Page 107 of An Adventure For Aster

“You can’t force someone to be who they aren’t. I’m glad you called them out about supporting us. Give me a break. They gave us the basics of what we needed and I know it’s more than some other people get. Don’t get me wrong. But I wish I’d known that you started to pay rent when you graduated. Why didn’t you say anything? Did you want to go to college?”

He wondered now if that was why she didn’t go. That she couldn’t afford to not only pay for college but then somehow she’d have to pay for a room in their house. Not that his parents made him pay for his one room, but he’d left for the Army and they all but stuffed it full of shit.

He’d offered to stay in a hotel when he was on leave, but he knew that would have looked bad. And his parents wouldn’t have gotten him to clean and do stuff in the house either. He supposed, in their minds, that was their way of him paying.

“I don’t know,” Daphne said. “I never thought much of it. I could have only gone to community college, but I’m not even positive for what. I don’t see myself being the type to work in an office. And I never cared for school much either.”

“I understand,” he said. “But do you think you want to go now?”

“I can’t,” Daphne said. “I’ve got a job.”

“First off, no one says you have to stay at this job. If it doesn’t work out, then it doesn’t. Just like we said Mom and Dad could figure it out, you still can.”

“I don’t think I want to,” Daphne said. “I like being with kids. A job based on a two-year degree in early childhood is going to pay less than I’ll make as a nanny. I know that. That piece of paper means nothing.”

“That’s right,” he said. “Remember that.”

She pulled her phone out. “Can we just listen to some music?”

“Sure,” he said. He wasn’t one to talk anyway and it’d be good to focus on the road. They had a long drive and he couldn’t wait to get home.

To Raine.

36

LIFE IS MESSY

“Don’t you look sexy,” Raine said to him on the last Saturday of May. Memorial Day weekend. Ivy and Brooks’s wedding.

“Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere?” he asked. “Like with the rest of the wedding party?”

“Ivy is talking with her father. It’s really sweet, but she wanted some time with her parents and siblings. I just figured I’d come out and see what was going on. It’s not like I’m going to go check in on the guys and I knew you were here.”

He came early because Raine had texted him that she wanted to see him before everyone came. He thought it was odd, but he found he was doing more because he just wanted to be with her.

In the past few weeks, his sister was settled and would be moving into the cabin on Poppy’s property on Monday. He’d help her get it all there. He could bring most of it in his truck and Daphne’s SUV.

She’d sold the old car she’d been driving for years and bought a used SUV here. He figured she’d need it in the winter, but Poppy had already said that Reese was leasing a third vehicle to have for Daphne to use for the kids.

They’d even offered it to her to drive when she wanted, but she refused and said no way she was driving it when she wasn’t working.

He understood her reluctance in this, but his sister was starting to understand more how the Bloom sisters just took people in like strays and treated them like family.

“You look stunning,” he said. His hand went to her brown hair that was pulled back away from her face in some braid with flowers weaved in.

“Thank you,” she said. “I loved Ivy let us pick our own dresses. The same colors, but we got to pick the fit. As Jasmine and Dahlia said, I didn’t just have a baby. Not that you can tell looking at them.”

“I haven’t seen either of them since they had their babies,” he said. He knew Jasmine was back to work a few weeks ago, but it’s not like he was at the greenhouses much in that time.

Violet had her daughter, Norah, the same week Jasmine returned.

“They both look lovely. The whole wedding party does. But right now I can’t wait for this wedding to end and it hasn’t even started.”

“Why?” he asked, his hand reaching for hers. He wasn’t one to hold hands or show affection out in public, but he had the urge to just touch her now.

She didn’t look anything at all like that schoolteacher he met eight months ago.

It was hard for him to believe they’d been together for almost seven months now. He’d never been close to anyone this long. It was scary as fuck and rewarding at the same time.

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