Love Blooms

by Jo McNally

  “Did Nikki...?” she started to ask, and he shook his head, stepping into the library.

  “Of course not. She’s the Thelma to your Louise. Told me to go screw myself when I pressed her for information.”

  “Then how...?”

  He shrugged, stopping a good ten feet away from her, as if afraid to spook her.

  “Your sister said you’d taken Nikki’s convertible.” His eyes softened. “A smart move, by the way. Your deathtrap would never have made it here.”

  “My Buttercup is a classic.” Her grandmother had named it, and the name stuck.

  “It’s a rolling wreck.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what you were thinking, trying to keep that thing on the road.”

  “It’s not like I always had a man around for advice.” She sniffed. Maybe it wasn’t fair to jab at him about his deployment but the fact was, he hadn’t been there for her. Not even when he’d returned.

  He opened his mouth to answer, his eyes narrowing, but Logan muttered something behind him. It sounded like something about not taking the bait. Owen’s shoulders rose and fell with a heavy sigh before he finally spoke.

  “My point is that once I knew you had Nikki’s car, I remembered you writing me about her brother’s wedding in New York.” He glanced over his shoulder at Logan. “I did a little digging and figured she might have sent you his way.”

  “A little digging? You found me in Rendezvous Falls after Nikki mentioned the entire state of New York a year ago?”

  He gave a one-shouldered shrug. “It didn’t hurt that there’s a business right here with Nikki’s last name on it.” He gestured around the room.

  “Owen...” She sighed. “I told you I needed time. And space.” She gestured between them. “This is not space.”

  “It’s been almost two weeks, Luce. I gave you time. You wouldn’t talk to me, so I didn’t have a lot of choice. I had to find you. Did you really think I was going to let you dump me on our wedding day and not try to find out what happened?”

  “Let me?” She stepped toward him, surprising them both with her vehemence. “I didn’t need your damn permission to leave. It may not have fit within your mother’s precious social etiquette rules, but I’m allowed to change my mind about marrying you.” She glanced at her watch. Damn it. As much as Connie liked to bitch about not needing Lucy’s help, she’d also complain if Lucy was late. “Look, I have to go. And that’s what you should do, too. Go home and live your life at Cooper Landscaping and Nurseries of Greensboro.” There was a spark of panic...or maybe sorrow?...in his eyes. More emotion. Maybe she wasn’t being completely fair here. She was the one who took off on him without warning. Her voice softened. “I’m sorry for what happened. For how it happened. But why would you even want me back?” She waved her hand in front of her. “You know what? Never mind. I really do have to go.”

  “You won’t even give me the courtesy of explaining why? You don’t think I deserve that much?” The gravel in his voice was somewhere between anger and pleading. Then it hardened. “For God’s sake, Lucy, just tell me what the hell happened. Is there someone else?”

  “What? No! I’d never...” And she wouldn’t have. But by not giving him answers, she understood how he could imagine the worst. She’d completely forgotten Piper and Logan were still in the room until Piper spoke quietly.

  “I know this is none of my business,” she started, “but sometimes a simple conversation is a good place to start when there’s a...disagreement...between two people.” She flashed a quick smile at her husband. “Right, honey? You’re both out of sorts right now. Owen, you just drove overnight to get here. Lucy, he caught you completely by surprise, and you have someplace to be...” She glanced at Owen. “And no, I won’t be telling you anything about that. All I’m saying is that you both should catch your breaths and try to work things out when you’re calmer...”

  Logan walked over to his wife, dropping an arm over her shoulders. “My bride is a hopeless romantic. Don’t let yourselves feel pressured...”

  Lucy and Owen gave their answers at the same time.

  “Not happening.”

  “Sounds great.”

  Piper looked deflated, but resigned. She turned toward Lucy. “Do you want us to make him stay somewhere else? There’s an old hotel up on Route 12.”

