Chapter 11 – Grace
Dean had never been afraid to flirt with me in front of Isaac. It was part of the reason I never believed he was serious. If it didn’t bother my brother in the slightest, could it really count as flirting? Tonight though, Dean did not flirt. Instead, the three of us defaulted to what we usually did while talking about my business. We argued.
Flowers United could sue me for breach of contract if there was some aspect of the business I ‘knowingly’ did not disclose. But we also didn’t want to give them an iota more than they needed. And none of us could agree on what that looked like.
Both Isaac and Dean had changed out of their work clothes. Dean was in faded jeans and a dark gray tee that hugged his biceps. He’d shaved, leaving his face baby smooth. The audacity of the man to look better dressed down than dressed up. It also didn’t help that no matter how strongly he’d been making his point, he always stopped when Piper clamored for his attention.
She’d been running into the kitchen off and on all night, knighting all of us with a plastic sword she found. Even though it was the fourth time he’d been dubbed Sir Dean Kinney of the House of Princess Piper, he once again took it seriously, holding still so she could tap his shoulders one at a time and place a lei made from straws and plastic flowers around his neck. He was all set for a Hawaiian vacation and a trip back to medieval England.
He looked at me after she left, and I squeezed my fists together, willing my face not to show any part of what I was feeling. I couldn’t explain it, but there was absolutely nothing hotter than a guy in a fake lei silently asking for my forgiveness. He had it. I just didn’t know how to say it.
Sometimes I wished trust was this button I could lift the glass and push. But it wasn’t just about trusting Dean’s intentions. It was about trusting myself. I didn’t want to hurt him. I didn’t want to stretch the limits of his patience until he wanted nothing more than to be free of me. I didn’t want to see him leave. It was easier if I never gave him that opportunity in the first place.
In other words, I was broken. And he was not.
Piper ran back into the kitchen and climbed into my lap. I hugged her close, burying my face in her hair and breathing in the scent of her pineapple punch shampoo. She was what grounded me. Always. Whatever else I was or was not, I’d always be Piper’s mom. “Are you making Carmen crazy?” I asked.
Poor Carmen had to listen to us argue and try to keep a seven-year-old busy. There was something about bedtime that turned Piper into a Black Friday shopper. She had places to go and things to do, and she couldn’t sit still to save her life.
“No, Mommy. Carmen and I are about to watch a movie and braid each other’s hair. I get to braid hers first. But I wanted to say goodnight in case I fall asleep.”
“Good idea. Goodnight, sweetheart.”
“Goodnight. I still want songs on the way home.”
“For sure.”
“Even if I’m asleep. You’ll still sing them?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” She launched herself off my lap and ran back into the living room .
I could feel Dean’s eyes on me, but I didn’t dare look up at him. I focused on the computer screen instead. Isaac had our year-over-year earnings up. We were only on year five, so there wasn’t a ton of data, but this last year had been my best so far.
It took us another half an hour, but we came up with a plan of what to send, and together we crafted a portfolio to send to Flowers United. For better or worse, we’d see what happened.
Piper was sleepy but not asleep when we left. We sang five songs on the way home, and then she went straight to bed without any fuss. She even brushed her teeth. I’d call that a win.
I was tired too, but I craved a little downtime. Once on the couch, I sketched for a while. How could this feel like downtime when the floral business did not? And what if I came to dread this like I did my business?
There had to be something wrong with me—pre-worrying and second-guessing everything. But the longer I sketched, the more my body relaxed, and then my mind followed. I didn’t have to give it permission. It just… let go of the day.
For making illustrations, I usually started with graphite pencil on paper with lots of erasing and trial and error before moving to the digital draft. Right now, I was working on ideas for the last few panels of Gummy Bear Gamble, the next book in Jessica’s series. Fudgy Fiascos was already finished and about to go on preorder. I set my sketchbook aside when my phone buzzed with a call from Isaac.
“Hey.”
“Hey, sis. So, let me preface this with…um… just don’t shoot the messenger.”
I groaned. “That’s a terrible way to start a conversation.”
“I know, but I need you to promise me anyway.”
“No shots have been fired. Yet.”
“Fair enough. I asked Dean if you were mad at him, you know, more than usual, and he said you had a lot on your mind. Including Jessica’s wedding coming up.”
“Mm-hmm.” Not wanting to spill any beans Dean hadn’t already spilled, I waited for Isaac to reach his point. I would not try to guess. Because they were best friends, I was used to Isaac knowing all of Dean’s business, and vice versa, but I really hoped Dean didn’t regularly share things like how he’d asked me to rate his hotness on a scale of one-to-ten.
“Dean said you were worried about taking the time off. And it’s not exactly ideal for him to take a whole week off work either, so I suggested maybe you both should go like half the week. And I could look in on Beautiful Blooms while you’re gone. Dean and I will schedule things light for us at our office, so it wouldn’t be a problem. I don’t want you to miss your friend’s wedding.”
“That would actually be amazing. Thanks, Isaac.” I hadn’t thought of asking him for help with the shop, but it was a relief to know he would be here if a snag came up.
