Out of the Blue Bouquet (Crossroads Collection)

by Amanda Tru

  With her heart beating wildly, Brooke clicked another button.

  Brooke Hutchins was listed as the recipient.

  The musical tinkling of the new bells over the door instantly drew both Brooke and Tylee’s gaze up.

  Dylan Masters walked through the door with a large bouquet in his hand.

  Silence filled the shop as Dylan’s gaze collided with Brooke’s, and the whole world seemed to hold its breath.

  “Ummm… I think I’m going to go ahead and take that lunch break now, Brooke,” Tylee murmured. Grabbing her coat and purse, Tylee swept by Dylan at the door and managed to flip the sign to “Closed” on her way out.

  Brooke stood and stepped hesitantly toward Dylan. “Hi,” she whispered. Her gaze eagerly took him in, thinking that he looked better than he had in her imagination. He wasn’t wearing a suit today, but a simple gray button up shirt that was left untucked from his jeans. His dark hair fell back from his forehead in a perfect wave, bringing more attention to the gray eyes that studied her just as closely as she studied him.

  “Hi,” Dylan whispered back. Glancing down at the flowers in his hand, he stepped forward and held them out to Brooke. “These are for you. I’m not exactly good at flower arranging. I did have them in a jar, but it wasn’t very pretty, so I just wrapped them in a wet rag and then put some plastic wrap around it. I figured you could put them in a vase and arrange them the way you wanted. I’m sorry it isn’t like a professional arrangement or anything.”

  Brooke had spent the whole time watching Dylan’s face as he rambled through his explanation. He was nervous. Brooke had never seen him nervous, and that kind of fascinated her.

  Ripping her eyes away, she glanced down at his outstretched hand and gasped.

  The bouquet was a bunch of blue hydrangea in a variety of breath-taking shades. On one side, pink bougainvillea peeked out their bright heads.

  “Are those…?” she started. But then she knew. After all, she would recognize those flowers anywhere. “Those are my grandma’s flowers.”

  She took them in her hands, lifted them up, and buried her face in the soft blue petals. At the aroma, a thousand different wonderful memories of her grandma rushed over her. When she finally drew her face away, tears streamed down her cheeks. “Dylan, how did you get my grandmother’s flowers?”

  Dylan shrugged, a gentle smile playing about his lips. “Southern California was on my way home.”

  “From Seattle?” she asked incredulously.

  Though his eyes were dancing, he just shrugged again, refusing to say more.

  “But how could you do this? How did you know which house was hers? How did you get the flowers when the house belonged to someone else?”

  As if realizing that she wasn’t going to let it go, Dylan explained. “Geneva can be a very helpful friend to have. She gave me the address. Then I just went to the house and knocked on the door. The owners were very nice, and once they heard my story, they were only too happy to let me pick some flowers for the girl I love.”

  “For the girl you… love?” Though she mouthed the last word, no sound came out.

  “Oh, I forgot to give you the card!” Dylan said, handing her a plain piece of cardstock bearing handwritten words.

  These flowers are from the garden of someone who loved you,

  and delivered to you by someone who loves you.

  Love,

  Dylan

  He’d signed his name. The man who always left his name off his flower orders had signed his name. And not just once. Around the border, and at random spots on the card, he’d written his name in various sizes.

  “Did you see my name?” he asked eagerly.

  Brooke couldn’t help but smile. “I almost missed it,” she teased. “It’s a good thing you signed it more than once.”

  Dylan nodded proudly. Then, after a pause, his expression turned bittersweet, and he spoke. “The answer to your question is ‘yes,’ Brooke. Yes, I love you. And I’m sorry, but because of that, I can’t just walk away. I’m sorry that I didn’t return your calls while I was in Seattle, but I wanted to wait and talk to you in person. I know you’ve said you don’t want to be my girlfriend, and I understand that. But I also know the way you kissed me. You care about me, much more than you admit. I’m sorry I can’t walk away. You’re just going to have to forgive me over and over again. Though I’ll give you space, I’m not going to stop trying to win you, not after discovering that you return my feelings. I know you’re afraid. I know you’re scared of being hurt. But if you can’t be my girlfriend, can you please just let me be your boyfriend?”

  Brooke swallowed. Instead of answering his question, she asked one of her own. “The orders? You placed the other orders?” She hesitantly looked up at him, meeting his gaze.

  His eyes shone with sincerity as he spoke. “Yes, I did. Your website only allowed me to place orders for the next two years. I’m not going to be sending you flowers and then sending another woman flowers two weeks from now. They’ll all be for you. I’m not going anywhere, Brooke. Just give me a chance. Just like you are not like your sisters, I’m not like your other boyfriends. I’m not going to cheat on you or lose interest in favor of someone else. You are the dream, Brooke, and I will spend all of my time trying to deserve you.”

