Attached At Heart (Wildflower #3)

Seven Years Ago

seven years ago

DELANEY

“What’s wrong?”

I didn’t even look up from the puzzle pieces on the floor of my apartment when I replied, “Nothing’s wrong.”

“You’ve been working on that puzzle for almost four hours.”

“I love puzzles.” I shrugged. “You know I love puzzles.”

“I do know you love puzzles.” Blake’s voice grew louder as he sat on the couch. I almost forgot he was still in my apartment. He’d been sitting at my kitchen table studying while I trained my focus on something I could control. Just for a little bit. “But since when does it take you so long to do this puzzle?”

I wrinkled my nose. “You say that like I do this puzzle often.”

“Delaney…”

Okay, fine. This was my favorite puzzle, and sure, maybe I’d done it before. Many times. But there was something to be said for that—the satisfaction of puzzling through something you knew you could solve because you’d done it before. I needed to feel accomplished about something today.

“I just think the colors are pretty. Can you imagine seeing that many rows of tulips in real life?” I stared thoughtfully at the picture on the lid of the puzzle box for a moment, wondering what it would be like to indulge in the little things in life instead of sifting through never-ending piles of homework. Like wearing pretty dresses and going to see tulip fields. Then I snapped out of it, because that just wasn’t my life or my life goals, and looked up at Blake. “You wouldn’t understand. You don’t like color.”

“I like color,” he said in immediate defense but didn’t elaborate because he knew he didn’t have a way to prove it.