Page 31 of Kiss Me Forever

This wasn’t awkward at all.

“Hey there, Bella. How was art camp today?”

“I love it so much. Your cousins are the best. Like legit.”

I blinked and looked up at Reece, mouthing the word legit.

He rolled his eyes and held up both hands. “Hello Brooklyn.”

“Reece.”

And look at that, we were adults, who happened to know each other’s names.

“Hi, I’m Aly. I own the nursery. I take it you are Bella and Reece?”

I could feel my face heating as I looked over at Aly, wide-eyed.

“Oh. I’m sorry. Aly, this is Reece and Bella, Reece and Bella, this is Aly.”

“Hi. You own this plant shop? It’s so pretty. Reece brought me over to help me pick out a couple of things for the yard.” She looked down at her feet and squirmed a bit. “I know you helped me and showed me a few things at the house, Brooklyn, but do you think you could help me pick out more? Reece is good at it, but I bet you’d be better.”

“And just like that, shoved to the side,” Reece said dryly.

“Oh. I’m sorry,” Bella said, her face paling.

I could see Reece wanting to curse, but he held out his hand and patted her shoulder awkwardly.

“I was just kidding. Brooklyn here is the best plant person I know.”

“Hey, I am the queen of plants.” Aly winked.

“Oh, so now we’re going to have a competition?” I teased, trying to lighten the mood.

“Well I tend to kill plants, so you both beat me,” Reece added.

“You don’t kill them, you still have a few things alive in the front yard,” Bella told Reece, as if trying to reassure him.

My heart nearly expanded two sizes.

“Brooklyn planted those,” Reece explained.

Bella’s gaze turned to me, as Aly snickered at my side. Yes, it seemed I’d have more to explain to my new friend.

“So what are you in the mood for?” Aly said as she clapped her hands. “This girl over here pretty much knows the layout of my shop already. I need to go help a customer over there, though since my team is waving at me, but if you need anything else, let me know. Brooklyn, you’ve got this?”

I would have thought she was trying to push us all together, but there was indeed a young teenager waving her down.

“I can help, no worries,” I said, grinning as Aly skipped off to help her team and actually run her business, leaving the three of us behind.

An awkwardness settled in before Bella leaned to the side and nudged me with her shoulder.

“Will you really help us? I know you’re probably busy.”

“I’ll really help. I was looking for plants for my own yard, because I can’t help myself.”

“I’m surprised you have any space left,” Reece pointed out.

“Excuse me, there’s always room for plants.”