Sweet As Sin

31

Grace raised her mug to her mouth and sipped her coffee to hide her smile. “Homo erectus had fire way before the Neanderthals, sweetie.”

This exchange was making me testy. “Someone please tell me we’re not actually sitting here discussing cavemen, when we could be discussing something so much more interesting.”

Grace and Chloe turned their attention to me.

“Like . . . my birthday present?”

Grace pretended ignorance. “I’m so glad you liked that Coach bag I bought you. That color will really go great with your—”

“Oh, shut up! Tell me what you thought! Was it too much? Was it weird? Was it sweet?”

They knew exactly who and what I meant, of course. I knew Chloe was on board with the whole Nico thing, but it was Grace’s input I really wanted. Of our little group, she was the one with the most sense. Not that I regularly paid attention to it, but still.

“It was . . . ” Grace pursed her lips in thought. “All of those. I’m leaning mainly toward weird, though.”

“It was romantic, not weird!” Chloe protested. “You’re just mad about not getting strippers.”

“He flew the mariachis in, Chloe. Do you have any idea what a logistical nightmare that must’ve been, putting that together in one day? And the cost? All for a woman Nico’s known for two weeks? To me that leads right back to our conversation in Lula’s about men who aren’t used to hearing ‘no,’ and what happens once they finally get a ‘yes.’”

Grace’s words chilled me. Was that all Nico’s present was? Another attempt at getting to a “yes”?

If it was, it was definitely working. I’d admitted as much to him last night.

“I suppose I shouldn’t tell you the other part, then.” Chloe waited for Grace and me to take the bait. We did, leaning forward to talk over each other.

“What other part?”

“Did it ever occur to you, Kat, to wonder why Nico chose lavender roses instead of red?”

I blinked. “No. Why?”

“Because of what it means.”

Grace and I shared the same expression of confusion. “Because of what what means?”

Chloe looked at the two of us as if we were speaking in tongues. “The color of the rose!”

“Red means love and passion,” said Grace with authority.

Chloe nodded. “Exactly!”

That was a little disheartening. Nico had chosen a rose that wasn’t about love and passion? “And lavender means, what? Like, friendship? Respect? Oh—trust!”

Chloe looked as if she had a piece of delicious cake in her mouth that she had to talk around. “No. Lavender means love at first sight.”

It sat there between us all for a moment, heavy and huge, until Grace rolled her eyes. “Oh, for God’s sake.”

Remembering how Nico had looked at me the day we met, how I’d felt when I’d looked at him, I was at a loss for words. “Wow. That’s . . . ”

“Ridiculous. Seriously, love at first sight? What is he, twelve?” Grace obviously wasn’t suffering from a loss of words at all. She didn’t let Chloe’s sour look deter her. “Chloe, even you have to admit that’s just silly for a grown man.”

“It’s not about what I think. It’s not about what you think, either, Grace. It’s about what Kat thinks.”

They looked at me expectantly. The words “hot seat” came to mind.

“Two weeks ago, I’d have agreed with you a hundred percent, Grace. And part of me still does. A big part. But I’m doing the best I can, trying to take it slow and see where it leads.” When Grace sighed, I added, “Which might be nowhere, you’re right. He might get bored as soon as he has me. I mean, I’m just . . . me. Not too many bells and whistles.”

Grace scowled. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it! Any man would be lucky to have you—”

“I know you’re only trying to protect me. And believe me, I’m trying to protect myself, too. My eyes are open. But—and please don’t kill me for saying this—it just feels different. It feels right. He feels right.”

I left out the part about the little, worried voice telling me to watch out. Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome to the stage the Queen of Denial!

“He said almost the exact same thing about you.” Chloe’s voice was quiet. “When he came into the shop to set this all up yesterday. It’s why I was late getting here; I had to make sure things were all set before I left.”

“Nothing like waiting until the last minute,” Grace muttered.

“Actually, he didn’t know until the last minute,” Chloe corrected, looking at me pointedly. “Because someone didn’t tell him until the last minute. Anyway, he wanted to know if you had any favorite flowers, and what all the colors of the roses meant, and how much he needed to spend to make it amazing. And when his buddies made fun of him, he just said you felt right. And that they could go f**k themselves.”

“Nico brought his friends with him to go flower shopping for a woman?” Judging by Grace’s startled expression that seemed to carry some deep meaning.

“Two of the guys from the band. Brody, the lead guitarist I think, and A.J., the drummer.” Chloe made a face. “And that A.J. was a total jerk! Do you know he actually had the nerve to growl at me when I got too close to where he was standing on my way into the cooler? Like what—he’s so important I can’t even walk around my own shop?”