CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
WALKER
“Are these cute? Or too much?” I ask, holding up a bouquet of sunflowers, yellow roses, and little white daisies. I pick at the brown paper wrap and bring them to my nose, inhaling the fresh floral scent before lifting my gaze to Flynn, who stands across from me with a big smile.
“They’re cute,” she says, walking around the barrel display of flowers. Each a little more colorful than the last. “You look good happy, you know that?”
A smile grazes my lips at the thought of Sonya. The same Sonya who had been confident enough to be vulnerable with me this morning. To let her nerves melt out around me.
“She’s great, Flynn. Really, really great,” I tell her like the information isn’t something I have already expressed repeatedly. I've always thought Sonya is great. The way she’s woven through my life, leaving an imprint on every single inch of it.
“You know, I think I owe you an apology.” Her voice is soft as she runs her finger over the edge of the flower barrel next to us. “I was hard on you about being honest with your mom about wanting to stay here at the beginning of the semester. I thought I was helping, and I was wrong. Maybe you could have done it sooner, but I think you had it all figured out. You needed it to be on your own terms so you could be free to put down roots with Sonya, and you deserve that, Walk. You deserve to be happy and to be loved like this.”
“You don’t need to say that, Flynn. I needed the push,” I tell her, leaning forward to wrap my arm around her shoulder and pull her into my side. “God knows where we’d be now if you hadn't given me a bit of a shove.”
“So, what you’re saying is you have me to thank for all of this.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I say, turning my wrist to check the time on my watch. “I should probably get going. Sunny’s class should be finishing up here soon and I want to be waiting.”
“You’re adorable,” Flynn says.
“Yeah, yeah,” I say and hold the bouquet up again. “They’re good?”
“She’ll love them. It’s coming from you.” With a pat on my back, she takes a step towards the exit. “I’ll see you at home later?”
“Probably. We haven’t decided what we’re doing after grabbing dinner.”
“Playing it by ear, got it.” She waves on her way out, and I head for the check-out.
With the sunflowers in hand, I make my way across campus to the science building. I’ve only been here a few times, mostly to meet up with Sonya after class, and I reach her lecture hall just as people start trickling out.
When Sonya steps out with Dylan, Campbell, and Fitz following closely behind, our eyes meet, and a grin takes up her face as she excuses herself to head towards me. I can’t help but smile back when she throws her arms around me, leaning up on her toes.
“Hi, Cowboy,” she says, falling back on her heels. Her eyes drop to the flowers in my hand, and her smile takes up her whole face. “Are those for me, handsome?”
“They sure are,” I say, holding them up. “You like them?”
“I love them. Sunflowers happen to be my favorite flower,” she tells me, taking them from me and bringing them up to her nose.
She inhales slowly, her gaze flickers to me, and if I didn’t think it would ruin this moment, I would pull my phone out and capture a picture. Her eyes on me, her nose buried in the flowers I got for her. A look of sheer love is on her face, and my chest tightens, knowing that if I play my cards right, I might just be lucky enough to spend the rest of my life getting to look at her like this.
“How was your presentation? Did it go alright?” I ask when she hooks her arm through mine, letting me lead her down the large corridor to the big exit doors.
“It went well. At least, it feels like it did,” she shares, leaning her cheek against my bicep. “I’m really proud of the work I did. It felt important, and I impressed myself.”
“Good,” I say, pressing my lips to the top of her head. “I’m proud of all the work you did, Sunny. You worked your ass off, and I know you gave up this huge opportunity, but you followed your heart and did something that matters to you. That’s important.”
“Thank you, Cowboy,” she says, pressing her lips to my shoulder. Her delicate fingers curl into my arm. “Now, I believe I was promised pie.”
“Yes, you were.”
She tilts her chin up at me, a grin taking up her face and causing the dimples in her cheeks to appear. Dimples I spend my time dreaming about, both at night and during the day, and I find myself doing it all the way to Adam’s. It’s not until we’re seated in our usual booth, and Sonya’s nudging my leg with her foot when Laurel approaches our table that I finally let my cheeks have a break.
“If it isn’t my two favorite college students,” she smiles, tucking her order book into the front pocket of her apron. “Peach?”
Sonya nods her head and tucks her hands together under her chin, leaning forward on the table and biting down on her bottom lip. “And two coffees, please.”
