“Thank you.You still haven’t said what you need.”
Wiping the sweat off my brow with the back of my hand again, I mumbled, “Oh, uh, right.A bouquet.”
When I didn’t say anything more, her eyebrows furrowed over the prettiest hazel eyes I’d ever seen.Flashes of those eyes sparked in my head, and I realized I hadn’t only been dreaming about the sound of her voice; I’d been dreaming about AJ’s eyes too.
“A bouquet for my mama,” I said so she wouldn’t think I’d lost my mind.“I haven’t seen her in a while.Figured I’d better bring her some flowers.Somethin’ small.”Small enough to be cheap.I’d been saving the money I’d earned working a farm over near Medford, Oregon, and after that as a timber faller, but I needed all my resources so I could buy a used car and rent a room.I wouldn’t ask to stay on my family’s land.They probably wouldn’t want me anywhere near there, and I couldn’t blame them for that.
Reaching around Avery’s waist, I grabbed a premade bouquet of bright orange daisies off the display table behind her.She’d tied them together with a baby-blue ribbon.“How ’bout these?How much?”
She scrunched her nose, and the freckles smattered over the bridge twinkled like stars in an evening sky.“You love your mama, don’t you?”
“Yeah.’Course I do.”
“Then you can’t give her those.They’re cheap and boring.Your mama likes pastel colors anyway.”
“Yeah, but how much are those gonna cost— Wait.You know my mama?You know who I am?”
“Yes, Dixon.You were my best friend in grade school.It took me a minute, but did you think I’d forgotten?”
“I-I… Well, yeah.It’s been a long time, and I’m not— I don’t look the same.I’m not the same person I used to be.”
Her eyes slid down my chest but quickly lifted back up to mine.
“I’m not the same either, but I could never forget those blue eyes.”She reached up tentatively and touched the tip of her finger to an overgrown lock of my hair that had fallen over my shoulder.“You should get your hair cut before you see your mama.”
Looking down at her finger still playing with my hair, I felt my cheeks heating with embarrassment.Another flash of heat ran through my body, much lower, but I shut that shit down as quick as I could and took a step backward.
She might have known me all those years ago, but she didn’t know me now.I wasn’t someone a beautiful, successful woman like her should want to know.
“The orange ones will be fine,” I said, and I pulled a sweaty and crumpled wad of cash from my front pocket, embarrassing me even more than I already was.
If AJ knew who I was, then she’d likely heard the gossip around town about me; there was no way Wisper hadn’t talked when I brought Stu to stay with Bax.And I was sure no one had forgotten my teenage years and my twenties.None of that would’ve been good.
“Suit yourself,” she said, seemingly disappointed at my mundane choice of flowers, and she grabbed the bouquet from my hand and whipped around to wrap them in tissue paper and ring me up at the cash register.
Her barely waving, blond hair fluttered out behind her, and the ends licked my forearm.The movement pushed a rush of air in my direction, and when her sweet, floral scent hit my nose, I groaned.She still smelled the same, like wildflowers and fresh air, and the memories of the two of us exploring the woods as kids sucked the breath right out of my chest.
God, how I wished I could go back to that time, when I was nothing more than an innocent boy.
Suddenly, I wanted to hear AJ’s laugh.I wanted the happy, tinkling sound to wrap me up and carry me the rest of the way home.Maybe it could wash away the evidence of my sins, like God himself had kept a tally score, every wrongdoing marked in cuts and fading needle marks on my skin.
Maybe then the fear would go away.
Maybe then I could face my son and my family with more confidence than I currently possessed… and a straight back.
ChapterTwo
AVERY JANE
“Who was that?”Mama asked when she and Gran walked into AVery Pretty Petal after their run to José’s Diner for a late breakfast.
Dixon held the door for them, and Gran craned her neck so far up and over her shoulder to get a good look at him that I thought I should warn her not to get a crick.As soon as the jingle bells announced the door had closed, my mama asked the question, and Gran’s head whipped right back around.Her curious eyes landed on mine.
It wasn’t lying if I didn’t answer verbally, right?
I shrugged.
“He looks familiar,” Mama said.“Who was it?”
