Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Delaney
Poppy has always been persuasive, but she’s upped her game in the years I’ve been away.
By the time her Jeep pulled out of my parents’ driveway, she’d convinced me that I should take the open position at The Perfect Petal.
She made her case, and I couldn’t refuse because the fact is, I need the money.
Since I arrived, I’d been focused on getting Leia settled into her new environment, and the few feelers I’d put out for employment had led nowhere.
I need a paycheck, plain and simple. If it means I might cross paths with Bennett on the rare occasion he’s in his office, then so be it.
According to Poppy, he never comes in. My number one priority is Leia and getting us the hell out of this town, and I can’t do that without a job.
It all sounded great until I came face-to-face with him. His good looks have deepened with age. Dark hair, eyes a shade of brown that once looked at me like I was his everything. But the warmth they used to hold is absent, and they don’t reflect any of the love they once did.
“What are you doing here?” Bennett snaps, as though I’m a thorn in his carefully tended bouquet.
“I work here,” I fire back, my back going straight from the tone he’s using with me. As if I’m inconveniencing him by returning home. “Poppy just hired me.”
Off to the side, I hear Brooks Watson whisper, “Seriously, who is that?”
Lottie shushes him.
Our eyes are locked, and my heart hammers. What was I thinking letting Poppy convince me to do this?
Emmett Noughton shouts from across the yard, “Danson, Ben put it three inches too far left. He’s not listening to your rules!”
Who is Danson?
Bennett blinks, shoulders stiffening. “Welcome back to Willowbrook.”
With that, he turns away, letting Emmett loop an arm around his neck, and they all mess around just like back in high school. I feel someone’s eyes on me, and I turn to see Lottie and Brooks watching me with equal parts polite curiosity and gentle concern.
“Congratulations,” I manage to squeeze out of my constricted throat because crashing someone’s wedding reception is awkward enough without forgetting my manners.
“Thank you,” Lottie replies, but I can barely hear her over all the cousins’ roughhousing.
I retreat to the truck for another tray of flowers, dodging arriving guests as tears threaten.
Stupid, Delaney. Stupid. Stupid. Of course he still has that effect on you.
Back at the truck, I’m about to get another flat of flowers, but Poppy comes out of Bennett’s parents’ house dressed for the wedding, interrupting me.
How did she get ready so fast? She certainly doesn’t look like she just spent an hour loading flowers into the truck.
“I’ll carry those. Why don’t you run home, change, and come back? Lottie would love it if you were here.”
“Can’t. I should get back to Leia.”
“Are you okay? You look pale.” Poppy steps closer, smiling at whoever is behind me, before setting her concerned gaze back on me.
“Just not used to so much manual labor.” I laugh it off, but she only looks behind me again.
“Hey, B.” Poppy gives him a chagrined smile. Probably for springing me on him.
There goes my heart again, beating so hard I worry it’s going to burst out of my chest.
“I hear you hired someone without consulting me?” Bennett says with the same clipped tone as before.
I’m not sure how I thought he’d react to me reappearing in town, on his ranch, but bitterness wasn’t on the list. Then again, I could destroy the entire widower crown he proudly wears.
Damn it, there goes my bitterness getting out of control again. And it has nothing to do with Bennett, well, not entirely. It has more to do with my life imploding and landing me here.
“Look! Delaney!” Poppy pivots, hands on my shoulders and turns me to him.
I try to swallow down the desire that still pools deep in my belly for him.
“She’s back.”
Bennett’s eyes barely meet mine for a second before he sets his gaze on his cousin. “Give us a minute, Poppy.”
Poppy’s arm slackens, and she eyes me for a second. “Am I missing something?”
I scoff and shake my head, playing off the fact that being this near to him again is affecting me. “Nope.”
“It’s just been a long time. I want to catch up,” he says.
“Ohh…” Poppy buys his charm, and she probably still has some hope that we might rekindle the teenage romance we thought would take us down the long road. If she only knew the truth about how twisted our lives have been, but Bennett loves his secrets.
“Sure.” She turns to me. “I meant what I said. Bennett can show you back to the girls’ house, so you don’t even have to go home. Take anything from my closet and come down and enjoy the party.”
