He couldn’t see her face, but her body was stiff. She moved to another table and yanked a flower from the arrangement and tucked it into her pocket. Then she shook her head, still unhappy with the appearance.
“It’s fine, Kathy,” Deb called from the other side of the room.
Kevin got the impression that they’d been at this awhile. Kathy disappeared out the front door again and returned with an armful of flowers. This time, when she came through the door, she did see him. Her feet froze, but her arms loosened, and she dropped the flowers.
“Crap,” she mumbled.
Kevin raced across the room to help pick up the mess.
“What are you doing here?” she asked in a sharp whisper as she grabbed a bundle.
“I have to be at the event,” he answered.
“The event doesn’t start for two hours. You never come during setup. I would’ve been long gone before you got here.”
“I know.” He gently placed a pile of flowers in her arms and stared directly into her eyes. There he saw what he needed. She was as lost and upset as he was. “Can we talk?”
“No. Not now. I’m not ready for this. I have to prep. I—”
“Take a breath.”
She slowly inhaled and stood with her flowers. She set them on the table and turned to face him. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.”
“Yeah?”
“I’d like to talk to you if you’re willing to talk to me.”
He stepped closer and touched the curls that were springing around her face. “Of course I’ll talk to you.”
She swallowed hard. “Maybe later tonight. When you’re done here? I’ll come back, and we can have a drink and talk?”
“We should be done by eight. I’ll wait for you.”
“Okay.” She smiled and ducked her head before turning away to finish her work.
For the first time in nearly a week, Kevin felt a glimmer of hope. He found a quiet corner to sit and wait for the event to start. He worked on his phone sending e-mails and making notes on ideas he had now that his brain started to clear. He did his best not to stare at Kathy while she worked, but she distracted him as she buzzed around making minor adjustments that he didn’t think anyone would notice. But she would. She noticed the small things.
A little while later, Deb came and sat across from him. “For a guy who didn’t want to cop to having woman trouble, this is pretty telling.”
“What? I came to the event early to see if you need any help.”
She glared at his blatant lie. “Things straightened out?” she asked as she hitched a thumb over her shoulder to where Kathy worked.
“Not yet, but we’re meeting later to talk.”
“Good because a mopey florist cannot be good for business. Don’t get me wrong, she still does good work, but she’s just . . . flat.”
It hurt to hear someone like Deb, who barely knew Kathy, describe her that way. But he knew that he’d done nothing wrong. He just needed Kathy to realize that he loved her enough that they could make this work. They could be happy.
She had to want to get back together. That was the only reason why she would want to talk, right? Otherwise, she would’ve just told him to get out of her way and let her work. He held tight to that thought, the idea that she wanted to fix this. They just needed a plan.
* * *
Kathy finished setting up for the reception for the mayor and went home. Anna was closing up for the night, so Kathy was free. She’d spent every day thinking about calling Kevin and what she would say and how to say it. She’d been trying to work up the nerve to do it. She hadn’t considered that he would show up early tonight to confront her.
But she should have. She should’ve known that was exactly the kind of thing he’d do. Except she’d dismissed all thoughts of him trying because she’d pushed him away so hard. She was convinced he’d really given up. It had been nearly a week, and he hadn’t attempted to contact her at all.
Seeing him tonight had stolen her breath. He’d looked every bit as sexy as he usually did in his suit, but he hadn’t shaved in at least a few days. He had the beginning of a beard going on, and she’d wanted to reach out and stroke it. Then their eyes met and the incredible sadness in his struck her. It matched what she’d been feeling since he left.
God, how she’d missed him.
She wasn’t sure if she could convince him that they could fix this. That she was fixable. But she wanted to try. So after she showered and changed and practiced what she wanted to say to Kevin, she watched the clock tick by. She didn’t want to get there too early because she’d interrupt his work. This was a big night for him. She didn’t know exactly what the reception was about, but she’d heard Deb talk about it enough to know that Mayor Park was showing Kevin off to a lot of people. Part of her had wanted to be by his side to celebrate his success with him, but she no longer had that right.
She took a cab back to the reception partly because she didn’t want to deal with traffic and parking and partly because if this conversation with Kevin went as planned, she didn’t want them to have two cars. He’d come home with her. When the driver pulled up in front of the building, Kathy sat for a moment.
“This is it.”
“I know. Sorry. Nerves.” She paid the driver and
