Russell let go of the railing and wrapped his arms around me. He pressed his mouth against mine and passionately kissed me. He kissed me in a way that was intended to remind me that I was his and that he truly didn’t want me to engage in things that could potentially upset me.
“How about a compromise?”
“A compromise?” I questioned. “What do you mean?”
“How about we go inside for a few minutes. While we warm up, we’ll find a place that can deliver flowers to her today.”
“Instead of me calling?”
“Yes. Instead of you calling her.”
“Um,” I mumbled as I thought about it. “Will we be able to find a shop to deliver flowers to her today?”
“Ryan, she’s in L.A. It’s not like she’s out here in the middle of nowhere.”
“True.”
“It’s not even six in the morning out west.”
I thought about it some more, and he was right. Sending flowers would be best. It would prevent me from getting on the phone and potentially becoming upset by her on the holiday. I nodded at him and smiled.
“Good boy. Come on, let’s go inside for a bit. Your face is cold. We’ll find a flower shop and get some coffee.”
When we walked into the house, delicious scents of food filled my nostrils. It smelled so good! Lily turned to look at us when we walked into the kitchen. She smiled at us and pulled out two coffee mugs.
“Those are some red cheeks on my West Coast boys,” she mused out loud. “I’m surprised you guys lasted out there as long as you did. It’s only seventeen degrees out.”
“We have some of those heat trapping base layer tights—”
“Pants,” I interrupted Russell as I unzipped my coat and let it slide off my arms.
“Pants, I meant.” Russell and I sat at the breakfast bar. “We’re going to find a place to deliver some flowers to his mother today.”
“I’ll get you guys some coffee to sip on while you search.”
I began my search on my phone while Russell conducted his own. Lily brought over two mugs of coffee as Russell announced he’d found a place that specifically said they’d deliver today.How does he find this stuff so fast?When I set my phone down to look at what he had pulled up, Lily had set a small plate between us with four cookies. I swiped one of the oatmeal raisin, and Russell instinctively reached for one of the walnut chocolate chip cookies.
“These all have a fall color theme,” Russell pointed out.
They all looked nice and more than she deserved, considering everything. I glanced at the prices and made sure that I didn’t select something really expensive. With the last little bit of cookie in my hand, I pointed to a bouquet with a combination of red, yellow, orange, and purple flowers.
“How about that one?”
“That one looks nice,” Russell said. I sat quietly while Russell placed the order.
After we finished our coffee and the cookies, we headed back outside. I volunteered to shovel the walkway so it would be free of show when the guests arrived. While I did that, Russell finished wrapping the porch.
“This is my first time shoveling snow,” I called out to Russell.
“Consider yourself very lucky,” he hollered back.
This wasn’t so bad. The only annoying part about it so far was that my nose kept running, and I had to keep sniffling. When I made it to the edge of the path before it turned into the long driveway, I stretched my back and looked at my work.
“Not bad,” I murmured. I looked at the porch to see where Russell was. He was still wrapping some lights around the railing but on the side of the house. “Hey! I’m done,” I called out to him. Russell walked to the railing at the front of the house.
“Well, look at you.” He laughed and walked down the steps onto the wet walkway. “I think there might be some Midwest in you after all,” he said as he approached.
“I don’t know about that,” I laughed.
