Page 110 of Wallflower in Bloom

Things were about to take off in his career, so why did he want to pump the brakes more than ever?

I just want to go home.

The cottage nestled in Fairwick Falls, not the high-rise one-bedroom on the opposite side of town in Vancouver. That apartment had never felt like home; home had always been elsewhere, usually in England, but never anywhere where he worked.

Could he live a life where his job was in one place, but his heart was in another?

An hour later, Jack swiped his card to the hotel room. He expected to see Violet still lounging in bed after their raucous night. After a few cocktails, she’d been a chatterbox, and they’d stayed late into the night meeting all her favorite stars. His favorite moment was when she met Nate of the infamous jailed stag night and hugged him within an inch of his life for inadvertently introducing them.

Instead, when he walked through the door, he found her sipping coffee, freshly showered, and their bags all packed.

“I said you could sleep in,” he said as he hugged her. She did too much for him.

Her sunny grin beamed back. She looked fresh and delicious in an artfully slouching t-shirt and stylishly cut-off shorts that made him want to sink his head between her thighs. Maybe he should take her back to bed before they left for their flight back to Pittsburgh.

She kissed his cheek. “The time difference messed up my sleep. Plus, I wanted everything all ready when you got back. How did it go?” she said, her eyes cautious.

They hadn’t known when he left that morning whether his meeting would be good or bad news. “They want me to headline the Christmas show. And I got offered the mafia gig.”

She squealed. “That’s huge!” She threw her arms around him.

It felt foreign to have somebody so utterly proud of him without pretense, without wanting something else from him.

“That’s a big deal.” Her round, precious cheeks were wide with her smile. Her dimples were in full effect, and he was dazzled by the full force of her happiness.

“All thanks to you.” His fingers caressed her cheek, trying to memorize the velvet softness of her skin.

His heart already started breaking for future Jack, who’d be so far away from this stunning, selfless woman. It seemed he hadn’t done nearly enough for her in return.

“I’m so proud of you,” she said, squeezing him around the waist. “I’m looking forward to putting on my Christmas sweater, snuggling up, and”—her face fell a fraction—“watching you on TV.” She tried to smile as her eyelashes fluttered.

He didn’t even bother to ask why her eyes went watery. He could feel it, too. They’d only have three more weeks together after this. Sand trickled through an invisible hourglass over their heads.

“Come to the premiere,” he offered. Just because he was leaving soon didn’t mean they couldn’t see each other after that. “We’ll work something out. You can see all the glitz and glamor when it premieres in December.”

She let go of him and busied herself with her coffee. “Maybe. You might be dating somebody by then.” Her eyes fell as she sipped her coffee.

“Or you might be,” he countered slowly. He thought about how he’d taken her in the hallway last night. ‘Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.’ still echoed through his head; imagining some other man touching her set his blood to boil.

And for the first time since he’d known her, Violet shrugged as if to say ‘maybe.’ She didn’t dismiss it, didn’t laugh it off.

She knew she was desirable.

God, if that didn’t make him hard, just thinking about her embracing all of herself.

But there was no time to act. They were already late for the airport to go back home.

Home.

Many hours later, Jack drove through the town square of Fairwick Falls, relieved to be back. He liked Vancouver, but it was just a faceless city. Fairwick Falls had a heartbeat you could see and grasp onto with both hands.

An old-timey band performed as he drove past, and kids ran through the lawn as their parents enjoyed the summer concert. An old familiar march drifted through the open car windows.

Sometimes it felt like he’d been plopped into one of the small towns in the Christmas movies Violet liked. Maybe he loved it so much because everything would always be okay in Fairwick Falls.

As they pulled onto Violet’s street, she snuffled herself awake. She’d dozed all the way home from Pittsburgh.

“I can’t wait to see how the plants are doing. Maybe I’ll have new shoots,” she said groggily. He pulled into the cottage driveway and saw his dad out on Violet’s back patio sitting next to the pretty older woman he’d greeted in Bloom. A bottle of wine and a candle flickered between them, and he noticed his father holding the woman’s hand.

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