“You know it with your head, not with ...” His palm pressed over my heart. “Ruby.” Just my name—then agathering into his arms. The muscular version of his teddy bear hug. Strong, grounding, enveloping.
That was all I needed. He’d probably have to say it a thousand more times before I’d believe it, but still, it was what I needed. What Evangeline promised would happen.
I told her about that a few days after he went back to Houston to meet with his managers and sort out the transfer to California.
Wedding prep for Rio had me stopping by Bay & Bloom to give Eve the update on what time I’d need the flowers delivered.
The bell over the shop door jingled as I pushed it open, the scent of roses and lilies hitting me like always. Through the half-open doorway to the back room, I caught a flash of Eve—on her tiptoes, wrapped tight in the arms of a man I didn’t recognize. His head was bent toward hers, his face buried in her neck. Close, too close for casual.
I stopped at the counter where Marcy was busy arranging colorful ribbon spools.
“Who’s that?” I asked, jerking my chin toward the back.
Her expression was already doing that thing where she pretended she wasn’t bursting with juicy details. “Step-brother. Or something. I know his parents owned this shop,” she whispered. Like me, Marcy wasn’t born a local, though she seemed to be in everyone’s business as if she were. “If you wait five minutes, I’ll have the whole story.”
Typical Marcy. Having her working here was probably good for Bay & Bloom’s bottom line. She knew before anyone else when flowers would be needed for engagements, weddings, funerals, sickrooms, sorrys—you name it. Butwhen it came to the really sensitive stuff, she could be a disaster.
And I now knew who that man was. Hayden Holmes.
I’d met Eve after he’d already moved away, so I wouldn’t recognize him by sight, especially when I couldn’t exactly see his face. But that embrace—and Marcy’s words—made it clear.
The back door banged softly a minute later, and Eve appeared. She looked pale, as if someone had pulled all the color right out of her.
Hayden must have left through the back exit where Eve’s delivery van was parked.
I didn’t even bother pretending. “Come on,” I said, looping an arm through hers. “I need coffee. Now.”
She didn’t argue. Which told me everything.
“What happened?” I asked the second we stepped outside.
“You saw? That was—”
“Hayden,” I finished for her.
“Yeah. He’s here to check retirement homes for Rachel and to see his dad. Pete is ... deteriorating.”
“I’m so sorry, Evie,” I said. I had so many nicknames for her, but that one I rarely used.
“It was expected. Pete, I mean. And Rachel.”
“And Hayden being here?”
“Also.”
We didn’t end up getting coffee, just drifted down a side street because I could see she needed the movement more than caffeine.
“Where’s he staying?”
“With Rachel.” By that, she meant the family’s home—a small house in the valley outside town. It used to be surrounded by flower fields, she’d told me once. The Holmeses used to grow flowers for export and sale.
“How long since you’ve seen him?” I asked.
“He visits his parents twice a year,” she said, her voice low. “But we haven’t really spent time together in ... God, it feels like forever.”
Eve slowed when we reached the corner. “I should get back to the shop. Marcy can handle things, but ... better not tempt fate.” She let out a dry chuckle.
Marcy was busy with a customer, so Eve and I talked through Rio’s wedding—the flower arrangements’ delivery time, number of vases, baby’s breath fillers. She tapped it all into the shop’s computer, the software she’d coded herself a few years back, a reminder of her techy past.
