One Way Ticket

by Melissa Baldwin

  “There’s a seat over there,” I said, pointing to a bench about ten yards away. My tummy was doing flips as I tried to control the mounting fear inside.

  “I think I’ll stand,” he replied.

  “Okaaaay.” I stole another glance at him. He looked almost angry.

  Did he want to stand so it would be easier to throw me into the harbor?

  We walked over to the edge of the wharf and Todd turned to face me as he leaned against the railing.

  The Bay Bridge loomed large next to us, stretching over to the other side of the harbor.

  I pressed my lips together, trying to find the right words.

  Todd beat me to it. “Did you really want to go back to New Zealand with Geoff?”

  For the first time since I’d seen him walk into The Flower Girl, I looked up into his eyes. I caught my breath as I saw his pain. “Todd, I . . .” Those pesky tears returned, choking my words.

  At this rate, I’d have no eye makeup left today.

  “I’m sorry.” I hung my head and wiped the tears away with my fingertips.

  Todd took my hands in his. “Hey, don’t cry. It’s okay.” His voice was soft, kind.

  I hadn’t expected that.

  I shook my head. “It’s not. That day . . . Todd, I chose someone else over you.”

  “Do you love him? Because if you do, I will leave you alone.” He placed his hand over his heart. “I promise.”

  I knitted my brows together. Did I love Geoff? Did I want to be with him again?

  I shook my head.

  “Now that Sabrina has given us her blessing and . . .”

  “And?” His eyes were full of hope.

  I bit my lip. I had chosen Geoff, but my heart hadn’t been in it. Geoff was uncomplicated; he was safe.

  But as I stood here, my hands entwined with Todd’s, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt who I wanted to be with.

  I took a deep breath. “Can you forgive me?”

  His face creased into a smile. “As long as you tell me you’ve changed your mind about leaving. I kinda like you, Kiwi.”

  I smiled back at him, my heart contracting. “I kinda like you, too.”

  “So . . . you choose me?”

  I nodded as fresh tears welled in my eyes. But this time, they were tears of sheer happiness.

  Todd let go of my hands and wrapped his arms around me, lifting me right off the ground and spinning me around. I let out a giggle, enjoying the feeling—like I was on one of those rides in Orlando.

  He placed me back down, not letting me go for a second.

  As I looked back into his eyes, the atmosphere around us changed. I pushed myself up on tippy-toes and reached my hand around the nape of his neck, breathing in his scent, feeling his body against mine. A second later, our lips locked and my whole body turned to mush.

  And oh, my! What a kiss! All the pent-up worry, all the heartache, everything dissipated. Todd wanted me, and I wanted him. Sabrina had given us her blessing, and it felt good. So, so good.

  We came up for air, grinning so much I thought my face might crack. I let out a puff of air, my head light.

  I’d never been kissed like that before.

  “Thank you,” Todd muttered into my hair, his breath making my neck tingle.

  “For what?”

  “For choosing me.”

  I pulled back so I could look him in the eyes. “It’s been you since the moment I met you in that hedge. You have to know that.”

  His grin was broad, his eyes soft. “I do now.”

  We hugged again, reveling in one another. This had worked out perfectly for me—in a way I hadn’t even dared to hope.

  “I guess I’ll have to tell Geoff.” I scrunched my eyes shut. “I’m going to break his heart all over again.”

  “Yeah, but he’ll get over it,” Todd said with a shrug.

  “I don’t know. I’m a pretty awesome person, you know,” I teased.

  “Yup, you are.” He pulled me in for another one of those incredible kisses, and I melted right into it.

  “I’ll tell him today. Like ripping off a Band-Aid, right?”

  “Exactly. And who knows? Maybe he’ll meet someone on the trip back to New Zealand?”

  I smiled. “Maybe.”

  I thought of how Sabrina had met Ethan on the plane to Orlando—and of how Todd and I had met in that hedge on my first day in San Francisco.

