By the time I’m finished reading it aloud, I can barely make out the last few words with the tears blurring my eyes, so I hand the note over to Loren.
“Ugh, I justknewhe’d be a Regency-romance level yearner,” Loren declares and mimes a chef’s kiss.
“Oh, and this came with it, too,” Ms. Sam adds and drops a bag of salted caramel chocolates into my hands before she winks at me and scurries out.
JD lets out another whistle. “Wow. I think he likes you, Claire Bear.”
“Yeah,” I say, sniffling. “I guess he does.”
“And how are you feeling about all those serious words?” he ventures hesitantly.
“I thought I said we weren’t talking about feelings today?” I reply with a smirk.
JD lifts his hands in surrender. “Just sayin’, a guy like Rowan LaFleur probably doesn’t throw around the L-word or the butt-word unless he means it.”
I nod. “Yeah. I’m afraid so.”
Loren snatches the candy from me. “Good thing they’re soulmates,” she intones, helping herself to a chocolate. “What’s up with the flower bush, though?”
“It’s a daphne plant,” I tell them. They drag out anawwwin unison at the reference to my first name, which they only recognize because it’s part of my school-based email address.
Loren gasps. “And Daphne is a flower, which meansyou were always meant to be aLaFleur. Oh my gosh, the two of you are just perfection,” she declares and adds another kiss to her fingertips.
I snort. “You mean, besides the part about one of us being divorced and the other being a virgin?”
“Eh, that kind of stuff all balances out in the end,” JD declares, staring at me as if he’s trying to convey something deeper. “You just have to be willing to look beyond the surface and think about the reasons God might have brought you together. He tends to have a sense of humor about these things.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I say, just as the bell rings, and I curse under my breath. “I’ve gotta go. Thanks for all this, though,” I tell them, collecting my things.
“So do I,” JD says, picking up the plant. “I’ll bring this to your classroom in a minute,” he reassures me, and I nod gratefully as he walks out.
“Wait, you’re coming to Daisy’s surprise party next weekend, aren’t you?” Loren asks and walks around to help me.
“Yeah, of course. And I’m happy to help with anything.”
“I was going to ask you to bring a finger food, but what about a soulmate instead?” she requests sweetly.
My eyes widen. “A what?”
“You and Rowan should totally soft launch your relationship,” she says. “Daisy would love it.”
“Oh, um, I don’t know if we’re ready for that,” I choke out as soon as I think about his sisters watching from the sidelines.
“What do you mean? He’s practically proposing to you in that note,” she points out.
I swallow hard. “I know.”
Her lips form a perfect oval as understanding dawns. “You’re not sure you’re ready to get remarried.”
“Ever. And it’s pretty important to him, as you may know,” I confirm.
“Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but I almost made the biggest mistake of my life and turned down Blake’s proposal,” she admits, cringing. “I was super knocked up, and the crazy baby-mamahormones had me convinced that he was only doing it because he felt obligated and not because he was a Regency-romance yearner.”
“Seriously?” I ask, my brow raised.
“I was absolutely terrified to say yes. Insane, right?” She bugs her eyes, and I nod for her to continue. “But at some point, I realized I wasn’t just keeping him from making a mistake. I was making myself the villain in his origin story instead of accepting the role of the princess in his love story. I had to learn to trust him when he said that I wasitfor him and that his parts worked for me and no one else.”
She bounces her eyebrows suggestively, and I giggle.
