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“Vermont.”
“Michigan,” Devin says at the same time.
Her head cocks to the side. “That’s quite the distance between you two.”
“Yeah, we’re driving to college in California together.”
“How exciting. My future brother-in-law is from Salinas in Northern California.”
“That’s crazy.” Devin perks up. “I’ll be at Cal State Monterey Bay.”
“Small world.” She pulls a hand from her overalls pocket. “I’m Chloe—”
“Chloe Lockwood, yeah.” I chuckle and shake her outstretched hand. Why am I kind of starstruck? “Sorry, I follow your account online. Your flowers add a little bright spot in my daily feed.”
The sun dances across her freckles as she beams, the wind fluttering her caramel waves. “Well, thank you. That’s what I aim to do.”
Devin takes my hand, intertwining our fingers as he tugs me closer to his side.
“You two are so cute together.” Chloe gestures between us with hearts in her eyes.
“Oh.” I grin at him. “We—”
“Just sort of happened recently,” Devin finishes with a smile, meeting my gaze as he squeezes my fingers.
Butterfly wings flicker in my chest. He doesn’t wink. He doesn’t whisper to play along. His lips curve in genuine adoration, and heat blooms in my cheeks.
“Well, take a bucket on me, and get yourself a bouquet from our You-Pick field over there.” She points down a row of dahlias to a natural gray wooden stand covered in colorful blossoms. “Reid can help you, the one in the navy blue baseball hat. Tell him Loe said it’s on the house.”
“Are you serious? I mean, I don’t have any place for them to last since we’re on a road trip.”
“That’s all right. Flowers aren’t meant to last forever. They’re meant to make you happy for a moment, a moment when you need them most.” The edge of her lips quirk up. “I guess that’s why I live and breathe flowers. I need their happiness always.”
I smile. “Thank you, Chloe.”
“It’s my pleasure, love birds.” She walks backward toward the gravel parking lot. “I’m thrilled I bumped into you two. I’m not normally here because I have a baby flower farm up the road I’m cultivating., so this was a little treat. Enjoy.”
I wave.
After she walks away, hopping into a classic white truck, Devin asks, “Who was she? I think I need a shirt like hers.” He chuckles, poking my side.
The roller coaster in my stomach that is my feelings for Devin does a corkscrew.He didn’t mean he’s in love with you, Nova.
“The owner of this place.” I sweep my arm across the acres of flower fields. I don’t know much about horticulture, but apparently she’s like the Taylor Swift of the flower farming world.
“Ah. Cool. Well, let’s get you some pretty flowers for the road, Dimples.” His mouth presses to my temple before hooking an arm around my neck and steering us toward the wooden floral stand.
“So, this just sort of happened, huh?” I smirk.
Devin shrugs. “I’m not going to label whatever’s between us because I don’t know what it is, but it’s not an act, Nova. I wasn’t telling her a fake dinner cruise story.”
Pausing on the dirt between rows of flower bushes tall enough to reach our waists, I stretch a hand around the back of his head and pull his mouth down on mine. He doesn’t hesitate to kiss me back.
“We can figure it out as we go.”
Maybe this ends as soon as I drop him off at Cal State. Maybe we’ll continue. I’m not sure I want to worry about it. I’m the one who told him it didn’t have to mean anything.
Though, could we make a long-distance relationship work? Maybe two hours isn’t so bad. I mean, my parents lived across the country from one another and fell in love. Two hours is a quick weekend getaway. It’s doable, isn’t it?
