Page 49 of He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

‘I’m still the same Hollyn,’ she insists.

‘Nah. Just like I’m not the same Dax. But it’s cool. I kind of like you as you are now.’

‘Kind of?’ She laughs, attempting to shove me into the water again but failing.

I push her back, sending her two feet farther from me and she splashes around, finding her footing again with a laugh.

Watching her have fun makes me feel good and something about her smile hits me in a place nothing else does. I’ll gladly make a fool out of myself if it means seeing her happy. I need to remind her of who she was and make her see that she really is the goofy girl currently standing on a pool step in front of me, trying to pound water out of her ear.

‘Maybe I’ve become a little uptight but I’m working on it,’ she admits, now dragging her soaked self up the stairs and out of the pool.

Her pastel pink T-shirt clings to her, revealing her black bra through the now soaking fabric. She lifts the bottom of the shirt and wrings the water out of it, exposing her stomach as she does so.

Andshe’s activated the launch sequence. Shit. Thank god water distorts things because she’s creating a situation River would surely disapprove of.

‘Let’s get you some dry clothes,’ her mom says, throwing an arm over Hollyn’s shoulder, directing her into the house.

Thank god. All I have to do now is think about sushi, River, my grandmother, barking dogs, and anything that can annoy a hard-on back to its relaxed state.

‘You managed to cheer her up,’ River says, now doing fully clothed backstrokes across the pool. ‘Good job pulling her in with you. She didn’t expect that.’

‘I sometimes feel like I’m walking on eggshells around her. She’s burst into tears more than once and I’ve hit her boyfriend right in front of her. Seeing her have fun for once was nice.’

‘She’ll come around,’ River says as he swims to the pool’s edge and lifts himself out. He grabs two towels from a cabinet on the patio, tossing one to me as I get out.

I hope he’s right. I want to see her laugh like she did before Tristan. AndIwant to be the one to make that happen.

12

HOLLYN

The Next Afternoon…

‘You’re doing outstandingly, Hols,’ Dax says, the two of us working as quickly as possible.

All the prep the show allowed us to do yesterday, we did. After the pool incident, I tried to loosen up a bit, even singing along to a song at one point. That surprised Dax. I figured if they all think I’m uptight, I must be. I’m here for change, and the only way to change is to do the opposite of what I’d usually do.

Now we’re putting together the ceiling full of flowers. Before we started, Dax showed me some photos of his previous designs and I was blown away. I had no idea he was this skilled at his job and it’s clear he’s surpassed his father by miles already.

It’s not just the flowers he’s great at. He happily talks to everyone who approaches him. When he dropped off the wedding party bouquets and boutonnieres, the mother of the bride requested one small addition, and he did it no problem, there and then, with a smile on his face, as they chit-chatted about life.

Now I’m standing on a stepladder, holding a two-by-four in place over my head while Dax secures it to the post next to him for the structure that will support the suspended flower arrangement. He’s standing on another ladder, towering over me, a drill in his hand, screws in his lips, and looking far too much like some kind of construction worker women ogle on viral photos that travel around Instagram. Mercy’s joke about this exact scene keeps playing through my head.

He walked in wearing blue jeans, white and black Adidas shoes, a black San Francisco Giants ball cap worn backward, and a white T-shirt that saysIris my life to save youacross the front, which sent me into laughter when I saw him. He claimed I was the inspiration for the shirt choice. Flower pun shirts are his jam and it’s so adorable it’s sending my head all over the place.

‘How do you work with this view?’ I stare out of the entrance of the tent into the tulip fields.

‘With fifty grand and my reputation on my mind?’ Nervous laughter leaves his lips. ‘Trust me; it’s a challenge right now,’ he says from above me. ‘A real challenge.’

I glance up at him looming over me. His eyes are on me until our gaze meets, then he looks away. Why does it seem like we’re not having the same conversation?

‘Almost done,’ he says. ‘Think you can hold one more?’

‘Absolutely. I haven’t spent an hour a day lounging in a spa at the gym for the last eight years for nothing.’

He laughs. ‘Thank god for gym memberships, right?’

‘Exactly.’

---