Page 93 of Coming Up Roses

“Chances of getting them back anytime soon are slim to none,” Quinn laughs. “Let me give you my number and maybe we can set up a playdate for the girls sometime, and while they’re playing we can have coffee, if you want.”

My heart swells. “That would be amazing.” I pull out my phone and tap the digits in as Quinn recites them to me, then I send her a text so she has my number too.

“This might be too forward, and sorry if it is. I’m just exceptionally nosy, but I don’t always see you here picking her up? And not until recently?”

My cheeks heat. But it’s reality and I shouldn’t be ashamed of it. I was strong enough to come back, and that’s what matters.

“Yeah. She’s usually with her dad and if he’s not picking her up it could be his girlfriend, or one of the people we work with.”

“We? You work with your ex?” The look on her face is pure horror.

I laugh. “Sort of. We don’t really have much to do with each other at work. The whole thing sounds more complicated than itis, but everything between us is extremely amicable. Dallas is a great dad, Katie is fantastic with Sadie and the people we both happen to work for are incredible. We’re all like this big, weird family. I kind of love it.”

“That sounds amazing. I’m going to need the full breakdown and probably a diagram or two when we catch up.” She grins and I send one right back to her.

“I’m sure that can be arranged.”

Quinn glances at her phone and sighs. “I need to get going.” She pulls a face, then calls out to Ruby who comes trudging back, Sadie at her side. “Lovely to meet you,” she says, giving me a warm smile before turning to the girls and farewelling Sadie, before leading Ruby away.

“Ready to go, Sadie?” I ask and she nods.

“Do I get to have a play with Ruby?” she asks, eyes bright with excitement.

“If you’d like to. I’m sure we can arrange something.”

She squeals and bounces up and down. “Yes, yes, yes, yes,” she chants.

“I can see you’re thinking about it.”

Sadie giggles and climbs into her car seat without argument.

The whole drive back to Wildflower Ridge she’s chatting about Ruby and her other friends and all the fun things they could do together.

I pull in the driveway, heading straight to the main house. I’ve got a venue viewing this evening, so I need to drop Sadie off with Violet before heading back down to the function centre to show a potential couple around.

I park beside Violet’s car and help Sadie out of her seat. Shegrabs her bag and races up the porch steps, calling out a goodbye as she goes.

I watch her go, leaning against the bonnet of my car. As she reaches the door she lets out a yelp and I immediately go on alert, then relax as Flynn steps through.

“Where’s the fire, sprout?” he asks her.

She folds her arms across her chest and stares up at him, eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Did you eat all the cookies?”

Flynn glances at the fistful of cookies he’s holding before sliding the hand behind his back. “Absolutely not,” he says, mock offended. “I would never.”

“Yes, you would.” She spins away and heads into the house. “You better have left me some,” she calls back, the words echoing down the hallway.

I let out a laugh and Flynn glances up at the sound, registering me for the first time.

“Oh, hey,” he says, strolling down the steps and coming to a stop just a little bit too far away from me for my liking. “Cookie?” He holds one out to me, but I shake my head.

“No, thanks. I’ve got to get down to the venue, but I’m having Sadie this weekend. My first time overnight.” I grin and Flynn sends one back to me. I try to convince myself it’s my imagination that makes it feel half-hearted.

“That’s great,” he says, taking a huge bite of cookie.

“Do you want to come and hang out with us for a bit? Maybe watch a movie or something?”

I’ve missed him something terrible this week, even though I’ve been trying to lose myself in work and Sadie. It hasn’t worked and at the back of my mind there’s been this longingache that I know can only be filled by one thing: more time with Flynn.

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