than anyone had ever bought me. Flowers would add no value to the property; that was plain and simple bullshit. These were for me.
I was still looking at the roses, taking them all in one by one, not sure what to say or how to say it, when I saw Owen put another plate of freshly baked blueberry muffins to my left. He whistled next to me, his shoulder barely touching mine.
“These are just for me,” I mumbled, almost to myself. “And they’re so beautiful, Jack. Thank you.” For some reason, I felt myself choke up, and my chest constricted. Hugging the bouquet with one arm, I pressed my palm against my chest where my heart was truly losing it. Sally cleared her throat, and I briefly glanced at her to see her raised brows and the expectant look on her face. “Oh, I’m sorry. I should introduce you guys. Sally, Owen, this is Jack. Jack, Sally and Owen.” My attention was still on the roses when I heard Jack’s gravelly voice as he introduced himself.
“Rose’s husband,” he said, extending his hand first to Sally and then to Owen. Goose bumps covered my arms, both because of the tone of his voice and the word itself. Husband. My husband.
“Yes, sorry. Jack is my husband.”
“Husband?” Sally blurted out in a slightly raised voice. “You’re married? You never said anything!” She grabbed my hand and inspected my naked ring finger. “No ring?”
I inwardly winced and sent an apologetic look Jack’s way, but he had his hands in his pockets and his eyes were on the food, his expression completely unreadable as always.
Sally was looking between Jack and me in bafflement.
“I took it off before I started baking. It’s in my bag. With everything going on, I forgot to put it back on.”
I was explaining it to Sally, but my eyes stayed on Jack the entire time. He looked up, and I offered him a small smile.
“It’s so beautiful,” I said, turning my gaze to Sally. “I keep taking it off when I’m working here because I don’t want to lose it. That’s why you didn’t see it before.”
“I need to get back. Congratulations on the marriage, Rose. Nice to meet you, Jack,” Owen said before giving my shoulder a quick soft squeeze and disappearing into the kitchen. Sally just stood there.
I looked up at Jack, he was staring at Owen’s back with a clenched jaw, but he averted his eyes before I could try to tell what he was thinking. Forcing myself out of this weird guilty feeling, I asked, “Would you like something to drink? Or eat?”
“Yes. I want fifteen…I don’t know, espressos, lattes, or just black coffee—whatever you recommend.”
“Fifteen?”
Finally, he looked at me. “I’ll take it to the office.”
“Do you have a big meeting or something?”
“No.”
Just one word, that one word… He was putting in a coffee order that big because he wanted to help me—again.
“Oh, Jack, you don’t have to do that.” This time I could feel the tears blurring my eyesight. It was going to happen. The edges of my lips started to tilt down, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stop it. “I’m going to hug you,” I blurted out.
A line etched between his brows and his eyes finally came back to me. “What?”
Gently, I put the flowers down on the counter and walked toward the end so I could make it to the other side through the small opening. Before he could process it and quite possibly stop me, I closed my eyes and threw my arms around his neck, rising up on my tippy toes. To be fair, my movements had been slow. I’d given him time—enough time to stop me if he really wanted to.
But he didn’t.
After the initial second or two, his arms came around me and he returned the embrace. I rested my temple on his shoulder, drew in his wonderful and dizzying smell and whispered, “Thank you, Jack, for everything. For the coffee shop, all the help, the flowers, the coffee order—everything. Thank you so much.” The tears made their way down my cheeks, and I slid my hands down from his neck and stopped when my palms met the lapels of his charcoal grey suit jacket. His arms dropped so he could push my hair away from my face and tuck it behind my ear. A shiver worked its way through my spine and I couldn’t move away from him.