Flowers For A Wounded Soldier: A BBW Erotica

A
nna
sighed as she looked at the clock on the wall. Almost 30 minutes until closing
time. She rested her elbows on the check-out counter of her family’s florist
and looked around the room – it was strange how growing up around flowers your entire
life could inoculate you to their charm. Reds, blues, yellows, whites,
Wheaton’s flower shop had every colored flower under the sun. Her father and
mother both worked hard to make their little business a thriving one, but recent
sales had been poor. It was easier to get flowers from the grocery store, or a
gas station, and both places were far more inexpensive. They were also low
quality and tended to die twice as fast as a Wheaton flower.

She
had grown up in this town all of her life, and part of her was happy that her
parents were handing the family business over to her in a few years. They were
getting older: Her father had to have a triple-bypass last year after he had a
heart attack, and her mother’s arthritis had gotten so bad that it made it difficult
for her to tend to the flowers in the shop. This shop had put her through
college, where she had gotten a degree in business and botany. Sometimes she
wondered what her life would be like without the store. Maybe she could travel
the world, see the pyramids, drink local wines in Paris. She sighed again as
she looked at the clock. 20 minutes until closing.

Anna
caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror next to the cash register. Her family
was always a bit bigger, and she was no exception. She was short – shorter than
the average woman, frankly – with a round face a puffy cheeks. She did have
adorable dimples, she thought to herself optimistically as she looked at her
face in the mirror. As she thought about the rest of her figure, she became a
lot less optimistic. She didn’t think that she was obsessed with food, not by a
long shot. Still, she was born and bred on a Midwestern diet, which isn’t exactly
known for being healthy. She had tried the “celery soup” diet, but eventually
ate so much celery that she couldn’t even bare to look at the stuff anymore.
She tried to eat more whole grains, or eat less processed sugar. She even cut out
soda, all to no avail. She would lose a few pounds, and then seemed to put them
back on again in a few months.

She
was always a shy person, too, which did not help her situation. She would
sometimes fall asleep crying into her pillow after thinking about how lonely
she felt. There were friends that she used to spend lots of time with – Marcy,
her best friend in high school and college came to mind – but after people
started going  their own way after school had ended, Anna felt like she got
left in the dust. Marcy was married and just had her first child, Stacy was
engaged and lived on the other side of the country, and Maryann got a job in a
small town in Pennsylvania. Anna wondered how they were all doing. She wondered
if they were thinking about her like she was thinking about them. She wondered
if they were as lonely as she was.

Her
history with men was almost non-existent. She dated some guys in college, but
they all turned out to be jerks in the end. Her first boyfriend, Steven,
cheated on her for 6 months of their relationship. Her second boyfriend,
Arnold, was a recovering alcoholic who ended up relapsing while they were
dating and hit her one night after he had too much to drink. He spent some time
in jail, and the restraining order against him was thankfully still in effect.
The last time she had heard, he had gotten an 18 year old girl pregnant and
ditched her, probably to avoid paying child support payments.

Anna
had a pretty bad rap sheet when it came to men. Part of her always believed
that her taste was indicative of her own negative self image. She knew what
these men were like when she became involved with them. Some corner of her mind
thought that maybe if she showed them love like they had never had in their
lives, they might change. Another corner of her mind thought that she didn’t
deserve any better. She was just some chubby shy girl. She was broken, and they
were broken. That should work, right? Apparently not. She looked at the clock
again. 10 minutes until the shop was closed.

Anna
wandered through the aisles of flowers, thinking about her life, who she was,
what she was doing. The sweet smell of Lily-of-the-valley came from her left,
the light, airy smell of gardenia’s came from her right. Those were very
fragrant flowers, and Anna appreciated that, but her favorite had always been
calla lilies. Those thin, fragile stems leading to those delicate white petals.
It always made her heart skip a beat when she saw them in the shop.
Zantedeschia aethiopica. She remembered the scientific name for them from her
days in college. She recalled how much water they needed, what kind of light
they thrived in, and all of the other facts about them that are useful for
someone about to take over the family flower business.

