Page 16 of Ardently Yours

She topples over to cover her stomach with her hands and stumbles backward, leaving room for me to open the door myself.

“Hey, come in,” I say, a little breathless while opening the door. I smile at him. He’s carrying a small bouquet and still wears his uniform, but I don’t care because he looks so good. And how sweet of him to bring flowers.

“These are for you,” he says, stepping inside the house, smiling down at me.

He hands me the bouquet of roses, and I take it, happy to see him. George Wickham just has this way about him. When I see him around town or at the cafe, he always finds a way to charm me with a look, a smile, or a compliment.

I thought that maybe he was just being nice to me, but the way he looks at me now makes me think there may be something there. Maybe I have been too blind to see it.

“Thanks, George.”

I close the door behind him. I sniff the roses, not even caring that they aren’t my favorite flowers. That he bought them for me is reason enough for me to like them.

“George Wickham?!” Lydia asks, stunned.

I turn to look at her, forgetting that she’s in the hallway with us. She gawks at him and then looks at me, narrowing her eyes at me as if I’d betrayed her.

She hisses and barely whispers to me, “You’re dating a hot cop and didn’t want to tell me?”

George laughs, blushing and taking the compliment in stride. “Hey, Lydia.”

She gasps. “I didn’t know you knew my name.”

I look between the two of them. “You two know each other?”

The question feels odd since almost everyone knows everyone in Selah Falls.

“We met at the university, I think,” George says, cocking his head at her.

Then he looks her over. With interest? I blink at him. No, I’m imagining things. He is not looking at my younger sister like that. He is just trying to remember her. Right?

She looks at him, unsure. “Yeah, you’re right. You were probably there for some emergency or something.”

“Right,” he says, nodding.

Lydia shrugs and walks away, calling Mama and asking about the food.

“Stop pestering me, Lydia,” says Mama from the kitchen. Her voice carries into the hallway. “Go and tell your sisters to come inside and wash their hands for dinner.”

“Thanks for having me over tonight,” says George, pulling my attention back to him. “I’m starving after this shift.”

“It’s time to eat!” Mama calls out from the kitchen, making her proclamation known throughout the house.

George and I move towards the dining room next to the kitchen. The table is set. The food looks ready to devour.

My stomach rumbles, and I realize I haven’t really eaten much today. I set the flowers in the middle of the table near the other flowers Mama has out as a centerpiece. I pull out a chair and gesture to a seat across from me for George to take.

“Boys sit on this side. My parents sit at the ends of the table and my sisters and I usually sit on this side.”

“Assigned seats?” George smiles down at me. “Cute. But I’ll miss you if I sit all the way over there.”

He’s so close that I can smell his cologne. It’s a citrusy scent that makes me step closer to him. He touches my cheek.

He has never done that before. I’ve known him since I was a kid. I had a huge crush on him throughout middle school and high school.

We grew up around each other, but we never really hung out before, at least not that much. He had his crew, and I had mine. But I remember those times when we had classes together, and he sat next to me, making me laugh at his corny jokes. He used to pass me notes that made me smile.

I remember when he’d hug me in the hallway before heading to his next class. I used to love how he smelled then, too, when he leaned in to hug me.