I blink. “A date?”
“Yes, a date,” he says. “A real one, dinner, no fundraiser planning, no work talk, no town watching.”
My smile spreads slowly.
“I’d love that,” I say.
He grins. “Good, me too.”
“How’s Saturday night?” he asks.
“Saturday is good for me. What are we doing?” I ask.
Everett shrugs. “You’ll have to trust me.”
I pretend to think about it.
“Well, I guess I’ll just have to trust you.”
He leans down and kisses me again. Right there in the middle of my coffee shop.
18
Violet
“A yawn is a silent scream for coffee.”
“Everett Callahan kissed me!”
My teenage self would be freaking out right now. Much like my current adult self is.
The thought alone makes my stomach flutter for the hundredth time since last night.
I stare at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, toothbrush paused halfway in my mouth, as if maybe saying it out loud again would somehow make it feel less surreal.
It doesn’t.
I rinse my mouth, letting out a quiet breath.
The memory of it replays. His hand gently on my jaw, the way he looked at me like he wanted to make sure we were on the same page before he kissed me.
Ryan never did any of that. I don’t think he ever really cared about what I wanted. The thought of Ryan used to make me feel like I had a knot in my stomach that I couldn’t undo.
But today, it feels more distant. Not gone.
Maybe it never would be completely gone. But it’s getting smaller. Like a chapter of my life that no longer defines the rest of the book.
I reach for my curling iron and plug it in, even though my hair is curly, there are those annoying pieces that always need to be touched up.
Glancing at the clock on the wall, I still have time before meeting my sisters at the flower farm.
Which means my brain has time to keep spiraling.
My gaze drifts back to the mirror. I still can’t believe that I expressed what was bothering me. I told him I was confused, that I thought the flirting was all in my head. The memory still makes me cringe.
God, I had been so sure I was about to embarrass myself.
Instead, he listened, truly listened. And then he told me the truth.
