Love in Bloom (31 page)

But being a man could be tiring. By the time he'd put out half a dozen more small fires, Jason was fried. He was seeing Bobbi that night, and he'd promised he'd take her dancing in the city. All he wanted to do was crash in front of the TV. Would Bobbi want to crash?

He called her on his cell as he drove home to shower.

“Hi, Jason,” she said, chipper as always. No, not as always. Today she seemed even more manic.

He felt even more tired. “Hey, do you mind if we just watch the tube or something to night?”

“I thought we were going dancing,” she said. The disappointment wasn't exactly hiding in her voice.

“I've had a hell of a day. Could we postpone the dancing?”

“Okay,” she said. He could almost hear the gears grinding as she reluctantly shifted from Plan A to Plan B. “Come on over and I'll order a pizza.”

He didn't even want to drive. “How about you come over here and I'll order the pizza?” The privacy would do them good.

“Okay,” she agreed. Her enthusiasm was underwhelming.

Even though he was shot, he did a quick detour by the Safeway to pick up some Ben and Jerry's chocolate fudge brownie ice cream, her favorite. Hopefully, the chocolate offering would appease her.

But she was only mildly appeased when she arrived at his place at seven and he showed her what he'd gotten her. “What happened at work?” she asked, dumping her purse on his kitchen counter. “Did somebody drop a hammer on your foot?”

“Somebody damn near dropped a whole building on my head. And that was just for starters.” He pulled her to him and said, “I'll make it up to you, I promise. I just needed some peace and quiet to
get centered again.” So, what he probably should have done was canceled the whole night. Bobbi went with peace and quiet about as well as oil mixed with water. Never mind, he told himself. She liked movies. They'd put in a DVD, flop on the couch, and eat pizza and ice cream.

She did settle in and enjoyed the action flick he'd rented. And she really enjoyed the ice cream. Watching her lick her spoon, Jason realized he wasn't so pooped anymore. “Come here,” he murmured, and pulled her in close for a kiss. And another, and another. And . . .

Then, suddenly, she was pulling away. “I know we've been dating awhile now.”

“Yeah?” he prompted. What was she getting at, and why was she getting at it now? He put an arm around her and leaned in to nibble on her neck, but she slipped out of his embrace and left the couch, saying, “This is wrong. I can't do this.” She snatched her purse from his kitchen counter and started for the door.

“What? Where are you going?” he protested.

“I have to go home and think.”

He was off the couch now, and following her. “What?” What the hell was going on? He felt like the only player on the team who didn't know the playbook.

Instead of clueing him in, she shook her head. “I have to go.”

And, just like Cinderella, Miss Right went running off. But she didn't leave behind a shoe. Instead she left Jason with something much more uncomfortable. He swore and marched off to the bathroom for a cold shower. This relationship was completely screwed up.

 

WHAT WAS SHE
doing? There she'd been, kissing Jason and thinking of Duke. How sick and wrong was that? If she hadn't remembered Mom's favorite saying, she'd have really made a mess of things. Mom was right. When in doubt, keep your legs crossed.

Now she didn't have any doubt at all. She knew for sure she couldn't keep Jason. They weren't right for each other. She had to tell him they were through. Right now.

Her inner computer calculated the chances of him being mad when she did. One hundred percent. Then it calculated how messed up both their lives would be if she didn't. One hundred and fifty percent. She whipped the car around and squealed back down the street. She was going to set this poor man free. It was past time. He needed to go find the woman who really was perfect for him.

In less than four minutes, she was back on his porch, banging on the door. He yanked the door open and greeted her wearing nothing but a towel around his waist and a look of shock on his face.

“Oh.” Dear Lord, but he was gorgeous. Why was she here again?

 

 

 

 

 

 

N
EVER MIND THAT
this man is gorgeous, Bobbi told herself, he's not the gorgeous for you. And all she had to do to prove it to herself was remember Duke in the flower shop and the way he'd made her feel even with all his clothes on.

“I can't see you anymore,” she blurted.

Jason looked at her like she was nuts. “What? Here, come on in.”

“Only if you get dressed,” she said, stepping through the door.

He didn't say anything, just padded away, the muscles in his back rippling as he went. What did Duke look like in a towel? Suddenly, she was dying to know.

Jason returned wearing jeans and pulling on a T-shirt. He joined her in the living room where she was now on the couch, nervously fiddling with the empty ice cream container. Boy, she could have used some more chocolate right now. She'd broken up with men
before, but never Mr. Right. And she'd never had to explain to Mr. Right that he was wrong because she was a fake. Ugh.

“Bobbi, what's going on? If it's about not going dancing tonight . . .”

“No.” She put the empty pint carton back on the coffee table next to the half-eaten pizza. “It's about us not being a fit.”

“What?”

“We don't have anything in common.”

His brows knit. “We don't?”

“I think you'd better sit down.”

He sat on the other end of the couch and slung one arm over the back and looked at her expectantly. “Okay.”

“I'm a fake.”

His eyes rolled heavenward as if praying for supernatural help. “I'm not following.”

“I hate hiking. Totally. And I'm not that into books.”

“But all those books,” he protested.

“Belong to my sister. Well, except the Jane Austen one. I like to read magazines and romance novels with lots of action. I don't like long, boring books or long, boring movies. And I don't own half the flower shop. I just work there. My sister gave me the job when I got fired.”

“What about the cards, the letters?”

He looked like he wished she could at least offer him that. She couldn't. She hung her head. “My sister wrote them for me. I just couldn't think of what to say.”

The silence coming from Jason's end of the couch was unnerving.

