Page 22 of Be-Leaf in Love

I’m not exactly sure if this dark green dress with the row of tiny white daisies around the hem is corporate casual or whatever he said. All I know is, it looks nice with my new necklace.

Jack looks dazzled, as Mom and my sisters all beam. I can tell from the looks in their eyes that they all approve of him.

“Truly lovely to meet you, ladies, but I’m afraid Violet and I need to go judge some art now.”

I wave goodbye and allow him to escort me out of the shop and into his waiting Mercedes. It’s not until we pull up in front of the massive modern art gallery that I blink and ask, “I’m sorry… Did you say judge?”

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to speak to anyone,” he says, before running around to open my door. “All the sponsors are supposed to pick their three favorite pieces and then I guess they add up the votes. I don’t know anything about art. So I desperately need your help.”

The next half hour is a complete blur. I’m introduced to so many people that my head is spinning, and I know I’ll never be able to remember all the names. Jack doesn’t come out and say that I’m his girlfriend, but from the way he holds my hand or keeps his arm around my waist, it’s pretty clear that we’re together.

Thankfully, no one seems to care. A few of his colleagues seem slightly surprised, but that’s it.

I shock Jack by only choosing one botanical piece for our three top pics. There’s a glorious black and white ink sketch of Kingsville that should definitely do well. And a semi-Cubist impasto painting of fruit mixed with freeform spray-painted graffiti takes my breath away.

“You are amazing,” Jack says as we get back into the car. “See? Stick with me and I’ll be forced to drag you to a few corporate things now and then. But a lot of them aren’t so bad,especially if you just make a fast round and get out quickly. Like today.”

“I don’t mind going to different events.” My cheeks grow warm. “I liked the way it felt like you were kind of…showing me off.”

“Oh, I was. Make no mistake there.”

He grins, his inner boyish charm on full display. “Now, we have options. If you’re tired, I could take you home. Or we could grab dinner out somewhere. Or order pizza delivered to my place.”

“Pizza? In your fancy house? Is that quite appropriate?”

“We make our own rules, baby.”

He leans across the car to kiss me. There’s an excitement simmering just beneath the surface. I can feel how much he wants me. How much he needs me to believe that we’re going to be okay.

“I vote pizza at your place,” I murmur against his lips.

He straightens up and starts the car. “Excellent call.”

“Maybe we’ll save some for breakfast?”

His huge palm grips my knee. “My God, I love it when you’re saucy.”

16

JACK

Over pizza and a wonderful meandering conversation about our lives, Violet has determined thatIam in fact the saucy one. Tomato, specifically. Because I am, as she puts it, mildly addicted to Italian food. Maybe she’s right. Pizza, pasta, lasagna. I didn’t even realize that it’s my go-to.

She also points out that I don’t have a single plant in my house. I need some perky couch cushions to add some color, apparently. And my coffee cups are very small compared to the ones at the office.

If she’s casually improving my life this early on, I cannot wait to see where we are in a few months. Years. Forever. Even longer would be great with me.

We stretch out on the sofa, leaning against each other as we watch a nature show with two empty pizza boxes in front of us.

Violet is the one for me. My heart feels more alive than it ever has. Not to mention, I’m positive that our employee retention problem will be solved.

Jerry has already sent me an email saying he’s overheard several people mention being impressed that we’re so concernedabout air quality and the health of our employees. He’s convinced that we’ll have much lower employee turnover.

Violet, of course, doesn’t want to take any of the credit.

“You know, after you’ve finished greenifying my entire company, maybe we could have a talk about the back garden.”

Violet turns to me, her beautiful blue eyes cloudy. “Maybe.”

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