Chapter 22 The First Streak

Rebecca stepped out with her coffee, not expecting anything different. The beds had settled in after a few days of work—plants spaced out, soil loosened, everything given a little more room to grow.

Most mornings were like that.

Quiet. Steady.

But not this one.

She slowed as she passed the edge of the path where the newer plants had been tucked in. Something caught her eye.

Not big.

Not obvious.

Just… different.

Rebecca stepped closer and crouched down, setting her coffee aside without thinking.

The plant looked the same at first glance. Same shape. Same structure. But the new leaf— That’s where it was.

A soft line of lighter color ran through it.

Not solid. 

Not clean.

Just enough to break it.

Rebecca didn’t touch it right away. She just looked.

Sam came up behind her, noticing the pause.

“What is it?” he asked.

She leaned in slightly, pointing without taking her eyes off it. “Right there.”

Sam squinted. “I don’t see it.”

Rebecca smiled faintly. “You will.”

He stepped closer, bending down beside her. It took him a second. Then— “Oh.”

It wasn’t bold.

It wasn’t showy.

But it wasn’t normal either.

A faint streak, running uneven through the leaf, like it hadn’t fully decided what it wanted to be.

Across the fence, Dave leaned on the rail, watching the two of them study something most people would’ve walked right past.

“That one doing something?” he called out.

Rebecca nodded, still focused. “Yeah… I think it is.”

Dave smirked. “About time.”

Rebecca let out a quiet breath. She’d seen this before—but it never got old. That moment when a plant stopped being just another plant… and started becoming something else.

She reached out then, gently brushing the edge of the leaf with her fingers.

Not to move it.

Just to feel it.

Sam glanced at her. “That what you were waiting on?”

Rebecca nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “That’s it.” She sat back slightly, taking it in.

It wasn’t finished.

Not even close.

But it had started.

And that was enough.

Dave pushed off the fence. “Better keep an eye on that one.”

Rebecca smiled. “Oh, I will.”

She picked up her coffee and stood, but her eyes stayed on that plant a second longer than the rest.

Most of the garden still looked the same.

But not all of it.

And now…

She knew exactly which one to watch.