Read Blooming for Free Online

the map until
somewhere struck me. With my work it doesn’t matter where I live, that’s the
beauty of it.”
    “What do you
mean you needed to leave where you were – were you on the run from the law?” he
teased.
    “Nothing so
exciting I’m afraid. After my mom died three years ago I moved in with an older
couple who were friends of hers, they had an apartment over the garage and it
suited me to start my business there, I inherited my mom’s estate and after
expenses I had just about enough to get by while I built the business up.”
    “I’m sorry
about your mom; you’ve no dad in the picture?”
    “Never knew
him and never looked for him, mom always spoke about him as if he was a
deadbeat. He certainly never cared to look for me either I suppose. My mom was
a lot like me, not very confident. After he left when I was tiny, she never
tried to have another relationship.”
    “That’s pretty
sad,” Todd murmured, while silently thanking God for his own parents, whose
only flaw was a slight tendency to be too supportive.
    “Anyway, the
couple I rented from began to try to drag me into their family, endless
invitations to dinner, setting up unwanted blind dates, that kind of thing. I
know they were just trying to look out for me, but I wasn’t interested. I
pretty much had to look out for myself my whole life and that’s how I cope, I
don’t want people to develop relationships with me, it’s just too weird for me.”
    “I don’t
understand; why don’t you want people to get to know you?”
    “Look, it’s
complicated. When I came here I didn’t intend to let people near me again and
the first thing I did was fall down the pissing stairs.”
    “Yeah that
kind of blew away your resourceful unseen ninja speech from this afternoon.”
    Before she
could retort he changed tack slightly, “So what did the old couple say when you
told them you were leaving?”
    “I took the
cowards way out and left while they were on vacation.”
    “I don’t
think you’re a coward at all, you seem to stand up to me when you need to, and
you moved yourself from Chicago, you’re running your own business. Cowards
don’t get that far.”
    “That’s nice
of you to say, but I cop out all the time.”
    Todd traced a
pattern with his finger on the door wishing he could touch her fingers again,
“I need you to make me a promise, never to just run from here. I’d rather back
off than force you out. I can’t promise to keep Lily away from you, because
she’s every bit as tenacious as me, but I’ll speak to Sean and Sebastian about
giving you some breathing room. I get the feeling I’m the main problem though
maybe?”
    A minute’s
pause, “Yes, you are.”
    “Why?”
    “Because
you’re ridiculously good looking, and that’s no good to me, I won’t be able to
act on it.”
    Todd smiled
that sounded like a challenge if ever he’d heard one.
    There was
another pause and a gulp, “I’m having a glass of wine would you like one? If
you do, I’ll pass it through the door.”
    “OK, that’d
be good.”
    Todd felt her
weight leave the door and her feet padded away and then back. The door opened a
fraction and her arm came out to the elbow, to pass him the glass. He held her
wrist as he took the wine from her, and used the opportunity to press a kiss
into the palm of her hand, before allowing her to withdraw.
    The door
closed again, and he heard her sit, but suspected she was facing the door this
time. “What was that for?”
    “You sound so
sad, and I don’t like people to be sad it may surprise you to know I’m not as
insensitive as you think.”
    Jen laughed
again, “Yeah right.”
    “See you’re
feeling better already, from just one tiny kiss.” Todd pressed on before she
could deny it, “Why do I make you nervous?”
    There was
silence for a few minutes while she sipped her drink, and Todd wasn’t sure
she’d continue.
    Finally Jen
breathed in deeply, “OK, I can tell you a few things that happened to