A Hero For Heather (Blossoms Book 7), page 17
“I know,” she said. “But it’s hard when it’s what you’ve always seen happen.”
“You need to stop thinking that,” Daisy said. “Just live your life. You’re happy. We are all happy for you and that is what you need to focus on.”
“You’re right,” she said.
“So when your parents want to come and visit you again soon, are you going to introduce them to Luke?”
“I’m hoping they don’t visit soon, but I will tell them about Luke before they get here.”
“Just not before they say they are coming?”
“Probably not,” she said. “I know that is wrong of me. I just want to enjoy what the two of us have.”
“There is nothing wrong with that,” Daisy said. “Speaking of enjoying, if I’m not working for your next doctor’s appointment, can I go with you? Your doctor is a nice sight I enjoy seeing.”
“Sure,” she said. “He is that if you like that type.”
“What type is that?” Daisy asked. “Young. Handsome. Stable. Yeah, what a horrible type to have. Oh yeah, saving women from the side of the road after a car accident.”
“You know he’s young for a doctor. And he’s good looking. You have no idea if he’s stable or not.”
“He’s got a great job,” Daisy argued. “He has to be.”
“No, he doesn’t,” she said. “He could have crazy student loans. Maybe he’s a gambler. He could be a cheater. You don’t know those things.”
“I know,” Daisy said. “He doesn’t come off as any of those things.”
“If you say so,” she said. “You’ve seen him what, two to three times? What’s going on?”
Daisy laughed. “Nothing. All I want to do is look at him again. A girl can weave up fantasies in her head, right? Nothing wrong with that, is there?”
“Nope,” she said. “There isn’t.”
Later that night Heather was in her room watching TV when her phone rang. She saw it was her mother and was shocked her mother would call this late.
“Hi, Mom. Everything okay?”
“Yes,” her mother said. “I just figured you might have been busy today and didn’t want to bother you. I sent you a text earlier and you didn’t respond.”
“You did?” she asked, pulling her phone back. There wasn’t any text there that she could see. “I didn’t get anything. I just checked.”
There was a pause and her mother started to laugh. “Silly me. I forgot to hit send.”
She frowned. “Oh,” she said.
“How are you feeling?”
She was sure that was what the text said, as it said it daily for the most part. “I’m doing well. I went to a party at Lily’s yesterday. It was an engagement party for Violet and Trace.”
“The writer that used to be in the military?” her mother asked. She did tell her mother about the people she worked with.
“That’s them,” she said. “It was a lot of fun.”
“I hope you didn’t overdo it.”
“Not much I could have done. I sat around and talked and ate. I left around seven.”
“Sounds like an early night then,” her mother said. “What did you do today?”
“I went to lunch and then the movies and Daisy and I relaxed at home after.”
None of that was a lie. She was just omitting the fact that there was a man with them.
Her boyfriend.
If her mother asked her if she was seeing anyone, she’d be honest and say yes, but her mother never asked her.
It was almost as if her mother didn’t want to know because then she might admit her daughter would never return to New Hampshire.
There was no way Heather was going back, but her mother couldn’t seem to get that out of her head.
“That’s nice,” her mother said. “You aren’t overdoing it, right?”
“I’ve told you no a few times,” she said.
“That’s right. I forget.”
“What’s going on, Mom?”
There was silence on the other end. “I’d like to come see you. I know you’ve got a doctor’s appointment in a few weeks. But I just miss you.”
“I miss you too, Mom. But we are talking more now than ever.”
“Because I almost lost you and I guess that is part of my problem.”
Crap. She hadn’t thought of that. “You didn’t lose me,” she said.
“Because of that nice police officer and doctor that were on the scene right away.”
“State trooper,” she said.
“You know what I mean,” her mother said.
It was the perfect time to say she was dating Luke, but it didn’t seem right with her mother being all emotional.
“I suppose,” she said. “But are we going to have these nightly calls forever?”
Her mother laughed. It was probably forced. “It’s not nightly. I didn’t talk to you last night.”
Which was a good thing since she wasn’t alone and wouldn’t have stopped what she was doing to answer the phone anyway.
“But you called me in the morning.”
“That’s right. It’d been over twenty-four hours since we talked.”
“Good point,” she said. “If that is all, I’m really tired and have to get up for work tomorrow. Just like you.”
“Nothing more to say,” her mother said, “other than I love you.”
“Love you, too, Mom,” she said and hung up.
When she was ready to drift off, she picked her phone up and was going to send a text to Luke to tell him again how much fun she had and thank him for including Daisy, but she figured he was probably in bed too and there was no reason to bug him. She didn’t want to be a clingy girlfriend.
28
Feel Safer
Four days later, Heather was getting ready to leave the greenhouses for the day and call it a night.
Luke was on his last day of his shift too and then he’d be off until Tuesday. That meant they had the weekend together again before he went back on nights.
