“I am.”
He passed over a clipboard. “Sign here. I’ll grab your flowers.”
“Okay.” Her chest tightened. No one had ever sent her flowers.
She handed the clipboard back after signing, then watched Herman head to the red van. Since it’d never happened before, she didn’t know what to expect. Maybe a bouquet? Some roses? Grace didnotexpect Herman to start lugging blossoming flowerpots out of the vehicle. The clay pots he set down on her lawn were beautiful with their bold colors. The flowers inside each one were different. Every color of the rainbow shone out of the arrangements. When he finished, there were twelve pots in her yard.
Herman, who wiped his forearm across his brow, glanced up. “You want these up there on the porch?”
“Who are all of these from?”
Going to the van, Herman grabbed something before coming toward her and passing her a small white envelope.
“The porch, ma’am?”
Blinking rapidly, she looked from the porch to the pots. They wouldn’t all fit. There were enough to edge all the way around her front porch.
“No. They’re fine where they are.” Feeling slightly dazed, she jolted when he slammed the van door shut. “Let me grab my purse for a tip.”
“No need. It’s all been taken care of. You have yourself a great day. Enjoy those beauties.”
Holding the envelope like it was a precious secret, Grace waved as he drove off. She stared down at it a moment before tearing into it.
Hurting you was never my intention. I was wrong.
Noah.
She frowned. Wrong about what? Manipulating her? Hurting her? All of it? Without thinking it through, she walked around the fence and up to his front door, knocking before she could back out.
He opened the door quickly enough that she’d bet he was watching from the window.
“Hey.”
That was it? “Hey.”
He smiled at her. It wasn’t the usual disarming smile but one more humble. “You got your flowers?”
She glanced back at them, then gestured with her hand. “Whatisall that?”
Noah stepped out onto the porch, surveying the pots. “Flowers.” He looked down at her, his forehead creasing in confusion.
“Flowers? That’s not flowers. It’s…landscaping.What are they for?”
Now he put his hands on his hips, turning to face her. “To say I’m sorry. It’s what people do. It’s a gesture. An ‘I’m sorry I was a jerk’ gesture.” He rubbed the back of his neck, his gaze darting over her. “I didn’t mean to play you. Actually, that’s a lie. I fell back on a business strategy that I shouldn’t have tried with you. It was wrong. I won’t ask to buy your house again. Because you asked me not to.”
“Okay. But couldn’t you have just said that? Did you need to buy all of California’s flowers?”
He looked incredibly uncomfortable, even shifting his stance, which did not suit the man she’d come to know. “It didn’t seem like enough.”
Grace could only stare. Too many thoughts collided in her brain, so she started at the beginning. “What you said would have been fine. I appreciate it and can see that you mean it. But for future reference, if you’re doing flowers as a follow-up, it’s typically abouquet.You know, like, twelve roses? Not twelve huge potted plants.”
He smirked. “Given a lot of apologies?”
She narrowed her gaze, making him put his hands up in a surrender gesture.
“Just asking. I’m new to this. Cut me some slack.”
Grace threw her arms up in the air. “How can you benewto apologizing? Are you that much of a jerk that you just stomp on people’s feelings without ever regretting it enough to say so?”
