“Makes sense.Okay, so everyone on the list gets an email.It’s going to take a while, but it needs to be done and needs to be done now.”
“All you have to do is type it once and then copy and paste it into new emails.”Wanting to get off the topic of famous people, Zach clutched at a random subject.“Is Tilly short for something?”
Tilly’s fingers stilled over the top of the keyboard.Was this a topic she didn’t want to talk about?
“It is.”
“Matilda?”
“What?”A little line appeared between her brows.
“Is your name short for Matilda?”
“Oh.Um, no.”
Okay, this was like pulling teeth, and he should probably let it go.Heck, the reason he was looking for a change of topic was that there were things he didn’t want to talk about.
What he should do was respect her wishes, but he really wanted to know.
“It’s Tulip,” she said quietly.
“As in the flower?”
“Yes, as in the flower.”
“It’s a pretty name,” he said, and wished he could kick himself because he sounded anything but sincere.One thing he’d been eternally grateful for was that his mother hadn’t gone the unusual route with his name.
It wasn’t as if his father had any influence over naming him, or anything in his life.Zach had never met his father.He was the product of a one-night stand.Kathryn had played thestruggling single motherto perfection, according to the comments he’d overheard from her friends as he was growing up.They never knew he’d heard them, and he hadn’t said anything to his mom.Also, because of how his mom had been treated, he never knew if they were true or just malicious comments.Many times his mother had remarked that Zach must have inherited more of his father’s genes than hers, especially his aversion to the limelight.
His mom may have been okay with him not wanting to go into acting, but she fully expected him to take up an occupation that would put him front and center in people’s minds.Like being a model.Or a sports star.Instead, he’d chosen a field he’d thought would be as far from the limelight as possible, only in the end, his quick thinking had saved lives and catapulted him into the media’s spotlight.
Initially, he thought maybe something good would come out of it all.That, as much as he hated being there, he could persuade his mom to use her influence to raise fire safety awareness.But that didn’t fit his mom’s agenda, so she’d ignored him and exploited him in a way that went against everything he wanted.
“For a flower, it’s a pretty name,” Tilly said.“For a girl.Not so much.But at least it’s not as bad as my oldest sister.Her name is Chrysanthemum, and then there’s Sunflower, my other older sister.”
Perhaps strange names weren’t only a Hollywood trend.“Your parents must love flowers a lot.”
A soft smile played across Tilly’s face and her beauty struck him deep in the chest.“You could say that.They started a flower farm.”
And then it hit him.“Bloom.Your last name is Bloom.”
“Yep.”
“Tulip Bloom.”
“Again, yes.”
“Now it makes sense,” he murmured.“I mean, why you shortened your name to Tilly.”
“We all did that.It was easier in school.”
“I bet.”A wave of fatigue washed over him.Unexpected, considering he’d been feeling vibrant and alert not too long ago.
“You should go.It’s late and you’ve already done so much.I work from home and can set my own hours.I’ll finish all these emails.You don’t need to be here for that.”
Zach couldn’t deny that he was starting to fade rapidly.“Are you sure?”
They hadn’t really done much in terms of planning and finding out what permits they would need.There was still a lot to do in such a short amount of time.
