Page 39 of A Journey For Jasmine

He wasn’t going to say that he didn’t spend a lot of time on boats until he’d met Noelle or that her family was the one that had them. A different style of boats most times, but he wouldn’t lie either.

“I do like the water. I’ve always lived near it and spent some time at the beach. It’s a calming presence that I think I forgot about at some point in my life.”

“Things get in the way. We want to grow up and put the kid behind us. Trust me, I know.”

“You asked where I live now. Don’t laugh. The street name makes me cringe. Money Point Road. On the water. More space than I need, but not as over the top as some other houses there.”

“That’s funny,” she said. “I know the road. Beautiful houses. It is kind of ostentatious sounding though.”

“What’s even funnier is that when we moved here I lived with my mother. She’d bought a condo on the water. Before the closing on the marina, we’d flown out to check properties. I wanted a house. I wanted space.”

Because he knew he still wanted a family in his life and something to grow into. He had no clue when or if it would happen, but he wasn’t going to worry about moving again in the future either.

“Houses aren’t always easy to come by in the area,” she said. “Just like apartments.”

“Exactly. Her condo is nice. Much smaller than the house she had in Tampa, but she was paying people to care for it anyway. This is less hassle for her and she loves it. It has three bedrooms and worked out fine. I was thrilled when this house came up for sale and wasn’t about to let it go. The realtor called me right away, I ran over, we looked at it and I put an offer in for over asking to stop anyone else from snagging it.”

“When you know what you want you go for it, it seems.”

She had a smile on her face. One that was reaching her eyes. He put his hand on her thigh and patted it. “It seems it. I guess I always was that way. I’m starting to get back to it now.”

“Good for you then.”

The disk went off in his hand, he stood up, and they went back into the restaurant. Once they were seated and their food ordered, he asked, “Why flowers? I’ve got to imagine you were exposed to so many things in life. What made you decide on this?”

“It’s funny,” she said. “When you talked about getting back to what brought you comfort, it was flowers for me. My mother loved to garden. Though every house we lived in never felt like a home, she always had a garden. With vegetables and flowers, but the flowers were the best.”

“Did you help her in the garden?” he asked.

“I did. We all had to. It was part of our chores. But it never felt like a chore to me. When we moved I always found that I hated to leave what I’d been nurturing. When I was getting close to college age I had to figure out my way and I guess it just came to me to learn more.”

“I think you were brave taking that step and coming here on your own. Beginning a new life. One that you were going to make the decisions in. It stands to reason you’d want something comforting and familiar as part of it.”

When her eyes filled a little he wondered what the hell he’d just done or said to cause it.

She picked her napkin up and dabbed at her eyes. “Wow. I’m sorry. You know, you just summed up everything I was feeling back then and never knew it. That’s just crazy. But it’s the truth.”

“So that is a good thing you reacted that way?”

She laughed at him again. “You can stop wincing. Yes. It was. It is. It tells me we understand each other more than maybe either of us thought would happen.”

“I think you’re right. I guess that is why I jumped on the date so fast. If we are being honest, I’m feeling like the old me somewhat and didn’t want it to stop.”

“That’s a nice thing to hear and I’m glad I could do that for you. There is one more thing I do want to address tonight though.”

He frowned. Not sure he wanted to know. “What’s that?”

“Your wealth. I don’t want you to think I’m with you for that.”

He hadn’t thought that but now was wondering if he was stupid to not let it cross his mind. There was part of him that still didn’t comprehend the amount of money he had.

Though some of it was in the marina at this point, he still had plenty he could access. Even with the purchase of his home.

He wasn’t drawing a salary at the marina and figured he’d give it a year before he did. He’d rather see what he could do to improve things and the staff before he got that far.

“Okay. I’m not with you for your flower knowledge either.”

“That’s hilarious,” she said, giggling. “But I get it. I just wanted it out there. Money doesn’t mean a lot to me. I know I’ve talked about growing up in poor areas and we didn’t have a lot, but we weren’t really poor. We were wealthy compared to where we were living at those times.”

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