Page 79 of Coming Up Roses
Eating dessert first feels wrong on all kinds of levels, but everyone else digs in and I lift a spoonful to my mouth.
“Oh my god,” I murmur. I want to moan but manage to suppress it when I catch sight of Hunter across the table, studying me closely. “This is amazing,” I say, turning to Violet and ignoring Hunter’s gaze.
Violet grins and holds up her own spoonful. “Isla Woodswas truly the queen of the kitchen.” Her smile softens with nostalgia.
“Do you remember that peanut butter slice she made?” Olivia asks and Violet blinks away the moisture in her eyes.
“Yes,” she groans. “That was the best.”
Olivia and Violet chatter about Isla, and as the conversation progresses, their stories spread from Isla and her incredible baking, to Flynn’s dad, Trent, as well, then the memories the two families shared. Katie, Dallas and Sadie ask questions and laugh along with the two Austin women, but Hunter sits silently, barely contributing unless he’s asked a direct question. And even then, if the question comes from Katie he scowls and ignores her. In his defence, she does seem to be trying to piss him off on purpose. I have to admire her gall to do that. He seems scary enough not pissed off.
Once the pie is demolished, except for that single slice, Violet serves us dinner, though none of us are particularly hungry after the dessert.
During the clean up, I find myself in the kitchen with Katie and Olivia, who’s piling food onto a plate and wrapping it in clingfilm.
“Flynn’s almost done,” Olivia says. “Do you think he’ll come down here tonight?”
Katie shakes her head. “We won’t see him tonight. Should we take it up to him?”
“Yeah,” Olivia says.
“Do you want to take it?” Katie asks. “Or should we both go?”
I want to offer. I want to open my mouth and sayI’ll do it. But no words come out, and I know this isn’t my place. I’m Flynn’s friend with benefits. Hissecretfriends with benefits. I’m not his best friend like these two are. I’m not his family. In the whole scheme of things, I’m the least important person here.
The plate I’m loading into the dishwasher slips and crashes into another, thankfully not breaking either plate.
“You all good?” Olivia asks.
“Yep.” I nod. Then, to hell with it. I open my mouth again. “I can take the food to Flynn. You two stay here with your family.” My bravado slips away from me. “I mean, if you want, but I’m heading out anyway and …” I trail off and I feel the heat crawling across my cheeks. Fabulous. I turn back to the dishwasher.
“That’s a really good idea,” Olivia says. “I think he’d like that.”
“Rude,” Katie says. “Are you saying he wouldn’t like to see this beautiful face?” She indicates her own.
“Not at all. But you need to get Sadie home to bed anyway and Abi is on her way out.” Olivia holds the plate in one hand, then wraps her free arm around me, surprising me by pulling me in for a quick hug. She surprises me more when she whispers in my ear, so quietly I know the words are only for me. “Make sure he’s okay?”
I squeeze her back. “Of course.”
40
FLYNN
I turn off the tractor,then swing open the door and climb down, jumping the last few feet.
My boots hit the dirt with a satisfying thud and the tractor door slams with another satisfying sound.
I feel like slamming my head in it to get it to shut up.
I shouldn’t be out here. I should be down at the main house with my damn family who went to a whole lot of effort to make today nice for me, and I blew them all off.
Violet asked me last week if I was happy for her to have a family dinner to acknowledge the anniversary of my parents’ passing and I said it sounded like a good idea.
I meant it at the time.
But today, when my usual knock-off time rolled around and I thought about going down to the house to talk about my parents and the family I used to have, I couldn’t go through with it.
So I chickened out and told Olivia I needed to finishthe planting. Which was a shit excuse because she’s the boss and she wouldn’t have made me work until this late to get it done.
