AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You really do know everything about everyone in this town, don’t you?”
Chuckling, she swatted my arm. “She’s my best friend. Of course I know this. And it’s not from stalking her from my window. Which bouquet did you sell to Michael?”
“The yellow and white one. You said yellow flowers are good for forgiveness, right?”
Her head snapped back as she stared at me, a mixture of surprise and pride on her face. “Well, well, look at you.”
“Coachable, remember?”
“Clearly.”
“So, that was a good choice?”
“Yes. The white roses symbolize purity, so that’s good for the sentiment. Also, reverence and respect, which is also great. I might not have gone with that bouquet since yellow roses are also for friendship, but hey. I think you did great.”
Relief sang through my veins, and I smiled at her. “Hey, maybe I should get out of the Marines and become a florist.”
“Don’t get my hopes up,” she said with a sly smile.
I had no intentions of actually doing that, and we both knew it, but still. There was some small part of me that could picture a life running this shop with her.
But, at the end of the day, I didn’t have the passion for it like she did, so how fulfilling would it be?
I loved my job. I loved my crew. I was a chill guy in my daily life, but there was nothing like the adrenaline rush when faced with an emergency situation and the chance to help people through it.
So, no, I didn’t see myself hanging up my turnout gear for the wonderful world of floral arrangements, no matter how I felt about Hattie. Helping out, I could do.
And I would. For as long as I was here to do it.
“Thanks again for being here, Thatcher,” Hattie said quietly, stepping closer.
She smelled like flowers laced with sugar, so sweet and fresh that it made my heart squeeze. “You’re welcome.”
Time and place had no meaning as we looked at each other, the rest of the world falling away. There was a tingling in the pit of my stomach as she drew me to her like a magnet.
I reached out, trailing my fingers from her wrist up her bare forearm, then back down again to take her hand. She laced her fingers with mine, and something like a hole inside of me seemed to knit closed.
It was more touching than we’d done since we’d danced the night of the wedding. Or, shoot, even that handshake sealing the deal on our just-friends arrangement.
And while I love having her hand in mine … I wanted more.
My gaze focused on her lips. They looked so soft—soft as the petals that surrounded us in this manmade garden that she called home. I ached to feel them on mine. I ached for her to want me to do that.
What would she do if I leaned in and kissed her? She’d probably be more than a little miffed, considering our situation. But maybe … maybe she’d also be more than a little into it.
“Hattie,” her dad called from the back room, causing us to drop our joined hands and spring apart. “We’re missing an order of stargazer lilies.”
“I’ll be right there,” she replied, a faint tremor in her voice.
“Look on the table on the left,” I told her as she retreated. “I think I put a bucket of lilies there this morning.”
She stopped with her hand on the office doorframe and turned back, shaking her head at me and speaking in a low voice. “Stop being so good at this. It’s going to make it harder to let you go.”
The double meaning behind her words was hard to miss. Before I could even think of a response, she slipped into the back room.
Sighing heavily, I leaned against the counter, rubbing a hand over my mouth. Man, I’d really wanted to kiss her. It was so close to happening that I could practically hear my lips protesting that they were still void of feeling hers.
If yellow roses symbolized friendship, I needed to learn what kind would inspire her to bridge the gap to more, regardless of the future. Because even though I didn’t plan to get out and become a florist, I knew I wouldn’t be able to be her friend for much longer.
