Isabel smiled. “I’ll do that, although Patrick might want to have the evening alone with you. “
Susan’s eyebrows rose. “Hasn’t anyone told him that if he falls in love with Kathleen, he gets our company as a bonus?”
Lynda chuckled. “If we told him that, he’d run a mile.”
Kathleen shook her head and smiled. “No, he wouldn’t. He’d probably make the most of Susan’s cooking expertise and get the barbecue ready for a culinary feast.”
Isabel nodded. “And Frank and Matt would join him. The old saying about food being the way to a man’s heart is so true.”
After they’d finished laughing, Susan turned to her friends. “I want to thank you all for being such great friends. You’ve reminded me that I don’t have to have everything figured out before I take the first step in my new life.”
Kathleen wrapped her arm around Susan’s waist. “That’s what friends are for. Besides, you’ve given us something too.”
“What’s that?”
Kathleen looked at her friend. “You’ve reminded us that the best adventures begin when we trust that good things can happen.”
Chapter 35
Kathleen stood in her kitchen three weeks after the garden surprise, watching Patrick through the window. He was adding more wooden plant markers to the herbs he’d bought at the general store. The morning light caught the silver in his hair, and she felt the familiar flutter in her chest whenever he was near.
The garden had become her sanctuary, just as Patrick had intended. In the early mornings before the café opened, she would slip out with her coffee and walk the brick pathways, touching the leaves and inhaling the sweet scent of the flowers.
The reporters and curiosity seekers had largely moved on after Percy’s carefully orchestrated announcement about “common Victorian artifacts,” but the peace the garden brought her had nothing to do with escaping publicity. It was about the love that had created it.
Every detail spoke of Patrick’s careful attention to what brought her joy. The wooden bench was positioned to catch the morning sun. The pathways curved to create intimate spaces perfect for quiet reflection, and the raised beds were the right height for comfortable tending without straining her back. He’d thought of everything, and more importantly, he’d thought of her.
“You’ll wear a hole in that floor if you keep pacing,” Isabel said from her seat at the kitchen table. She was helping Lynda address invitations for the historical society’s upcoming fundraiser.
Kathleen hadn’t realized she was pacing. “I’m not pacing.”
“You’ve walked past that window seventeen times in the last ten minutes.” Isabel set down her pen and studied her friend. “What’s really going on?”
Kathleen paused mid-step, caught. “I’ve been thinking.”
“That’s usually dangerous,” Susan said, looking up from the laptop where she’d been reviewing catering orders for the same fundraiser.
Kathleen smiled and ignored Susan’s teasing. “I’ve been thinking about Patrick and how he created the garden for me.”
“Yes, he did,” Lynda agreed patiently. “And you’ve thanked him approximately forty-seven times.”
Kathleen turned from the window to face her friends. “But I haven’t shown him what he means to me. I’ve been so careful, so worried about moving too fast or expecting too much, that I haven’t let him know how deeply I care for him.”
Susan closed her laptop with a decisive snap. “It’s about time.”
“What’s about time?” Kathleen asked, startled by her friend’s emphatic tone.
“That you admit he’s your soulmate. We’ve known you love him for weeks, but a soulmate is someone extra special.”
Kathleen leaned against the window frame. “Is it that obvious?”
“Only to everyone who’s ever seen you both in the same room,” Isabel said with fond exasperation.
“Yesterday, he brought you a single iris from his own garden because he noticed the one in your new garden bed looked lonely,” Susan added. “That’s not something a man does for a friend, Kathleen. That’s something a man does when he’s completely smitten.”
Through the window, Kathleen watched as Patrick stood and dusted the soil from his knees. He looked toward the house, and when he saw her in the window, his face brightened with a warm smile that made her heart skip a beat. He raised his hand in a small wave, and she waved back.
With a sigh, she turned to her friends. “I bought something,” she said suddenly, the words tumbling out before her courage failed her. “Last week, when I went to Kalispell for supplies.”
