Page 149 of All at Once

“So what time are we leaving again?” I ask, pointing at my imaginary watch.

He laughs softly. “In a few minutes. My mom also wanted me to check and see why the air conditioning isn’t working.”

I look down at my wrist again. “I’m timing you.”

“Now it all makes sense,” he says.

“What?” I ask, curious.

“How your timing is always off. You don’t have the most reliable watch.”

I roll my eyes. “Go, and hurry up.”

He raises a brow at me. “Someone’s a littleimpatient…”

“Words have a funny way of coming back to haunt you,” I tease.

“Shit. That actually scared me a bit. And turned me on a little too.” He bites down on his bottom lip as he walks away, leaving me flustered.

Hoping time will move faster, I make my way to the patio to look at his mom’s garden.

Not that this is a particularly large backyard, but the vast assortment of flowers makes it seem like there is a whole field out here. These plants wouldn’t typically look nice together, yet somehow they all lookperfectin their current arrangement, especially with the way the sun is reflecting over them today. Lostin the haze of greenery, Luca catches me from my daydream. “I’m not sure if you could tell, but my mom likes flowers,” he says so endearingly.

My eyes widen. “This honestly would make the perfect Pinterest board.”

“She’ll be thrilled to hear that.” He smiles.

“It’s true though,” I say. “How does she find the time to maintain all of this? It’s honestly super impressive.”

“Gardening is probably her favorite hobby,” Luca reveals. “My dad used to plant her one flower every summer. Before that, she loved having a garden, but after that, it was something that she looked forward to doing all the time.”

A sadness fills me as I’m reminded of how his family moved back to Spain when his dad passed away. “It must have been hard for her to move then.”

“Oh yeah,” he says with some heaviness. “I think that’s the biggest thing that she missed when we moved back. Since at that point she took care of it for over two decades.”

“Well this is a beautiful garden,” I offer with a slight smile.

Luca almost chuckles. “I think she really went overboard when we got back since she missed it. But it filled some void in a way so we were just grateful that she had that to hold onto.”

My eyes sting a bit when I look back at the blooming flowers. “I can’t imagine how she must have felt. Not only losing a loved one, but also her husband.”

Luca caresses my shoulder, the sunshine from his skin instantly warming my body. “It wasn’t easy for any of us. Especially her. But she’s also the strongest person I’ve ever known.”

My smile meets his before he gazes out over the garden. It looks like something catches his eye suddenly as he walks to the far corner of the backyard.

“I knew we had some,” Luca says eagerly as he turns back and approaches me with some tiny white flowers. He places one in the side of my hair. When my brows furrow, he glances into my eyes so charmingly. “A jasmine for Jasmine,” he declares in the most outrageous and playful voice that I start laughing.

“Why are the most romantic things in your head also the absolute cheesiest when theyactuallyhappen to you?” I admit.

He takes a step back obnoxiously. “Woah. What are you trying to say?”

“Okay. It was a little romantic if maybe you changed yourentiresentence to somethingelse,” I tease.

He looks into my eyes longer than usual, and that’s all it takes for the butterflies, the warmth, the desire to have him come rushing back. And so of course I notice when he glances at my hair and then back into my eyes alluringly. “What?” I ask with anticipation. I really am losing my patience by the second like he alluded to earlier.

“I just noticed how the center of a jasmine flower has some yellow to it. I never saw that before,” he reveals with wonder. “I think I noticed it since yellow is so pretty on you,” he adds as he glances down at my dress while my heart jumps against my chest.

“Really?” I ask with flushed cheeks.

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