Moving On (Rolling Thunder #7) - P.J. Fiala Page 0,58
say. You know tensions being what they are..."
LuAnn held up her hand, her bottom lip quivered, and her voice shook.
"Please don't worry. I won't go there and make anyone nervous. This is my small way of trying to apologize for nearly getting Joci and the baby killed. It wasn’t my intention, but that doesn’t matter. I didn’t know Joci was pregnant, but that doesn’t matter, either. I did it. I'm sorry and ashamed for what I've done.”
Her eyes welled with tears. She cleared her throat and tried to smile but it was stiff and forced.
"We have a delivery driver that will drop them at the church for you. Or your home, wherever you want them delivered."
"Holy Family Church would be perfect," Molly said.
LuAnn shakily wrote Holy Family on the order form and swallowed.
"Okay. Anything else?"
Molly pulled her purse up on the table. "We just need to pay."
"Jan, our owner, said the flowers are on her. She's helping out everyone. The design work of putting the bouquets and boutonnières together is on me as a way of saying I'm sorry."
"Oh, no you don't have..." Emma started but LuAnn stood.
"Honestly. It's the least we can do."
Emma and Molly stood, and LuAnn stepped from the office and waited for them to exit the door. To her surprise, Emma pulled her in for a hug and whispered, "Thank you."
Molly did the same and she stood silent and stunned as she watched the two beautiful women walk out the door.
38
Chase's pride for LuAnn grew as he watched her set each arrangement neatly into a box on Saturday morning. He'd come to the shop to help her gather everything together and he'd agreed to deliver the flowers himself. He was amazed by the care with which she placed each bouquet, corsage and boutonniere into the box, surrounded by tissue paper so they didn't get smashed.
"Okay. I think I've got everything in these four boxes." She stood and rubbed her hands together. "I'm nervous."
He walked to her and pulled her close. "Lu, they look fantastic. They will be a hit for sure."
He kissed her lips, hugged her tight and waited until she pulled away first.
"Okay, let's get them loaded into the truck."
He took one box, and she took another as they walked to his truck. Actually, his loaner while his case was being settled; there was no question of liability so he should receive a nice recovery for his truck and his damages. His insurance company might be paying for the loaner, but it would be reimbursed by the drunk driver’s company shortly. It was a spectacular truck. Likely the reason the dealerships offered beautiful new loaners. It was hard to buy lesser of a vehicle once you drove something like this.
Setting the boxes side by side in the backseat, they turned to grab the last two boxes. Laying them carefully on the floor of the backseat, LuAnn turned to him.
"Thank you for delivering these. We appreciate it."
"It's selfish on my part. I want to be there when they see them and show them what you can do."
She giggled. "Thank you." Her cheeks turned pink and he loved the light that brought to her face.
"Okay, I'm off. I'll see you at home in about an hour. Then, how about we dress up, we'll drop a gift off at the wedding, then we'll go out to a nice dinner."
"As long as you mean that you'll run the gift in and I'll stay in the car, that's a solid yes."
"That's exactly what I meant. I'm not interested in the drama, either."
He kissed her lips, then her nose, then climbed into his truck.
The drive to the Church was filled with thoughts of what was, what could be and what he wanted out of life. Greg had told him to have some quiet moments for reflection. Normally, those came on the back of his bike, but he wasn't cleared by the doctors for riding yet. Though, he hoped it would be pretty damned soon. He missed it.
So, what was? They all knew of LuAnn's past obsession with Dog and how she had misconstrued his care of her to be more than friendship. She'd admitted feeling stupid about that now. She'd not allowed for anything else in her mind. Even though he'd been right there the whole time. It was maddening. But, you can't control your heart. He tried. He tried dating others while she was in prison. His heart just wouldn't let go. That brought him to what could be.