“Okay.” I find Krista staring at the man’s retreating back with the same puzzled look that’s on my face.
“Weird.”
The bell jingles again.
One by one each of the few parking spaces in front of the dinner fills with delivery men unloading vans all loaded down with every kind of flower. One stands at the door as they all parade back and forth. Within five minutes the place fills up with every kind of flower. Especially my favorite—tulips. In every color imaginable.
“Um, excuse me. This is a diner. You know that, right? What are you doing?” I turn one of the delivery guys around before he can walk off.
He nods. “What the bosses ordered.”
“Bosses?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Another nod.
I check the bouquets but don’t find a card.
“We figured this would be better than a note card.”
I twirl around at the sound of a familiar deep voice.
“We couldn’t figure out how to say what we wanted on a 3x2 piece of paper.”
I rush to Erik and throw my arms around him.
“So you get us instead. Maybe looking into our eyes when we tell you how much we love you would be better anyway.”
Daemon. God, I love his directness. More now than ever. He falls victim to my hug next.
“Why don’t you just blurt it out, man,” Erik ribs his friend and I laugh through the sudden tears that spring up.
He lifts a shoulder in a lazy shrug. “What? It’s not like the flowers didn’t give it away.”
Beside them Warren patiently waits, his eyes so intense I can literally feel them tracking my every move.
“Are you two done?”
Warren grabs me by the hips and plants me on a stool.
“We’ve missed you, baby. Thank you for not completely shutting us out. The texts you sent were everything.”
“I would never freeze another soul out. I would never do that to anyone.”
“I know, baby. We all do.”
Warren captures my lips in a warm kiss and for seconds, minutes maybe hours I lose all concept of time and just feel. At some point someone gets a little impatient and clears their throat. “You’re our queen and if you let us, we would like to show you what you mean to us every day of our lives.”
“You’ve been fired from your position at the school, I assume? All because of me.”
“Yes. It’s made things a little difficult. But not impossible.”
“My father… I’m so sorry.”
“He’ll come around. Or he won’t. Normally, there’s not much you can do when a man is set in his ways.”
“Just give it time. You might be surprised.” Erik takes my hand in his and kisses each finger before bringing it to his heart.