The Remake (Second Chance Flower Shop #4) - Noelle Adams Page 0,30

January blahs.”

“Yeah. I guess it’s that time of year.” He looked over at Belinda, who gave him a polite smile. “How’s it going?” he greeted her casually.

“Good,” she said, holding on to her smile. “How about you?”

“Can’t complain.” He turned to Ria. “You’ve got something for me?”

“Yeah. A couple of local orders came in. Can you deliver them for me?”

“Sure.”

It took only a minute for him to take the arrangements Ria had in the cooler, review the addresses, and then leave.

Belinda slumped back in the chair as soon as he’d disappeared out the door.

She still saw Fitz regularly, and every interaction was almost exactly like this. Polite. Friendly. Brief.

Empty.

She hated it.

She was working on pushing the thoughts from her mind when she noticed Ria and Skye exchanging glances. She knew enough to recognize the expressions. “What?” she demanded.

Ria cleared her throat and put down the orchid she was holding. “Are you never going to tell us what happened?”

“What do you mean?” Belinda kept her eyes wide and guileless, but she knew exactly what Ria was talking about.

“I mean something happened. With you and Fitz. It had to. Ever since Christmas, he’s not been himself. Not at all. You’ll never convince us something isn’t seriously wrong with him. And you... Well, you’ve seemed better than him, but you still seem...” Ria shrugged helplessly. “I mean, what was it that just happened here? You said a few civil words to each other. You didn’t argue. Didn’t tease each other. Didn’t really smile. Neither one of you did. What happened?”

Belinda gulped, trapped and uncertain. She and Fitz had agreed not to tell anyone about their having sex, so what was she supposed to tell her sister?

“Did he say something?” Skye asked, gentler than her normal exuberance. “Did he... tell you how he felt or something? Did you have to turn him down?”

Belinda’s mouth fell open for a few seconds. “What? No. Of course not. Why would you ask that?”

“I was just guessing,” Skye explained, her blue eyes wide and worried. “It seems pretty clear he’s into you, so when y’all got kind of awkward around each other, I just thought maybe he said something.”

“He’s not into me.” Belinda wished she wasn’t speaking the truth, but she was. “He’s really not. We had a little... weirdness, I guess. But it’s not because he’s into me. Because he’s... he’s really not.” Her voice cracked. In a really obvious way.

“Belinda?” Ria came out from around the table and perched on the edge of the chair next to her. “What’s the matter? Why can’t you tell us?”

Belinda shook her head, staring at the floor.

Ria reached over to give her a sister a hug, which Belinda gratefully returned. She was shaky for a minute, but she got herself together quickly and finally pulled away.

“I don’t know what happened,” Skye began from the other side of the room. “And I can totally understand some sort of weirdness happening with Fitz. He’s kind of a mess. But you’ll never convince me that he’s not into you. It’s obvious that he’s been crazy about you for ages now, and I could see just now that he still is.”

“Skye,” Ria said in a soft, warning tone.

“What? Why does everyone always have to keep it a secret? Everyone in town has known it forever. Everyone except Belinda. He’s into her. I mean, he just is.”

“It’s not ours to share.” Ria turned from Skye to Belinda. “But I’ve got to agree with Skye on this. Whatever happened, it’s not because he’s not into you. So if that’s what you’re upset about, then I think you better go talk to him again.”

Belinda frowned. “Right. I should go talk to him and announce that everyone else thinks he’s into me. That’s going to turn out well.”

“How do you want it to turn out?” Ria asked.

“I really don’t know. I don’t know anything. I just want to go back to early December when I was kind of into Charles and everything was easy.”

“It would sure be nice if we could turn back time. Think of all the mistakes we could take back.” Ria smiled and squeezed Belinda’s arm. “But seriously, think about it. I don’t know what happened, and obviously you’re not going to tell me. But maybe it would help to talk to him about it. If only so you could clear the air and not keep brooding about things.

“I’ll think about it, but we already talked. I don’t think there’s any more air to clear.”