelings of nostalgia and moved back into wedding mode. “Well, Donna, one day to go. Remember we’re getting mani pedis and our hair done in the morning.”
Donna seemed excited about something. “Kristen, have you talked with Matt?”
“No, I just got home and my phone battery is dead. Why, what’s up?”
“It was Heather. The bookkeeper. She was funneling money to herself through dummy businesses.”
“So Matt is completely cleared?”
Donna nodded. “The bookkeeper was rigging the system. Sadly, it’s a fairly frequent occurrence among small businesses with few employees.”
Kristen grabbed Donna and hugged her. “Thank you Donna. That is wonderful news.” She ran for the door. “I have to go see Matt.”