“Coming right up,” Laurel says, turning to head towards the countertop.
“Can I ask something?” I question when her attention falls back to me.
“You can ask me anything, Cowboy.”
“Why are you suddenly ordering pie of your own? You always used to turn me down when I offered to get you a slice.”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. I guess I felt like I didn’t have to steal a piece of you for myself anymore. I suddenly had all of you, all to myself. It’s kind of silly.”
“It’s not silly,” I say, reaching across the table to pull her hand out from under her chin.
If what she’s saying is true, it means the first night we slept together, she was content in knowing she had all of me, but more than that, she has always had every piece of me. Even if it had been subconsciously, I’ve always been choosing her. I lift her hand up and press it over my heart, letting her feel it racing.
“You do have all of me. I’m all in with you, Sunny.”
Her lips curl up, her fingers curling into the fabric of my shirt where her hand is pressed against my chest.
“Same here,” she tells me. “I’m not going anywhere. I know I’ve said it before, but you really are stuck with me. I like you a little too much to let go of you. I want all the days you’ll give me.”
“You can have all of them.”
“Alright, you two, two pieces of peach pie and two coffees. Let me know if there’s anything else you need, alright?” Laurel asks, putting a plate in front of each of us as well as two mugs. Lifting the coffee pot off her tray to fill them up before setting the bowl of to-go creamers next to the pearly white mugs.
“Thank you, Laurel,” Sonya says, untangling her hand from mine. She grabs two forks from the cutlery holder on the edge of the table against the wall, holding one out to me with a grin on her face. “So, tell me about this internship. Are you excited?”
“Very. I know I was worried about the whole thing with my mom and what she was going to think, which now, looking back, was kind of ridiculous. Even if it upset her at first, she is always going to support me, and now,” I pause, shaking my head at the thrill running through my body. I let myself get worked up for no reason, and I held myself back from everything. From letting myself be excited about my accomplishments to distancing myself from my mom and not allowing myself to dive in with Sonya when this is all I wanted. “I’m just excited. To get to do something important and stay here. That’s a big factor.”
“Big fan of Michigan, are we?” she teases, scrunching her nose up. I’m about to correct her, to tell her the reason I wanted to stay is because of her, but then she grins. “I’m glad you’re staying here, too, Cowboy. I missed you last summer, and truthfully? I don’t think I would have survived another summer without you.”
“Oh, yeah?”
She nods her head, digging her fork prongs into the tip of her pie. “Oh, yeah,” she hums, bringing the fork up to her lips. “What does your mom think about you staying?”
“She didn’t love the idea at first, but she gets it,” I say, pulling my own plate a little closer. “We talked about it, and she gets why I want to stay here. She’s planning to come spend a week or two here during the summer to keep me from having to head to Georgia for the summer. It works out with Flynn being in New York for the summer for her internship.”
“That’s great! You two should come to Ryley while she’s here. We can have dinner with my parents, and I can show you where I grew up,” she shares, pausing only a second. “I…that might be presumptuous. You don’t want to meet my parent—”
“It sounds like a great idea, Sunny. God knows my mom would love it.”
“Yeah? Not too much.”
“Never too much with you,” I tell her when her phone buzzes on the table. Her cheeks are warm when she looks at the screen, the smile on her face dropping. “What’s wrong?”
She shakes her head. “It was just the results from our presentations,” she says, pressing her lips together. “It’s kind of dumb, but I thought maybe if I showed them what they were missing, they might change their minds about the direction and go with me.”
“Sunny…”
“It was wishful thinking.” A smile tries to edge up the corners of her lips, but I can see right through her. She’s disappointed, even if she knew the chances were slim. She felt good and she got her hopes up, and now her mask is falling. Sliding my hand across the table, I turn it over and watch as she eyes it wearily. A second passes before she slides her hand into mine, letting me curl my fingers in.
“You don’t have to be so tough with me, Sunny. It’s okay to be upset.” I squeeze her hand, giving her a branch to grab onto. “I’m going to hold your hand through it all.”
She doesn’t say anything, just squeezes my hand back, and this time, when she looks at me, the veil of a smile slips. Her bottom lip wobbles, and she all but melts into me when I slide out of my side of the booth and into hers.
“It’s okay,” I whisper against her hair, curling my arms around her. “I got you, Sunny.”