Page 150 of One Killer Night

I walk to my car through the slushy, half-melted snow before clicking it open and tossing my purse inside, then put my phone on speaker. He’s still talking shit as I slide inside and start the car, pulling my glove off with my teeth and holding it there while I type. If he could see me, the look on my face would give away what’s about to come.

The swishing sound of my message makes my brows rise in anticipation. He chuckles.

“Hold, please. I suddenly have a very important text to read.”

I see the bubbles populate on our text chain. Noah must put me on speaker because he recites it aloud.

“Roses are red. Violets are blue. Stop giving me shit, or I’ll get a pew-pew.”

The laughter from his end of the phone bursts through the speaker, making me do the same before I speak over it.

“Now, say goodbye to me,” I tell him. “And say that you’ll be miserable until tomorrow, when we worship each other on a blanket in front of the fireplace. I’m bringing snacks.”

I bite my lip. “You are the snack, but fine,” he says, giving in, and it’s way too attractive. “Goodbye ...” He mumbles the rest like one big run-on sentence. “See you tomorrow, when we worship each other on a blanket in front of the ocean.”

“’Kay, bye.”

A long beat of silence hangs there, neither of us hanging up. The way I love him tugs at my whole body, trying to get out.

But then Noah says, “Bye, Rexy.”

I have to let out a long breath before checking myself in the mirror.This time tomorrow, your life starts all over again,I think to myself with a smile before I pull onto the street, working on autopilot.

The drive is fast, mostly because I’m still stuck in my thoughts, until I park and finally zap back into the present.

It’s bittersweet to say goodbye to work. I’m determined to write in Los Angeles, but I’ll miss this place and the people inside it.

I stay inside my head the whole way in, over the gravel from my space in the back of the brick building to the moment I touch the brass door handle. I don’t even look up until it’s swinging open.

The smell almost knocks me off my feet first. “Fragrant” isn’t the correct word. This is an assault on my senses. Like when little kids get into their mom’s perfume and put every bottle on.

Every kind of arrangement, big and small, from roses to lilies, litters the floor and most of the counter space. The entire back stockroom is vases and boxes of chocolates with little stuffed animal bears adorned with sweaters that sayI love you beary much.

“Oh my god,” I let out, shock hitting me hard as I lock eyes with Lee, who’s nodding in agreement with my shock.

I point to the contemporary Garden of Eden, rubbing my glossy lips together.

“Are all these deliveries for today? Were you guys trying to make it so I’d never want to come back?”

“Yep.” Lee laughs. “We don’t even have many flowers left. We’re down to only what’s left in the front room cases to sell.”

My eyes are bugging out. It’s way more than I anticipated delivering today. I really will be here until I leave for the airport.

“Wow. Okay,” I breathe out. “Let me put my purse and coat away, and I’ll start loading the van. Yay, love, I guess. It’s not even Valentine’s Day.”

He gives me a thumbs-up as he looks away. “The good thing is, they’re pretty much all going to the same place. You’re just going to have to do multiple runs there.”

I slide my purse under a counter, having to teeter over two dozen roses. “No way. All of these are for the same person?” I look around again. “That’s so romantic. God, can you imagine being that girl?”

Lee smirks. “Bet she’s really good with her hands.”

“Eww,” I counter, trading my coat for my work apron from the hooks on the back wall. “Don’t ruin it. It’s so romantic.”

“Or a good apology.”

“I said don’t ruin it.” I laugh.

I wrap the long strings around my waist before tying them in a bow, all while picturing some random woman’s joy.