FLO STOOD ON the sidewalk alongside Main Street, surveying the... Well, the only thing she could really call it was a block party. She grinned.
Take that, Jasper Landon.
What had started out as a book rally in front of the library to protest the banning of books had turned into a town-wide rally down Main Street to protest the banning of books. The business owners had volunteered to do much more than post flyers in their storefront windows and donate funds. From Elegant Occasions, Patricia Collins’s boutique, to Six Ways to Sundae, Flo’s former employer, down to Get Booked, the local bookstore, they all offered to host giveaways with prizes from their stores, get a counterpetition against banning books signed and hand out the potential banned books listed on the original petition. And as far as the eye could see people were decked out in We Read the Banned T-shirts. Paid for and donated courtesy of their resident New York Times bestselling authors Beck Dansing, aka Jenna Landon, and I.M. Kelly aka Israel Ford. Who, coincidentally, were parked out in front of the library signing complimentary copies of their books—books also included on the original petition’s list.
Smirking, Flo smoothed a hand down the front of her own We Read the Banned T-shirt. She hadn’t seen Jasper Landon today, but rumor was he’d been down at City Hall throwing a hissy fit and trying to get the rally/party shut down. Yeah, good luck with that. Remi Donovan had covered all her bases and permits.
Damn. She just loved when evil was thwarted for another day.
“Hey, babe!” Leo approached, waving with the hand not curled around her son, Bono. “This is crazy, isn’t it?” She grinned, and Flo swore she glimpsed every last one of her teeth.
“Crazy beautiful,” Flo said, taking Bono, who stretched his arms out toward her. Smacking a loud kiss on his cheek and making him giggle, she settled him on her hip. He started playing with her locs. And it was one of the very few times it was quite all right for someone, other than who she permitted, to touch a Black woman’s hair. “I can’t believe the turnout. I swear, everyone in town must be here.”
“Not everyone.” Leo snickered. “Helene closed down her store and hightailed it out of here along with her shady as—” she abruptly cut off, glancing at Bono “—asinine husband.”
“Of course she did,” Flo drawled and cackled along with her sister.
“I saw your people from Vintage Renovation around here, too. The producer? Mira’s her name, right? She was down at the library with one of the television crews. Can I stress one of? I saw at least three, and one was from New York.”
Flo nodded, absently removing Bono’s fingers from the hoop earring he tugged on.
“That would be Mira’s friend. She offered to let them know about the rally. I wasn’t sure if they would come since we’re a small town in Massachusetts. But apparently having two famous authors—one of them formerly reclusive—in the midst of a book-banning protest brought them out.”
“Good, whatever it takes.” Leo rubbed her hands together. “With this much coverage and most of the town’s participation, just let Jasper try to railroad something like this again. Jacka—” Once more she glanced at her son. “Apple.”
“That looked so painful,” Flo said with a crack of laughter.
Leo sighed. “You have no idea. He’s at that age where he’s repeating everything he hears, and I’ll be...doggone if I’m blamed for his agitated adjectives before Owen.”
“You and Owen actually turned childrearing into a competition of who can curse less?”
Leo’s look clearly said duh. “Uh, yeah. He’s an athlete. He shouldn’t be afraid of a little competition.” Holding her arms out to Bono, who eagerly went back to his mom, Leo cuddled him close then smiled, poking his stomach and eliciting a giggle. “I’m going to take this little guy down to the bookstore to buy our copy of Worm Loves Worm.”
“Go ahead and have fun, my little anarchist.”
“Love you!” With a grin, Leo walked off, disappearing in the thick crowds gathered on the sidewalks.
For the next hour Flo strolled up and down Main Street snapping pictures of the event. Mostly of the people and their different reactions to the protest that had pretty much turned into a celebration of literature—all literature. She caught people laughing as they talked with one another. Eating hot dogs, cupcakes and drinking beverages. Signing the petitions wearing determined expressions. Reading the books they’d received or bought. Or just sitting on the benches dotting the sidewalk, quietly people-watching, wearing their banned books T-shirts.
