She fought back tears because, at that moment, she wasn’t sure if she could ever forgive Kaegan or not.

* * *

“KAEGAN, YOU HAVE a call on line three. It’s Samantha Jenkins from Jenkins’s Florist.”

“Thanks, Wil,” he said to his administrative assistant, Willa Ford. “Please put her through.”

When he heard the connection, he said, “Mrs. Jenkins, how are you?”

“I’m fine, Kaegan. I wasn’t here when you dropped by this morning. I had to do a bank run. Paul took your order and I want to make sure he jotted down the right instructions.”

Kaegan leaned back in his chair. “Okay.”

“You want a vase of calla lilies delivered every week to Bryce Witherspoon. Is that right?”

“Yes, that’s right. I pre-signed at least three cards already. When you run out I’ll come in to sign some more.” Not wanting anyone to know his and Bryce’s business, he had stopped by the florist’s himself, written out the messages on the cards and sealed the envelopes. For as long as it took her to forgive him, she would get the flowers and the card with that message.

“Well, all right. And we have your credit card on file, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“No, there shouldn’t be.”

“I’ll talk to you later and thanks for your business.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Wait! I just remembered something.”

“Yes?”

“I’m selling tickets to this year’s Catalina Cove charity ball. How many tickets would you like?”

In all the years he’d lived in the cove, not once had he attended one of those charity balls. He would support them by buying a handful of tickets for his employees, but he’d never felt comfortable attending those types of community functions himself. Kaegan wasn’t one who did a lot of socializing with people he didn’t know that well. Sawyer and Ray were the only men in the cove he spent any amount of personal time with. Reid had talked him into being a part of the cove’s zoning board a few years ago, and that was as far as he intended for his community involvement to go.

He recalled both Sawyer and Ray mentioning they would be attending the event with their wives. The dance was a month from now. It was probably wishful thinking on his part, considering how she felt about him now, to even assume Bryce would go with him to the dance. It would be a miracle to think that by then he would have gotten in her good graces enough to at least get a dance with her. He, of all people, knew how much she liked to dance. The few steps he knew were ones she’d taught him.

It was a long shot, but it was a long shot worth taking. That meant he had to step up his game. But first, of course, he had to get her to forgive him. That was the most important thing to him right now.

“Yes, I’ll take twenty tickets this year.”