  Sabrina had said it was fate we’d met that day in Dallas. Looking into Todd’s eyes as we stood, holding one another in the midday sun, the sea sparkling, the ferries coming and going around us, I had a feeling she was absolutely right.

  * * *

  We said a reluctant goodbye, agreeing to meet after work, and I returned to The Flower Girl. Sabrina had donned a green-and-white striped Flower Girl apron over her floral dress and was busy serving a customer. I stood and watched her from the doorway. She looked like she had never been away.

  She looked like she belonged.

  A pang of sadness hit me. Now that I had Todd, I knew beyond a whisper of a doubt I wanted to stay in San Francisco.

  If Sabrina was back for good, what did that mean for me?

  She finished serving the customers, and I walked into the shop.

  “How did it go?” she asked.

  I couldn’t stop a big grin spreading across my face if I’d been offered a million bucks. “We want to be together.”

  She returned my smile. “I’m so happy you two worked it out. Todd’s a really good guy, and he deserves to be happy.”

  I nodded. “I know. The best. Sabrina? You don’t know how much this means to me.”

  “I think I do,” she replied.

  I wondered if she was thinking about Ethan.

  “You’re amazing, you know that?”

  “Not really. I could tell he’d fallen for you the moment he told me about you. I wanted you to know I was okay with you two being together. I guess I was trying to give you a helping hand.”

  “You’re my fairy godmother!”

  She laughed. “The fairy godmother who played matchmaker for her ex-fiancé and her guardian angel.”

  “We’re a Hallmark movie!” I replied with a laugh.

  She let out a puff of air. “On another note, you know how you mentioned what happened with Mrs. Thornhill?” I nodded. “Well, you were not the only one to have difficulties with customers. I should tell you that Mrs. Watson pretty much despised me and threatened to take her business to a new shop called Fuchsia Flowers and Gifts.”

  “Oh, no!”

  Knowing Mrs. Watson as I did, I could well imagine.

  “Long story short, the owner of that shop is Ethan’s sister-in-law, and I think I managed to talk some sense into both her and Mrs. Watson. You shouldn’t have a problem when you return.” She paused, watching me closely. “That is . . . if you’re returning to Orlando?”

  I pressed my lips together. “The only reason I moved to Orlando was to be with a guy who broke up with me after just six months. I stayed, just going through the motions, watching everyone around me find their happiness. I attended so many weddings I began to hate everything about them!”

  Sabrina chuckled. “I can relate.”

  “When I met you in Dallas and you suggested the switch, it gave me the reason I was looking for not to go back. And now that Todd and I . . . well, I think he’s worth sticking around for.” I shot her a shy smile.

  Her eyebrows shot up. “You’re going to stay in San Francisco?”

  I nodded. “I love it here; it feels like the right balance for me.”

  “What about Blooms on Valencia?”

  I frowned. “That’s the one factor that makes this decision so hard. Blooms is the only thing connecting me to Orlando now. To be honest, I’ve been thinking about selling it.”

  Sabrina’s expression changed. “I’ve got an idea. You could stay in San Francisco and get someone to manage it for you! Isabella is amazing, as you know. I have full confidence in her being
able to manage the place for you.”

  I smiled, my mind racing like a lioness chasing her prey. “You know what? That’s a pretty darn good idea. I could totally do that. Then, all I have to do is work out what to do in San Francisco.”

  Sabrina grinned at me. “I have an idea about that, too.”

  I laughed. “Another one?”

  She put her hand in the air. “Hear me out. What if there was a way for you to keep Blooms and for me to have some help running The Flower Girl?”

  I knitted my brows together. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m asking if you would consider going into business with me? Isabella could run Blooms, and we could run The Flower Girl, together. We could both take turns, traveling to Orlando to check in.”

  I tapped my chin. “I guess you will need more help with the work Lucy is giving The Flower Girl now.”

  “Exactly.”

  “And we’d have to work out all the logistics and legal stuff.”

  She shrugged. “Easy.”