She was gathering her stuff when Lily walked in. “Hi,” she said. “You’re not normally here this early. Or I should say done working this early.”
“Ryder was fussy at Zara’s and she called. I think he has a bellyache.”
“He looks pretty happy to me,” she said, looking at Ryder in Lily’s arms.
“He’s happy, but his poor bum is sore. Lots of loaded diapers today.”
“Ahhh,” she said, reaching her hand for Ryder’s chubby fingers. “Did you get into something you shouldn’t have? Go on a milk bender and the hangover is catching up with you?”
Lily laughed. “I was wondering if you had any aloe here I could grab.”
“Of course,” she said. She put aloe in a lot of her lotions and always had it straight from a plant into a jar, ready to use.
“Thanks,” Lily said. “It’s just been one of those days that I’m kind of glad that Ryder had me leaving early. I’m going to have a glass of wine the minute this one is settled. Thankfully Willow is with Zane’s parents for the night so one less kid to worry about.”
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Sidney is leaving. She put her notice in today. She gave me four weeks, but it’s going to kill me and then to find someone to replace her. She’s been with me since the minute I needed to hire an accountant.”
“Oh wow,” she said. “I know how hard it was for you to hand that over to someone. Or I heard how hard it was.”
Rose was always picking on Lily about having to do it all.
“It was. And I love Sidney. But her husband is being transferred out of state with his job. They said it was too good of an opportunity to not take it. Not with the kids being older and it would be closer to their youngest who is in college.”
“That’s sad,” she said. “But I’m sure you’ll find someone else.”
“I know it’s the time to expand the position I’ve got. Sidney did the day-to-day stuff and she was overwhelmed. I’m paying a firm to do a lot of my taxes and financial statements too.” Lily waved her hand. “Sorry to burden you with this. You were getting ready to leave. Rose and Poppy and I will figure it out.”
“You know,” she said, “I’m surprised Ivy wasn’t all over you saying how Dahlia is a CPA.”
“She is,” Lily said, grinning. “I hadn’t known she wanted to move.”
“That’s shocking,” she said. “Ivy is always saying she wants Dahlia here. But maybe that is Ivy talking. Jasmine could know more.”
“She would,” Lily said. “I might go make a call with my glass of wine and find out. And Ivy didn’t say anything because you’re actually the only person that knows other than Rose and Poppy. So if you could keep it quiet for a few days, I’ll let Sidney tell everyone.”
“I won’t say a word,” she said.
“You can tell Daisy. I know she’s like a sister to you and she will keep it quiet. Thanks for the aloe.”
“No worries,” she said. “You know where I keep everything. I’m not as possessive as Jasmine is with her flowers. Take what you need.”
“This should last a while,” Lily said.
“Enjoy your wine. That sounds good.”
Heather packed up her stuff and went to her SUV. She was getting used to driving the much bigger vehicle now. She did feel safer in it for sure.
By four she was home. She’d started her day much earlier than normal. Since it wasn’t a set nine-to-five job, she went in around seven most days and out by four which was more than she needed to work. She’d cut back once she got hurt but now felt like she had so much to make up for.
By five thirty, Daisy was opening the door. “It smells good in here. What are you cooking and why are you doing it?”
“I got out a little early today. I finished what I had planned and didn’t have enough time to start something else. I was in the mood for burgers and they are easy enough to make.”
She was standing on one leg, her crutches under her armpits while she flipped the burgers.
“They are,” Daisy said. “And I can finish them up.”
“I don’t need everyone to keep babying me,” she said. “Next week I think I can ditch at least one crutch because I’ll be able to start to put weight on my foot.”
“Are you nervous about that?”
“A little. But once I see the x-ray I’ll know if the bones are healed. Nothing can happen where the plate is, but there was more than one bone broken.”
“Don’t remind me,” Daisy said. “I wish you never showed me those x-rays. So yeah, just sit and let me finish up.”
“Don’t you want to go change? You might get grease on your clothes.”
“Fine,” Daisy said. “But don’t do any more than stand there and flip the burgers.”
“I don’t remember you being this bossy before. But that is all I planned on doing anyway.”
Daisy came out a minute later in shorts and had their burgers on a plate. Heather set the rolls on the island while Daisy got the rest of everything out.
There was macaroni salad left over from the day before and that would go well.
“How was your day?” she asked.
“It was good. Busy. I love it in the summertime. It makes the days go by so fast. How was your day?”
“Fine,” she said. “I shouldn’t tell you this, but Lily said I could and you won’t say anything and I wanted to give you a heads up, as Ivy might be running around excited tomorrow.”
“What’s going on?” Daisy asked.
“Lily stopped to see me to get aloe for Ryder. She’d said it was a long day and started to talk. She said Sidney’s husband is being transferred with his job. She’ll be gone in four weeks.”
“Oh, that stinks. I like Sidney. Lily has to be heartbroken. She was one of the first employees hired.”
“I know. I think she’s sad.”