She
always did well in school, since she wanted her parents to be proud of her.
There was no doubt in her mind that they
were
proud of her, too. They
told her how much they loved her and how much her taking over the business
meant to them. Her parents were her ground, her bedrock which she always knew
was there for her if she was to fall. She remembered her father going out and
buying a gun a few days after Arnold had struck her while drunk.

He
was ready to drive down to her college and blow him away, but Anna had
thankfully convinced him not to. Her parents loved each other deeply – they met
when her father was in the military, in fact – and sometimes she wished that
she could find that same kind of love. She wished that she could find someone
who didn’t possess her, who didn’t hurt her, who didn’t judge her or want her
to change. She wanted to find someone earnest and kind, who was compassionate
and smart. She sighed to herself as she looked at the clock again. That was
indeed a tall order. 5 minutes until the shop was closed.

Anna
looked out of the store windows as the sun passed beneath the horizon. She saw
a car pull into the parking lot with a squeal, and she walked behind the
counter. It was rare to have a customer come in at the last minute. Heck, it
was rare to have a customer at all these days. She wasn’t about to complain though,
it had been a slow day. The door flew open, and the breeze from outside made
the wind chime near the entrance jingle a calming melody.

A
tall man briskly made his way down the aisle and headed directly for Anna. He
had a short-cropped haircut, and was wearing a polo with the top few buttons
undone. His broad shoulders and thin hips hugged his cut body perfectly, and
Anna could hear the sound of his flip-flops hit the cement floors of the shop.
As he got closer, Anna could swear that she had seen this person before. It was
almost a sense of déjà vu. It was like she recognized him, yet did not
recognize him at the same time. Perhaps she had dreamt of someone like this man
recently, as she watched him begin to approach the counter.

“You’re
not closed yet, are you?” Anna looked at the man’s cut jaw, his clean-shaven face,
his dark brown eyes. He was gorgeous. “We’re closing in about 5 minutes, but
don’t worry about that. How can I help you?” The man paused for a second and
squinted his eyes, turning his head to the left ever so slightly. He put his
finger in the air and waved it up and down for a moment, like he was trying to
place something. “Anna? Anna Wheaton?” Apparently she did know this person.
Anna squinted her eyes too, trying to place where she had met him. Perhaps they
went to high school together? “Yes, I’m Anna Wheaton. I’m sorry, do we know
each other? I’m not very good at remembering people, sadly.” The man laughed a
little. “No, no, that’s fine, I’m not very good at it either. It’s me, Bret.”

Bret...Bret...
Bret McKinney? No, there was no way this was Bret. The last time she saw Bret,
he was 3 times the size, with greasy glasses and pimples all over his face. He
had always been a sweet fellow. She remembered he helped her pick up her books
in the hallway between classes after Lisa Sommers, cheerleader extraordinaire,
had slapped them out of her hands. The memories began to flood back to her
about Brent. He helped her pass math class her junior year. He sat next to her
in chemistry class and they used to pass notes back and forth, poking fun at
the teacher’s obnoxious voice. She remembered that Brent used to have a crush
on her. He had asked her out to prom, but she turned him down. She was too
embarrassed to go to prom with anyone, let alone Brent. High school was a dark
time for her.

This
man in front of her, however, seemed nothing like the chubby, pimple-faced
Brent that she had come to know all those years ago. What had happened to him?
“Brent McKinney? You... you look amazing! What happened to you! Where have you
been!” A wide smile spread across Anna’s face. Now that she recalled how nice
Brent had always been to her, she was excited to hear what he had been doing
over the past few years. Brent laughed a little and put his hands on the counter
top. “After high school I worked in a factory for a while, and then I joined
the Army. I know I probably look a lot different from when I was in high
school. I do my best to try and forget those years, frankly.”