  A surge of excitement hit me in the belly.

  “So, what do you say to my latest crazy idea? Partners?” She held out her hand.

  Partners in The Flower Girl and Blooms? Would today’s craziness never end?

  I stared at her hand, excitement rising inside. “You and your ideas, Sabrina Monroe!” I shook my head, letting out a laugh. I took her hand in mine. “Partners.”

  I grinned at her, this stranger I’d met at an airport after she’d run away from her wedding—to the man I had fallen for.

  Now, no longer a stranger, we were going to be partners, working together, doing what we both loved.

  I never knew running away from the lives we had been living would have meant we were both running to the lives we were meant to have.

  Epilogue

  Sabrina

  There is no way life could get any crazier . . . or more wonderful.

  Six months ago, I had just busted out of a bathroom window, run away from my wedding day, and become a reluctant YouTube phenomenon.

  And now look at me! The runaway bride turned happiest woman in the world.

  So much has happened in the past few months, I’m still trying to make sense of it all.

  When Addi decided to stay in San Francisco, I knew I wanted to work with her. We renamed the shop here in San Francisco The Flower Girls. Addi really had done an amazing job while I was in Orlando, despite the issues with the Thornhill wedding, and up until a few weeks ago, Mrs. Thornhill was still refusing to do any business with us.

  And now? Let’s just say that all changed when I got my mother involved. Prickle and I had reached an understanding, and she’d gone out of her way to convince Mrs. Thornhill to bring her business back to The Flower Girls. I wasn’t exactly sure what my mother had said, but it worked.

  Of course, Mrs. Thornhill still called both Addi and me “Sabrina,” but we had to take it one step at a time.

  Blooms on Valencia is now called The Flower Girls-East. Isabella was thrilled when Addi asked her to manage it, and she has done an amazing job. Addi and I alternate traveling to Orlando once a month to make sure everything is running smoothly.

  Addi even made a special trip to talk to Mrs. Watson about the changes. Obviously, she didn’t get the email about what was happening, since she still believed “computers were the devil.” She agreed to continue doing business with The Flower Girls-East, as long as she didn’t have to meet with me.

  I’m pretty sure she’s got a voodoo doll with my name on it.

  I still haven’t met Faye Stanley, and now I’m wondering if she even exists, or if she was just some figment of Mrs. Watson’s overactive imagination. Isabella says Faye actually placed an online order but sent someone else to pick it up.

  Leonardo was upset with me for a minute because I didn’t ask him to be partners. I reminded him that his social life and pedicure appointments wouldn’t allow him to devote the time needed to run a business. Once he heard that, he agreed.

  Addi and Leonardo had gotten to be really close friends, and I knew he’d made her transition to this city much easier. For that I would always be in his debt.

  And the Gay Man’s Choir turned out to be an actual choir, and Leonardo is one of its divas. Naturally. Addi, Todd, Ethan, and I went to see them sing Christmas carols recently, and they were very good—even Marco, the florist who refused to help Addi and Leonardo with white roses for the Thornhill wedding, although we would never tell him that.

  Speaking of friends, after my Orlando adventure, I learned Naomi wasn’t exactly a real friend at all. Apparently, she had been trying to convince Todd that Addi was stealing from The Flower Girl while I was away. It turns out Naomi had been secretly in love with him for years.

  We ended up having a huge falling out, after which I told her Addi was staying and we were going into business together. In the heat of her anger she told me “she would have never abandoned a man like Todd on his wedding day” and that I was “a horrible person for tossing him aside to some random girl.”

  That was the end of our friendship.

  Poor Addi had to break Geoff’s heart all over again. I could see how hard it was for her, but if there is one thing I know, you have to follow your heart.

  And her heart belonged to Todd.

  Todd and Addi are going strong, and I have never seen a couple more meant for one another. Many people have asked if their relationship is weird for me, and I can honestly say it isn’t. I want Todd to be happy, and Addi gives that to him.

