Page 18 of Rose's One Night to Forever
Tansy took a deep breath. “I’ll grab a quick bite and a coffee, then I’ll come back to help you.”
“No.” Rose stepped in and squeezed Tansy tight before tapping her lightly on the head in reprimand. “You’re sleepwalking already. I’ll do as much as I can today and get up early to finish, but I can’t leave it all, or I won’t have time to set up tomorrow morning. They’ll need the flowers for pictures beforehand.”
“Then we’ll both be working hard in the morning,” Tansy said. “Fern’s taken control of the shops, and all the staff members are lined up to run without us, so we’re good on that count.” She paused then met Rose’s gaze straight on. “You message Chance yet?”
Guilt struck. “I’m a little embarrassed to contact him,” Rose confessed.
“I know, but you can’t do the next thing until you get past this.” Tansy’s grin widened. “After seeing the way he was all but eating you up with his eyes when he swooped in at the auction, I’m fairly certain he’s the type who will forgive anything, as long as you admit you had a moment.”
“I did have a moment, didn’t I?” Rose asked softly.
“When do you not have moments?” Tansy teased, dancing out of arm’s reach. “I love you, sis. Truly, one thing I adore about you is that you’re always honest. Emotional swings, happy or sad—you’re real. Never apologize for that.”
“But I should apologize for walking out on him, yes?”
Tansy nodded like a bobblehead. “When you get a chance. Ha—you already have a Chance if you want him.”
“Go to bed. You’re not funny.”
“I am punny, though.” Tansy shot for the door, cackling wildly as she escaped Rose’s clutches. “See you tomorrow. Love ya.”
“Love you too,” Rose said as the door closed behind her.
Then she faced the wall of flowers before her. Time to make a dent in the mountain, and then during a break, maybe, just maybe, she’d send a text to Chance and invite him for coffee.
There was something there between them, no use in denying it. Of course, from experience, Rose knew the high excitement of the relationship would fade soon enough. It always did.
Still. While dating Chance might only last for a short time, she might as well enjoy every minute they did have together.
Chance stood in the middle of the empty photographer’s studio and wondered how to turn this around.
Not the actual physical building. He had enough experience that the display units and background walls of the gallery would all get dealt with easily enough. Even though it had only been a couple of days, the art studio in the upstairs space was also thoroughly plotted out.
All the plans were there. Now he needed to put the sweat equity in.
Yet something was missing.
Someone.
He pulled his phone out again, feeling a bit like a stalker. Only the fact he managed to keep himself from sending Rose yet another message swayed him away from that dangerous territory.
At some point, she would contact him, and then he’d convince her the building purchase had all been an unintentional slight. Hopefully that would be enough to put a smile back in her eyes.
The way he was here, on one side of the wall, while she was there, just on the other, made everything a little more torturous. He dipped his roller in the pan of paint and loaded it for another run over the wall. If he wasn’t getting the chance to get to know Rose better, at least he could knock off a few tasks on his to-do list.
The wall between the shops wasn’t completely soundproof. The country music station on Rose’s side was barely loud enough for him to pick up the pulse of the beat, low enough that the individual words were a muted hum. If he had music playing on his side, he wouldn’t have even noticed hers, but pathetic as he was, even listening to her playlist was better than pretending she wasn’t there.
A crash sounded, breaking glass tinkled, and Rose swore.
Chance dropped his roller and sprinted for the back door. He was in the alley and pulling open the back door of her shop before he could even think. “Rose?”
Cool air surrounded him as he pressed forward toward the swearing. Highly creative curse words, he noted with approval.
He tried again. “Rose, are you okay?”
He stepped into her work space in time to see her head spin toward him. She shot up a hand to warn him off. “Don’t come any closer. There’s glass all over the floor.”
“I see that.” Which meant glass all around where she stood in a pair of open-toed sandals. “Stay put. Where’s your broom?”
