“I know, and I understand. You’re not working too hard, are you?” Her mother settled in a seat across from her.
Leah slipped off her heels, sighing with relief. “It worked, so I might be busier than usual.”
Her mother nodded, but her eyebrow furrowed.
“Are you okay, Mom?”
“I am. I was missing you at first. You’re our only child, what can I say? But…” A gleam showed in her mother’s eye. “I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
Then another knock on her door grabbed her attention.
“Come in,” Leah said.
Amber popped her head in. “You’re being requested outside.”
Her mother gestured Leah to the door. “That’s your cue but at least eat a little.”
She nodded as her mother gave her a quick hug.
****
Leah gazed out her glass doors and windows. Tapping one foot on the floor, she rubbed her forearms. Today had been a revelation. Business boomed, and her conversation with Celeste… mind-boggling. She sensed Celeste liked Seth, but how was she going to handle her relationship with him? He seemed so hopeful that night on the lake.
He had taken her hands in his. His eyes beamed with affection and awe. Leah’s heart used to swell with love when he stared at her that way in high school. Once he expressed his feelings, she’d cowered. It raced through her mind to tell him about Cole, but she couldn’t do it. They were brothers. She scratched at her temple.
The one who dried her tears as a teen… Cole. He escorted her to their senior prom—after she had begged him. The corners of Leah’s mouth turned up, recalling that night. She had been nervous about her strapless plum prom dress making a debut.
Cole’s eyes had stared. “You look amazing.”
She had pointed to him. “You’re supposed to say that as my friend.”
He adjusted the lapels of his tuxedo. “I could say it to amuse you.” His grin had given him away.
Leah looped her arm through his, and he escorted her to his father’s pickup truck. Arriving in a pickup to prom hadn’t fazed her, even when a few other classmates had pulled up in limos.
When Gemma and Chase suggested they eat afterward, Leah stayed by Cole’s side, despite the assumptions of them being a couple. She had denied it without hesitation. She didn’t want another Parsons’ brother experience. Finally, they had called it a night, and Cole drove her home.
“I had fun tonight,” Leah had said. “I’m glad you came with me.”
Cole clasped her hand. “I only had fun because I was with you.”
She had leaned over and kissed his cheek. Despite the woodsy cologne that filled her nostrils, she pulled away and exited the car. She still felt the sensation in her hand when he clutched it, but it had been nothing. Right?
Leah flipped the open sign from “open” to “closed” on her boutique’s front door. Had it been nothing? She paced back to her office. Grateful the sun hadn’t set yet, she quickly locked up. A walk in the park would do her some good.
On the way, Leah passed by the flower shop and Mr. and Mrs. Clancy’s bookstore. She decided on an ice cream cone, stopping by the parlor on the corner. She relished in her choice of cookies and cream and she watched from the sidewalk cars driving past, hearing the occasional honk of a horn.
The minute she arrived at the park, she relaxed in a bench on the grass. Leah then crossed her legs, resting her cheek in her palm. She inhaled the aroma of fresh-cut grass, though her relaxed state did nothing to calm her nerves. It had been a question sprinting through her mind, but the answers remained the same.
Did she have to choose? She’d been enjoying her dating hiatus. There were a few times at home Leah would turn on her radio and dance to salsa music in her kitchen. She’d flip her hair as her socked feet coasted across her tiled floor. Her own personal walls were coming down. She never would have done that when she was with Brian.
Her lips parted at the realization. In her past relationships, one common denominator rang in her ears… passive. The last time she voiced her honest opinion. Seth and he left. The last time she had been herself with a man. Cole.
Leah raised her chin and gazed at the clouds. Even her last failed relationship with Brian didn’t compare to her current dilemma. She threaded a hand through her low ponytail. No easy answer came to mind, so it all boiled down to who made her happy? She had enjoyable moments with Seth. He could put a grin on her face easily, but being with Cole—
Her head jerked, hearing her buzzing phone. Leah scurried to answer. “Hello?”