Frankincense & Lavender

Sandy wasn’t goin to let on that she saw Cedric’s reflection in the window walkin up on her.

Sure, she saw a figure headed in her direction with the little bit of peripheral vision she had left, but Sandy was also extremely nearsighted and had a stigmatism. She needed them blended biofocals and although they make em better now-a-days, for whatever reason they still made Sandy a lil dizzy and off center, so she decided not to wear them at all.

That decision was probably to her detriment because her vision was, in fact, getting worse. That’s why Cedric was one of many shadows that was reflected in the patio door window that morning.

Sandy honestly thought Cedric was a damn tree.

Until he moved, that is.

The first time Sandy bumped into Cedric she wasn’t watchin where she was goin cuz she was too busy chasin after Minnie and didn’t bother to look at anything else.

That’s how she literally ran right into Cedric even though he was wearing damn near day-glo orange.

But this particular morning, Cedric had the audacity to wear neutral colors causing him to become camouflaged into the horizon.

So when Sandy saw the “tree” move his trunk and stride towards her apartment building in the reflection of her patio doors, she smirked and decided she was fittin to berate the man for showin up all unannounced.

Even though she secretly liked it,and Cedric. But she would never admit that to herself let alone that man.

So when he walked up on her then put his hands on his hips to survey what Sandy was doin, Sandy smirked, sucked her teeth and gently spun around on the step-stool so she could face Cedric.

“May I help you?” She asked with mimicked disdain dripping from her pouty mouth.

Cedric rolled his eyes and said, “Fix your face and drop the act, woman. Ain’t nobody sniffin up behind you; I just noticed from the road there that you was havin a little bit of difficulty hangin your plants and I wanted to offer my assistance.”

Still smirking with one hand on her hip, she steps off of the stool and hands Cedric the plant she was gonna hang up, “You saw me from the road?” Sandy asked him as if she was unconvinced, “Cuz you looked like you came right out of the bark of one of those oaks like you was a Spirit of the Woods or somethin,”

“Or you need to wear your glasses more often than when you just lookin at TV, there lil lady. And speakin of lookin, now that I’m taking a gander at your planter here, I’ve got just the hooks ya need, cuz I was fittin to use em on Minnie’s leash, but you know how that worked out…”

After Cedric’s explanation, Sandy just kinda shrugged and looked back up at the spot where she was gonna hang her plant and then kinda looked back at Cedric , pointed and said, “Soooo…”

Cedric cut her off, “So, with your permission lil lady, I’m gonna take this here planter home, make sure the hooks fit right, then bring it back with some salsa and chips and we can talk about what else you did today?”

If there was something Sandy was sure of it was the fact that she could not hide her emotions. They would show themselves on her face like the ticker tape at the bottom of the cable news channels which announced the headlines for the day.

And Sandy was tired of puttin up a front for Cedric anyway so she said, “Well it’s a good thing I spent all day doing my end of Spring cleaning, because now I guess I’m having company,margaritas and salsa.”

And she winked.

Cedric winked back

***Folgers Dark Silk with a 🍓 lemonade 🌱💨