“I know it was wrong,” Bobbi rushed on. “I wanted to impress you. I thought you were the perfect man. But the problem is, you're not the perfect man for me. And I'm sure not the perfect woman for you.”

“I can't believe this.”

She ventured a look at him and then was sorry she did. He was
staring at her like half her face had fallen off. “I'm sorry.” The words came out almost as a whisper. “I never meant to hurt you.”

He shook his head. “God, what a dumbass I am. And your sister went along with this?”

“Don't blame Hope,” Bobbi begged. “I made her do it. Anyway, she only wanted to help me. She wanted me to be happy.”

He gave a disgusted snort that reminded her of a bull about to charge. Okay, it was so time to go. Bobbi stood and managed one more “I'm sorry,” then fled, crying.

She was still crying when she stumbled into the apartment. Hope shot up from the loveseat where she'd been reading a book. “What's wrong? What happened?”

“I broke up with Jason,” Bobbi wailed.

Hope looked at her like she'd just confessed to vehicular manslaughter. “No. Why?”

“Because I couldn't do it anymore. I'm a phony.” She went to the refrigerator and started rooting around in the freezer. “I'm a mess. I need more chocolate.”

She pulled out a pint of the same flavor Ben and Jerry's she'd devoured at Jason's, got a spoon, and plopped down at the yellow Formica table and dug in. “He hates me. It was terrible. But I couldn't keep pretending. I had to get everything off my chest.”

Hope sat down opposite her. “Everything? What do you mean by everything?”

Bobbi spooned a mountain of ice cream into her mouth. “He even knows I don't own the shop. He even knows about the cards. I told him you wrote them.”

Hope reached over and took Bobbi's spoon and the ice cream and shoveled herself a big mountain of it. “We'll never see him again.”

“Like I want to?” Bobbi said.

“Oh, Bobs,” Hope said with a sob. She dropped the spoon and left the table.

“Hope,” Bobbi cried after her, but she shook her head and kept
on walking down the hall. She went into her bedroom and shut the door after her.

Bobbi scowled and pulled the ice cream back. She dredged out the last of it and stuffed it in her mouth. “Everybody hates me. Even I hate me,” she decided, looking at the empty ice cream carton.

 

ALL SATURDAY MORNING
, Hope kept watching the door, hoping Jason would come into the shop, maybe want to hear her side of the story. But he never did. She supposed it was just as well since she wasn't sure she even had a side. She'd started out simply trying to help her sister, and then gotten caught in a sticky web of deceit. So, what was there to tell, really?

She was doing some bookwork in between customers when the phone rang.

“Those flowers are incredible,” gushed her friend Megan Wales.

“You can thank Mr. Boston Legal for them, not me.”

“I already thanked him properly,” Megan said, sounding smug.

Things had been heating up between Megan and the man who had been her business mentor, and Hope was beginning to smell orange blossoms in the air. Every time Megan called she expected to hear she'd be coming in to pick out wedding flowers.

“Anyway, Turner wouldn't know a tulip from a turnip,” she continued. “I know who's behind all that gorgeousness. The arrangement really is spectacular.”

“I figured you deserved a special tribute for running a race in the rain.”

“I've got to tell you, I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be out doing a Memorial Day Five K in the rain. But it felt so good to cross that finish line.”

“You've got a lot to be proud of,” Hope said. “Losing so much
weight, starting your own legal firm. And now you're out running marathons. I could never run that far.”

“Oh, I bet you could,” Megan said. “If I can do this, anybody can. Anyway, I'm glad I did. Next year, I want to run the Boston Marathon.”

“Wow.”

“Sometimes you've just got to go for it. In fact, all the time you've got to go for it. And speaking of going, I've got to run. Turner's here.”

As she hung up, Hope thought of the mess with Bobbi and Jason. Going for it sometimes landed you in a ditch.

She was barely off the phone with Megan when Amber stopped by the shop. “Don't forget you're sneaking out early today for Millie's birthday.”

Hope had completely forgotten. “I'll start on her arrangement right away.”

“And I'm bringing the birthday cake. She's going to love it. It's a lavender cake from Sweet Somethings and it's now my all-time favorite. And look what I found.” She opened a pink paper bag from Something You Need, Heart Lake's favorite gift shop, and pulled out a little plaque proclaiming, “Friends Are Forever.”

“She'll love it,” said Hope. She reread the words. This was what mattered, her friends. As long as she had them, she'd be fine.

She finished Millie's bouquet, then left Bobbi in charge of the shop and went to the community garden. Amber had been waiting on the side of the road and now followed her into the park. As usual, Millie was already there, wearing her favorite purple outfit and tending her flowers.

Amber pulled a picnic basket out of the backseat of her car and gave it to Seth, then got out a Tupperware carrier with her cake. “Okay, let's go make her day.”

“We're gonna have a party,” Seth informed Hope.

“Yes, we are,” Hope said, smiling with determination.

“What's this?” Millie said as their little parade approached.

“It's a garden party,” said Amber, “for your birthday.”

Next to her, grumpy Henry leaned on his hoe and eyed the Tupperware container. “You got cake in there?”

“It wouldn't be a birthday party if we didn't.” Amber started singing “Happy Birthday,” and Hope and Seth and even Henry joined in.

“Oh, girls, you shouldn't have,” Millie protested when they'd finished.

“Of course we should have,” Hope said, presenting her with the birthday bouquet. “We just want you to know we love you.”

Millie put a hand to her chest. “I'm overwhelmed.”

“You better not be too overwhelmed to eat this lavender cake,” said Amber.