“Thanks, Poppy.” I squeeze her hand. “For everything.”
I don’t tell her I think I’m going to refuse the position she offered because there’s no way I can work alongside Bennett even if he’s rarely in the store. I need to stay as far away from him as I can until I can get my daughter and me out of here.
“Of course. See you in a bit.” She eyes her cousin. “Get that scowl off your face and behave.”
He nods, and she blows out a breath, eyeing me one more time before she disappears under the flowered arch that reads The Watsons to where the party is starting to grow in numbers.
“Listen,” I say, putting my hand up, knowing I’ve surprised him.
“What are you doing? Why would you accept the position?” He looks around the space, nods to the side, and walks right past me.
“Is that your way of asking me to follow you to a more secluded spot?”
He turns before the trailhead ventures onto a tree-lined path that would keep us from view of all the arriving guests. “We can’t have people see us.”
“Oh, sure, let’s hide. Wouldn’t want anyone to see your dirty little secret, right?
” I stomp past him until we’re a good way in and no one will see us.
We stop where the shade of the trees swallows us from view.
“Is this private enough for you, or should we hitch a ride and get out of Willowbrook altogether?”
“You’re mad?” His jaw flexes. “You show up here, unannounced.” He points his finger out toward the party. “And you’re mad? This is my family’s party. What the hell, Delaney?”
I shake my head because I don’t have a good answer. “Poppy told me you’d be busy, but I think she still thinks we’re a sweet teenage love story ready to be rekindled.” My laugh is jagged.
“Fucking hell. When did you get back? Why didn’t you reach out? I would’ve met you for—”
His questions give me no time to answer. “I’m sorry for ambushing you. It wasn’t my intent, and I think it’s pretty clear why I didn’t reach out to you.”
His chest rises and falls, and he looks at the opening of the path again, apparently paranoid someone might see us.
I cross my arms. “You do know that if someone finds us hiding out, it will look even more suspicious, right? Unless you’ve told someone—”
“Fuck no. No one has any idea.”
The words and the way he delivers them hit me like a slap to the face. “So, I’m just the childhood sweetheart?”
He drags a hand through his hair and nods. “I’ve got my daughter to think about.”
“I’m not here to blow up your life, and don’t worry, I’m going to tell Poppy that I don’t want the job.
I was just thinking that…” I stop myself from continuing.
I’m not putting myself out there for Bennett Owens again.
He doesn’t deserve to know my vulnerabilities.
The fact that Poppy telling me about the floral design position sparked something in me that’s been dead for years isn’t his business.
Bennett doesn’t get to know those things about me. Not anymore.
He sighs, and all I want to do is get the hell out of here. “I’m sorry about your husband.”
I nod. “I’m sorry about Kristie.”
He nods back.
We’ve never been awkward with each other. Actually that’s not true. The last time we said goodbye was pretty damn awkward.
“You should go. It’s Lottie’s wedding.”
He exhales a deep breath and studies me. “Did you want…” Something unspoken flickers in his eyes. “I can show you to the girls’ house…”
“I’m not staying. Coming here was a massive mistake.” I step past him, desperate to escape.
That look crosses his face. The same one he wore that day he showed up at my door and devastated me. I refuse to go there again.
“I have to go. Enjoy the night. I’ll keep my distance until I leave town.” I start walking, eager to get away because after seven years, how is that feeling still stirring inside me as if it never died?
His hand closes around my wrist, and I pause, allowing his thumb to run along the inside of my wrist. It feels as if the vines of our tangled past are tightening around me. “Delaney.”
His tone is reverent and endearing and like a smooth caress, affirming that I’m not the only one affected by this reunion of ours.
I push back the tears that want to spill.
My life just fell apart, and the one person I’d love to lean on, I can’t because it’s a slippery slope, and I’m done being someone’s second choice.
Tears threaten again, but I steel myself. I’ve survived worse than an old boyfriend. I straighten my shoulders and glare back at him. I slip free of his hold and go the opposite way of the party, assured I’ll find my way out of the woods and home. “Enjoy your night, Bennett.”
Then I turn away, forging through the trees until the music fades.
Coming here was another bad decision to cross off the long list I’ve made throughout my life.