by Angie Pepper
She held out her hands. “Beats me. I don’t know the self-help lingo. That’s more my sister’s thing.”
“Did you move from the main house directly into the tiny house in the backyard?”
She gave him a steady look. Slowly, she said, “Yesss?” She sensed a direction to his line of questioning.
“And you’ve never worked anywhere but the flower shop?”
She crossed her arms. “Just because I didn’t spend my early twenties traveling all over the world with a backpack and getting bitten by fleas in hostels doesn’t mean I haven’t had life experiences.”
“You sound defensive.”
“Just telling the truth. Would you rather I lie to you?”
He leaned back. After a long moment, he asked, “How did you know about the fleas?”
“Everyone knows hostels are full of fleas.”
He gave her another long look. “There are a lot of layers to your onion, Flower Shop Girl.”
“Isn’t that what second dates are all about?” She added, “Bad Boy Biker Boy.”
He grinned. “Bad Boy Biker Boy? I like it. When the garage opens, I’ll have to get that engraved on my office door.”
“What it needs to say is Mr. Boss Man Bad Boy Biker Boy.”
He tilted his head to the side. “I’m a Boss Man but also a Biker Boy? Which is it? Am I a man or a boy?”
“I don’t know.”
He grabbed the drink containers from the sidewalk and handed her one of them.
She took a sip and nearly spat it out. “Luca, I think I’m drinking your coffee. Blech.”
“You got your spit on the rim.”
She rubbed it off. “You’ll be fine.” They traded cups.
“I’m glad you noticed,” he said. “I thought the coffee was just really weak.”
“And I thought they brewed my tea using a goat’s backside.”
He chuckled. “You’re not a coffee fan.”
“Not of that coffee.” She looked around. “I wonder where they keep the goats.”
He took a sip and looked thoughtful. “I can’t tell if it’s good coffee or not. All I can taste is your lips.”
“I’m sure the feeling will pass.”
He gazed down at her mouth. “I don’t want it to.”
She suddenly became aware of all the people around them. Several were looking their way. The workers must have been bored with the slow setup between filming takes, and happy to watch her and Luca for entertainment.
She edged away from him and zipped up her jacket. “Look,” she said, waving at the brightly lit patch of street. “They’re doing something with the set. Someone’s up in that tree, cutting away branches. That must be what’s taking so long.”
“For someone who wasn’t sure about hanging out on a film set, you sure seem interested now.” He gazed at her steadily. “Or are you just changing the subject away from your lips, and how they taste on my lips?”
“The film set is interesting.”
“Is anything else interesting?” He reached over and placed one large hand on her thigh before giving it a squeeze.
“I’m not bored.”
“Only boring people get bored,” he said.
“Then I guess I’m pretty boring, because I get bored a lot. Working at a flower shop has its moments, but it’s not exactly a thrill ride.”
He squeezed her leg. “What about me? Am I a thrill ride?”
“Your old bike is kinda neat. I guess you could say that the whole package”—she waved to encompass both him and the bike, parked down the street—“is a thrill ride.”
His hand was hot and heavy on her leg. “That’s all the encouragement I need,” he said, then he turned to watch the film crew on the set while he sipped his coffee.
* * *
After two hours of flirting and watching the filming, Luca hopped on his bike, and Tina hopped on behind him. The helmet had gone on much easier that time.
She held on tightly, savoring the feeling of Luca wrapped in her arms. She didn’t want the ride to end, but it did.
When they got to her place, she deliberately led him up to the main house instead of her own. He fell a few paces behind, and when she turned around, she caught him staring at her butt.
“Those leather pants,” he said. “I thought you were a scooter girl when I met you, but it turns out I was wrong.”
She put her hand on her hip. “Am I a biker chick now? Is that all it takes? A pair of leather pants and two rides on your bike?”
He looked at his bike then back at her. “Was that your first time? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Couldn’t you tell by the death grip I used to hang on to you? I’m surprised you didn’t pass out from lack of oxygen and crash us into a telephone pole.”
He stepped in closer and looked down into her eyes. “You can hang on to me as tight as you want. I can take it.”
She took a step back, away from the intensity he was giving her. “Luca, I had a wonderful time, but I’m not going to invite you in.”
He looked up to the second-floor window. “I wouldn’t want to go in anyway. Your sister’s watching us from the window. She’s probably dying to interrogate you.”
Tina turned and shooed Megan away from the window. She didn’t budge.
“Sorry about you-know-who,” Tina said. “She’s probably making popcorn for the second half.”
“There’s a second half?”
“Sort of.” She stood up on her toes and quickly kissed him. Again. He was surprised. Again. She pulled away before he could kiss her back. Just how she wanted it.
“Thanks for the movie date,” she said, reaching for the door.
“Can we do it again some time?”
“I don’t know, Luca. We already saw them shoot that scene twenty-seven times. I’m sure your director buddy is really talented, and Dalton Deangelo doesn’t hurt the eyes, but I don’t think I could sit through it again.”
“I meant something else.”
“If you’re asking me if we can do something else sometime, the answer is maybe.”