“Good. Done deal. But in that case, if you’re arriving on the island at the same time as Dean, it makes sense for you to go to the airport together, be on the same flight, and share a rental car. Which would naturally put you at the same hotel. Look, he’s not trying to seduce you. He’s just being a problem solver. You know how he is.”
Ah, so that was where Isaac was going with this. “Was this the message he sent you to give?” I was proud of the fact that I only sounded a little bit snippy.
“Dean didn’t send me. In fact, he told me not to say a word to you. But I knew you’d sniff out his involvement in my offer of help, so I figured we could skip the part where you got suspicious and I could confirm all your worst fears.”
I sighed. “I’m that predictable, aren’t I?”
“Yes. But I’m your brother, so everything you do is predictable to me. I know Dean’s smarmy about trying to pay for stuff, but just make him split the cost with you.”
“You and I both know how that will go. He’ll claim he found coupons for a free upgrade to first class.”
Isaac laughed. “Yes, he will. Good luck with that. Are you planning to take Piper along? Carmen could try to get off work. ”
“No, I’ll take her with us. Then there really will be no chance of anything romantic happening.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” He hung up, giving himself the last word. Brothers.
I stared down at my phone for a while before texting Dean. If we were doing this, it would be better to figure out the details now. And better over text.
Jessica had a whole itinerary she’d sent for her wedding week. She and her fiancé had rented out a bed-and-breakfast for all of us to stay in, not far from The Lake of Shining Waters. So, the sharing a hotel bit was a given anyway.
Grace: Isaac called me. Are you really thinking of just going half-week to Jessica’s wedding?
He didn’t answer right away, so I put my phone down and started sketching gummy bear warriors again. I was in love with Jessica’s new book. Sometimes with middle grade fiction, each book in the series became progressively more of a money grab, but not Jessica’s. The overarching plot for the series was just picking up steam, and I loved getting to know more and more about the characters and the little things we found out about them from each book.
My phone chimed, and I congratulated myself on waiting a whole five seconds before looking at it to see if Dean had responded.
Dean: I’m flexible. Not really sure I need to be there for fruit picking and afternoon tea with my bosom friends.
Grace: You don’t like bosom friends?
Dean: I feel like this is a trap.
More like he was setting a trap for me. I was dying to quiz him on the difference between bosom and buxom friends, but I would refrain. No vocabulary lessons this time. No teasing. No flirting.
Grace: So, no to Monday’s itinerary?
I picked up the card Jessica had sent with the RSVP request and tried to see it through Dean’s eyes.
MONDAY
Relax and recover from jet lag. Monday afternoon activity: cherry picking in an orchard followed by afternoon tea with bosom friends. Anne of Green Gables movie marathon with a casual dinner of finger sandwiches inside blanket forts.
The ultimate girls’ night in perfect Jessica fashion. More like girls’ week, as I read down the rest of the list. Picturing Dean there for every girly detail almost tempted me to talk him into all of it.
Dean: I was thinking I’d fly out Wednesday morning and be there in the afternoon for… hang on, let me double check this.
Dean: A spooky poetry reading in the haunted wood.
There was no way he’d make it in time for spooky poetry if he flew out Wednesday morning. Not only was PEI three hours ahead of us, most of the flights were red-eyes with long layovers. He’d be dead on his feet at whatever time he arrived. I was picturing lugging a conked-out Piper along with our bags through busy airport terminals. The things we did for friends.
Grace: What flight did you find?
Dean: I plan to charter a private jet .
Of course that was his plan. I started Googling immediately, laughing to myself at the stupidity of trying to split costs with Dean Kinney. The cost PER HOUR in the air was more than I planned to spend on the whole trip.
Dean: You done freaking out now? It’s gonna be a party. My dad plans to go whenever I do. Heck, he’ll probably pay for the jet. He just wants me to handle the details. Whoever else in the family wants to fly out then is welcome, too. Jessica’s younger brothers, for sure. Might as well fill this jet up.
Oh shoot. I’d jumped to conclusions and accused Dean of throwing money at me, and only now, because I couldn’t cut him off through text, was he getting to explain.
Jessica was Henry’s niece. Of course he’d be there. I’d avoided thinking about details like that because I hadn’t decided if I was going.
Grace: I’m sorry. I should have let you explain all that before cutting you off earlier today.
Dean: I’m not saying I wasn’t hoping to take you as my date. That was an accurate assumption on your part. Apology retracting in five…four…three…
Grace: You’re just trying to make me feel better. It won’t work. Apology stands.
Dean: I’ll take it.
I wrapped my arms around myself. Was it possible to feel his warmth through the phone? It was there, even when he attempted to be snarky with me. I’d missed this, and it made me wonder how I’d ever not figured out that Knead was Dean .
Dean: Goodnight, Grace. Let me know the second Flowers United gets back to you.
Grace: Will do. Goodnight.
Dean: Do I get a song?
Grace: Maybe someday.
I stared at my phone long after, thinking about things. And then I got out my old copy of Anne of Green Gables and took it with me to bed. I couldn’t remember what happened to Anne and Diana in the haunted wood, but I should probably find out.