“Sorry to interrupt, but we need to borrow you for a second, Claire,” Magnolia declares, her expression grave. I look to Rowan for reassurance, but he’s already glaring at the lot of them.
“I’ll go get us something to drink,” he mumbles and gives my arm a squeeze before he saunters off, leaving me alone with them. And this time I don’t have Daisy or Mrs. LaFleur to watch my blindside.
I cross my arms over my middle self-consciously. “Don’t you need Rowan to stay for his own intervention?”
Maggie frowns, but Naomi smirks at me. “You missed that part, although Rowan was actually the interventionist,” Naomi says, and I furrow my brow in confusion.
“We’re here to apologize for the things we said at Easter,” Maggie offers, somewhat reluctantly. Marigold coughs again and widens her eyes, and Maggie sighs before she adds, “And in the sister group chat.”
“Oh.” My shoulders droop at the realization that they’ve been talking as much crap about me as I feared.
“None of it was really about you, personally,” Maggie continues, sounding eerily similar to Rowan earlier. “We can be overprotective of our family sometimes, and we were worried and even a bit curious after seeing how enamored Rowan seemed with you. But we were unkind and uncharitable all the same, and we hope you can forgive us and trust that we’ll never gossip about you like that again.”
I nod silently, willing my chin to stop trembling. What is it with all the crying lately? It’s like Rowan broke the dam the night we met, and I haven’t been able to corral my tears since then.
“For the record, no one said anything specifically offensive,” Iris chimes in. “We only made some judgmental suppositions and assumptions, most of which Daisy immediately shot down and scolded us for saying in the first place.”
“If anything, I think we’ve all developed a girl crush after seeing you rock a pair of overalls,” Naomi affirms.
“Oh, and your beautiful tattoo sleeve,” Mari adds enthusiastically. “You’ve actually inspired us! We’re going to get a LaFleur-sister bouquet drawn up.”
“They’re going to let me and Cyprien’s wife get one, too, don’t worry,” Naomi whispers.
“That’s … that’s awesome,” I choke out. “And thank you, for the compliments and for the apology. I’m very flattered by all of it.”
Maggie sighs. “Maybe, if you like the way it turns out, you could consider adding our flowers to your mural one day.”
“Yeah, I’ll think about it.” I bite my lip to steady it. “I mean, I’m sure I couldfind the space …”
Maggie smiles, and we all relax after that, the conversation growing lighter by the time Rowan returns.
“Did you really stand up to Maggie for me?” I turn to whisper to him.
He hands me a bottle of water. “I told you I’d handle it, didn’t I?”
“And I told you I don’t need you to be the answer to all my problems,” I say, and his shoulders droop.
He opens his mouth to apologize, but I continue before he has the chance.
“Although I must admit, I kind of like having a bodyguard, especially one so … dangerous.” I look up at him from beneath my lashes and move a little closer, and he lets out a relieved exhale when I add a “thank you.”
“You know, I can still escort you to the ladies’ room if you’d rather not go alone,” he replies with a dimpled smirk, making me melt all over again.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
claire
“Ugh, my favorite,”Loren moans as she takes a bite of a cookie. “Who made these?”
“They’re from Caidence,” Tenley replies, gesturing to her nephew and his girlfriend on the opposite end of the room. “A birthday treat for her favorite teacher, Mrs. Daisy,” she adds with a conspiratorial wink.
“Hey,” Loren and I both object. But Daisy beams at the compliment, and I smile at her as I pick up a cookie and take a huge bite.
“Hmm. Not bad,” I observe as I chew.
“You know these have peanut butter in them, right?” Loren warns me. I cringe and hand over the rest of the uneaten cookie, and she’s all too eager to accept it.
“Why does that feel illegal now?” I muse, dusting my hands off on my hips.