“You mentioned Ivy. Why? Oh. Do you think Ivy will want Dahlia to apply? I get the impression Dahlia might be way overqualified for what Sidney does.”
“I think so too.” She explained the rest of the conversation.
“How funny would that be if Dahlia moved here? Another flower name.”
Heather assembled her burger and scooped out some salad, then started to eat.
“I don’t know,” she said around a mouthful. “I want to say it almost seems like fate that things happen to those girls, but they had a hard life.”
“A lot of us did,” Daisy said. “Not like them, but you know what I mean. Look at Jasmine and Ivy. They’ve never had a home they could call their own. Violet came from money that no one knew about because she had to hide who she was for years. You might have the most normal upbringing of us all.”
She frowned. “That makes me sound boring, but I understand what you’re saying.”
It did make her think of Luke though. She didn’t know much about him other than he’d said he was from the wrong side of Baltimore. It’d never come up again, but she wanted to know more.
He didn’t ask too much about her family and she wondered if it was because he didn’t want her prying into his.
But now that they were dating, she did want to know more about him and had to figure out a way to bring it up.
It was obvious whatever family he had, he didn’t have any communication with them and didn’t seem to want it. He’d said before when she met him at Lily’s wedding that he spent his leave traveling. That there was no one to visit other than Zane.
So yeah, something about the Bloom sisters that just seemed to ground those around them.
“You don’t say much about Luke. Where is he from?”
“The Baltimore area,” she said. “I don’t know much more. He doesn’t talk about his past.”
“Really?” Daisy asked with her face scrunched up. “Everyone talks about something in their past.”
“Not everyone,” she said. Luke was a good example of it.
“Do you think he has something to hide?”
“We all have things we don’t want others to know,” she said. “But it can’t be horrible or he’d have never been hired for his job.”
“That’s true. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. You seem so happy with him and I’m glad it’s out in the open now.”
“Me too,” she said.
“Then how come you aren’t cooking dinner for him tonight and only doing it for me?” Daisy asked.
“He’s working until six. If he’s lucky.”
He’d been late every other day this week and that was fine. She’d talk to him later. She didn’t need to see him daily, she realized. Even if she wanted to.
“Do you wish you lived with him?” Daisy asked.
“Where is this all coming from? I’m not moving out, don’t worry. We’ve only been dating for over a month. Living together is nowhere near on the horizon.”
She knew Daisy would never be able to afford to live here alone and felt bad that maybe her best friend had that fear going through her brain but was afraid to say something.
“I just didn’t want you to think I’m worried. I mean, don’t make decisions based on me.”
“First off,” she said, reaching her hand over, “I wouldn’t do that. I really won’t even though I love you, but I’d talk to you about it. And second of all, I’m not someone to jump into anything fast. I don’t think Luke is either. Look at how long it’s taken for us to get to where we are. I didn’t even have sex with him again until this past weekend and after we’d had it three times and been dating for the past five weeks.”
Daisy laughed. “I guess you’re right.”
“I know I am. Put it from your head.”
“I will,” Daisy said. “I need chocolate. I’m hormonal. That is what my problem is. I know it.”
“I’ll share my private chocolate stash with you. It’s the least I can do.”
“You’ve got a private chocolate stash?” Daisy asked with her hands on her hips. “Not fair.”
“I needed it last week,” she said. “I didn’t go through it all. I’ll show you where I keep it. If it’s in plain sight I eat it all. This way I’m only tempted when I need it.”
“Now I feel honored you shared that with me,” Daisy said, wiping an imaginary tear from her cheek.
“You should,” she said.
The two of them laughed and finished their dinner, then had their chocolate and coffee.
Heather liked the routine she had with her best friend, but there was part of her that wanted something like that with Luke too.
29
Find The Courage
The last Sunday in July, Luke found himself sitting in a chair by the water at his house with Heather. It was after seven and she would normally be going home but decided to stay the night. He’d be going to work on Tuesday and it was the first time she’d have to get up and leave for work herself from his house.
He was surprised he’d talked her into it but was thrilled just the same.
It probably had more to do with the fact she was mobile more than before.
Her cast was off and she was just using crutches to take some of the weight off her leg. She’d healed well and her doctor was thrilled.
She opted for this over the walking cast. She’d told him more than once, she was ready to be done with the crutches but wanted to get back to wearing normal clothes and shoes on both her feet. He found it funny but guess he understood too.
By next week she was going to go down to one crutch for a bit to make sure she was steady enough in her head and then ditch them altogether. He just didn’t want her rushing it or pushing herself too much, as the vision of her unconscious as he ran from the car with her in his arms was still imprinted in his brain, not usual for a man that normally could walk away from anything in his past.
“It’s beautiful out here,” she said to Luke.
“It is,” he said. “It’s the first place I can say I’ve had alone. I’ve had apartments alone, but since you are sharing walls with people, I didn’t consider it such.”
