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“By yourself?”
“Not too bad, huh?”
I nodded, then shrugged, deciding to stay noncommittal.
It was more than good. It was beautiful, and the choice of flower had made my throat close up with emotion, but I wasn’t ready to shower him with compliments. I still wasn’t sure why Brady was even standing in front of me, offering me flowers in my bedroom.
Then it all came rushing back. Not only the feelings, but the reason behind the feelings.
I set the flowers on my nightstand carefully, then turned to face Brady again. The earlier feeling of joy was pushed aside, the recently familiar tightness of anger and uncertainty taking its place.
“Aren’t you supposed to be meeting withMiketoday? I don’t want to keep you from that.”
“I already met with him,” he said. “But I—”
“Then we have nothing to talk about,” I cut him off, moving toward the door. “I’ll have Naomi get my stuff out of the office, and you can mail me my last check. Please leave.”
“I didn’t sell it.”
“Brady, just leave, please—wait, what?” I cocked my head to the side. “Didn’t sell… But you said… what?”
It didn’t make sense. Nothing made sense.
I understood the words that were coming out of Brady’s mouth, but I wasn’t about to get my hopes up. That route had already failed me more than once.
“I didn’t sell the flower shop, Jo. I couldn’t.” He shrugged and looked down at the floor for a moment before meeting my gaze again. “I was going to. I’ll admit it. I was going to take the easy way out. But I just… couldn’t.”
“Um, what? I don’t understand.”
Even though he had just spelled it out, I was having trouble following.
My heart was still too raw. I wasn’t sure I could afford to believe in Brady again.
“I want to stay here.” His voice was quiet, but full of emotion. “In Castle Falls. You were right, Jo. About everything.”
“And now you’re going to run the shop? I’m sorry, I’m just having a hard time following. Is this real life?”
Brady smiled, his eyes crinkling as he took a step closer to me, easily closing the distance between us.
“It’s real. I’m here. But I’m not gonna run the shop. I want you to do that… if you’ll come back. If you’ll forgive me.”
The joy was coming back, along with that same faint trace of hope and a whole bunch of butterflies.
I couldn’t find the words to say what I was feeling, though—and didn’t trust my voice not to betray my emotions. Wasn’t sure if I trusted my heart, either. I still had to hear more from Brady.
He—as always—seemed to instinctively know exactly what I needed.
“Joanne, I love you. Iloveyou. And even though I really hope you’ll come back and be my partner at the flower shop, that doesn’t really matter to me as much asyoudo.” He reached out to tip my head up, to look directly into my eyes. “If you’ll forgive me, if you’ll give me a second chance, I’ll prove to you that you’re the only thing that matters—”
Whatever Brady had been about to say was cut off when my mouth covered his. I wasn’t sure how I’d even ended up in Brady’s arms, but that didn’t matter. Helovedme. Wantedme. That was the only thing I had heard, the only thing I cared about.
And when Brady’s lips moved from my mouth to my jaw… my throat… I remembered what I’d been too overwhelmed to say before.
“I love you, too, Brady. I think I loved you from the first time I saw you. But are you sure? About the flower shop? About me? About… everything? Because I really can’t even if you’re just—”
“Yes.” Brady grinned as he gently put a finger against my lips, only to replace it with another quick kiss that felt like heaven. “I’m sure. I love you, and we’ll figure out the rest. Whether I have to take out a mortgage, or a loan—credit counseling orwhatever, we’ll figure it out together. I’m more certain of that than I have been about anything else in my life. I just hope you’ll forgive me. I hope you’ll give me the chance to prove it.”
“I will. I do—I mean, yes. I love you, too. And yes, I forgive you. I forgave you already, the moment I left yesterday. I was just hurt. And angry.”
