Chapter Sixteen #2
Holly tied a brightly colored bow on the vase and set the bouquet aside, trying to ignore her guilt.
What had her own mother always told them about the perils of dishonesty? When you tell one lie, you’ll eventually have to come up with dozens more to cover it up.
She should never have told the Moore family she was dating someone. Everything would be so much easier right now if she had only kept her mouth shut.
And much more boring, she had to admit.
Ryan had brought energy and light to a world that had become consumed with work and parenting.
She would miss him when he returned to his real world.
“I appreciate that,” she finally answered Susan. “But Ryan has to head back to San Diego right after Christmas. I’m not sure how much time he will have for socializing before he leaves.”
“Oh, that’s too bad. But the next time he’s in town, we have to make sure we can arrange something.”
She hadn’t given any thought to seeing Ryan again after he left town. Surely he would return to visit his family here occasionally. How could she avoid seeing him?
Great. Something new to worry about. She pushed it away for now.
“Do you have all the help you need setting up all the flowers at the church and the reception venue tomorrow?” Susan asked.
“I should be good. Thank you. Hannah and some of our friends will help me.”
“Okay. See you tonight, then.”
She had ended the call and returned her phone to the back pocket of her jeans when the door chimes sounded.
She looked up in time to see the man she had been talking about walk into the store.
Her heart started a steady drumbeat that she could swear matched his footsteps as he smiled and walked across the room toward her.
She could almost taste him on her lips again, feel the strength of him against her.
She drew in a steadying breath and forced a smile. “Hi.”
“Um, hi.” He looked around the store. “You don’t look quite as busy today as you were yesterday.”
“We haven’t had as much foot traffic. That’s actually good, since I’m busy prepping everything for the wedding tomorrow.”
“Do you need any help with deliveries? I have to head over to my dad’s place and thought I would ask if you need me to drop off anything on my way.”
She considered her to-do list. “I have one delivery in Haven Point, actually. I planned to take it later, but if you’re heading in that direction anyway, I would really appreciate it.”
“No problem. Happy to do it.”
“I’ll get the arrangement ready for you. Can you give me five minutes to make some finishing touches?”
“Sure.”
She brought the elaborate arrangement, shaped like a Christmas tree, out of the cooler in the back to her work counter. Working quickly, she added miniature red and silver ornaments to accent the large white Asiatic lilies, red miniature carnations, noble fir and Oregonia branches.
The whole time she worked, she was aware of Ryan studying her with an intensity that left her uncomfortable.
Finally, when she was nearly finished, he spoke in a low voice. “Do I owe you an apology?”
She looked up. “For what?”
“Last night. For kissing you again.”
Once more, her mind carried her back to his arms, her senses flooding with the warm, familiar scent of him as she felt safe and whole and wanted.
“You owe me nothing, Ryan. I hope that’s not the reason you stopped by today.”
He gave her a searching look and she hoped he couldn’t see any trace of her growing feelings for him. “I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
Why did you?
She almost blurted out the question but managed to refrain. “It’s totally fine. I know it didn’t mean anything. Don’t worry. I’m not going to start thinking we’re really in a relationship. I know exactly where we stand with each other.”
“Good that one of us does,” he muttered.
She wanted to ask him what he meant by that but couldn’t quite find the courage.
“I know you aren’t looking for a relationship,” she said quickly, wondering if they would ever be able to return to the comfortable friendship that had been growing between them.
“Do you?”
She nodded. “Kim talked about her younger brother often. I told you that. She gave the impression of a man who has no interest in anything serious.”
“Kim talks about me entirely too much,” he said, his tone disgruntled.
“She loves you and she worries about you,” Holly said. “Regardless of what Kim might have said, my point is that you don’t need to be concerned that I’ll start getting ideas.”
“Ideas.”
She wanted to add that even if he were looking for a relationship, she knew full well it wouldn’t be with a frazzled single mom of a special-needs daughter, a woman with a business and a home in a little town in Idaho. Again, she chickened out.
Anyway, she should be more concerned about what she wanted. And that certainly wasn’t a broken heart.
“I’m not looking for a relationship, either,” she hastened to assure him. “Been there, done that, thanks. I spent nearly a decade with a man who was absolutely the wrong person for me. You can be sure I’m in no hurry to walk that road again.”
He opened his mouth to say something but appeared to change his mind. “Okay,” he said instead.
This was not going the way she intended. She released a pent-up breath. “Look, Ryan. I enjoy being with you and it’s obvious Lydia adores you. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no reason we can’t still hang out while you’re in town.”
When he said nothing, she could feel herself flush.
“Unless you want to back out of the wedding, which I would completely understand. You don’t have to go with me. Lydia and I will be fine.”
“We’re going to the wedding together,” he said, his voice firm. “I came here to clear the air and make sure we’re good before tomorrow.”
“We’re fine,” she assured him. If she told herself that often enough, she might actually begin to believe it.
“Great. Tell me what time to pick you up. What time does Lydia have to be there?”
She hadn’t really thought through the logistics of traveling together to Haven Point, where all the celebrations would be.
“I have to be there all afternoon to set up. I had planned to take our wedding clothes and finish getting ready either at the church or at the Moore house. Do you want to meet me there?”
“That works. You said the wedding starts at five, right?”
“You really don’t have to come to the wedding ceremony itself. Why don’t you meet us at six at the reception venue? It’s right next door to the church, in a beautiful historic building now used for events.”
“I can do that.”
She had a sudden thought that should have occurred to her before this. “What about Audrey? I didn’t even consider her.”
“She’ll be great. She’s already made arrangements to sleep over at one of her friend’s houses so we can party all night if you want.”
Despite all her warnings to herself about guarding against impending heartache, Holly indulged in a quick, fleeting picture of what it might be like to truly party all night with him.
“Or until Lydia drops. Whichever comes first,” she said, forcing herself back to her current reality of wedding prep and customers and a to-do list that seemed to lengthen by the moment.
“Deal,” he said with a smile. “Write down the address where you want me to take the flowers.”
She quickly found the information for him as well as a box he could use to safely transport the arrangement.
“Thank you again for doing this.”
“No problem. I’ll see you tomorrow evening, if I don’t talk to you before then.”
Despite all her stress over the upcoming event, she felt a little thrill of anticipation. Ryan really was making it more bearable. She was actually looking forward to it, which she never would have imagined a few weeks earlier.