It was the Luke Bennet special—getting me out of my box whether I wanted to or not.

For a little while, I lost myself in work. When Brutus wasn’t winding his way around my legs or mewling up at me, he stood sentinel at my side, watching the door as intently as I did. Ivy filled the time with idle conversation, and my distraction was almost total. Almost. Luke was suspiciously absent from the shop. Every time the greenhouse doors opened, my heart would stop dead, but it was never him. By lunchtime, I’d convinced myself he wouldn’t come in. Maybe he’d been kept busy by the Bennets or Ivy in an effort to do me a solid. Maybe he was tired from working on the window display. Ivy said he’d gone all day yesterday on no sleep, not stopping until they finally forced him to go home.

When the greenhouse doors opened, I didn’t look up. But when he cleared the threshold, every nerve in my body reached for him, knowing he was there without my realizing it. When my eyes followed, they met his, held them, said a thousand things, made a hundred apologies.

Ivy slid off her stool, saying quietly as she untied her apron, “I’m going to grab us some sandwiches for lunch. I’ll get you the usual.”

“Okay,” I muttered, my eyes still on Luke.

He was darkness—hair shades of midnight, eyes shadowed by a thundercloud. Lips normally curled with levity were flat and heavy. When he strode toward me, I found my body moving to meet him without permission, as if I belonged in his arms whether I liked it or not, and I wouldn’t stop until I was there.

I was almost there when we stopped, too close to be casual, too far apart for comfort.

“Are … are you okay?” he asked, his voice raw.

I shook my head. “You?”

He shook his. “Tess, I … I’m sorry. I know it doesn’t mean much, but I am.”

“I know. So am I.” A pause, thick with painful silence. “The windows. You made the dandelions.”

His smile was brief, thin, just a flick of the corner of his lips. “You like them?”

“They’re perfect, Luke.”

Another pause as we scrambled for what to say. There was too much, with no way to start.

But Luke found a way. He always did.

“I need…” The knot of his throat bobbed. “Please, Tess. Can I explain?”

I nodded once, bracing myself.

He drew a breath, seeming to do the same. “When I went to her the other night—” He shook his head. “No. Before that.” Another breath, a straightening of his spine. “I’ve never felt more right than since I walked through those doors, Tess. And it’s because you were here, waiting for me.”

My heart split, the contents spilling out into my chest in a warm pool.

“When she messaged me, the things she said … they scared me. When she’s in that space, bad things happen, and I didn’t want my absence to be the reason. I never could have imagined why she wanted me there, what she’d say. And I should have told you then. I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry I got myself into this with her, but I didn’t know. I didn’t know this would happen.”