She yanked open the door and ran inside before he could talk her into anything more specific.
Chapter 10
Something else turned out to be dinner. Sometime turned out to be Wednesday.
Luca Lowell took Tina Gardenia out for dinner at a restaurant in the area. It had just reopened under new owners.
Tina felt like the prettiest girl in the world when they walked in. She noticed she always felt that way whenever she was holding Luca’s arm. His glow was contagious.
It was their third date, and he kept dropping that fact into conversation.
She asked, feigning forgetfulness, “Is this really the third one already?”
“And the best one yet.” He yawned and rubbed his eyes. “Sorry about that. You’re not boring, I swear. It’s this place. It’s too dark.”
“They must be going for an intimate ambiance.” She looked up at the chandeliers, which were high above them, and filled with low-lumen bulbs. “The new owners changed a lot. You’d never guess this was once a Chunky Cheese.”
“Did you say Chuck E. Cheese?”
“Chunky Cheese,” she said. “It was a family-oriented pizza place with a rat mascot. Or was it a hedgehog?”
“You really know this neighborhood.”
“That’s what you get for sticking around and committing to one place for almost thirty years.”
He yawned again then apologized.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I’ll take it as a compliment that you feel relaxed around me.”
He smiled, his face looking weary. “I barely slept last night. Maybe two hours. Anyone who said renovations are easy is a liar.”
“Nobody says that.”
“My contractor did.”
“Your contractor is a liar.”
“I’m starting to realize that.”
She squinted at the menu. The items were written in blue text on a black backgro
und. “The menu at Chunky Cheese was a lot easier to read,” she said.
“Did you try every item on the menu?”
“That sounds like something you’d do, Mr. Adventure. I got the four-cheese pizza, every time. Oh, except once I shared the vegan pizza with someone, just to see what it was about. Big mistake.”
“You don’t like soy cheese?”
“The cheese was the least of that pizza’s problems. The sauce wasn’t even tomato. It was orange. I think it was yams, maybe? Or carrots?”
“I can see why they went out of business.”
“That wasn’t it. Chunky Cheese was always busy, right until the end. But then Fred and Tannis, the owners, won the lottery. The actual lottery. They immediately packed up and moved down south. They’re in a condo, and they’ve taken up golfing. They sent me a postcard last month.”
“You really know everyone in this neighborhood, don’t you?”
“You meet a few people over thirty years in the same spot.” She squinted at the dark menu and tried to figure out what to order. When she looked up, Luca was yawning again.
She asked, “How late were you at the garage last night?”
“Not too long. Mostly, I spent the night lying awake in bed, unable to shut my brain off. One of my contractors has an alcohol abuse problem. By which I mean he drinks on the job and abuses my brand-new walls. I had to let him go.”
“Yikes.”
“Now we’re running behind, and I’ve got a bunch of drywall holes to patch up.”
“Is there anything I can help you with?”
“Good one. I bet you don’t even know what side of a hammer is for hitting the nail.”
She batted her eyelashes. “What’s a hammer?”
He’d been starting to yawn again, but it turned into a laugh.
They ordered their dinner and ate. Luca perked up and stopped yawning once he had some food in his system. He’d been so tired and stressed that he’d forgotten to eat all day.
The food was good. Not as good as Chunky Cheese, but Tina predicted the new restaurant might last as long as two to three years.
The waiter came by to clear their dinner plates. His name was Edward, and he’d been working at that location for years. Back when it had been Chunky Cheese, he used to dress up in the rodent costume.
“May I interest you in dessert?” Edward asked.
Tina declined dessert—she’d eaten a bag of candy at work already—and asked, “Edward, what was that costume you used to dress up in? Was Chunky Cheese a rat or a hedgehog?”
“Definitely not a rat.” He gave them both a theatrical double wink. “That would have been a trademark infringement.” He waggled his eyebrows. “I like to think of Chunky as a guinea pig.” He crossed his chest. “May he rest in peace.” He leaned down and whispered, “We buried the costume in the old graveyard.”
“I’m sure it was a very dignified service,” Tina said.
Edward rubbed his hands together. “No dessert, then. Can I get you two some hot beverages?”
“Let’s start with a triple espresso for me,” Luca said. “The lady will have tea.”
Tina waved both hands at the waiter. “Cancel that. No triple espresso.” She gave Luca a serious look. “You’ll never sleep tonight if you have a triple espresso now.”
The waiter looked at me, then Luca, and said to him, “Tina is right. No caffeine after noon.”
Luca frowned at both of them. “I thought the customer was always right,” he said. To me, he said, “Is there anywhere I can take you where you don’t know all the staff, and I can get what I want?”
Tina held up both hands. “Edward, you heard the man. Triple espresso. This is Luca Lowell, by the way. He’s the new owner of Ralph’s Garage.”
Edward gave Luca a wary look. “Oh, I know who he is,” he said cattily. “Where am I supposed to take my Toyota when it makes the squeaky sounds?”
“Bring it to me,” Luca said, and he repeated the same speech he’d given at Delilah’s. Edward seemed satisfied by the response.
