"Tonight."
"And when he storms out in justified rage?"
"Then at least you’ll known.”Sarah offers me a cupcake."Besides, I don't think he'll storm.Luke Sterling doesn't strike me as a stormer."
"No," I agree, taking a bite of chocolate comfort."He's more of a quiet disappointment type.Which is worse."
My phone buzzes.Text from Mira.
You need to get back here.Like now.LIKE RIGHT NOW."
"Crisis at the inn," I sigh."Probably Buttercup achieved sentience."
"Go," Eleanor orders."But Sage?Whatever happens tonight, we're proud of you.Your grandmother would be too."
"For committing fraud?"
"For taking a chance.Rose always said the biggest risk was not taking one."
"Pretty sure she meant with the inn, not with cybercrime."
"Tomato, tomahto."
I hug them both, probably getting frosting in Eleanor's braids, and head back to the inn.
The walk is beautiful—November showing off with golden leaves and crisp air that makes everything feel like a new beginning.
Or an ending.
Depending on how tonight goes.
I'm practicing my confession speech—"Luke, I have something to tell you" sounds too ominous, while "Funny story about how we met" is too casual—when I round the corner to the inn and stop dead.
Flowers.
Everywhere.
The porch is drowning in arrangements.Roses, peonies, something purple that might be orchids, and what appears to be an entire flowering shrub.
"Surprise!"Mira pops out from behind a particularly aggressive bouquet."They've been arriving all afternoon.I ran out of surfaces."
I blink, touching a stem that leans too close.“Who did this?”
“Who do you think?”
My heart stutter-steps inside my chest.“Luke?Luke did this?"
Mira grins, eyebrows waggling.“Unless you have another billionaire suitor who speaks fluent flower?"
I pick up the nearest card.
"Looking forward to tonight - thinking of you.-L”
Another.
“For the most beautiful disaster I know.- L”
And another.
