Carol definitely wasn't anyone's idea of sunshine these days, and she damn well knew it. She'd tried for so long to be that person, to be the caring motherly woman that people seemed to expect her to be. But it wasn't who she was anymore. All thanks to a shot in the dark. One stupid action that seemed to have set a whole new series of terrible things into motion.
She hadn't expected anyone to come across her out there. She hadn't planned to be out there long at all, but she suspected it had already been longer than she'd initially anticipated. Finding specific plants and herbs wasn't always easy when you weren't readily familiar with the species you were looking for. She'd find something and then have to compare it with the book because the last thing she wanted was to accidentally poison someone with some kind of herbal tea concoction meant to help heal them faster.
Carol hadn't really been prepared for the man's flirting. She couldn't remember the last time someone had actually flirted with her. Of course she didn't take it seriously, either. He was easily ten or twelve years younger than she, and she wasn't looking for a romantic attachment anyway. No, she suspected he was just used to flirting with women period. She smirked faintly, turning her attention back to the plant she'd been comparing with the pocket ID book. "Looking for herbs for tea." She glanced up at him again before plucking the plant from the ground, leaving just enough behind that it would continue to grow for when she ran out of it.
"Certain plants are good for things like lowering fevers, and soothing asthma and anxiety," she explained.