After the waiter left, I said to Luca, “Sorry about trying to cancel your coffee order. We’re only on our third date, and already I’m acting like a nagging old wife.”
“I didn’t really mind,” he said. “What’s that saying? Nagging is caring?”
“I don’t think that’s a saying.”
He reached across the table and touched her hand. “Either way, it feels good to have someone looking out for me. It’s been a long time since somebody cared.”
The look of adoration on his face made her chest ache and her eyes burn.
But then he yawned again, and she got a different feeling. Not a good one. Luca was so big and tough, but seeing him tired and vulnerable like that made her uncomfortable. He was never tired or yawning in any of her daydreams. He was always larger than life in her mind. Nothing in the world was supposed to get through his thick skin and make him sick, or take him away.
“It’s getting late,” she said. “I’ll catch a bus home so you can go straight home and get to bed. If I run out now, I can catch one without having to wait.”
“But—”
“Not another word, Mr. Ten Yawns.” She reached for her purse.
The waiter returned with the espresso, but she was already standing, clearly leaving.
Edward asked, “Is everything okay?”
Tina pointed at Luca. In her most naggy voice, she said, “Edward, don’t you dare serve him any more coffee after this one. He needs to go home and get some sleep.”
Edward gave her a knowing, happy look. “Okay,” he said. “You’re the boss.”
Luca beamed, then he raised his eyebrows at Tina while pointing to his lips.
She walked around the table quickly, and leaned down before he could stand. She pecked him on the mouth.
He had been expecting it and looped his long arm around her waist. He kept her there just long enough for the kiss to register and for him to kiss her back. But he didn’t hold her long enough for it to be too pushy. And, Tina had to admit to herself, the kiss had been better that way.
She was still buzzy when she hopped on the bus a few minutes later.
As soon as she sat down, though, everything shifted. There was a young couple, teenagers, making out in a back seat. Tina remembered other times she’d been on that same bus. With other people, under other circumstances.
Everything that had been positive about the evening reversed, like a magnet flipping polarity.
She couldn’t get back home fast enough.
Once she was inside her cottage and alone again, she closed all the windows and blinds.
There was something she had to do. She hadn’t done it in a while, and she was overdue. Her life had become unbalanced, and this was what she needed to make things feel steady and familiar again.
She pulled the shoe box from the top of the closet and prepared for the ritual. It wasn’t a magic type of ritual, like a Wiccan thing—at least not that she knew of—just something that had helped her get through some hard times. She wiped down the table, dimmed the lights, and took a seat.
She opened the box and laid out the items, one at a time, beginning with the dried rose.
The blue dye that had been used to turn the white rose blue had faded away to a muddy gray. The dried petals were loose and threatened to disintegrate every time she handled it.
The flower would be nothing but garbage to anyone else who saw it, but it was the most precious thing she owned because it was a physical link. A lasting remnant from a time she’d loved someone with everything she had, and he’d loved her. Like Luca, he had been strong, too. Not big, but strong. Until he wasn’t.
Once upon a time, she’d had everything, but then death had taken it all away.
Chapter 11
Prom – Ten Years Ago
Tina Gardenia’s first love gave her a blue rose. He tried pinning it to her prom dress, but his hands were shaking. The photographer teased him about being ne
rvous.
As he tried again to pin the corsage to Tina’s dress, he hammed it up, making jokes about getting to first base by accident.
Looking into her eyes, he said, “Tina Gardenia, you’ll make someone a beautiful bride someday.”
“I shouldn’t have picked this stupid dress,” she said. “Everyone else looks amazing, and I look like some sort of deranged runaway bride.”
“You look perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
He kissed her, and they posed for their official prom photo.
The whole night, girls kept coming up to admire Tina’s dress. The strapless gown was pale blue but looked white under the lighting in the gym. She did resemble a bride, “but in a good way,” the other girls kept saying.
“This dress is so wrong,” Tina kept saying. “I wish I could do everything all over again.”
Every time Tina said it, her first love would simply say, “I wouldn’t change a thing.”
He died two months after graduation, and part of her died with him. Her friends who’d gone through breakups said they understood completely.
They couldn’t have.
Her friends promised she’d get over it. She’d get over him.
She didn’t.
Years passed, and then a decade. The picture of the couple at prom was still prominently displayed on Tina’s fireplace mantel. Friends her age were updating their fireplaces with wedding photos and baby portraits. Tina couldn’t imagine doing that.
What did that even mean, to get over something?
Did it mean that one day she could sell a prom corsage to a nervous young man in a tuxedo, and not burst into tears?
Chapter 12
The Present
Rory showed up at Tina’s place on Saturday afternoon, lugging enough food to cater a party of ten.
“This is way too much,” Tina said. “I’m only cooking dinner for myself and Luca.”
“You?” Rory blinked at Tina. “You’re cooking dinner?”
“Okay, fine. You’re cooking dinner. But, just so you know, Luca’s a big guy, but he’s not that big. I’ve seen him put away food quickly, but nothing like this. You could feed a small army with all of this.”
“So what? Use the leftovers to make sandwiches.” She reached into a canvas bag and pulled out what appeared to be half a cow.