She walked out, and I returned to the call and then ate and got back to work, memories and questions and ideas rolling around in my head while I moved from task to task. Did I like myself? Did I know myself?
Yes, to both of those. I’d spent a lot of years hanging out with just me while raising Piper. Introverts had their flaws, but hating alone-time wasn’t one of them. Sometimes the most interesting conversations were the ones going on in my head. And yet, insecurity had sat dormant, lurking in the background. I’d held onto things Rob said about me as if they foretold all my future relationships. Like he had the key to knowing the real me, and if any other guys really got to know me, they’d feel the same way about sticking around. Why had I made him the expert?
Maybe… maybe he’d never known the real me at all. Or maybe he had, and he didn’t like my personality, and that was okay. Not everyone had to like me. It was a bummer that it was the person who married me, but, yeah, I was overdue to let it go.
Prepping orders for the next day took so long that Carmen and Isaac took Piper to my house and put her to bed, reassuring me they were just as happy hanging out on my couch as their own.
When Dean texted and asked if he could come and help me, I sent back prayer hands. Yes, I would take all the help I could get. My part-timers had stayed for the full day, but they had weekend plans and overtime only interested them so much.
I couldn’t say I was torn up about having Dean all to myself. When he knocked, I let him in, butterflies filling my tummy when I looked into his eyes and saw he was just as happy to see me. I remembered to turn the lock, and then he was picking me up and carrying me to the counter, kissing me the whole way.
I thought I’d lose myself when we got to this point. I thought I’d lose all reason. But that was me being an undecided control-freak, and I’d finally decided. This was what I wanted. Giving Dean my trust was just another way of loving him with my whole heart.
“You are an excellent assistant.” I cupped his face in my hands and kissed him one last time.
“Please tell me I’m the only one who gets this kind of greeting when they come in.”
“Definitely just you. Ready to get to work so we can leave here at some point?”
“Yes, boss.” He gave me a hand so I could jump down from the edge of the counter, and I led him to the back, setting him up at the card printing machine. Piper had drawn the cutest picture of a child holding up flowers for a mom, and I’d shrunk it down and put it in the corner of the cards for our mother’s bouquets. Dean’s job would be to print out the cards with the message requested by the customer and match it to the orders.
Once they had their cards, I placed the finished bouquets into their slots in our cardboard carriers by location andorganized them in the cooler for delivery in the morning. I’d make the next wave of orders tomorrow, once these went out.
“How did the game go?” I asked. “All Piper said was she ate Pringles chips after the game and Toby got a bloody nose. Did he get hit by another player?”
“No, he refused to play and then knocked himself in the face with his swinging water bottle.”
I laughed. “Sorry I missed that. Not that I’m happy he hit his own face. I just, really like those kids. I might even miss them when basketball season is over.”
“So, you’ll be coaching basketball again?”
“Heck no. I’ll be cheering from the sidelines. I mean, maybe one more season. If they need me.” I hated to admit I liked coaching more than I’d expected.
Dean passed by me in the small space, stopping to watch me cut stems to the right height. “Ollie’s dad said he’ll coach for us the Saturday we’ll be gone for Jessica’s wedding.”
“Oh good.” I turned and smiled. We’d be vacationing together. On an island full of small villages and lighthouses and picturesque beaches. And right now, Dean was looking at me the way Gilbert Blythe looked at Anne in the movie, like he knew something she was just figuring out. I may have done my own movie marathon in preparation for our trip.
“Have you told Jessica about us?” he whispered, tucking back a strand of my hair.
“Have you?”
He shook his head. “We should tell her together on a video call. The way we told the GoWithFriends group.”
“Only Jessica will actually be surprised.” I pulled out my phone. “We’d better do it here then. That way she won’t wake up Piper with her screams. Um, but first, could you maybe tug on a strand of my hair and call me ‘carrots’?” The ends of my hair were red. That was close enough, right?
Dean tilted his head. “Um, what?”
“Oh Dean, we need to educate you in all things Anne of Green Gables before this trip.”
Chapter 34 – Dean
I looked up from my book and nudged Grace’s foot with mine. We were sitting across from each other, sharing a velvet footstool outlined in fringe. The bed-and-breakfast where we were staying for Jessica’s wedding was firmly planted in the early 1900s. “Gilbert rescues her from almost drowning, and she’s furious with him?”
“Yes.” Grace looked up from the book she was reading. She wouldn’t admit it was a dragon shifter book, but the cover with the scripty font, and the muscled guy, and the silhouette of a dragon in the background stated otherwise. “Oh, she tortures him for quite a few more books. Just wait.”
“And why is this a good thing?”
“Because Anne can’t see romance when it’s right in front of her. She’s dying for it, and it’s right there. I don’t want to spoil anything, but he gives up on her at one point, and she has this all-is-lost moment. She thinks it’s too late to tell him she loves him.”