  As tempting as it was to scream yes! so she could avoid dealing with him until she was ready—as if that would ever happen—Lucy shook her head. She’d caught the way Piper emphasized the word old and figured she was saying the hotel was less than ideal. She wasn’t looking to punish Owen.

  “No. He has every right to rent a room here for the night.”

  Logan tugged on Piper’s shoulders. “We’ll leave you two alone.”

  Lucy started past Owen, eager to follow the Taggarts out of the room. Owen reached for her as she went by.

  “Lucy, please...”

  She closed her eyes tightly, trying to ignore the familiar warmth of his touch. The way it reminded her of hot summer nights on the Outer Banks, the two of them walking for hours on the beach in the moonlight. Sneaking into the condo he’d rented with his buddies, tiptoeing down the hall to his room. Her giggling as he hung a sock on the doorknob, as if that would really stop his rowdy Army pals from hassling them if they woke up. But the guys tended to drink themselves into a solid sleep that week. Giving her and Owen privacy to get to know each other. Which reminded her that she didn’t know him at all anymore. Or herself, for that matter.

  She stepped back, and he released her immediately. It made sense that he wanted to talk. The money she’d cost his family. The embarrassment for everyone. The way she’d just vanished on them all. She took a deep breath.

  “I owe you an explanation. I’m sure I owe your parents thousands of dollars.” She looked at him and did her best to smile. “I know I shocked everyone. Hell, I shocked myself. But I had to do it, Owen. I don’t know if I can explain it, but I just... I couldn’t stay there another minute.” She swallowed hard, surprised at the swell of emotion inside her. She’d been stuffing all of this away for a time when she felt like she could deal with it, but it looked as though her emotions, just like her fiancé—her former fiancé—had other plans.

  “Lucy, I don’t understand...”

  Something snapped inside her, lancing across her heart like a sword’s edge. His words were calm and totally reasonable. But they unleashed something that made her throat tighten dangerously. Still...she tried to hold it in. She was afraid she might split apart like hammered granite, leaving nothing but pebbles and dust.

  “You need to understand?” She glared at him, holding on to the last vestige of self-control. “What about all the things that I need to understand? Oh, that’s right...” She snapped her fingers in front of his face and he flinched. “... Lucy just goes along, whether she understands or not, right? Good ole Lucy. Everyone can depend on her to understand.”

  Owen didn’t answer, just stared at her in obvious confusion. Her anger faded as fast as it had arrived. She wasn’t being fair to him. He’d come here to try to salvage things, and it was hard to hate the man for that.

  She thought about their happier days together. Like the Friday night they’d met at that beachside restaurant near Wilmington five years ago. They’d literally run into each other near the bar—she’d spilled her beer all over the dark T-shirt he’d been wearing with his swim trunks. Her profuse apologies mingled with her embarrassed laughter somehow inspired him to order her a replacement beer and invite her to join him and his Army buddies at a table overlooking the beach. That whole weekend had seemed charmed. They’d laughed, talked, walked the beach in the moonlight and just before sunrise Sunday morning, they’d made love in the back of his old Ford Bronco. It was hands-down the best sex she’d ever had, before or since.

  The corner of his mouth twitched. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say yo
u’re almost smiling at me.”

  She lifted one shoulder and let it fall. “Just thinking about Topsail Beach.”

  He nodded, his mouth still slanted. He’d barely cracked a smile since his return from Afghanistan.

  “That was one fine night, Lucy Higgins.”

  He might be hiding the grin, but he couldn’t hide the flash of heat that crept into his voice when he said one fine night. He was right. They’d really had something back then. But it was over. She raised her chin.

  “It was. But it was a long time ago.” She smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, Owen. I shouldn’t have acted so shocked at your arrival. You deserve an explanation, but...clearly I’m still figuring a lot of it out myself.” Her smile faded. “The wedding, your family, my family, the job, us... I felt completely disconnected from all of it. I’m not angry with you, but... I don’t see a future for us with all of that to deal with.”

