“You just text him, invite him over if he doesn’t work or something. Keep it casual,” she offered, and then laughed softly. “Honestly, I’m the last person who should be giving you advice when it comes to this.”

“No.” I reached out and squeezed her arm. “You obviously know what you’re doing. You hooked a guy like Jax, so . . . ?”

Her cheeks flushed and she laughed again as she propped her hip against the passenger back door. “You know damn well I had no idea what I was doing when it came to him.”

I grinned. Calla had been pretty clueless. “True.”

“But you know, I think it’s always like that when you really like someone. It was the same with Teresa and Jase. Liking someone makes us stupid. That’s what I’m going with.”

“Sounds accurate.”

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “I forgot to ask you last night. Who got you the roses? They are beautiful.”

Feeling creeped out by the roses since I assumed they were from Dean, I’d left them in the office. Now that room smelled like a florist shop. Ha. “You know, I have no idea, if they’re not from Dean.”

She arched a brow. “You really think they’re from him?”

I shrugged. “I guess so.”

“What did it say?”

“Something like next time will be better,” I told her, frowning. “Weird, huh?”

She nodded as she pushed off the car. “Maybe the flowers were meant for someone else if they weren’t from Dean.”

“I don’t know. They had my name on it. Maybe it was just a mistake.”

Calla smiled and she reached down and gave me a hug. “I’ve got to run, but I’ll call you later, okay?”

I waved good-­bye and then climbed into my car. On the way home, I was surprised when Dennis called. Since it was Sunday, I wasn’t expecting to hear from him, but cops didn’t work normal Monday-­through-­Friday schedules. He let me know that Henry had gotten an estimate for the windshield damages and it was going to cost a ­couple of hundred to fix.

I groaned, thinking of how much I had in my savings account, which wasn’t a lot at all. But this was my bed I made, so I had to roll around in it and pick up more web design to make back the cash.

When I got home, I was halfway across the sidewalk when the sky ripped open and rain pelted me, soaking me in seconds. Squeaking, I dashed up to the porch. My wet sandals hit the floorboards, and I slipped. Arms wheeling like a windmill, my purse hit the porch and I lost my balance.

I was so going down.