Page 45 of April Flowers

“It’s not that I’ve been averse to dating,” Margot said. “But I never fell for anyone.”

“Never?” Noah asked.

Margot shook her head and looked down at her hands, spread out on the bar top. The speakers were playing The Police, and she felt as though she couldn’t breathe.

“That sounds pathetic,” Margot hurried to add, filling the silence between them. “I mean, I should have tried harder. But I was so immersed in my business.”

“It sounds like it’s really special,” Noah said.

Margot softened and raised her eyes again. “It’s my favorite place in the world.”

“You were always brilliant with flowers,” Noah said. “I remember the garden at your parents’ place. It was hard to drag you away from there.”

“It’s all gone now,” Margot said, her shoulders sagging. “Not that I blame my mother for not keeping it up. She was never fond of working outside. And she’s had a lot on her plate over the years.”

Noah sniffed but didn’t say anything.

“What?” Margot pressed him.

“It’s just that you always give her so much credit,” Noah said.

Margot furrowed her brow. “I mean, she’s my mother.”

MeaningI have to love her. I have to give her credit.

A darkness edged between them. Margot suddenly felt as though Noah thought she was stupid or something—stupid for letting Lillian back into her life.

“I know,” Noah said. “But it’s just that…”

Suddenly, Margot’s phone buzzed in her purse. As Noah searched for the right words, Margot got out her phone to find MOM on the screen. Lillian was calling. Speak of the devil.

Margot raised a finger and answered it, getting off the stool so that she didn’t feel the intensity of Noah’s gaze as she spoke. “Mom? Are you all right?”

But someone else had used Lillian’s phone to call her. “Margot? It’s Esme Sutton. I’m down here at the Sutton Book Club, and your mother, well. She’s not doing well.”

Margot’s anxiety spiked. “I’m on my way.”

Chapter Seventeen

Perhaps it shouldn’t have surprised Noah that Lillian Earnheart had found yet another way to ruin his date with Margot. But as Margot scrambled to pay Ralph, abandoning her white wine and pulling on her coat, Noah’s heart thudded with disbelief. More than that, he was ashamed of himself for pointing out that Margot gave Lillian too much credit. It wasn’t his place to have opinions on Margot’s life—not anymore, and maybe not ever.

“Let me come with you,” Noah said, throwing cash on the counter and pressing Lillian’s bills back into her hand.

Margot’s cheeks were slack. Clearly, she wasn’t accustomed to having people rely on her like this. She also wasn’t accustomed to people wanting to take care of her.

She’d been an island of flowers.

“I can handle it,” Margot said.

“I know that,” Noah offered. “You’ve always been able to handle yourself. I just want to help.”

Let me help you!he wanted to scream.

They ran out the door and down three blocks to the gorgeous colonial that housed the Sutton Book Club. Margot rushed up the front steps and through the front door. Noah was hot on herheels, his pulse rocketing. Inside, they found the card-playing club. Lillian was seated off to the side, sobbing and pointing at a fifty-something female stranger Noah didn’t recognize. Behind Lillian was a handsome man of about forty or forty-five, his hand on her shoulder as he whispered into her ear. On her other side was Esme Sutton, trying to put a glass of water in her hand.

“She cheated!” Lillian cried at the woman she was pointing at. “You saw her, Vic. Didn’t you see her?”

“Darling, we’ve hardly begun,” Vic said, trying to make a joke of it. “I know you’re quite competitive, but we have to dig ourselves in and get comfortable before we make wild accusations. Hmm?”

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