Page 49 of Finding New Dreams

Silence grew thick and heavy between us.

I didn’t want to reach for that doorknob. I didn’t want this to be over. If I walked out of here, we might never have these kinds of moments again. What if things grew cold and distant again? What if she went on more dates and forgot all about me?

Searching my eyes with hers, Rose chewed on her lower lip. I wanted to suck on that lower lip as much as I wanted to tangle my fingers in her dark, unruly hair and run my hands over the slender curves hiding under her sweater.

I tore my gaze away from hers, clearing my throat. My eyes landed on a painting, one I hadn’t noticed last night.

“You kept that?” I blurted out.

She followed my gaze, and her eyebrows lifted. “You thought I’d throw away our canvas?”

“I couldn’t find it when I came in the next day, so yeah, I thought so.”

“I would never,” she said softly, those soulful eyes on me again. “It represents a happy memory, a bond, a breakthrough. I love it. But you can have it if you want it.”

“No, you keep it safe. I like knowing that you have it.”

She nodded, shuffling her feet as if she wanted to come closer to me.

Yes, beautiful, come to me. Touch me. Hold me close. Kiss me goodbye before you kiss me hello again.

But she didn’t. Instead, she just smiled and whispered, “Goodbye, Flynn.”

I sighed. “Goodbye, Rose.”

In the next heartbeat, I left.

The sun shone on me, warm and sweet, as if it’d never rained. As if needles of disappointment weren’t puncturing my chest.

I made it back to Chloe’s house and into my room with no interruption and no memory of how I got there. I stripped and stumbled into the shower, turning the water to cold.

In the middle of soaping up, an idea hit me so hard I dropped the soap, clambered out of the shower half-washed, and picked up my phone.

After a few minutes of tapping, my account on Rose’s dating app was all set up. Holding my breath, I found her and sent her a match.

I stood there, staring at my phone, dripping wet, for a moment. My heart thundered in my ears. I waited. And waited.

Just as I was about to set my phone back down, it pinged. Glancing at the notification, I shouted in triumph.

She’d accepted.

* * *

Owen picked me and Hunter up, and together we drove to the tux rental shop that Chloe had directed us to, several towns over. We talked about the wedding, town events, and the latest Gazette article about the landscaping committee’s recent crackdown on dog shit in the square.

Owen and Hunter talked about a fantasy book they were both reading, and Owen asked me how my painting was coming. To which I mumbled something and quickly changed the subject.

They offered to get lunch with me at Monty’s Diner back in Tangled River, but I had to open the gallery.

Part of me wished I could go with them—keep building the new and old friendships. But the other part of me wondered what the point was. My stay wasn’t permanent. Plus, I’d been thinking up conversation starters for Rose in our dating app.

And with Owen and Hunter gone and the gallery open but empty, I had some time to kill.

Lounging on one of the benches, I pulled out my phone and opened the messaging part of the app.

ArtsyHotGuy3234: Hey, I’m looking for a super artsy hot girl who twirls when she’s excited. That you?

I fiddled with my bracelet, staring at the screen until the three magical dots fluttered across the screen.

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