hurricane.

“Magdalena and Cara,” Gabe repeated, nodding his head. “Actually, Cara– it really looks like your mom knows what she’s doin’. I’m gonna guess this is not the first scraped knee she’s treated.”

This was nice, in a way. Being a trauma nurse, every injury Gabe came across was– well… traumatic. He was used to blood and things that should not have been exposed being exposed and many raised voices. Here, there were barely even any tears. Though it did seem like Magdalena might cry, so as Gabe reached for his wallet, he smiled at her. “Maybe you should have a little water, Mama,” he encouraged, nodding towards the bottle. Ever prepared, he pulled a little packet from his wallet – an antiseptic wipe, which he used to swipe over the girl’s knee for good measure. “Sorry, Cara. I bet that stung a little. – Y’all doin’ okay today, other than this?”

“Her father’s a vet tech,” Magdalena said as if that explained why she was able to more or less bandage her daughter up efficiently. In truth, she was more panicked than efficient. Even if the scrapes were supercial. Eve if Cara would forget about them in a few minutes’ time and return to playing. There was no way for Maggie to forget the sickening feeling in her gut that accompanied any accident that Cara had. It simply grew worse every time. 

He chuckles and nods. “I had a feeling you would.” He knew Cara was trying to pester her mother into getting a puppy. He wasn’t much of a help bringing Chuck around but Chuck loved Cara and was already so protective of her. And with Chuck around he knew it didn’t help Magdalena’s cause. Still he tried to be supportive of her decision and atleast let Cara give all her love to Chuck when she could. Cutting a couple pieces he smiled over to Mags as he handed her one. “I would expect nothing less. Cara already gave me the ‘you’re turning 30 that’s so ooold speech” 

Rowan thought his story would at least make her smile, but he could see she had a rough day and he knew a lot about them, so he wanted to try to help her make it a bit better. Rowan got a box of chocolate “You get yourself the flowers because like you say you have won them and I will get you these box of chocolates.”

“I appreciate that,” Magdalena said as she selected a bouquet of daisies. They were simple flowers, but beautiful. “Do you have a favorite flower?”

“There’s no need to apologize.” Isabel said with a smile on her lips, rushing both mother and daughter further into the apartment with a wave of her hand. “When you have to go, you have to go, right?” She asked the little girl as she guided them to the bathroom and chuckled softly as she opened the bathroom door for her and after Cara had rushed in, too, Isabel let go of the doorknob in case the girl’s mother wanted to go in too. She looked old enough to handle herself, but since Isabel wasn’t a mother, she couldn’t know for sure. Once everything was ready and the door was shut, Isa leaned back against the nearest wall, stretching her legs in front of herself and pointed to herself. “I’m Isabel. Nice to meet you, Maggie. You can call me Bel or Isa if you’d like. You’re the fashion designer, right? Carly’s talked a lot about you.” She said with a smile.

Maggie’s question caused Isabel to press her lips together into a thin smile as she shook her head because, as much as she wanted to, asking that of Carly almost felt like she would be imposing–since her friend didn’t pay rent. Even if she shouldn’t feel like that, after all, if Isabel asked, she was sure Carly wouldn’t mind letting her move in. “No, no… but I’m pretty much here all the time, so it’s almost as if I were? I mean… I have the key to her apartment anyway. How old’s your little one?”

Magdalena appreciated that the other woman was kind and spoke gently to Cara. Not everyone would allow a perfect stranger into an apartment, especially one that wasn’t theirs, even if the stranger in question was trailed by a rather adorable six-year-old. “Good to meet you too,” Magdalena returned, as she waited for Cara for to finish in the restroom. “I’m the fashion designer, yes.” It was still strange to her to think about the different ways people knew her. For so long, she’d been Mr. and Mrs. Brooks’ daughter. Then, she’d been Graham’s girlfriend. Then Cara’s mother. She was still getting used to being identified as something outside of those role markers, as something that was solely dependent on her rather than on her relationships with others, and she was a bit surprised that Carly had mentioned her. “Only good things, I hope.” 

Maggie nodded as Isabela spoke. She had friends like that, who were always at her home and who she trusted with keys to her place simply because they were more family than they were friends. At the mention of the little one, the bathroom door opened and Cara exited hands still slightly wet. Magdalena bent to help her wipe them better as she answered the question. “She’s six. At least, for a few more weeks. We’re excited for the birthday. Aren’t we, Cara?” She smiled in the direction of the small girl, pulling her closer to her body. “Thank you so much for this. I don’t know what we would’ve done if you hadn’t been here. My poor child would have probably exploded.” 

