Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Delaney
I walk into The Perfect Petal on Monday, prepared to tell Poppy that I made a mistake, and I can’t work here.
At the back, a long farm table invites people to sit, talk, and make a bouquet. The shop isn’t just about flowers, it’s about coming together, which has always been Plain Daisy Ranch’s thing.
The sweet scent of the peony display stops me cold. An array of Nebraska-grown flowers in every color sits in tall, galvanized metal tins. Needing a moment, I bend down and inhale.
“You did always love the peonies.”
That voice.
Bennett.
For all of Poppy’s promises that he’s never around, it seems like he’s always around.
I straighten slowly, glancing over. He’s wearing jeans, cowboy boots, and a plaid button-down. His hair is styled instead of tucked beneath a hat, but he still carries that rugged ease that California never quite rubbed off him.
“They’re like the wedding gown of the flower world.”
He chuckles, resting a hip against a table filled with vases and candles, then casually crosses his arms. That’s when I see the sign in the back corner.
Plant & Petal Landscape Design hangs above a door.
He follows my gaze and returns it with a smile. “I finally went out on my own.”
“You always wanted to. Congratulations.” I give him a small smile.
“My expenses lessened when we moved back. Seemed easier to take the risk.”
We.
The word slices through me.
“Poppy said she was going to be here. I—”
“She had a bee emergency.” He chuckles and straightens, arms falling to his sides.
A red-haired woman steps out from a back area, pausing when she sees us. She watches for a moment before smiling. “Good morning. Sorry, Bennett, I was just looking at an order we need to fill.”
“It’s okay, Summer. This is Delaney Ric…er…” He waits for me to correct him.
“Moore. I…” I stop myself. No need to unpack all my baggage in front of a stranger.
“Oh, you’re Poppy’s friend.”
I nod.
“Sorry, she said she’d be back soon. The bees just aren’t behaving, I guess.” She laughs.
Poppy has an apiary on the ranch, and she sells the honey they produce at the ranch’s store that Lottie runs.
Bennett glances my way with a crooked smile. Why does he have to be so… distractingly handsome?
“Can you let us know when she gets here? I’m going to show Delaney around,” he says.
Summer, unaware of our history, smiles and waves us off, tearing a sheet of kraft paper off the roll and starting on a bouquet. “Sure thing, boss.”
“Come on in, I’ll show you the offices.”
I glance at Summer, then lower my voice as I step closer. “I’m here to tell Poppy I can’t take the job.”
His shoulders sink. “Give me five minutes to change your mind.”
“Bennett,” I sigh. The last place I need to be is alone in a room with him.
“Five.” He puts up his hand, all long five fingers spread wide.
“Go, you two, I’ve got this handled!” Summer calls cheerfully.
Bennett waits for me, his gaze steady and unreadable.
“Okay.”
I follow him through the doors marked Plant & Petal Landscaping. The hallway is short—his office on one side, a small break room on the other.
“There’s not a lot to see, but can I offer you a coffee?”
I lean against the doorframe of the break room, shoulder pressed to the wood, watching him pull down two coffee mugs. Each one is pretty and unique with a different glaze. I’m pretty sure they’re handcrafted, not mass market.
“You said five minutes.”
His dark hair is trimmed shorter than I remember, and the scruffy beard is new, making him appear older. Where did that boy I once loved go? The one with the backward baseball cap and broken-in jeans?
“You don’t have to drink it all. Still take it with cream and two sugars?”
God, don’t swoon, Delaney. Do not swoon that he remembers the way you take your coffee.
“That was in my younger years. Black is fine now.”
He fills both cups and walks toward me. I hold out my hand, but he doesn’t give it to me.
“I’ve got it. Come into my office.”
I sigh but step aside. He passes, and I trail behind. Bennett sets the coffees on a table in front of a couch.
His office has charcoal walls and dark furniture. It screams man’s domain, but also father with photos of his daughter softening the space. Wren’s smile beams from the pictures interspersed with framed drawings dotting the bookshelves.
Then I spot it. On the top right shelf is a wedding photo of him and Kristie.
