“Well, I did forget I’d kissed you for ten years.”

A chuckle, but she didn’t meet my eyes. “It was just a kiss, and it was forever ago.”

“It wasn’t just a kiss, and I shouldn’t have forgotten.”

“I just … I’m sorry for judging you unduly. I shouldn’t have assumed so much.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s the general consensus that I’m a shameless flirt and an irresponsible slacker. You aren’t the first one to be wrong, and you certainly won’t be the last.”

The joke, the one I always told, the one with the kernel of truth I usually ignored. Easier to own it than to fight it, I figured.

But something made her look up at me with earnest intentions lining her face. “I was wrong. I was wrong about a lot of things.”

I smirked against the squeeze of my ribcage . “So does this mean it’s your turn to make it up to me?”

She rolled her eyes as she laughed. “You’re impossible, do you know that?”

“I do, and is that a yes?”

An arch look colored her face, followed by a flash of indecision. “Luke, I don’t think we should—”

But before she finished, I leaned in, not wanting to hear the rest of that sentence. I brought my lips to her ear, my breath moving her hair in puffs when I whispered, “Because if you really want to make it up to me, I’ll be in the back of storage in ten minutes. The spot where I saved your life.”

Her breath was shallow, her pulse fluttering in the soft dip behind her jaw. I wanted to kiss that spot, to feel the heat of her skin under my lips. But not in front of my mother. God knew what sort of proposal she’d make if she knew.

No, for now, Tess was all mine, if she’d have me.

I leaned back, taking a moment to soak in the surprise and desire on her face before I turned and walked away, leaving her stunned behind me.

My heart tha-dumped as I ambled through the store, wondering if she’d meet me. Wondering what she’d say. Wondering if I would kiss her again or get rejected.

I brushed the thought away and hugged Mom again, kissed her cheek, modestly batted away her praise. Because the truth was, without Tess, none of this would be what it was. I had ideas, sure. But what I didn’t always have was the motivation to follow it through.

Tess, I found, was the greatest motivator of all.

My siblings congratulated me even though they’d all seen the shop at various stages of production. I had to admit, the full effect was staggering. As I stood, admiring the shine installment, I noted the faces on the other side of the window as people stopped, smiling into the shop.

It was going to work. I knew it would.

It had to.

I glanced at the clock on the wall behind the register, noting the time. Everyone had begun to disperse. Mom and Laney headed back to the worktables where Ivy had been hard at it for hours. Dad and Kash wound their way toward the greenhouse. Jett and Marcus chatted behind the register, talking about point of sale and conversion rates and a bunch of other nonsense that sounded like noise. And I caught Tess’s eye as she moved pots around on the display table without purpose.