Karter stared at the flowers, then back at me, grinning, but Mom was about to flip.

“It’s okay,” I said. “He knows.”

“You—you told him?” Mom was trying her hardest to sound calm.

“She showed me,” Karter said.

Mo grinned. “Y’all have been in that garden so much I figured he had to know something. Making friends, girlfriends, and money? We hit the jackpot out here, huh?”

I reached into the paper and grasped the daisies by the stems. The bouquet burst to life, sprouting a dozen more blooms as roots broke from the paper and reached for the ground, looking for dirt to bury themselves in.

“I think these will have to go in a pot,” I said. Mom took the flowers from me and set them aside.

“Ready?” he asked.

I gave Mom and Mo a hug and waved at them as we got in the truck and pulled off.

“I’m guessing you didn’t share your talents with your friends back home?” Karter asked.

I shook my head. “I tried to. I wanted to. But it never worked out right.”

“I’m glad you shared it with me,” he said. “I wish I had some hidden talent to show you, but I have zero cool abilities.” He laughed. “Oh, I won a spelling bee in the eighth grade, so if you need me to spell the word ‘advantageous,’ I’m on it.”

“Good to know,” I said, laughing.

“You liked the flowers?” he asked.

“I loved them.”

“I had a feeling if I brought flowers, you’d show off. I’ve been thinking about everything you can do and sometimes I wonder if it’s real, if that makes sense?”

“I get it,” I said. “It’s nice to not have to hide it. It feels great, actually.”

After trying and failing to get a signal on the radio he switched it off. “Let’s talk about this movie. We have two choices. One is a romantic comedy, and the other one is some indie horror movie. A vampire thing.”

“I love scary movies,” I said.

“Me too,” he said. “I don’t really like jump scares though, you know? I like horror movies that make you think. You seen Get Out?”

“Yes!” I was excited that we had a similar taste in movies. “Not gonna lie. When we first got here, that’s all that was going through my head. ‘Please don’t let an old white lady take over my body.’ ”

We laughed ourselves to tears as we pulled onto Market Street, parked, and got out. Trees draped in strings of white lights lit up the block.