  Taking a deep breath, Brooke finally spoke, but the best she could do was a whisper. “You say all the right things and more, Dylan. I have spent most of the last two weeks regretting what I did to you. But at the same time, I can’t seem to flip a switch and turn my fear off. I believe you have the best of intentions, but I think of all of the girlfriends you’ve had, and I don’t want to be just another on your list of exes.”

  She had to be crazy. The Crossroads Casanova had said he loved her, and she was hesitating. What was wrong with her?

  Not to be deterred, Dylan took her reluctance in stride. “Brooke, I don’t want you to be my girlfriend, I want to be your boyfriend. I’m not looking for you to satisfy me or make me happy. That comes from the Lord. But I can’t imagine anything more wonderful than getting to spend my life making you happy-er. I can’t promise I won’t hurt you. In fact, I’m sure I will at some point. But I can promise that if you trust me with your heart, it will be worth it. Just so you know, I’m not offering you a ring or asking you for forever right now, but that is my goal. If you give us a chance, I fully intend to always belong to you, and to you only.”

  Brooke’s eyes slid shut and she prayed. She prayed that God would give her the strength to trust and walk in the path that she believed He was opening up. Dylan truly was everything she’d ever wanted and more. His faith in God was obvious, as was, for whatever reason, his love for her.

  With her eyes still closed, Brooke spoke, “I have spent my life feeling like I didn’t measure up. It is completely foreign to me to hear someone like you say these things about me.”

  Feeling a feather-light touch to her jawline, she opened her eyes to see Dylan’s face above hers, his eyes intense. Carefully, his fingers moved up to caress a slight scar, right along her hairline—a reminder of that first day they spent together. “Then I’ll need to repeat them often for you until you can believe that they are true. Brooke Hutchins, I am so glad you aren’t a Brooklyn. There’s no one else like you. God made you exactly how He wanted, and you are exactly who I want.”

  Brooke faltered, looking away from the intensity of his eyes. But as she glanced down, her gaze lit on an ugly, little ceramic toad peeking out from where she had placed him behind the door.

  Then, with a deep breath, she looked back up at Dylan and smiled. “I’ve thought a lot about the past few months—how we were accidentally brought together. If I hadn’t messed up your orders, then we would have never spent the day together. I wouldn’t have given you the time of day, and you would have never known I existed. So…”

  Brooke paused for the beat of several seconds, gathering her courage. “What if I reached up to give you a hug and thank you for the beautiful flow
ers?” While holding her flowers in one hand, she acted out her own words, reaching up and wrapping her free arm around Dylan.

  Looking up at him, she continued to speak, trying to communicate her heart. “I know you went out of your way and went through a lot of trouble for the flowers, and you did it for me. What if I told you how much they mean to me, and how I feel that they are the most beautiful, most special gift I’ve ever been given? Then what if I went to kiss your cheek and missed?”

  Standing on her tiptoes, she slowly went to plant a gentle kiss on his cheek but found his lips instead. The touch was electric. It was sweet, it was passionate, and it was completely full of joy.

  Drawing back to get a breath, Brooke spoke again. “After a kiss like that, a girl might completely forget herself. She might confess that, though she tried so hard to prevent it, she’d fallen completely in love. And though she’s scared stiff…”

  Brooke swallowed with difficulty but held Dylan’s gaze steady. “Dylan Masters, will you be my boyfriend?”

  “A thousand times ‘yes!’“ Dylan laughed. Picking her up off her feet, he swung her around.

  Finally setting her down, he whispered mischievously, “Now, Brooke, what if you just found yourself a boyfriend for at least the next sixty years?”

  Then he kissed her quite thoroughly, proving that sixty years might not be quite long enough.

  With one arm, Brooke clung to Dylan as he held her close. With the other hand, she still clutched her blue bouquet.

  And she was determined to not let either of them go.

  THE END

  Suggested discussion group questions for Out of the Blue Bouquet by Amanda Tru.

  If not for the toad…

  Would the coffee have been spilled? Would the flower orders have been messed up? Would all of the other stories have happened? Would Brooke and Dylan have met and spent the day together? Would Brooke had been fired? Would Brooke have been able to open her own store? Would Dylan have come to salvation? Would Brooke and Dylan had fallen in love???

  I have long felt fascinated about how God uses the inconspicuous, and often difficult, circumstances as catalysts to get us where He wants us. Several years ago, if my husband had not seriously injured his back and had two surgeries, would I have ever seriously started writing? Maybe not. After all, it was that uncertainty that motivated me to write a book in six weeks and first take the risk of publishing.

  If you turn a different direction, take a different step, is the end result the same?

  Many times we don’t know the why behind our difficulties, and sometimes the why we can see just isn’t good enough. I’ve lived through some horrible, heart-breaking experiences, and sometimes I get to see something good come out of it, like me becoming an author after my husband’s temporary disability. However, in some instances, the benefit of a difficulty in no way feels like it is worth the heartache. For instance, it is difficult to see any good when you lose someone you love. But, I don’t think we have to see the scales balance here on earth. I’m told that God vastly tips the scales in your favor when you leave this life behind. For now, to see a little of God’s work in difficult circumstance is often enough to strengthen my faith. And even if it is small, I will treasure any redeeming aspect to an awful experience.