  He didn’t react, other than a quick flicker of emotion. He’d become very good at hiding his feelings. A muscle ticked slowly in his cheek. His pallor was grayer than usual. His eyes shuttered. Holding all of that...stuff...inside was taking a toll. But she couldn’t dump the man and then try to fix whatever had broken inside of him. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them.

  “So,” he finally said, “just like that, huh? You pronounce us over with no explanation, and I’m supposed to just...walk away?” The words should have carried hurt and anger, but instead, his voice was completely flat.

  “Well, I’ve already walked—or run—away, haven’t I?” She kept her voice gentle. Despite his emotionless tone, she knew that somewhere deep inside this had to hurt, if only his pride. “You should go home and live the life you’ve planned.”

  “You were the life I planned, damn it. How am I supposed to follow the plan without you as part of it?” The words were whip sharp and hot. His emotions hadn’t vanished completely. There was only one problem.

  “Are you angry about the plan being messed up or about losing me?”

  His eyebrows shot up in unison with his mouth dropping open. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  She sighed and moved to walk past him again, not speaking until she reached the door and turned. Her mind grasped the reality of it as the words tumbled out.

  “It means I was right to leave. The little box in your future labeled Lucy isn’t going to be there anymore, and you’re more freaked out about the empty box than losing what used to be in it.” She put her hand on her chest. “Me. Admit it, Owen. All you care about is the change in plans. But you’ll figure that out. Back in Greensboro.”

  Her hand was on the doorknob before he finally attempted to deny what she’d said.

  “I can’t go back without you...”

  She turned. “You can. And you should. No one would blame you. I humiliated you. I left you at the altar. I—”

  He held up his hand. “I was there, remember? And still... I’m here. I can’t leave without at least trying to make us work again.” He hesitated. “I mean, if you really insist, I’ll go. I’m not here to harass you. But please, Luce. Give me a chance. I won’t... I’ll try not to pressure you. Give me a few weeks. Give me a month.” He brightened. “Give me a month, Lucy. Let’s try to figure out what happened and how to fix it. If after a month of me around you still don’t want...us, then I promise I’ll leave you alone.”

  “What about the business? What will your family think about you taking off for a month?”

  He shrugged. “My cousin Lori has a handle on things. They’ve done it without me for years, so one more month won’t hurt anything. And frankly, a month without Mom pestering me about what’s happening with us sounds pretty good to me. Give me a month. No wedding to worry about. Just us.”

  Lucy was tempted. Being in the same room with Owen reminded her of how good they’d been. Once. But he had a job waiting in Greensboro. A future she wasn’t ready to join him in. “I think I’ve blown us up for good, don’t you? You’re a grown man and can stay wherever you want, but I’m pretty sure us wasn’t good for me, and it’s time for me to matter.”

  He wasn’t the only reason she’d left North Carolina, but she had to resolve all the reasons before she could trust herself to love again. She deserved that much.

  Owen took a step forward, his voice soft. “I couldn’t agree more...with the last part, I mean. You do matter. Just say it’s okay for me to try to prove how much you matter to me. I screwed up. I get that. Give me a chance to fix things.”

  Her shoulders dropped in defeat. The man loved to have a plan, even if it was a hopeless one. “If you want to bang your head on that wall for a month, go for it. I won’t stop you, but I don’t see you changing my mind.”

  She wondered why, if that were true, she didn’t just tell him to leave? He said he would if she wanted. But he was begging for permission to stay. For a month—such an arbitrary period of time. She opened the door, barely hearing his reply.

  “And yet you’re giving me a chance...”

  Considering that she’d had her own epiphany about him caring for the plan more than he cared for her just half a minute ago, she couldn’t expect him to see the truth yet. He’d leave Rendezvous Falls once he did. So giving him a month didn’t mean anything.

  It would be a gentler let-down than her walking away from their wedding. It was the least she could do for the poor guy.

