We could have taken the UTV, but Zander seems to like walking. And walking is good for me, so I agreed.
We step inside The Perfect Petal, and the bell rings. It’s one of my favorite places on the ranch because the rush of air that greets you inside is heavenly—like a unique floral perfume. Rows of vibrant flowers in vases and stainless-steel buckets cover the floor and worn tabletops.
Delaney is already there, wearing her usual cute overalls with daisy patches. “You guys made it. I kept waiting to hear the UTV.”
“Oh, Zander likes to walk.” I nod in his direction.
His shoulders raise to his ears as he stuffs his hands in his pockets. He’s almost shy looking. “I don’t get to walk many places without a camera in my face, so I’m taking full advantage while I’m here.”
“This is the place to do it,” Delaney says, smiling.
Poppy breezes into the room from the back. “Oh, I thought I’d missed you. I’m telling you, that queen bee is on my last nerve. Zander, you’re missing out by not filming a scene at The Honey Pot.”
I love it when she talks about the bees, especially how entitled the queen bee is. It’s so clear how much she enjoys them.
“Never been stung by a bee, and I’m not taking my chances on going into anaphylactic shock,” he mutters. “Done that once in my life.”
“You’re such a baby.” Poppy gives him a cheeky smile to say she’s joking.
“All right, guys, this is the deal.” Delaney claps her hands together. “I want to go over some of the flowers we have available, and you can tell me about your vision for the video. I already have a couple things lined up from what we talked about at dinner. But I can probably bring in whatever we need if we don’t already have it.”
“Dinner?” Poppy’s eyebrows rise. “Oh, when did you guys have dinner?”
I glance at Zander.
Delaney bites her lip.
“All the families have family dinners,” I say quickly. “True, we Owens probably have them a little more often than most, but we all have them. It was just the weekly family dinner.” I shrug.
Now I’m outright lying to my cousins, and I hate it.
“We Ellises are so bad at that. Scarlett’s always somewhere, and Jensen’s always working. The most we do is stand around The Getaway Lodge kitchen and try Jensen’s cooking.”
“Well, that’s still a tradition,” Delaney says. “Traditions are what families are all about.”
My mind snags on the word tradition. What kind of traditions will I have with my son or daughter? Surely, they won’t have any that involve both of their parents. They’ll have separate ones with Zander and other ones with me. That is my reality, and I need to come to terms with that faster than I am. No matter how well Zander and I are getting on, the fact is that he’s leaving, and we are not a couple.
“Weird that Zander was there though…”
He shrugs, playing it off. “I sort of invited myself when I caught wind of it. Figured it was as good a time as any to go over some things with Romy and Delaney.”
Before Poppy can respond I clap my hands together. “All right, let’s get on with it then,” I say, changing the subject.
Delaney brings out some bouquets she’s already arranged. “We can also go out to the greenhouse and take a look at what we have there. What do you prefer, Zander?”
His eyes search the room as if he’s looking for one specific flower. “Truthfully, flowers aren’t my thing. I don’t know much.”
“Surely, you’ve sent them to a woman before. What did you pick out?” Delaney asks.
I do not want to think about Zander sending flowers to a woman. Going to a florist and picking them out especially for her. Writing poetic words on the card. The most I got was that he shared his king size Twix bar with me.
“I’ve never sent a woman flowers.”
“Never?” Poppy asks, judgment in her tone.
“No,” Zander admits, his gaze flicking to mine. I swear the tops of his cheeks above his beard are growing pink.
“Never?” she clarifies as if she heard wrong.
