“She was being protective.”
“What kind of standards are we working with?”
“I don’t know. She was vague. Something about working for it.”
“Working for it.”
“Extensively.”
He considered her, then reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Working for it.” He typed rapidly. “Extensively.”
The flowers arrived thirty minutes later. Not a delivery kid. A woman stood in the diner doorway with two dozen roses and an apron that read Pine Hollow Floral, looking like she had taken a wrong turn.
“Delivery for Tessa Thorne?”
“I’m Tessa Thorne.”
“Sign here, please.”
She signed. The florist deposited the roses on the table between them, knocking over the saltshaker.
“Seriously?”
“Part one.” He was still typing on his phone. “Part two should be here in twenty minutes.”
“Part two.”
“Apologies take many forms.”
Part two was a violinist. An actual violinist, in a tuxedo, who walked into the diner and started playing something soft and romantic while the other customers stared and the waitress paused mid-coffee-pour.
“This is insane. Lucy said extensively.”
“She didn’t mean?—“
She gestured at the violinist, who had now attracted a small crowd of onlookers from the street. “This is a diner. There are health codes.”
“I’ll tip the manager.”
She pressed her hand to her mouth. Her shoulders were shaking. She was trying not to laugh and failing.
“You’re laughing.”
“I’m horrified.”
“Your shoulders are shaking.”
“From horror.”
She was definitely laughing now, her eyes bright with something that wasn’t anger anymore. “You hired a violinist. For a diner.”
His phone buzzed.
“Part three is ready.”
