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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

ROZ

I stood looking out the window in my study. The last family made their way to the car, an exhausted toddler asleep in a stroller, their older sister skipping along, talking to her parents at a million miles per hour. They laughed at something she said, shooting each other a smile over her head. An invisible string tugged at my heart. Could that be me one day? I hadn’t considered the possibility in years, but now... I glanced down at my watch. Olivia should be here any minute.

Movement caught my eye. An orange Volkswagen Beetle covered in large purple and pink flowers was driving into the parking lot.

Butterflies fluttering in my stomach, I slowly made my way to the front door, arriving just as Olivia hit the bell. I swung the door open and my heart skipped a beat.

God, she’s gorgeous. Olivia stood before me, wearing a green checkered dress studded with prints of colorful blossoms, her dark silky hair in waves framing her face, a dash of red lipstick accentuating her lips.

Shit. I didn’t know what to do with my body, especially my face and my hands. I wanted to smile at her, to throw my arms around her and apologize but that probably wasn’t appropriate.

I cleared my throat. “Hi. Please come in.” I winced at how formal I sounded.

I led Olivia into the living room and turned to her, biting my lip. I took a deep breath. “Thanks for agreeing to meet me here. I’m so sorry for Saturday. You were right, I was putting my pride before everything else by not asking my parents for a loan. But I asked them last night, and they said yes. So everything will be okay—the flower fields, the farm, Sapphire Blooms.”

Olivia’s eyes widened. “Oh, wow!” She frowned, studying me closely. “Are you… Are you sure that’s okay?”

I shrugged, ignoring the heaviness that settled in my stomach each time I thought about the loan. “It’s not ideal. But it’s better than the alternative.”

Olivia stepped forward, flinging her arms around me. I pulled her in, enveloping her, closing my eyes as I inhaled her sweet scent, reveling in the warmth of her body.

“Thank you. I’m sorry too,” she murmured into the crook of my neck. “I shouldn’t have said what I did and stormed out. I was just so upset about losing the flowers, about losing Sapphire Blooms.”

“I know. It’s okay.” I rubbed her back.

I stayed there, gathering strength for what I wanted to say next. Eventually, I pulled my head back so I could see her beautiful face.

“There’s one other thing,” I said, brushing her hair back from her cheeks with my fingers. “I’ve done a lot of thinking over the past few days, about us and what I want…” I gazed deep into Olivia’s eyes, my heart pounding in my ears. I had to get the words out, otherwise I’d live in regret. “And I’ve come to the conclusion that I want to wake up next to you every morning, have coffee and breakfast on the deck every day and grow you the best damn flowers for your shop. And assuming things go the way I think they’ll go—with us only growing closer and closer—one day I’d like to have kids with you and let them run rampant on the farm.” I swallowed. “I would love to date you in a very real, not at all casual or fake, way. That is, if you’re still interested?”

I held my breath, waiting for her response. Had I come on too strong? Perhaps she’d reached the opposite realization over the past few days, deciding she was better off without me in her life. My stomach flipped at the thought.

Olivia reached out her hand, running her thumb down my jawbone. My heart fluttered.

“I would love that,” she said, staring up at me. Her face broke into a smile. “Although, can we leave the flower growing to Dana for now? While I appreciate the sentiment and trust you in every other way, I don’t trust you with my dahlias.”

I chuckled. “Come here, you.” I pulled Olivia in and kissed her gently on the lips. A warm glow lit in my belly. My lips parted and I deepened the kiss, running my hands over Olivia’s back.

“I’ve missed this,” I murmured as we came up for breath. “Before we get too carried away, would you like to stay for dinner?” I glanced at the clock on the wall. “I have something in the oven that will be ready very soon.”

Olivia smiled. “That would be amazing. I was wondering what that delicious smell was.”

I took her warm, soft hand in mine and led her down the hallway and through the kitchen. She froze as we stepped onto the deck, her eyes wide.

“What the…?” Olivia’s mouth dropped open.

I grinned as she looked around, taking in the vision before her.

In the middle of the deck stood a square table covered in a white tablecloth, with two place settings and chairs. A small bouquet of dahlias sat in the middle of the table—I hadn’t wanted anything too ostentatious that would obstruct my view of Olivia over dinner. However, I’d taken a no-holds-barred approach for the rest of the deck. The wooden railing was covered in glowing candles and vases of coral, pink and purple dahlias. A wine bucket sat in a stand next to the table, overflowing with red, orange and yellow blooms.

“Don’t worry, I checked with Dana on whether you needed them for your shop and weddings, and ended up buying some from Charlie’s Flower Farm in Shenorock to make sure I didn’t use too many. I’ve also taken my antihistamines, so I won’t be sneezing all over you.”

Olivia turned to me, the side of her face lit with the soft glow of the candles. “This is gorgeous, Roz.”

“The flower arrangements are probably not up to your standards, but I tried my best.”

“I love them.”

A loud moo sounded.

Olivia laughed. “And so do Thelma and Louise, by the sound of it.”

I shook my head, chuckling. “Thelma and Louise watched me set up all afternoon, adding commentary like that on a fairly regular basis. Thelma kept licking her lips like she thought I was preparing a chef’s tasting menu of dahlias just for her.”

I pulled out a chair for Olivia, and gestured for her to sit.

