Page 41 of For My Finale
“Blossom, wait—”
“No,” Blossom said. “Just… just forget it.”
Then she was gone, the door clicking shut behind her.
Lilah exhaled heavily, putting her head in her hands. She’d gotten things terribly wrong.
She’d just assumed that Blossom would be like anyone else, drawn in by the glitz and the glamor, willing to take whatever she could get from the famous actress. But Blossom wasn’t like that, and Lilah should have known. She should have known from the start, when everyone was demanding to know why she’d quit her career, and Blossom hadn’t shown even a modicum of interest.
And she was upset, upset that she’d got things wrong, upset that Blossom had stalked out. But a little piece of her was also sort of… ecstatic. Because maybe, just maybe, Blossom liked her for who she really was.
Chapter Seventeen
Apologies were not a Lilah Paxton thing. Back home, if she’d offended someone, her publicist would issue a carefully crafted statement, or a hand-picked journalist would run a story. Sometimes gifts would change hands. But this, this was different. This was Blossom, and Lilah had no idea how she was supposed to go about fixing things.
She walked into town earlier than usual, mostly because she hadn’t slept well and she really wanted to get this over with. The village was still waking up. Arty waved to her from the pub window, baking bread smells came from the bakery, people walked dogs. There were a lot of dogs. Lilah was reconsidering her position as an animal lover.
She was considering whether or not fish counted as animals when she found that she was already standing in front of the cafe.
Slowing down, her stomach tightened. She’d spent most of the night going over their argument in her head, realizing how stupid she’d been, how thoughtless. Offering money had seemed such a simple fix in her mind. She had it, Blossom needed it, problem solved. But she got it now, got that she’d done wrong, and all she really wanted to do was make things right again.
She took a deep breath before she opened the door andstepped inside, the smell of warm coffee wrapping around her. Blossom was behind the counter, polishing the espresso machine with quick, efficient movements. She looked up when Lilah came in, expression unreadable.
“I’m just about to close up,” she said, concentrating on her task. “I’ve got a meeting at the bank.”
“Right,” Lilah said. “The business plan thing.”
Blossom nodded, still not quite meeting her eye. “Yeah.”
Lilah blew out a breath. Apologies might not be her thing, but she knew that this was going to take more than mumbling sorry and walking away. She looked around the empty cafe, then back at Blossom.
“Don’t close up,” she said suddenly. “I’ll take care of things for an hour.”
Blossom’s hands stilled on the machine. “You’ll… what?”
“It’s the least I can do,” Lilah said, warming to the idea. “You’re already doing a million things at once. Go to your meeting, I’ll hold down the fort.”
“You. Running my cafe.” Blossom had narrowed her eyes.
“I’ll have you know that I made an excellent bartender.”
“Not the same thing,” Blossom said.
“Close enough,” said Lilah breezily. “You make drinks, you take orders, you smile at customers. I can handle it.”
Blossom was still looking skeptical, but something in her expression softened. “You really want to do this?”
“I really want to do this.” Lilah cleared her throat. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I wasn’t thinking about the implications of what I said, and I didn’t mean to offend you, although I see why I did.”
“Right,” said Blossom, finally looking her in the eye. “That’s alright then.” She looked around at the cafe. “If you burn the place down, you’ll be fully responsible.”
“Fair,” agreed Lilah, feeling lighter and very relieved.
Blossom hesitated for a second, almost long enough for Lilah to get offended, then grabbed her jacket and keys. As she moved past Lilah, she paused. “Thanks,” she said. “For offering.”
There was a whiff of scent, vanilla and fresh cut grass, that took Lilah’s breath away. “You’re welcome. Go save your cafe. I got this.”
One last skeptical look, and Blossom headed out the door. As it clicked shut behind her, Lilah took a deep breath and turned toward the counter.
