Chapter 3 - The Flowers She Never Liked
Five days later, he showed up outside Claire’s building carrying white lilies.
Claire hated lilies.
Their smell gave her headaches.
She had told him twice.
Adrian leaned against his car, smiling.
“There she is.”
Claire stopped.
“What are you doing?”
“Making peace.”
He offered the flowers.
She looked at them.
Didn’t take them.
“I made reservations at Bellini’s.”
“I’m not going.”
His smile barely moved.
“Still angry?”
“No.”
“Good. Then dinner.”
“No.”
Now he frowned.
“Claire.”
“I meant what I said.”
He stared at her for a long moment.
Then laughed softly.
“You’re serious.”
“Yes.”
His face tightened.
“Is there someone else?”
The question offended her in a way she hadn’t expected.
“Why does there need to be?”
“Because this isn’t you.”
“This is exactly me.”
“No. You don’t throw away four years because I moved a wedding.”
“I didn’t throw them away.”
She shifted her bag higher on her shoulder.
“I lived them.”
She stepped past him.
Adrian turned.
“Claire.”
She looked back.
“I’m thinking October,” he said. “For the new date.”
She almost admired the astonishing arrogance of it.
“You should find someone else for October.”
Then she entered the building.
Adrian remained beneath the streetlight holding flowers she had never liked.
May you like
That night, for the first time, uncertainty entered him.
And uncertainty was an emotion Adrian Cole had never learned to tolerate.