  When we get to heaven, I wonder if we will be able to see the other side of our life’s tapestry. Here on earth, we can only see a bunch of multicolored threads that look quite random. Maybe, if we use enough imagination, we can follow a few of the threads to see the outline of a something bigger. But when we get to heaven, I think we’ll get to turn that tapestry over. We’ll see that all the mess of threads was really God weaving together a beautiful piece of art. Maybe you’ve tripped over a lot of toads. Maybe you can’t yet follow the threads or see the why behind any of the difficulties in your life. But rest assured, God is making something beautiful. My prayer is that this book gives you enjoyment but also makes you think. Hopefully, the following questions will give you a different perspective and lead you to understand God’s redemptive work in your trials, accidents, and mistakes. May you recognize God’s hand weaving your life to be pleasing to Him.

  For if not for God, all our toads would just be toads.

  1. Discuss the title of the book and the set. What is the significance of “Out of the Blue Bouquet?” Have you experienced any out-of-the-blue bouquets in your own life?

  (Genesis 50:20 And the story of Joseph in general!)

  2. What did you think about how the stories were all interconnected? Did you catch how each book tied into the last? Can you see any spiritual significance to the theme and the way the stories worked together?

  Romans 8:28, 2 Corinthians 4:16

  3. “Out of the Blue Bouquet” is based on the huge mistake of multiple flower orders being sent to the wrong people. Brooke would certainly classify it as the biggest mistake she’d ever made. What is the biggest mistake or accident that has happened to you?

  Brooke had a very long journey, but she did eventually see good things that came from her mistake and the nightmarish circumstances.

  4. What were the good things that happened to Brooke because of the toad and the resulting mayhem?

  2 Corinthians 4:8-12

  5. Give some examples of some good coming out of bad in your own life.

  Romans 5:3-5, 1 Peter 1:6-9, James 1:2-4

  6. Brooke takes the blame for Tylee, even though it was Tylee who knocked the coffee over. Was she right to protect her friend? Do you see any correlation to Christ in her actions?

  John 15:13

  This story contained several examples of how someone’s trial can be used to bless someone else. Identify some instances in the story where Brooke’s mistake actually turned out to be a blessing to others.

  7. Do you have any examples in your own life where your struggle or trial has inadvertently blessed someone else?

  Mark 10:45, Matthew 5:16, Galatians 1:24, Isaiah 61:3

  Attending church with Brooke made a big impression on Dylan. The text for the sermon was John 4:13-14.

  8. How did the sermon and the verses affect Dylan? How did they affect Brooke?

  9. How about you? Is your satisfaction coming from God or do you struggle with seeking it elsewhere?

  Psalm 16:11, Philipians 4:11-13, Isaiah 58:11

  10. What was your favorite part of this book or the set as a whole? Did anything make you think or cause you to view your life in a different way? What?

  If you are doing this study with a group, please share with each other the trials that you are currently facing and pray together that God will bring good from your encounters with toads and help you see the out of the blue bouquets He is arranging.

  www.amandatru.com/

  Amanda loves to write exciting books with plenty of unexpected twists. She figures she loses so much sleep writing the things, it’s only fair she makes readers lose sleep with books they can’t put down!

  Amanda has always loved reading, and writing books has been a lifelong dream. A vivid imagination helps her write captivating stories in a wide variety of genres. Her current book list includes everything from holiday romances, to historical, to action-packed suspense, to a Christian time travel/romance series.

  Amanda is a former elementary school teacher who now spends her days being mommy to her four young children and her nights furiously writing. Amanda and her family live in a small Idaho town where the number of cows outnumbers the number of people.

  Amanda loves to hear from readers! To receive notifications about Amanda Tru books and upcoming Crossroads Collections, please sign up for Amanda Tru’s newsletter.

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  Email: truamanda@gmail.com

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  Twitter: @TruAmanda

  by Amanda Tru

  Find the latest information and connect with Amanda at her website: www.amandatru.com

 
Find the latest information and connect with Amanda at her website: www.amandatru.com

  Yesterday Series:

  Yesterday

  The Locket

  Today

  The Choice

  Tomorrow

  The Promise

  Forever (coming soon)

  Tru Exceptions Series:

  Baggage Claim

  Mirage

  Point of Origin

  Rogue

  Brides by Mail Series: (Written with Cami Wesley)

  Bride of Pretense

  Bride by Request

  Bride of Regret

  The Secret Bride Society Series:

  The Secret Bride Society

  Christian Romance:

  Secret Santa

  The Random Acts of Cupid

  The Assumption of Guilt

  The Christmas Card

  Clean Romance:

  The Romance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

  Children’s:

  Under the pen name J. Lasterday