If I’d asked her to, Erica would’ve gone out and done the deliveries herself, and that was my plan. My only option. Until the woman next to me, littering croissant crumbs all over her wedding dress, begged me to get her away from her wedding.
I turned onto the drive to the warehouse. The large packing and shipping buildings sat at the very front of the property I’d purchased from Lou’s mom, my Aunt Ailene, just over a year ago. This part of her farm abutted my dad’s land, and both had been supplying her jam business for many years until they outgrew the parcel and bought more acreage inland. She’d sold a chunk of it to me at a substantial discount, though she’d never admit to it.
“Wow,” Daisy murmured when the buildings came into view.
Behind the distribution warehouses were three large greenhouses, and behind those, but not visible from the drive, were acres of flower fields. It wasn’t quite the tulip fields of Holland, but damn if it wasn’t close.
“I didn’t realize you had…that MaineStems had all this.” Her wide eyes roamed over the buildings again, and a shot of pride went through me. She hadn’t seen this expansion. Todd was long out of the business by then, so there was no reason.No reason other than a purely selfish one.“I remember the days when you’d haggle with local growers to buy all the different blooms.”
“Yeah.”
I’d haggle for a bulk price, and when it came time to pick up the product, only half of what I’d purchased looked good enough to be considered deliverable to customers. One time, Daisy was riding with me, and she jumped in and had it out with one of the worst offenders. Almost three-quarters of the flowers I’d picked up were wilted, and all he was going to offer me was a credit for a future purchase. I wasn’t going to argue—or burn bridges. Daisy had a different idea.
“I still can’t believe you went in and threw that guy under the bus with his mom,” I made a low sound, my head shaking unconsciously at the memory.
That particular seller was second generation in the family flower farm, and his mom just happened to be at their shop that day. Daisy had grabbed handfuls of the crushed flowers and found the older woman inside.
“Are these the kind of flowers you’d want your son to bring you? These sad, wilted wallflowers? Because this is what your son sold us. What he’s telling us is acceptable to give to someone you love.”
By the time we left, he’d replaced all the flowers with fresh, crisp ones and still gave me a credit for a future purchase.
The smallest smile poked at her lips. “He deserved it.”
Those days felt like eons ago, though it had to be only two or three years ago.
I pulled up to the closest warehouse and parked. The mid-morning sun skipped over the aluminum siding as I went around and opened Daisy’s door, offering her my hand. My truck wasn’t lifted, but it was the largest Ford you could get, and just a little too high for someone as short as Daze.
I gritted my teeth as her small fingers slid into mine, a familiar rush of ache flooding my veins, then chased away by the cold course of anger.What the hell were you thinking, Todd?
And how did I not see it coming?
For every ounce of fury I felt toward him, it was a hundredfold toward myself. I’d been there this morning. I’d seen the state he was in, heard how torn up he sounded, and still, never in a million years had I thought he wouldn’t show up to the wedding. Never had it crossed my mind that he was so low he’d abandon Daisy and his daughter.
Countless times, I’d saved his ass when his parents’ money and position weren’t enough. Countless times, I’d helped him make up for the stupid shit he’d put Daisy through. Countless times, I’d done it because she loved him, and I wanted him to be better for her.
And then he went and did this. Disappeared on their wedding day.
All the excuses I wanted to make for him—for what he was going through—were nothing compared to the way I wanted to strangle him for the pain he’d caused. For the future he’d decimated with this incredible woman and their child.
“Thanks,” Daisy looked up at me and smiled.
It wasn’t that full-bloom smile. I didn’t expect that. But it was an honest one. A grateful one. And one that had a tiny dab of chocolate attached to the corner of her mouth from the croissant she’d been nibbling on.
“Hold on,” I murmured when she turned her head away.
I cupped her cheek, watching her lips part on a swift inhale. “Max?—”
“You have some chocolate,” I explained as I wiped my thumb over the spot. It got some but not all of it, and without thinking, I brought my thumb, along with the Daisy-infused chocolate, to my tongue.
Later, I’d tell myself she had time to stop it—to stop me. Time to pull away and clean it herself. But she didn’t. She froze, pink blushing in her cheeks as I dabbed the rest of the chocolate away.
This was all I’d ever had with Daisy. These moments that I stole for myself from my best friend’s fiancée.
I dropped my hand to my side like that would change the consequence of touching her. For the rest of the day, my fingers would burn from the touch of her skin.
“They packed the van up last night, so it should be ready to go,” I said tightly and led the way into the building.
“It’s stillcrazy to me that you used to do this in your truck,” Daisy said as I navigated the MaineStems delivery van onto the road.
