“Fuck.” I shake my head. “This is ridiculous. I spent one night with this woman.”
“You ever watch Fatal Attraction? The woman spent one night with him and then made his life hell.”
“This isn’t helping me right now.”
“Who said anything about helping you? I’m going to go fix the door at the office now. You take care of Collins.”
“Yeah. Talk to you later.” I get into the truck.
“Everything okay?” Collins asks. I shake my head.
“We need to have a little chat.” Her face goes white. “Why didn’t you call me?” Her eyebrows pinch together. “When you came out, and you found out your tires were slashed, why didn’t you call me?”
“I don’t know. There wasn’t anything for you to do, really.”
“Collins, do you get that what happens to you means a great deal to me? How would you feel if something happened to me and I didn’t tell you?”
“But—” she starts.
“But nothing. I know you’re independent and want to take care of yourself, but?—”
She puts her hand on my leg. “It’s not that, Theo. It’s just that I’ve never had anyone care before. I’ve never had someone who would worry if something happened to me. I’m sorry, I should have called you. I just . . .” She shrugs. “I guess I didn’t think.” I can see she’s exhausted.
“Why don’t we get you home, and you can take a shower while I make us some food. Later, after you’ve had a nap, we can discuss what steps we will both take going forward.”
She puts her head back on the headrest. “That sounds like heaven,” she admits. “I’m so tired.”
I pull out of the parking lot and head back to the flower shop. “Give me two seconds,” I tell her, “then I’ll take you home.” I get out of the shop at the same time my phone beeps with a text from Caleb.
Caleb:
Just got off the phone with Burke. He said to come see him tomorrow morning.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
COLLINS
I watch him walk away from the truck and into the flower shop, and the only thing I can do is let out a sigh. My eyes scan the street to see if my father is anywhere I can see him, but he’s like a chameleon.
When Brock told me how much it was going to be, I thought I would throw up on the desk. I was so embarrassed, I had no idea what to say. Standing there next to Theo, who has such a loving family, how could I tell him my own father sliced my tires because he was pissed I didn’t give him money? Even after stealing the money from my account. I know I’m going to have to eventually have a conversation with him, and it’s going to have to be sooner rather than later. Just the thought makes me feel sick.
My tired eyes are burning as Theo walks out of the shop, his arms wrapped around a bunch of flowers. He opens the back door. “Should I put these in the bed of the truck, or is the back seat fine?” I look over the seat at him. “In case you get sick from the smell?”
This fucking man cannot be real, is the only thing I think of as I close my eyes and then open them again, somehow not expecting the flowers to be there.
He closes the door and walks around the truck. “When we get home, I’m going to need you to go into the house and pretend you don’t know about them.” I reach across, putting my hand at the back of his neck. I can feel the smile that fills my face all the way to my ears. After such a shitty fucking day, he’s made it seem like it never even happened.
“Okay,” I agree. I’ll do whatever I need to do to make sure he knows how much everything he does means to me.
When we get home, I try not to cry as I let myself in with the key he gave me two days ago. I go directly to the kitchen. When the front door opens, I bite my lower lip and listen to his approaching footsteps.
“Hi.” His eyes meet mine. “I got you something.”
I can’t help but put my hands on my mouth and try to hide the smile. “Theo.” His arms are full of different bouquets of flowers. “What did you do?”
“Well, I didn’t know if there was a certain flower that was your favorite.” He grabs one of the bouquets wrapped in brown paper. “These ones are wildflowers.” They’re white and pink blooms with a couple of purple ones in between. I don’t think I’ve ever seen more beautiful flowers in my life. “This is the one she said smells the best.” He hands me a bouquet with light-pink and white roses, and little light-blue flowers peeking in between. I bring them to my nose and smell. I can’t help the tear that escapes me. “This one is called the Sunshine Delight.” It’s sunflowers with little white daisies and yellow roses. “It’s not my favorite,” he mumbles. “Then there are these. I think they’re my favorite.” He looks at my face as he hands me the last one, which is filled with pink lilies with soft pink flowers around them.
“I wish I could hug you right now.” I’m crying, and he cups my face in his big hand. “I really do, but I don’t want to ruin the flowers. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many flowers in my life and . . .” I try to calm myself down, but I can’t help the emotion coming off of me. “I had a pretty shitty day and, just like that, you’ve made it so much better. Sometimes I have to wonder if you are too good to be true.”