line that she was debuting at Skyler’s shop. The soft opening was being held in just over two weeks. That meant she was spending a lot of time with her herbs, producing enough inventory to stock the shelves. It was a lot of work, but she’d never been happier.
Sebastian had vetted the contract Skyler had given her and said it was more than fair, and in his opinion, overly generous for their type of arrangement. Gigi hadn’t hesitated to sign it, and that day Skyler had helped her design the labels to go on her products. They were gorgeous and branded with a small cluster of sunflowers. Gigi couldn’t have asked for anything more beautiful.
As soon as Gigi had signed the contract to work with Skyler, she’d turned one of her garage stalls into a studio and had gotten to work. It was a sort of haven for her, where she lost herself in the work and felt really good after a day of being productive. It was the first time in her life that she had something meaningful to do with her days, and it turned out that she adored her new reality.
About a week after she’d gotten back from Bellside with Sebastian, she was in her studio working on a sunscreen when she realized she was going to run out of packaging if she didn’t order more as soon as possible. After washing her hands, she went inside and sat at her kitchen bar drinking a cup of tea as she stocked up on supplies.
Gigi was just about to close her laptop when a new email came in from Exclusive, the dating app she’d deleted off her phone. The message headline read: You have a new message from Lawman0208.
Her immediate instinct was the delete the message. But then she looked closer at the username. Lawman0208. Sebastian’s birthday was the eighth of February, and he was an attorney. Was he messaging her through the dating app?
She frowned. Why would he do that? There was no way she could ignore the message. She had to know if it was him, and if it was, why he was messaging her. After grabbing her phone and reinstalling the app, she clicked on the message and grinned. The profile picture and message confirmed it was indeed her boyfriend.
Lawman0208: Hey gorgeous. I know you deleted the app, but it looks like you need help disabling your profile. If you get this message, hit me up and I’ll trade you a midnight stroll on the beach for help figuring out how to dump this hellscape dating service.
Herblover: You’ve caught me. Technology isn’t my strong suit. I think I was born a decade too early. You know I love midnight strolls on the beach. Where and when?
Gigi started to put her phone down, but Sebastian messaged back instantly, making her heart flutter with anticipation.
Lawman0208: Is tonight too soon?
Herblover: Tonight? Aren’t you out of town? I thought you weren’t going to be back until tomorrow.
Lawman0208: Right. Just wishful thinking, I guess. Tomorrow then?
Lawman0208: I’ll be the one with the hard cider and apple turnovers.
The green light that had been next to his name disappeared, making Gigi assume he’d logged out. She kept staring at that last line. Hard cider and apple turnovers. At one time in her life, she’d been obsessed with both. But she was pretty sure that had been after he’d left Bellside. Or was it? Her memory of that time was pretty spotty.
Chuckling at herself, she got off the chair and practically skipped back to her studio. Sebastian had just scored major points. He’d remembered two things: That she loved walks on the beach at midnight. She’d always thought that time of night was magical. That had been enough to impress her on its own, but then he’d gone and remembered that she used to love cider and apple turnovers. Had James ever paid any attention to what she wanted? She scoffed. No. He hadn’t. Not really. And definitely not when it counted.
The memory of James instantly put her in a foul mood, and she mentally berated herself for comparing the two men. She had to stop thinking about her ex every time Sebastian did something to please her. She should be thinking about Sebastian and just how incredible he was.
“Get it together, Gigi,” she told herself. “James is long gone. There’s no reason to even be thinking about him anymore.” The words came easily. It was just a