“Oooh.” Olivia’s eyes lit up as her eyes focused on the table. “Is this what I think it is?”

I chuckled. “Yep, it’s quark and chive spread. And it’s actually not bad. I may have gotten a little carried away with the quark dishes tonight.” I could have spent the day trying to work out how I could put some reasonable boundaries around my parents’ involvement in the farm, but instead I’d spent it creating flower arrangements and cooking Olivia a three-course meal centered around quark. I didn’t regret it, though. I could deal with my parents later. Right now, I just wanted to focus on Olivia.

We were just polishing off the quark soufflé when both our phones pinged.

Olivia raised her eyebrows. “It’s probably Blake, checking if we’re all still in for trivia on Thursday. She’s convinced if we all show up we’ll win this time.” She pulled her phone out of her bag on the floor and her eyes widened. “Oh shit, it’s Fred.”

I frowned. “Fred?”

I grabbed my phone from my pocket.

Roz, Olivia. Are you free to talk?

I looked at Olivia. “Are you okay if we call him now? I’m sorry, I know this is supposed to be a romantic evening but?—”

Olivia smiled. “Roz, it’s fine.”

My hands flew over my phone screen as I typed out a response.

We’re free now. Would you like us to call you?

Three dots pulsed on my screen.

Where are you?

I frowned. “That’s weird.”

We’re at the farm.

Is it okay if I come over?

“You think he means now?” I stared at Olivia, who’d been following the conversation on her phone.

She furrowed her brow. “It looks like it. Let’s say yes and see how he responds.”

Yes, you’re always welcome here.

Okay great, I’ll be there in a minute.

I blinked. A minute?

“Okay, wow.” Olivia put down her phone, pushed her chair back and stood up. “I guess he must have been messaging us from the parking lot.”

I rose to my feet. “I’m so sorry this is derailing our evening.”

Olivia walked over and placed her hand on the small of my back, smiling up at me. “Don’t worry about it. I’m as intrigued as you are to hear what he has to say.”

We walked inside, through the kitchen and down the hall. Heart racing, I clasped Olivia’s hand in mine. The comforting warmth of her hand spread up to my chest, soothing my pulse back to a more normal beat. As we reached the front door, a knock sounded. We exchanged glances and then I opened the door.

“Hi Fred.” I struggled to keep my voice calm and professional.

Fred ran his hand through his hair. “Sorry. I drove all the way from the city after work tonight, and then realized that I really shouldn’t just turn up on your doorstep unannounced.”

“No. Of course. Please, come in.”

I ushered him to the living room. Olivia and I sat on the cream couch, Fred lowering himself onto the matching armchair next to it.

I folded my hands together. “I’m glad to see you. I just want to apologize again for?—”

Fred held up a hand. “I know you’re sorry, Roz. Olivia told me everything.”

My head jerked toward Olivia, my eyebrows raised. “She did?”

I’d texted, called and emailed Fred without any luck. How the hell did Olivia manage to get through to him and what had she said?

She ducked her head. “Yes. Sorry, I was going to tell you… I was just waiting for the right time.”

Tell me what, exactly?

Fred chuckled. “She turned up at my office yesterday morning, saying it was her fault and begging me to still invest in the farm.”

I blinked. Olivia had gone all the way into the city to find Fred?

“And while I don’t think Olivia is entirely to blame for the situation by any means, I understand how the misunderstanding with your mom snowballed and got out of control. I don’t agree with what you did, but I can see how it could have happened. Aside from that, you’ve been frank and open with me about the farm’s issues and your proposal really was very convincing. And so, I’ve reconsidered my position.”

Adrenaline pumped through my body. I gripped Olivia’s hand to steady myself. “You’ve reconsidered your position. So does that mean you’ll invest?”

Fred nodded. “Yes.” He smiled at Olivia. “Olivia reminded me of all the reasons why I was interested in the opportunity to begin with: your business savvy, the farm’s potential, investing in a community—a community I’ll now soon be part of. I will be writing a clause into the investment agreement that will allow me to withdraw money if you do anything that significantly undermines my trust in you. But I have a feeling I won’t need to rely on that.”

“You have my word,” I said, holding in a slightly hysterical laugh that was threatening to erupt.

I wouldn’t be beholden to my parents after all. Thank god.

Fred slapped his thighs and stood up. “Well, I’d better be going. I’d planned to come up on Friday to start furniture shopping for my new place, so I thought I’d come up a bit earlier to let you know my decision in person. I’ll be working remotely for the rest of the week, probably a lot of it from Novel Gossip, so I might see you two there. My lawyers will be in touch with the paperwork.”

I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. “Thanks, Fred. I really appreciate it.”

We walked Fred to the front steps, shook hands and waved him off.

As I shut the door, a mixture of relief and wonder washed over me. My body felt like it might float away if it wasn’t tethered by Olivia’s hand. What had just happened?

I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her to me.

“Wow. Thank you for speaking to Fred.”

Olivia smiled at me. “Well, someone very wise once told me that successful businesspeople don’t give up. So I didn’t.”

I chuckled. “What an intelligent person.”

Olivia laughed and then let out a long exhale. “Thank god our fake-dating days are now behind us. I’m never faking anything again.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I should hope not.” I grinned. “At least, not while you’re dating me.” Our eyes locked, and an ache started low in my core. “I may have decorated my bedroom too. Would you like to see it?”