The knife in my gut twists.
I sit carefully, trying not to think of all the what-ifs. What if I’d made a different choice. What might’ve been.
He shuts the door.
Great. We’re alone with the door shut door in his workplace. Warp me back to seven years ago when my stomach was flat and my tits were perky, and we’re in the same exact place.
“You don’t need to shut the door.”
He doesn’t answer, just sits on the other side of the couch, coffee in hand, eyes on mine. Trying to appear as if his mere presence doesn’t affect me, I lift my cup, blowing on it.
“I want to apologize for how I acted when I first saw you. You being here… it took me by surprise.”
“You’re losing your touch. A coffee from a Black Friday, box-store-special coffee maker is your way of apologizing?”
“Would you prefer a bag of Hershey’s Kisses?”
“Yes.”
His smile deepens, and it spurs a mix of regret and nostalgia inside me. “I’ll get right on it.”
I glance at the door, then back at him. “I shouldn’t have ambushed you. I should’ve told Poppy no. But she’s so convincing, you know?”
He huffs. “How do you think I became half-owner of a flower shop?”
“She’s a dreamer,” I say, hearing my own yearning for how much I’ve missed her over the years. We haven’t been nearly as close as I would have liked, which is mostly because of me and the secrets I’m keeping.
“She’s right to have hired you. I’d like you to reconsider.”
“Why?” My head tilts. Why would he want me here every day? To see me and be reminded of everything that went down?
“Honestly?”
I set down the coffee. “No, I like it when you lie to me.”
He places his cup gently on a coaster, then looks at mine. “I know.”
I blink slowly. “You know?”
“About your husband.”
My breath catches.
“I’m sure you need—”
I bolt up from the couch and keep my back to him, trying to hold it together. What little pride I have left feels as if it’s hanging by a thread.
Bennett lets me collect my thoughts. I want to ask how much he knows, but at the same time, I don’t want to have that conversation.
“I don’t need your handouts.”
“It’s not a handout. Poppy already offered. I don’t want you to turn it down because of me.”
I turn around. He’s leaning forward, elbows on his knees, hands clasped.
“That’s not what you said though. You said it was because my husband was a drug trafficker who’s in jail, and I had to come live with my parents because I’m a thirty-one-year-old mother who can’t clothe and feed her daughter.”
Okay, that was a little too much. Way too much.
He stares at me.
“It’s good to know the gossip ring of Willowbrook hasn’t waned over the years.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asks.
“No!” I practically screech. “Definitely not with you.”
Bennett lifts his hands in surrender. “I just wanted to offer. I mean, we were friends once.”
“The keyword there is were.”
He sighs, then stares at his hands again. “If it makes you feel better, I haven’t read anything. I didn’t even know you had a daughter until Emmett told me. Apparently, she’s friends with Wren.”
I close my eyes. I really don’t want to start talking about our daughters as if we could somehow have a normal conversation about bedtime routines and how to hide vegetables in their meals.
“Delaney, listen.” He stands and steps around the table, closer to me. “Just keep the job. We could use the help and your knowledge. I handled the situation badly, but I don’t want you turning it down because of me.”
Our eyes lock.
“How often are you here?”
He puts a hand over his heart as if I’ve wounded him. “That hurts.” But then he straightens, understanding why I’m asking. “I’m usually out on projects. Rarely here.”
I nod. The scent of flowers lingers even in here, and it feels like breathing again. Working with flowers is what I went to school for. What I used to love.
A knock sounds on the door. “B, are you trying to steal my BFF again?”
“Come in,” Bennett says, eyes still on mine.
God, how easy it would be to fall into those brown eyes again.
“I’m so sorry. Miss Queen Bee just thinks she owns the hive. Well, okay, she does, but…” Poppy pauses when she sees our proximity. Bennett’s arm is inches from mine. “BFF time. See ya, B.”
She loops her arm through mine and leads me out of the room.
“Sorry about that. I don’t know why he’s here. He’s supposed to be out working on a bid. That’s why I asked you to meet me here.” She glances over her shoulder. “Am I missing something?”
It’s like déjà vu all over again.