  CHAPTER SIX

  OWEN’S ROOM WAS spacious—a corner room on the first floor of the Taggart Inn, where there were only a few guest rooms. He tossed his duffel on the end of the king-size mahogany four-poster. A little formal for his taste, but his mother would love it. Luckily, she’d never see it. Only four people in Greensboro knew exactly where he was, and only one was a relative. His cousin, Lori, had heard only the barest of details. She was more than happy to keep running the nursery, just as she had been for the past three years.

  Pete, Joe and Marcus knew all about his plan. They’d enthusiastically helped him pore over Dr. Find-Love’s website, even though he kept telling them he shouldn’t need gimmicks to win back his own damn fiancée.

  Lucy had been such a trooper during his deployments, staying busy caring for her grandmother and working for his parents at Cooper Landscaping and Nurseries. The only time she’d protested was when he’d taken that last extension. It was only an extra year, so she’d surprised him when he asked to wait one more time for him.

  “Everyone keeps telling me to wait. How much longer am I supposed to wait for my life to actually, finally happen for Christ’s sake?”

  They’d worked it out, or so he’d thought. She hadn’t been thrilled, but she’d agreed on the plan. Not that he’d given her much choice—it was pretty much a done deal. But after that he’d be home for good, and hopefully ready for phase two of his life plan—taking over the family business. And getting married, of course.

  His parents had already brought Lucy into the nursery to work, so she’d have an extra year to learn about the business that would be theirs someday. That was a good thing for both of them, seeing as he didn’t know much about the new nursery setup Dad and Lori had expanded into. It was a perfect job for a woman who loved plants and flowers, but Lucy hadn’t sounded all that enthusiastic whenever he’d talked to her from Afghanistan.

  Owen stretched out on the bed with a long, loud groan. He hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours, and he’d driven seven hundred miles. He was used to long, sleepless stretches in Afghanistan, but that didn’t mean his body didn’t work better with rest.

  He was missing something in this whole situation with Lucy, but he couldn’t put his finger on what exactly. Her sister told him about their parents’ breakup, but why punish him for something they screwed up? His eyes closed. He just needed a nap to get the cobwebs out of his head and come up with a plan that would win her over.

  If he got really desperate, he could always pull up th
e newest app on his phone and take a few groveling cues from Dr. Find-Love. The thought made him cringe inside. It was a ridiculous app, but he was in uncharted territory right now, so he’d take help wherever he could find it. He still hoped it would never come to that.

  * * *

  CONNIE SIGNED THE delivery receipt and thanked Rupert Knowles for carrying the boxes full of cut flowers all the way back to the workroom. Technically, his brown uniform dictated he only bring boxes as far as the front door. But Rupert had been delivering her weekly flower shipment for over a decade now, and he insisted he didn’t mind the extra steps. She repaid his kindness with the occasional container of fresh-baked snickerdoodle cookies...his favorite.

  After Rupert accepted a long-stemmed red rose to take home to his wife and headed out to finish his route, Connie glanced at the clock and frowned. She shouldn’t be surprised if Lucy Higgins had gotten bored with her part-time job at the flower shop already. Connie kept telling Cecile that Lucy was bound to quit. The woman was on the run or something...she hadn’t really said who or what from. A modern gal like Lucy, with her pink hair and endless nervous energy, was hardly destined to stay in quiet little Rendezvous Falls for long.

  Connie gathered up an armful of yellow roses, most of them still tightly budded. She took them to the deep work sink and snipped just a little from the bottom of each stem so they’d soak up water and food more efficiently. Then she plopped them one by one into the water at the bottom of the tall plastic buckets in the storage cooler. She started on the pink roses next.

  It may not be surprising that Lucy Higgins had bailed on her, but it was oddly disappointing. Lucy’s enthusiasm and could be annoying, but over the past week, Connie had been able to go home without feeling totally worn out. Her energy was usually shot by Saturday afternoons, after the wedding or party orders were finished and before she started the altar arrangements she put together every week for the local churches. Those standing orders for the churches helped keep the place afloat, but for the past few years she’d been doing them with her last gasp of energy and creativity.