“That’s what it says on my driver’s license,” he quipped back, grinning the exact same way he had when we were little, eyes sparkling with the promise of adventure.
So much for telling him I didn’t want to go. Who could resist a man with flowers?
“Are those for me?” I asked. It was a stupid question, they obviously were, but I couldn’t quite get myself to believe it.
Aside from Liam earlier today, no one had ever brought me flowers before.
“Well, they’re not for Theo,” Harvey said, shifting his weight.
He looked so good standing there in his knee-length wool coat with big shiny gold buttons. So grown up, but stillmyHarvey in all the ways that mattered. The same smile, the same soft curls that got in his face if he let them grow too long, the same impossible hazel eyes I could’ve stared into for hours.
“T-Thank you,” I said, stuttering for the second time today. I’d thought I’d grown out of that, but apparently Harvey was making me trip over my own tongue like I was eight years old again. “They need water. Uh, come in,” I said belatedly, stepping out of the way so Harvey could slip into the cabin.
He crouched down to say hello to Theo—who already loved him—while I went to find something that might pass as a vase.
“Where did you evengetthese?” I asked. “They’re stunning.”
Dahlias in a range of fall pastels with silvery-green foliage I didn’t recognize, interspersed with a few sprigs of sage, all of them beautiful, like they’d only been cut a moment ago. At this time of year, they must have been worth a fortune.
“I tricked Seth into taking me to his wedding florist,” Harvey said. “Figured he’d go somewhere nice.”
“You tricked Seth, or he tricked you?” I asked, filling an old bear-shaped honey jar with water at the sink.
“Honestly, hard to say,” Harvey admitted, opening up his suitcase. “You oughta put on a coat, it’s cold out.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said, not wanting to admit that I hadn’t put one on because I hadn’t been sure I was planning to go with him.
Harvey had brought meflowers. I couldn’t let him think I was anything less than a hundred percent on board with being his date tonight.
“Will you at least accept a scarf?” Harvey asked, holding three different ones up.
“I dunno that I’m a scarf guy,” I said, watching him lay them all out to choose between them.
Who knew Harvey had grown a fashionable streak?
“I’ll keep one in the car for you,” he said. “Just in case.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I teased.
Harvey glanced at me, then wrapped one scarf around his neck and folded another over his arm.
“Ready to go?”
Too late to back out now. At least the knots in my stomach were starting to ease up.
“Lead the way.”
* * *
“Iggy, I’m so sorry,”Seth said as he rushed up to us outside the Friendly Otter Brewery’s beer garden. “If I’d known I wouldn’t have dragged you into all this.”
“Known what?” I frowned, shuffling a half-inch closer to Harvey to take advantage of his body heat.
He’d been right, I should’ve brought a coat. We’d only walked a few yards down the street from the car, but it was still raining, and the wind was picking up.
I thought about asking for the scarf he’d insisted on bringing for me, but I didn’t want to admit to the mistake I’d made—or why I’d made it.
“Liam’s working the bar here tonight,” Seth said, biting his lip. “I swear to god I didn’t do this on purpose.”
