Page 55 of He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

I glance at Celeste. She’s spinning a ring on her forefinger and staring at the ground. I didn’t expect this to be so savage.

‘Celeste.’

She lets out a heavy sigh as she waits for Jillian’s words.

‘You had the exact opposite problem. Your arrangements were a bit much. Nothing matched, and I feel you overdid the variety of flowers on display. Sometimes less is more.’

Celeste’s gaze stays locked on the ground below her feet, and she says nothing, but the look of absolute humiliation on her face speaks for her. Ouch.

‘I won’t say who I think should go home. That’s for the viewers to decide. Perhaps they’ll see something in the two of you I didn’t. Go ahead and step back to your places.’

The two of them step back, their assistants consoling them as they do.

‘Now for our top two pairs.’ Jillian paces in front of the five of us. Back and forth, playing on our nerves until finally stopping in front of Leo. ‘Leo, and’ – she continues past him, stopping in front of me – ‘Dax.’ She grins. ‘Step forward, you two.’

Hollyn’s hand on my forearm stops me. ‘You did it,’ she whispers with a grin.

I step forward, unable to knock the grin she just created off my face as I do. We made Jillian’s top two. That’s something.

‘Leo,’ Jillian says. ‘Your rainbow display for the brides you worked with was outstanding. Beautifully done and on-brand for the ladies in charge. I understand this was their request?’

‘It was. They were a peach to work with,’ he says, smiling ear to ear. ‘It was a lot of fun to put together.’

Beside Jillian is a massive television, playing clips of each of our weddings yesterday. I’m impressed. A flower arrangement rainbow. It’s a damn good idea.

‘Dax.’

Jillian stands a few feet from me, her hands folded in front of her, her smile as wide as possible. ‘Your venue was my favorite. A field of tulips at sunset. It doesn’t get more romantic than that, does it? Breathtaking. When I saw the white tent reception, I panicked for you a little. But your design left that tent anything but colorless and boring.’

My design plays on the TV next to her.

‘Wow,’ Celeste says under her breath, her and Genevieve whispering back and forth.

‘Are you sure you’ve only been at this a couple years?’

‘Two years, yeah.’

‘Impressive,’ she says. ‘Very impressive.’ She’s now walking between Leo and me while she talks. ‘I might be wrong about this, but if I had to choose a winner today.’ She pauses dramatically, clearly more for the show than for us. ‘Dax, it’d be you.’

Hollyn squeals as she jumps off the ground in my direction. ‘I told you!’ she says, wrapping her arms around my neck.

I momentarily rest my hand on her back with a laugh, Jillian laughing along with us.

‘Sorry!’ Hols says, suddenly realizing what she’s done and stepping away from me slowly. She’s touched me twice today, and yesterday she was afraid her brain would melt with our holding hands. I don’t hate this change of heart.

‘Don’t be sorry,’ Jillian says. ‘It’s well deserved. You two did outstanding work.’

All eyes are on us, but our eyes are on each other.

‘We did it,’ I say softly, holding out my closed fist. Hols fist bumps it with a grin, then moves back to her spot, her fingers now laced through each other in front of her chest as though she’s praying.

‘Whatever you two are, old friends, new friends, you’re adorable,’ Jillian says. ‘Congratulations to you all. I’m as excited as you are to see who comes back to us next week.’

Jillian’s words finally sink in as she stops talking.

Holy shit. Did I justwinweek one? Not technically, because the viewers will decide that but close enough.

As soon as they announce the cameras are no longer running, I turn to Hollyn. She’s holding a single finger in the air.

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