Juliette looked down. I saw glimpses of emotion in her face, but the walls she had up weren’t going to come down that easily—if ever. “Anything else?”
I shook my head.
“Okay, then.” Her voice was low. “You should go.”
I waited until she looked up and our eyes met. “Can I come back again? Maybe just for another five minutes? You can set another timer.”
“That’s not a good idea.”
I nodded. “I’m leaving because I want to respect your wishes, and you gave me five minutes I didn’t deserve. But I’m not giving up that easily, Juliette.”
She didn’t say a word. Just turned and walked out of the garage, going back to planting her flowers. I’d already gotten more than I should’ve, and I knew it wasn’t the time to push any more than I had, so I went back to my car. When I pulled out onto the street, though, I slowed in front of her house and watched her as I passed. Juliette didn’t look my way. I caught one last glimpse of her in the rearview mirror, and only then did she turn and watch until the car disappeared from view.
A few miles down the road, I saw a little nursery tucked off the side of the road. Before I even thought about it, I turned in. Flats of flowers were stacked all over—red, yellows, blues, and bright purple. An older man looked up from behind the counter.
“Can I help you?”
“Yeah,” I said, glancing around at all the color once again. “I’ll take a hundred flats.”
He raised a brow. “A hundredflatsof flowers? You know, a flat is the full plastic tray. There’re eighteen individual cells in one flat.”
I smiled. “I know.”
“Alrighty, then. Any particular kind?”
“Doesn’t matter.” I shrugged. “Just something that lasts.”
“You want them delivered to a jobsite? We can deliver them the day after tomorrow, on Wednesday.”
“No, thanks. I’m going to be planting them tonight.”
***
The next morning, I was running on fumes. I’d worked security from twelve to twelve and then spent the rest of the night planting until the first light of dawn. When I was done, I parked two houses down from Juliette’s place so she wouldn’t spot me right away. I just wanted to see her face when she came out and saw what I’d done while she was sleeping.
A few hours went by, and I nearly drifted off more than once. But then the front door opened. Juliette stepped outside, walked down the stairs, and froze. Her brows furrowed as she took it all in: beds packed with rows of fresh flowers, a rainbow of color where there had only been three plantings the day before. She stood for a moment, staring. Then she turned and scanned the street, and her eyes landed on my car.
I couldn’t help but smile. I lifted a hand in a small wave, then turned the ignition and shifted into gear, driving off before she could decide whether to smile back.
CHAPTER 30
Juliette
“Shit…” I was running late for book club.
I wasn’t really in the mood for it tonight, but I’d fallen into a funk over the last week since I’d seen Wes, so I was forcing myself to go.
I grabbed a bottle of wine, walked over to Pam’s, knocked on the door, and waited.
When she opened, she had a funny expression on her face. And when I looked over her shoulder into the living room, I knew exactly the reason why.
I put the bottle of wine on an end table as I stormed inside. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Wes sat in the circle with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Wes joined the book club,” Pam explained.
I looked back at her before returning to glare at him. “Why?”
