I started to cry. God, it was becoming a habit. Only this time, they were happy tears. “Yes, I’ll give you another chance. And I’m sorry too. Can you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive. We’ve both experienced loss in a way that changed us forever. It’s made us irrational. At times anyway.” He placed his hand over mine. “I love you. I want you and me and Annie to be a family.”
“I want that too,” I said.
He smiled, moving his hand to cup my cheek. “I missed you.”
“I missed you. I’ve alienated my friends too, mostly Seraphina.” I told him about our fight and how I’d stormed off to lick my wounds. “I left, saying they were all in a new season—one that didn’t include me. I acted awful.”
“You’ll work it out. You two are too tight to let one argument get in the way of your friendship,” Dorian said.
“She loved me enough to tell me the truth, even if I didn’t want to hear it. I plan on reaching out later today to say I’m sorry. She was only trying to help, and I shut her down. That’s what I do. I’m not saying I won’t have more moments like that. I wish I could, but I’m flawed.”
“According to Annie, we all are, in our own ways,” Dorian said. “Can I kiss you, flawed though you are?”
“Yes, please.”
His kiss was warm and reassuring but at the same time hinted at the future we would share together. “I didn’t think you’d come back to me.”
“I’ve been miserable without you,” he said.
“I had this dream a while back—you were in my garden cutting all the peony blooms and ‘The Book of Love’ was playing as if from magical speakers in the sky. You told me it was time tolet go. I asked you—let go of what? I woke up before you could answer.”
“But you know the answer, don’t you?” Dorian said. “The same one I had to give myself.”
“That’s right. I have to let go of Jon. We did our best. We made a beautiful girl. It’s time for me to forgive myself and him. Embrace what’s right in front of me.”
“I agree on all counts.” Dorian brushed his thumb over my bottom lip. “You’re beautiful.”
“Thank you. I haven’t felt like it of late.”
“Let’s work on that, then. I’ll keep reminding you.”
We kissed again and, this time, when we parted, Annie appeared with a pitcher of lemonade and three glasses.
“Sorry to intrude, but, since I saw you kissing, I figured it was safe to come out here?” Annie set her tray onto the small table between the two chairs. “Are you thirsty?”
“Parched,” Dorian said.
Annie hauled another chair from the opposite end of the garden, creating a triangle. I poured three lemonades and then we toasted.
“To new beginnings,” I said.
Annie grinned. “To us.”
Dorian echoed our sentiments. “To my two favorite people. And the most beautiful garden in town.”
We clinked glasses.
“Okay, you two need to fess up about this little scheme of yours,” I said. “How did you decide on planting daffodils?”
“Blame Poe,” Annie said. “He ran away yesterday. All the way to town. To the bookstore. I freaked out—because I couldn’t find him—and texted Dorian. He texted back that Poe had just shown up. So I came to get him and Dorian and I had a talk. I told him that daffodils are my favorite flower and that we should plant some to show you he’s not going anywhere.”
“They come up every spring,” Dorian said. “Doesn’t matter how harsh the winter.”
“Which reminds me of Dorian,” Annie said. “He’s tough. Reliable. Someone who will show up for us when we need him.”
Dorian nodded. “We thought they were a symbol of my promise to you. To both of you.”