Anna
gave a little chuckle. “Me too. I’m so sorry I didn’t recognize you before!”
Brent looked around the shop for a brief moment. “Oh it’s fine Anna, no
worries. I don’t want to keep you after hours, can you help me pick out some
flowers?” Anna nodded at Brent and walked out from behind the counter. “Of
course, are you buying these for your girlfriend or something? An anniversary,
perhaps? Or did you forget that today was her birthday?” Brent shook his head.
“No, no, nothing like that. My mother is actually in the hospital and I wanted
to get her some flowers. Can you help me?” Anna nodded and led Brent through
the rows of the shop. They talked as they walked, catching up on lost time.
Brent wasn’t really sure what kind of flowers to get, so he gave Anna the task
of putting together a bouquet.

After
collecting and packaging a stunning bundle of flowers for Brent, Anna helped
him pick out an appropriate get well soon card as well. They joked about some
of the things that happened in high school, and what had happened to many of
their peers over the years. The prodigal cheerleader Lisa Sommers ended up
failing out of college, having 3 kids with a deadbeat drunk, and gained 50
pounds. Brent smiled a bit when he heard that. She had picked on both of them
with equal veracity in high school. It wasn’t like she
wanted
Lisa to
have a bad life, not at all, but it certainly made her feel a little better
when she thought about how things had turned out. What was the phrase that
people sometimes used?
Just deserts
. It was just deserts that things
turned out the way they did for poor Lisa.

They
talked for some time, even after Brent had paid for everything. It was like
their old friendship had never ended. “So Anna, I have to tell you that I’m
still a little bent out of shape that you didn’t go to prom with me. I had
quite a crush on you, you know.” Anna blushed a little. She had always secretly
regretted not going to prom with Brent. She had even thought about it a few
weeks ago, and  had felt consumed by guilt. Brent had stopped talking to her
after she had turned him down. “I’m really sorry Brent. I still feel bad about
that.” She looked down at the counter, and her hands nervously rubbed together.
Brent ended the awkward silence. “I’m sorry that we fell out of touch. I was so
heartbroken and depressed over the rejection, I just couldn’t bear to speak
with you again, I was too embarrassed. I was a stupid kid then.”

Brent
looked down at the counter as well, and his fingers rested casually on the thin
glass. Anna looked up at him. “I think we were all stupid kids then, Brent.”
Anna and Brent’s eyes met and they smiled. “So how long will you be in town?
Maybe we should catch up somewhere that isn’t my family’s flower shop.” Brent
gave a chuckle. “I’m going to be in town indefinitely, actually. I was injured
a combat recently, and now I’m taking some time to recover at home.” Anna
looked at him quizzically.

She couldn’t see any obvious injuries.
“You look pretty good to me – I mean, you look healthy. You look good too, I
didn’t mean to imply that you didn’t look good. You look great!” Anna’s face
went beat red. Smooth, very smooth. Brent laughed. “You look great too. A
roadside bomb went off, and some of the shrapnel entered my thick noggin.” He
tapped his head with his hand. “It’s been a long road to a full recovery, but
things are looking up.” Anna smiled at him. He seemed like he was alright, but
it was hard to tell. Brent grabbed a piece of paper, wrote down his cell
number, and slid it across the counter. “How about we grab some lunch this
week? I would really love to talk some more.” Anna folded the piece of paper
and put it in her pocket. “I would love to. I’ll give you a call. Give my best
to your mother by the way, I hope she enjoys the flowers.”

“Thanks
Anna, I’ll be sure to let her know that you’re thinking of her. She was always
a big fan of yours you know.” Anna blushed a little. Brent’s mother used to be
a chaperone for their field trips in elementary school. Anna said her goodbyes
as Brent headed towards the door. He turned and waved before he left, his smile
broad across his face.

Brent McKinney. Anna couldn’t remember
that last time she had thought about him. She leaned across the counter and put
her chin in her hands. He looked so different. He looked so... handsome. She
almost couldn’t believe how much he had changed. At the same time, he seemed so
familiar. He still had the same laugh, the same mannerisms, and that same sweet
smile. She was kicking herself for not giving him the time of day in high
school. She was so young and foolish. It was an hour after closing, and the sun
had almost entirely set. Anna stayed for a few extra minutes and walked through
the aisles of flowers, smelling them as she went.