The Story Of Us - Teri Wilson Page 0,25
date less than an hour ago. “To February fourteenth.”
“Valentine’s Day?” Anita plucked a few white roses from a vase and frowned. “So soon?”
“I guess Ridley is putting pressure on them to make a decision.” Jamie was convinced the sudden interest in True Love was behind the abrupt schedule change. “But honestly, this article has generated so much interest in the store. We have people coming in from Portland. And Eugene! Lucy called this morning and said there was a line already outside the door.”
Jamie couldn’t believe it. The last time she’d seen anyone form a line outside a store anyplace in Oregon was at the popular donut shop in Portland—the one with the pink boxes and all those crazy donut flavors. This kind of excitement and enthusiasm for her shop felt like a miracle.
“Will it be enough, though?” Anita chose two more white roses and closed the cooler door.
Jamie followed her to the counter where a floral arrangement sat waiting, half-assembled. “What do you mean?”
“If you stop Ridley Properties this time, won’t a development team just come right in behind them?” Anita placed the flowers on the counter and peered at Jamie over the top of her glasses. Something about the look in her eyes dampened Jamie’s glee over True Love’s sudden popularity. “I mean, it sure seems like the council has their sights set on wiping this whole area clean and starting over.”
No, that couldn’t be true. Jamie refused to believe it. “Actually, it’s pretty evenly split. Which means that Eric will have the final say, and he’s very open to listening.”
He’d been so attentive at the cooking class. Granted, she hadn’t had much of a chance to talk to him about the Ridley situation since Sawyer had been within earshot for practically the entire night.
Anita smirked. “Or he notices a pretty woman is the face of the opposition.”
“It’s not like that,” Jamie corrected. There was no room for anyone named Eric in a romantic hiatus. Zero.
Anita shook her head and laughed. “Oh, honey. I saw how he looked at you at the cooking class. Sawyer saw it, too.”
She shot an amused glance at Jamie and then strolled toward the other side of the flower shop, forcing Jamie to scurry after her.
“Sawyer?” Jamie cleared her throat, lest she sound overly interested in anything he might think. “What did Sawyer say?”
“He didn’t say anything.” Anita paused at a shelf full of colorful glass vases and chose a frosted green one for her arrangement. “I mean, after your little spat…”
“It was not a spat.” Jamie rolled her eyes so hard it was almost painful. “Couples have spats. We had a…vigorous disagreement.”
“However you want to put it.” Anita waved a dismissive hand. “The point is, Sawyer kept watching both of you through the whole class.”
Why did this inconvenient nugget of information send a little thrill skittering through Jamie’s veins? And why did she suddenly have to bite down hard on her bottom lip to stop herself from smiling?
She squared her shoulders and reminded herself how much she was starting to loathe Sawyer O’Dell and his hideously modern architectural aesthetic. “Well, there’s nothing going on between me and Eric. Especially after…”
Anita arched a single, accusatory eyebrow. “Sawyer?”
Seriously? She hadn’t dated the man in over a decade. She’d moved on…mostly. “Matt! The guy I was just dating who moved away?”
“But to be fair to Matt, he wanted you to go with him,” Anita said.
“Unlike Sawyer, who just left.”
Anita tilted her head. “To go to college.”
“Whose side are you on?” Jamie said, only half-seriously. She knew good and well that Anita had always been her biggest supporter.
“Always yours.” Anita laughed, then pointed to Jamie’s tablet. “Which is why I’m so proud of you for that.”
“Thank you.” A fresh wave of happiness coursed through her—as it should. There was absolutely no reason why Jamie should spoil her triumphant day by thinking about Sawyer. Or their long-ago breakup. Or her heart’s annoying habit of skipping a beat every time she ran into him.
Jamie’s gaze flitted over her aunt’s shoulder toward a cluster of bobbing red balloons with the word Love printed on them in shiny silver letters. She wondered briefly if anyone made balloons that said Romantic Hiatus.
Probably not.
“I wonder what the feedback will be like from the Ridley side?” Anita began tucking her new arrangement into the vase. White roses and baby’s breath spilled over the edge, perfectly offset by deep emerald leaves.
She’s so good at this, Jamie thought. The flower shop was just as important