12
MILO
Sweetest,kindest man he’d ever met?
Maybe I hadn’t screwed up as bad as I thought.
Muriel turned and looked me up and down again like she had last night, smirked, and then waved goodbye to Xander and flounced out the door with a bounce in her step.
“You know, my shift starts in, like, two minutes,” Dante said, looking between the two of us. “And it’ll take me at least that long to cross the street. Talk later,” he added, and then he gave me a look, too. It was a lot more intimidating than Muriel’s.
I waited until the bell stopped jingling to clear my throat.
My lip still hurt where his teeth had collided with it, a bruise I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about all morning.
“Uh,” I said, wishing I’d planned this out better. “Peace offering?”
I didn’t know what I was doing—this was a completely new situation for me—but I knew I couldn’t just avoid Xander. Didn’twantto just avoid Xander.
He was my friend. He wasstillmy friend. I didn’t want that to be over.
Because he was the kindest, sweetest man I’d ever met, too.
Xander looked at the coffee and flowers I’d brought over, and for a heart-stopping moment, I worried he was about to throw me out. But then it passed, and he gave me the tiniest little smile.
“Take a seat,” he said, nodding to the table in the corner. “I’ll get up if anyone else comes in.”
I did as I was told, not wanting to risk another misstep, and folded myself into the corner seat, setting coffee and brownies on the table but hanging onto the flowers.
“How’s the baby?” I asked as Xander came around the counter.
“Orion? He’s great. Luna really likes him, she’s been helping me out a lot. Keeping him out of trouble.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Right?” Xander laughed. “She’s usually the one causing trouble. But I guess he’s pinging her maternal instincts. Probably good for both of them.”
I passed a coffee and both brownies over to Xander as he sat down, still holding the flowers.
“Do you not want one of these?” Xander asked, nodding to the brownies.
I shrugged. “You missed out the other day and I ate yours,” I said. “Seemed only fair.”
“So the second one is mine?” Xander asked.
I nodded, wondering if I’d done something wrong. It wasn’t that I was trying to bribe him into forgiveness or anything, but I wanted him to know I was sorry. And that I didn’t want to lose him.
“And I can do whatever I want with it?” he asked.
“Obviously,” I said. Maybe he was about to throw it at me. I might’ve deserved it.
“Cool,” Xander said, passing it over to me. “All yours. Those flowers for me?”
I’d almost forgotten about the flowers while we were talking about the brownie.
“Uh, yeah. They’re umm. The peonies are for, umm, shyness, and the olive leaves are for peace, and the baby’s breath is because I thought it worked. Dawn has a book about what flowers mean. I made up the bunch myself, which is why it’s…”
“It’s perfect,” Xander said, his fingers brushing against mine as he accepted the flowers. “No one’s ever brought me flowers before.”
