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“Hi,” she said, moving out of the way so he could come in.
He brushed past her into the foyer. She shut the door and turned around to find him close.
“I brought you a daisy.”
Beth could feel his breath on her face and it had her head whirling. Drew was all man. There was no doubt about that. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”
“It means loyalty. Commitment. I thought it was fitting given our plans for tonight.”
“You seem to know a lot about flowers. Are you trying to impress me?” Beth didn’t know if she wanted him to say yes or no. She didn’t need frills, but she had to admit it was nice.
Drew’s lips curled up into a sheepish grin. “Maybe a little. My mom loves flowers. She has a wide variety growing around the farm. I used to help her weed the beds when I was younger and she would tell me all their different meanings.”
“Does she still have them? The flowers, I mean?” Beth asked.
“Yes. When she’s not in the house cooking, you can usually find her in her flower beds.”
Hearing this new insight into his family relaxed Beth even more. Drew was sharing things with her about himself and his childhood. Taking the offered flower, she raised it to her noise, and inhaled its fragrance. “Does your mom have any daisies?”
“She does. Daisies are one of her favorites.”
Beth went up on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against his before giving him a soft kiss. “I can’t wait to see them, then.”
He blinked. “Does that mean you’re going to the barbecue with me?”
She nodded.
Before Beth knew what was happening, he had dropped his duffel bag to the floor and picked her up. She laughed as he twirled her around.
When he finally set her feet back down on solid ground, he was grinning from ear to ear.
“I’ll make sure you’re not back too late. I know you have to work the next day,” he vowed.
Beth gave him another hard kiss, and then began walking toward the kitchen. “Don’t you have to work as well?”
“Well, yes, but I’m not worried about that.”
She glanced back at him. “I just don’t want you getting hurt because you’re dead on your feet.”
He chuckled and took the plate she’d picked up off the counter out of her hand. “Not to worry. I once pulled a twenty-four-hour shift with zero sleep.”
When she gave him a questioning look, he continued. “Right when things were beginning to settle down for the evening, we got a call for a possible injury accident. Took us about an hour to get that all cleaned up and head back to the station. We were about ready to head up to our bunks when the next call came in. It pretty much kept up like that all night. I think we rolled into the station at around six in the morning. By that time, there was no point in going to bed. We all chipped in to get things prepped for the next shift, and then started on breakfast.”
“Wow,” she said, taking the food out of the oven and placing it in the center of the table.
“Luckily, that doesn’t happen often. It was a rare night.”
Beth grabbed the pitcher of ice water and sat down.
Drew followed. “It smells great.”
“Thank you.” She motioned that Drew should help himself while she filled both their glasses. “Are you ready for tonight?”
“I think so. I’m more anxious than anything.”
“Anything in particular you’re anxious about?” she asked.
He shrugged. “The usual, I suppose. I don’t want to mess up.”