  Todd’s started up an art supplies business, having finally admitted to himself that he’s an artist at heart. His family took a while to come around to the idea, but his company got off to an awesome start, and he’s doing what he loves.

  Todd’s mother, Bitsy, took an immediate liking to Addi, which was a very good thing, although I’m not sure why, exactly. Maybe it was her New Zealand accent? Whatever it was, if she was good enough for Bitsy Blakely, she would be just fine in this city.

  My mother was shocked when she first heard about Todd and Addi, but that all changed when she met Ethan. I actually think Prickle developed a bit of a crush on Ethan. Not that I could blame her. Ethan is amazing.

  Ethan is still commuting to Seattle, and things are great between us. I’m looking forward to spending the holidays with his family, including Jackie. Well, maybe not “looking forward” to spending time with her exactly, but I hoped we could put our differences behind us and move forward.

  Fuchsia Flowers and Gifts is no longer in business. Apparently, Jackie felt like she was in the wrong field, so she changed it to Fuchsia Yoga and Zen. According to Ethan’s brother, it’s really mellowed her out. She even sent me a message telling me she was excited to see me over the holidays. I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I lied and told her I was, too.

  Addi and I work really well together, and our new business venture has allowed us each to have more time for ourselves. Of course, we’ve become super close, and I couldn’t ask for a better friend. I look forward to what this new partnership will bring.

  Life is good. Every day I’m reminded of how grateful I am that Addi talked to that distraught girl she saw running through the airport in her wedding dress.

  And I know, if we had to do it all again, we would switch lives with one another in a heartbeat.

  THE END

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to Chrissy Wolfe and Paula Bothwell for your hours of editing and proofreading! To Misha Gericke for doing the paperback layout. To Karan Eleni for your helpful advice and setting up our blog tour.

  To Sue Traynor for another fantastic cover! You’re the best!

  To our loyal readers, we hope you love One Way Ticket as much as we do!

  From Melissa:

  This was such an amazing experience. First and foremost, thank you to the very talented Kate O’Keeffe for co-writing this book with me. I learned so much from you and we really do make an awesome team!

  And of c
ourse, a huge thank you to my wonderful husband and daughter for your constant support and love! I’m so blessed!

  From Kate:

  Melissa is right, this was an amazing experience! Writing is such a solitary pursuit, to be able to share it with someone else, someone with the same vision, the same work ethic, the same goals, was wonderful. Thank you, Melissa! I hope we get to do it again someday.

  And lastly, an acknowledgements section would not be complete without thanking my family for their love and support of my writing.

  About the Authors

  Melissa Baldwin is an avid runner, planner obsessed, and has always had a love for writing. She is a wife, mother, and avid journal keeper who took her creativity to the next level by fulfilling her dream with her debut novel, An Event to Remember...or Forget. Melissa writes about charming, ambitious, and real women and is now a published author of twelve Romantic Comedy and Cozy Mystery novels and novellas.

  When she isn't deep in the writing zone, this multi-tasking master organizer is busy spending time with her family, chauffeuring her daughter, traveling, running, indulging in fitness, and taking a Disney Cruise every now and then.

  Also by Melissa:

  An Event to Remember… Forget

  Wedding Haters

  Not Quite Sheer Happiness

  See You Soon Broadway

  See You Later Broadway

  Friends ForNever

  Fall Into Magic: A Novella

  Winter Can Wait: A Novella

  To Spring with Love: A Novella

  Return to Summer: A Novella

  Movie Scripts and Madness: A Cozy Mystery

  Kate O’Keeffe is a bestselling author of fun, feel-good romantic comedies. She lives and loves in beautiful New Zealand with her family, two scruffy dogs, and a cat who thinks he's a scruffy dog, too. He's not: he's a cat.

  Also by Kate:

  One Last First Date

  Two Last First Dates

  Three Last First Dates

  Wedding Bubbles

  Styling Wellywood

  Miss Perfect Meets Her Match