Page 28 of Almost Always

After the ceremony, she hugged and congratulated the couple and stood with Clementine as quick speeches were made. Once everyone started attacking the dessert table, she went to find herself something to drink. She’d already seen her staff taking photographs earlier to upload to social media and add to the portfolio, but she took a few as well to share with Rafferty. Thinking about him made her read through the texts again, noticing that he’d reacted to her message with a heart. As she took a sip of her wine her phone buzzed and a notification appeared at the top of her screen.

Clementine

I’m heading back to Wildes.

Frowning, she looked around for her friends, but couldn’t see them. Turning back to the Snap, Crackle & Pop group, she saw that Ginny was typing as well.

Daisy

What, why? I was looking forward to our road trip home!

Ginny

What happened?

Clementine

I have a guy to see.

Grinning, she replied with a string of emojis and joined in when Ginny teased their friend about herguy. There was a tiny part of her that was envious of how easily all her friends seemed to find their partners, because she’d tried that for a long time after her divorce, and came up empty. The apps were too much, speed dating was weird and meeting people randomly only happened in movies. While her heart raced at the mere thought of Rafferty, she wasn’t thinking about him in that way yet. He might have been her first love, but it had also been years since they’d seen each other. She wasn’t going to attempt to unpack her feelings, but for now, he was going to sit in the ‘friends’ box.Hopefully.

With Clementine on her way back to Wildes and the wedding party getting louder around her, she put her phone away as a deep voice said, “Mind if I join you?”

She glanced at the handsome stranger smiling at her. Their eyes had locked briefly during the pie cutting, but she hadn’t given him much thought. He was far more handsome up close.

She looked around the backyard with a smile. “Must have been hard to find a good place to sit, huh?”

“Yup. None of the other areas came with gorgeous companions.” He held a hand out, still flashing her that smile. “Liam, Milo’s cousin.”

“Daisy,” she said, slipping her hand into his.

“Are you a wedding crasher?”

“Spend all that time draping myself in this to crash a wedding?”

Liam chuckled, adjusting his suit jacket. “What do you do?”

“Flowers.” She gestured at the arrangements on the tables. “Everything you see here is from my shop.”

“For real? They look amazing. My mother wanted to ask the Winters’ who had done it. Guess I got lucky.”

Humming, she took another sip of her drink, eyes never leaving his face. “What do you do?”

“Nothing as brilliant as flowers. I’m a lawyer.”

“Lawyers are important.”

“I guess. But we don’t bring beautiful things to life.”

She chuckled. “Well, you do save people from making terrible mistakes.”

Liam watched her for a moment, a small smile on his lips. She had to admit that she liked the way he was looking at her, even if nothing would come of it. Maybe part of the reason she hadn’t been able to find anyone interesting this whole time was because she was arelationshipkind of woman. And most people she met were looking for casual or something temporary. Even Liam, as handsome and charming as he was, seemed like the kind of guy who wanted one night to scratch the itch. She’d beenthere, done that. Now, she craved companionship and would never settle for just sex.

“Would you like to dance?” he asked as her phone rang. She hesitated, glancing between his outstretched hand and her purse. “I’ll wait.”

“I’ll be just a minute,” she told him, smiling apologetically as she fished her phone out and sawRafferty Amesflashing across her screen.

“Raff?”

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