the closet, so we should be good there. What else am I not thinking of?"
Laughing she answered. "You've thought more about this than I have. I guess a shelf and a drawer in the bathroom would be nice."
"Oh, the bathroom. I'm on it."
He left the room and she laughed again. This was exciting.
She heard Chase's phone ring and he answered it.
"Yeah, what about next week?"
Remembering Colorado, she stopped what she was doing and listened. Walking to the bathroom where he stood looking out the window, the array of items he'd pulled from his cabinet sitting on the counter, she leaned against the door frame and waited for him to finish his call.
Pocketing his phone, he turned to see her standing in the door. "Want to go to Colorado next week?"
"Sure." She smiled at him. She loved the excitement in his eyes, the new exuberance in his actions. "I thought maybe you'd changed your mind about going."
He walked to her, lay his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Greg asked me to figure out what I really wanted from my life. What could be. I love Dog. I love the guys too and I love my job. But, I have more to offer than what Dog has available for me. Honestly speaking, if I don't explore this offer, I'm holding myself back. I don't want to do that. It would be different if Dog had a design job available at the money I'm being offered or close to it even if I would never be Head Designer and I was snubbing my nose at it."
"That's true. And you're amazing at what you do."
"Plus," He leaned against the bathroom counter, resting his fine butt on the edge, "I want you in my life. Even though you did the flowers today, it will never be comfortable for you around them or vice versa."
"Emma and Molly seemed very nice when we met."
"They are and they weren't around when everything went down with you, so they don't have the hard feelings, but let's face it, they will never be your friends, it would be too complicated."
"Right." Her stomach tightened. It was hard to hear it. Taking a deep breath, she tried getting her head around everything. Did it even pay for her to move in here only to have to move again if they did?
"So, when do we leave?"
"Gil is arranging the tickets, probably tomorrow to fly in and enjoy our evening. Monday morning I'd tour the facility. I'd like you to come with me. You worked for years at Rolling Thunder, so you'd understand it all. Gil even said he'd find a job for you there if you wanted one."
She laughed out loud. "Well, we'll see. I’d actually prefer to find another florist or greenhouse to work at though.” She turned to finish putting Chase’s clothes away. “We better get going, we have to find wedding gifts and go out, later we’ll be packing."
40
Chase pulled into a parking spot and put the truck in park. LuAnn smiled at him and handed him the beautifully wrapped presents they'd purchased for Ryder and Molly and Gunnar and Emma.
He leaned over and kissed her. "I won't be long." She was beautiful tonight. Actually, every night, but tonight she'd dressed up, curled her hair rather than pulling it back into a ponytail; she wore makeup, though just light touches, enough to accent the blue in her eyes.
"Thank you." She softly replied.
After stepping down from the truck, he closed the door, winked at LuAnn and walked to the reception venue. He wanted to shake Ryder and Gunnar's hands, hug Molly and Emma and say hi to Dog before taking LuAnn out to dinner. It was the best compromise he could think of and it would have to do.
Entering the venue, which opened to the bar on the left and the dining area later to become the dance floor on the right. Tables were set and people were milling about chatting, laughing and celebrating. As it should be. He only had a slight pang in his heart at not being able to totally celebrate with his friends who were also his family.
"Chase, so glad to see you." Emma walked up to him and hugged him tight.
He reciprocated with a one-armed hug holding the packages with the other.
"You look stunning, Emma."
She laughed. "It's finally here, can you believe it? I’m Mrs. Gunnar Shepard."
"When it's meant to be, it happens. You've all earned it with everything you've managed to