“Perfect, Bird,” I said, and her smile bloomed.
“Are those for me?”
“Oh, uh. Yeah.” I had completely forgotten about the flowers in my hand, my entire world narrowed to Wren and how incredible she looked standing before me.
Stepping forward, Wren reached for the flowers, holding them up to her nose and inhaling, her eyes closed and a soft smile on her face.
“Thank you,” she said, her hazel eyes bright as she looked at me. “No one’s ever gotten me flowers before.”
Seriously? What the fuck was wrong with the men in this town?
“Well, I don’t mean to come off like an asshole, but I’m glad.” Letting my gaze roam over her, I watched as a light shiver stole over her body before I looked back into her eyes. “Means that I’m setting the bar high for all the other guys who are gonna come sniffing around when I take you out in that dress tonight.”
She rolled her eyes, spots of color appearing high on her cheeks as she shook her head.
“I assure you, you are in no danger of facing any competition tonight.”
“Yeah? What about your boss? He’s not gonna be a little sour that you’ll be on my arm instead of his?”
Wren shook her head, but I knew she was just being modest. I’d seen the way he’d looked at her that day in the office. How he’d grit his teeth and smiled at me when I insinuated that Wren and I were more than just old friends.
He wanted her. I had no doubt.
But his fancy lawyer ass was gonna be mighty disappointed.
Wren was mine.
They both were.
“Just let me say goodbye to Cooper and Jillian, and then we can go.”
“Hang on. I gotta get my surprise for the girls.”
After I retrieved the iPad I’d prepared from the Escalade, I headed back into the house where all three girls were in the kitchen, arranging their flowers. The smile on Wren’s face was soft, while Cooper’s was practically glowing, her absolute joy shining from the inside out. Even Jillian looked happy, although her happiness was more subdued, almost as though she was afraid to let anyone see it.
“Look!” Cooper called when she noticed me standing in the doorway, watching them. She gestured to the bouquets, now out of their wrapping and sitting in two mismatched vases on the kitchen counter. “What do you think?”
“I think they look great.” I honestly had no idea. I had never bought flowers for anyone other than my mother, but if they were happy with them, then that was all I needed. “I have one more thing for you, then your mom and I are heading out.”
“You girls will be okay here tonight, right?” Wren asked, setting her flowers—now in a large glass vase of their own—on the kitchen table, turning them this way and that until she found the side she thought was best. “Jillian, your father only agreed to let you sleep over if you promised to go to bed on time.” Jillian may not have noticed Wren’s eye roll, but I did. “And remember the rules. Lock all the doors and don’t answer for anyone. The vegetarian lasagna is just about done. Are you alright to take it out of the oven?”
Cooper and Jillian both nodded, but I grimaced, remembering the way Wren burned herself with the shitty oven mitt the other day.
Taking a breath, I reminded myself to take things slowly. I couldn’t just waltz into town and steamroll Wren’s life.
But I would do my best to take care of them, even if it meant I had to buy a pair of oven mitts and sneak them into the house like a high school kid sneaking liquor into a school dance.
“Just go, Mom,” Cooper groaned. “We’ve got this covered. Besides, if you don’t ever leave, how will Jill and I be able to get high and watch porn?”
“Cooper!” Jillian cried, scandalized, her face turning red as she covered her mouth with both hands while Cooper cackled with glee. “I promise, Miss Blackburn, we would never do...that!”
“I trust you implicitly, Jillian. Cooper?” Wren made a face at Cooper, which only had her laughing harder. “Maybe not so much.” Tossing her keys into her purse, Wren faced me, still shaking her head. “Let’s get out of here before these two give me even more gray hair.”
“Hang on. Cooper? Can I show you something?”
Cooper abandoned her flowers, bounding across the kitchen to stand in front of me, an eager smile on her face.
“What’s up?”
