B0075M2D1U EBOK by Julie Cassar Page A

Flower. I chuckled at my own little joke.
    It was after noon by the time my mother and I finished up with the planting. Thoroughly covered in mud, and sweaty from all of our hard work out in the hot summer sun, we retreated to the air-conditioned house for some cold lemonade and lunch. I couldn’t wait to see what the flowers looked like when their roots were established and they opened in the setting sun. Mom said it would take several days, but hopefully we would soon have the beautiful, white Moon Flowers glowing in the evening.

 
    Chapter 8
    The next few days were uneventful. Other than the rain storm that came through on Tuesday night, absolutely nothing happened. I worked every day at the craft and hobby store and I only saw Anya once, briefly. I hadn’t seen Brennan since my date with Nick, and I don’t think Leo saw him either. Usually, if Brennan’s not annoying the crap out of me, he’s out messing around with Leo. It was Wednesday evening, and I was scheduled to work until I closed the store at 9 p.m. By the time I finished up with all of my closing duties and rode my bike home, it would be almost ten. I don’t know why the store stayed open that late in the summer. It’s not like someone’s going to have a pipe-cleaner and felt emergency at 8:55 p.m., but whatever. At least I was getting paid. I was sitting on a stool behind the counter working the one register in the store, when the tinkling bells on the doors notified me that a customer was walking in. I looked up from the magazine I was reading and saw Anya breeze through the doorway. I smiled and waved.
    She smiled as beautifully as always, and her ice-blue eyes sparkled, “Hi Ruby! I just wanted to stop in to confirm our outing. We’re still going miniature golfing with Jeremy and Nick tomorrow evening, right?”
    I nodded, “That’s the plan… I hope.” I was a little nervous that Nick may have forgotten. I hadn’t talked to him in four days, so I wasn’t sure if he would remember. Just then, the tinkling bells rang out again, as the glass door pushed open. Geesh, all of a sudden we were getting an evening rush. Anya glanced over to see who was walking in and grinned. I looked over and saw Nick saunter up to the counter. I gulped. God, he was so good-looking. He was wearing flip flops, his orange and white board shorts again and an almost too-tight orange t-shirt that was stretched over his broad, tanned shoulders. “Well,” Anya started, “Speak of the devil!” Nick looked puzzled and looked at Anya, then at me, with a questioning look on his face. “Oh,” I said, “Anya was just stopping by to make sure we were all still going out tomorrow…We are still going, right?” I smiled hopefully at Nick.
    “ Definitely,” he smiled assuredly in return. “Here, I brought you this. You said you love ice cream, and since we couldn’t go out tonight and we didn’t get a chance to finish our dessert the other night, I thought you might like it.” He placed a clear plastic container with a strawberry sundae on the counter in front of me. I couldn’t believe it. Nick Martino, Mr. Hotness himself, brought me ice cream. I think I might faint. Seriously, I must be dreaming. “Thank you! It’s wonderful!” I gushed. I wished for a second that it was chocolate and then brushed the thought out of my mind. Ice cream is ice cream. As long it’s not coffee or lemon, I was happy. Plus, who can complain when someone as gorgeous as Nick brings it?
    “ Well,” Anya interrupted, “On that note, I think I’ll leave you two alone.” She winked at me and headed for the door. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow night,” she waved as she walked out of the store.
    As I scooped up a spoonful of the sweet strawberry sundae that he brought me, I asked, “So, did you go to the beach today?” I let my eyes wander down his body, gazing at how gorgeous and muscular he looked. I quickly looked down at my ice cream when I realized he was aware of my lingering