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I watched and waved as Joanne pulled out of the parking lot.
I’d had to resist the temptation to ask—or even tobeg—her to stay after work, to go upstairs to my apartment, or even just to sit in the office for five more minutes and bullshit about the day.
But I’d been able to see how tired she was, and if I was being honest, I was feeling the effects of burning the candle at both ends as well.
And to be fair, it wasn’t like I hadn’t seen Joanne—allof her—lately.
In the forty-eight hours since our first date, we’d barely even been apart. With the Anderson-Beachman’s Wedding Day only two weeks away and the thrill of a budding romance, the two of us had been nearly inseparable, only taking a few hours out of each day to eat and sleep.
I smiled to myself and shook my head. A month ago, the thought of spending twelve-hour days at my dad’s flower shop, then going upstairs to sleep in my dad’s old apartment—in his oldroom, even—would have been unthinkable. It just wouldn’t have happened.
But now? With Joanne in my life?
It had changed everything. Or, at least, it had changed the way Ifeltabout everything.
Now, I woke up every day looking forward to going downstairs and being near her. Working with her, talking to her… whatever. It didn’t matter what we were doing, as long as we were doing it together.
And it was becoming more and more difficult for me to remember that thiswasn’tthe plan, that it was all just supposed to be temporary, until I could finally sell the shop and get caught up on the mountain of debt my dad had left me.
That was something I wasn’t ready to think about, though.
Not yet.
Not when I could put off thinking about unpleasant stuff like that in favor of spending time with Joanne. Not when the memory of her bright eyes and wide smile was still fresh enough to drown out every other thought or care I might have.
Besides, I didn’tneedto think about anything to do with selling the business until after The Anderson-Beachman’s Wedding Day. That had already been settled. Bringing it up before then would be foolish, when Jo and I were enjoying each other’s company so much. It would add unnecessary stress to what was—so far, at least—a situation that was as close to perfect as I had ever experienced.
The thought of leaving all of that—leavingJoanne—behind completely while I moved on to do… whatever I was going to do when I left Castle Falls?
No.
Nope.
Not ready to cross that bridge.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I smiled the instant I fished it out and had seen the screen.
Just getting home from work. Was nice spending the day with you.
Already? I looked around. How long had I been standing outside in the parking lot? Had anyone noticed that I’d just been staring blankly into the passing traffic, too wrapped up in my own thoughts to pay attention to the world as it passed me by?
Probably not. Not that it mattered, because I was still smiling, still thinking about Joanne as I typed out a quick reply.
Was great spending the day with you, too—as always :)
I added a heart emoji, then erased it. Too much?
I smirked as I walked back inside the shop to lock up for the day.
If someone had told me a couple of months before that I’d even beconsideringusing emojis in my texts, let aloneheartsandsmileys, I would have laughed in their face. But here I was, and that’s exactly what I was doing.
I just didn’t care, though. I liked Joanne. A lot. And if that meant adding some creative punctuation, then so be it. If anyone had anything to say about it, they could suck an eggplant.
Before I could think too much more about it, my phone pinged a second time.
I know we didn’t really plan on doing anything tonight, but… dinner later?
I still hadn’t stopped smiling from the previous message, but now my cheeks started to hurt as my smile grew even wider.