Gray chuckles as he steps inside and running a hand through his still drying hair. “Hey now, I had to stop at home to take a quick shower and make sure I don’t smell like wet dog.” He grins spotting the cake. He couldn’t say how much it meant to him that she remembered his birthday. To be honest she might be the only person it town that actually knew he’d just turned 30. He didn’t broadcast it much, hell he’d barely even thought of it until Mags mentioned it. “You really didn’t have to but I appreciate this Mags I really do.” He leans down to kiss Cara’s head tickling her side a little before picking up the knife. “You know I was half expecting you to make and old guy joke” 

“And we definitely appreciate it,” Magdalena agreed. Tardiness could be excused when the excuse was as good as that one. These last few weeks, Magdalena had spent a lot of time explaining to Cara why they couldn’t have a puppy. There was nothing she could say to the little girl that made sense to her. Magdalena loved animals, but she hated the nuances that came with them -- having to walk them, cleaning up after them, the way the house tended to smell because of them. Of course, none of them made any sense to a six-year-old, especially since her daddy had something of a revolving door policy when it came to cute pets. “Ahh shush.” She brushed off the comment easily before grinning. “I was trying to be nice. If you’d waited another five minutes, I would've made up for it.” 

Ethan smiled over at Magdalena. She couldn’t help but overhear, and she felt like giving some input to make her feel a little better about the situation. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of people I witness buy flowers for themselves.” Sometimes it was almost funny. Sometimes it was sad. The thought that someone could be that lonely. “And that’s just to my knowledge. I wonder how many customers go home and take pictures of their arrangements to make people believe they have a significant other.”

“See, that’s an entirely different situation.” The words sounded like an excuse even to her own ears, but Magdalena didn’t think she’d hit rock bottom as yet. At least, not the kind of rock bottom that involved passing off gifts she’d bought for herself as having come from a sweetheart. “If these flowers end up on instagram, you can believe that I’ll be taking credit for buying them. Not passing them off from some fake signifcant other. No one gets credit for buying me things unless they actually spent their own money to buy me them. Unless it’s my kid. She gets a free pass until she starts earning her own money.” 

“Well, I personally think they’re all very lovely” he added, “But I think the petunias look extremely nice today”.

“I don’t think I’ve ever considered petunias before. I’m usually an orchid kind of girl, but you’re right. They do look lovely today.” 

Carly laughs at her explanation. “Oh come on I’m sure its not that bad and clearly she loves hearing you read I bet you anything that’s the real reason she says she’s too tired to read. She wants her mother to take her through the journey. I mean it makes sense. Voices or not a mother’s voice is the most soothing sound for a child, its the one voice they’ll know instinctively even before they are born.” She chuckles amused. “I do know that face though. It is the sweetest little face ever no wonder you give in”

Magdalena wanted to accept the explanation. It made her feel more needed than she actually was. She was finally beginning to understand why her mother had always been so overprotective of her -- why she was still so very protective of her. Like Cara, Magdalena was an only child, and like her mother, Magdalena wanted to hold on to every moment she possibly could with her little girl, but her daughter was growing up and didn’t need her nearly as much anymore. “You should submit that theory to a scientific journal. I’m sure moms around the world would thank you.” Maggie nodded, wholeheartedly agreeing with Carly’s assessment. “I’m weak. I have to learn to say no to her or she’ll grow up spoiled rotten and I’ll regret it when she’s a teenager.” 

“You have a funny sense of time,” Magdalena said as she opened the door, flashing a smile so that he knew that she was only joking. To be fair, Gray was only 15 minutes late, but she couldn’t resist making the jab. Maggie still couldn’t believe that she’d missed Gray’s birthday. She’d known him for so long and spent so many birthdays with him that it was sort of unbelievable that the day had come and gone without her even realizing. Without much of a preamble, Magdalena ushered him into the dining room. She’d already set the cake on the table. “All right. Let’s get this show on the road. Cut your cake, pretty boy. We’ve got an hour and a half until Ms. Cara has to head to bed.” 

Blake was going through his daily ritual of going for a walk to destress himself. It always seemed to help his mood, and just made his day slightly better. On the way back, he decided to buy his sister some flowers to thank her for all her help in the last few years. Blake grinned hearing the customer in front, “Of course, it’s normally. Especially if they are as beautiful as they are”.

“Oh, thank you.” Magdalena sighed a bit as she ran her fingers over the petals of the flowers in front of her. Truthfully, she didn’t much care what others thought, but it was still nice to hear that she wasn’t doing something worth pitying. “They are beautiful, aren’t they? I can’t quite decide which ones to go with.”

Andrew smiled, overhearing Magdalena. “Well, I’m not a flower kind of guy. But I have bought flowers for myself before. For reference.” And it was also how he’d struck up conversation with a few people he wouldn’t have spoken to otherwise, since flower shops were not a place he frequently went. Especially since Cecilia wasn’t much of the flower type either. “I don’t think it’s sad, though. It’s no different than splurging on like, ice cream or something. If it’s something that makes you happy, that’s what counts.” He paused. “Bad day?”

For reference. That sounded like a good excuse. Florals were still in. Magdalena could always say that she had bought the flowers as a reference for a new line she was creating when her mother inevitably asked about them. She could see it now: her walking into the house with a bouquet in her hands as her mother waggled her eyebrows and asked twenty questions. “You think splurging on ice cream is a bad idea?” Honestly, ice cream seemed like a better way to spend money than flowers. They were already half dead, after all, and they weren’t nearly as satisfying. Still, they wre pretty to look at. “Hmm... something like that. More frustrating than bad, honestly. Sometimes I hate having to work with other people.”