Page 28 of In Full Bloom

After two songs, Violet escapes Flynn and he joins us by the wall. Olivia turns the music down and Sadie collapses into a chair, her smile huge and relaxed.

I love this job. This place. This family.

“You’re coming out with us, right Dallas?” Flynn asks after catching his breath.

“Ah, nah, not tonight,” I say.

“Aw, come on,” Olivia whines. “Live a little.”

“I’ve got Sadie,” I say, gesturing to where she’s now helping Violet peel the potatoes.

“Don’t worry about Sadie. She can stay with me,” Violet calls over her shoulder.

“But—”

“No buts,” Violet says. “We’ll have a great time. Won’t we, Sadie?”

Sadie grins up at her and nods vigorously. She doesn’t even need to open her mouth to argue the point before I concede, because now the offer of a sleepover with Violet has been made, I’m not getting out of it.

“Alright, as long as that’s okay with you, Violet.”

“Of course it is. You deserve a bit of a break. And we’re apparently celebrating the reunion of the three musketeers.”

“Which means,” Flynn says, his smile turning wicked, “we just need Katie Kat to agree.”

She shakes her head firmly. “No.”

“But Katie Kat?—”

“I said no, Flynn. I’m happy to see you, truly. But I don’t want to go into town.”

“Max won’t be there,” Olivia says, her voice quiet. “It’s Tilly’s birthday. They’re having dinner at home. Please come.”

Katie lets out a huge breath. She’s about to admit defeat.

“Yeah, come on,” I say. “If the boring old guy can go, then you can. Plus, the rest of the world really needs to lay eyes on those killer dances moves of yours.”

My comment has the desired effect and her eyes flash before she snaps, “Fine, but we’re stopping at my place to get outfits for me and Livvie.”

“Done,” Flynn crows. He slings an arm around each of the girls’ shoulders and squeezes them tight.

Two hourslater and I’m pulling into Katie’s driveway, after pretending I don’t know exactly where she lives. We ate dinnerwith Violet and Sadie, then cleaned ourselves up after a day on the farm.

We all piled into my ute for the drive into town, because apparently mine has the best stereo. We’ll leave the ute at Katie’s place, the girls will get changed and then we’ll walk to the pub. The plan is to stagger back here at some point later tonight and crash, then head back to the farm in the morning.

All in all, it’s a terrible plan on so many levels, mostly to do with me setting foot inside Katie’s house again.

It’s hard enough keeping the memories of that night at bay as it is. Revisiting the scene isn’t going to help. I didn’t really have a choice though and my only comfort is the feeling that Katie isn’t super keen on this adventure either.

I wish she didn’t feel that way, but her reluctance makes tonight easier for me. I can worry about her having a good time instead of thinking about how I should be at home, spending more time dancing in the kitchen with Sadie, even though she’s asleep right now and it’s all irrelevant anyway.

Flynn leaps out of the ute with the girls, herding them to Katie’s front door. He’s ushering them along, trying to get them to hurry up.

I always knew the guy had more energy than a Labrador puppy, but seeing him with Olivia and Katie is another level altogether. He waves for me to join them and I reluctantly slide out of the ute.

Katie’s house isn’t much different from the last time I saw it, except there’s a few less boxes lying around. It’s still a barely furnished cottage. There’s furniture: a couch, a dining room table, a bed that I know about from experience, but there isn’tmuch of a personal touch, except for the bookshelves in one corner of the lounge.

“Geez,” Flynn says, taking it in. “Do you even live here?”

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