Page 45 of Bossy Baby

Hayley turned and looked at him. “You said I could explore.”

“I did. I’m not only giving you the codes. I want you to be comfortable here. Even if I have to run to the store or take care of another errand.”

“You trust me.”

“Of course.”

Hayley grinned. “Most people don’t get alarm codes before their first date.”

“We’ve had our first date,” Mac said.

“It got interrupted,” Hayley argued.

“No, it just changed. Instead of a beautiful picnic in the park, we went on a walk, picked up a lunch we never ate, then took a detour to the hospital. After that we had movie night, and finally ate dinner together. That sounds like a pretty good date to me.”

“When you put it that way, it does sound pretty good.”

“Our second date was breakfast. Our third, lunch from the deli at your shop today. That’s at least three dates. I think it’s the perfect time to give you the codes.” It made sense to Mac.

“I love the way you think.” Hayley released his seatbelt.

“Dinner tonight is our fourth date.”

Hayley laughed. “Okay.”

Mac opened the door and walked around to the passenger side. He opened Hayley’s door and helped him out.

“You need to plant some flowers up this walk,” Hayley pointed.

Mac glanced over. The decorators had said the same thing. Mac didn’t know how he felt about flowers, though. “I didn’t know what would look good. There are a lot of choices.”

“I love flowers. My mom used to let me plant with her every season. I could help.”

Mac turned to Hayley. “You would want to help?”

“Please!” Hayley rushed over to the side of the walk. “Rose bushes would look beautiful here. And over here. Do you have a favorite color of roses?”

“Could you do a mixture? It doesn’t seem right to only pick one color.” He knew that Hayley had trouble picking his favorite colors.

“Yes! That’s how I always did it. It would drive my mom crazy. She would want all the same colors grouped together.”

“We wouldn’t have to group all the colors together. Can you add other types of flowers with them?”

“You wouldn’t mind?”

Mac frowned.

Hayley shrugged. “The house is so nice. The yard was obviously designed and taken care of by a professional. I don’t want to take away from the property value by doing something wrong.”

“Fuck the property value,” Mac spat. “We can do whatever we want. Whatever makes us happy.”

“I’m so happy,” Hayley ran up and hugged him tightly. “I can’t wait to get started.” He suddenly lost his smile. “We can’t plant in winter, though.”

“There is a greenhouse out back. You probably haven’t seen it yet. It needs some work, but we could start in there and transfer the plants and flowers when they’re ready.”

“A greenhouse? Oh My God! This is the most perfect house ever.”

Mac was glad Hayley thought so. Easier to keep him. “It’s getting late though,” Mac said. “We can go to the nursery this weekend if you want. Order an entire truck full of flowers.”

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