Her brothers must have mentioned something to her parents because her mother had called yesterday wanting to know if she was okay. In fact, she had been talking to her mom when Kaegan had shown up at her office yesterday. She had assured her mother she was fine and that her argument with Kaegan hadn’t been a big deal.

She glanced up at the sound of the doorbell and wondered who would be visiting her. Very few people knew where to find her today, since she usually would be at the café helping her parents and brothers.

She got up and headed for the door. Looking out the peephole, she saw it was a young man with flowers. Surely he had the wrong address since nobody ever sent her flowers.

Opening the door, she smiled at Paul and Samantha Jenkins’s oldest son, who’d graduated from high school last year and worked at his parents’ flower shop. “Hi, Mellon.”

“Hello, Miss Bryce. I have a delivery for you.”

“You sure it’s for me?”

“Yes,” he said, handing her the flowers. She looked at them and knew who’d sent them. Only one person knew the kind of flowers she liked, calla lilies. Kaegan. He used to sneak into old lady Lula’s flower garden to pick them for Bryce when they’d been teens. Once Ms. Lula discovered the mystery of the disappearing lilies, she would save him the trouble and have a bunch ready for him to give to Bryce each week. He’d said that he had wanted to make his last year in high school, the last year he would get to spend with her, special. There had been no doubt in either of their minds that once he graduated, he would be leaving town to join the marines.

“They’re pretty, aren’t they?” Mellon asked her, smiling.

“Yes, they are pretty.” And they were. An assortment of different colors, some fully bloomed, others not, made up the stunning arrangement, which was in a beautiful ceramic vase with a huge purple bow. Purple was her favorite color and Kaegan knew it.

“Have a nice day, Miss Bryce.”

“Wait. Let me give you a tip.”

“No need. The sender covered it.”

What she should do was tell Mellon that she wouldn’t accept them and give them back to him, but she would accept them. The arrangement was too beautiful for her not to. It didn’t matter if she didn’t like the sender—she did like the flowers.

She closed the door and went to place the vase in the perfect spot on the coffee table. They looked simply beautiful there. Then she pulled off the card that was attached and read it.

I hope that one day you will forgive me for not believing in you.

Kaegan

The message had been written in Kaegan’s handwriting, which meant he’d gone into the florist’s himself and written out the card. Bryce placed the card beside the arrangement and stared down at the flowers. Moments later she picked up the card again and reread it.