Dear Lily, 

When I heard the doorbell ring as I sat with you in our sitting room that night, my heart stopped beating for a second. 

Of course, as life often goes, it was the worst case scenario. There stood Deidre and Toby. Toby had a huge boutique of roses. Two dozen as it turned out. They were so deeply red they almost looked black. Toby broke my heart when he said, “Everett asked me to bring you these.” I couldn’t help but notice his eyes lingered a little too long on my chest and not for a good reason.

I grabbed the roses too high so I wouldn’t have to touch Toby. Covering up the mess was the top priority. Those roses felt like…well…like grabbing two dozen roses and having the thorns sink in...

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