Page 26 of After Tonight

She was clearly fighting a smile when he turned to face her.

“I don’t have flowers. That and green beans and tomatoes are what grow in my backyard, and I know how you feel about green beans.”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“You don’t like green beans straight from the garden. But you do like rhubarb. I mean, maybe not raw, but…” He shrugged. “You’re not really a flower kind of girl.”

Her eyes got even rounder. “I’m not?”

She wasn’t. He wasn’t going to be able to give her a rundown of all the reasons he thought that—for instance, she never wore flowered patterns on her clothes—but honestly, even if he’d been driving her crazy for twenty-six years, he knew her. Period. He wasn’t going to fight with her about it. “You’re not,” he said simply.

“But this is about Lucy.”

“Yeah, well, Lucy isn’t here right now.”

They just stood looking at each other for several long seconds.

Then Riley nodded. “Well, I didn’t do any bendy yoga, so I guess all of this is just as close as we can get today. But that’s why you’re practicing.”

“So I need to plant flowers?”

“I don’t…that seems…a little more involved than it needs to be,” she said after tripping over the first few words.

Yeah, maybe. Which also maybe meant that he should do it. This was about doing things differently. But that seemed kind of—well, not permanent, because flowers weren’t, of course, but they lasted longer than his relationships typically did. Yeah, maybe he should plant some flowers.

“What kind?”

“Of flowers to plant?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll, um, ask Lucy what she likes,” Riley said.

“What kind of flowers does your grandma like?” he asked.

Riley looked surprised. “My grandma?”

Riley’s grandmother and Derek’s were best friends. He knew Ruby as well as he did his own. And loved her just as much. “Yeah. My grandma loves lilacs.”

“Mine does too. And roses, of course.”

“I could plant roses.”

“Roses are kind of hard to grow.”

He shrugged. “I’m pretty good with plants.”

“Why are you planting flowers our grandmothers like?” Riley crossed her arms.

“Because if the relationship thing doesn’t work out, then I’ve still got someone to give the flowers to.”

Riley didn’t say anything to that at first. She studied him for a moment. He lifted a brow. Finally, she said, “Grandma loves Butterfly Weed. And the butterflies and hummingbirds it attracts. And it’s easy to grow.”

“Great. Perfect.”

Riley shook her head.

“What?” he asked.

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