She smiled, leaning against the brick wall outside Mimi’s Café, scrolling through the pictures. They were great shots. Most of them she would post on Rose Bend’s social media pages as well as her own. One of the convenient parts of living in a small town? She knew mostly everyone, so hunting them down to sign releases would be easy.
“Flo!” Justine slammed into her legs only a couple of seconds after she yelled her name.
Laughing, Flo sank to a knee and gathered the little girl in her arms. She hadn’t seen Justine in the past three days, and that hurt. Flo missed her. Missed her voice that never dropped below an eight in volume. Missed her mispronunciation of words and funny, brutally honest observations. Just missed her. Yet, even knowing everything with Adam would end up as it had, Flo could never regret getting to know and fall in love with his daughter.
“Hey, Jussie.” Flo tugged on one of the twists Jennifer had continued for her daughter. “I’m so glad to see you. Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Uh-huh.” She nodded her head so hard her twists swung around her face. “I got hot chocolate and books!” Then she switched subjects with lightning speed, throwing her arms around Flo’s neck and squeezing. “I miss you, Flo.”
“I miss you, too, sweetie,” she murmured, voice suddenly husky with emotion.
Shit. She refused to cry on Main Street in front of God and Rose Bend. She just refused to cry, period. Not only would it probably upset Justine, but she’d done more than her fair share in the past two weeks.
“I miss you, too.”
She stiffened at that voice. At that beloved voice of whiskey and sin that had haunted her waking and sleeping hours. Her heart throbbed against her rib cage, and she forced herself to look up from Justine to meet the golden gaze of her father.
Adam.
She’d seen him almost every day at the renovation site, but they might as well have been hundreds of miles apart. She’d ached for him these past two weeks and being near him only increased that hurt. She loved him, but she didn’t regret her choice. She couldn’t fight for the two of them unless they were both willing to go to battle. She couldn’t be in this alone. And Adam hadn’t even armored up for it. Moe was fond of saying never be someone’s backup plan when they’re your only plan.
Well, she wasn’t even Adam’s Plan B.
But now he was here, standing in the middle of a packed sidewalk, declaring he missed her.
It struck her as cruel. And anger rose swift and hot inside her. But with Justine there, she couldn’t unleash it on him.
Slowly rising, she cupped Justine’s shoulder and said, “Hi, Adam,” not addressing his declaration.
“Flo! Flo, guess what?” Justine bounced on her toes, doing her adorable, twisty dance and twirling. She didn’t wait for Flo to reply, but blurted out, “We live here! We live in Ross End!”
Flo frowned, interpreting “Ross End” into Rose Bend, but still not grasping the rest of what Justine had just said. We live here. Well, she and her father had been in town for weeks now. Maybe Justine thought they did live here. For a five-year-old, that had to seem like a long time.
“That’s nice, sweetie,” Flo said, hesitant. It wasn’t her place to correct her. That was Adam’s job.
“Jussy,” Adam said, raising an eyebrow.
“Oops.” Justine comically clapped both hands over her mouth and mumbled from behind them, “Sorry, Daddy.” Dropping her arms, she peered up at Flo and whispered loudly, “It’s a secret.”
Now really confused, she glanced at Adam, frown deepening.
The corner of his mouth quirked, most likely at his daughter’s antics. But his eyes, bright and somber, were fixed on her.
“She’s right. We live here now.”
Her breath snagged in her lungs, and if not for the brick wall at her spine, she might’ve staggered back. But she stared at him, frozen with bewilderment, residual traces of anger and...hope. Stupid, relentless hope that hadn’t learned its lesson yet.
“What?” she asked.
Adam nodded, his gaze roaming over her face, lingering on her mouth before rising to her eyes again.
“As of this morning, we have a contract with Isaac Hunter to buy the house we’ve been staying in. Rose Bend is our new home.”
“I don’t...” Her voice trailed off, stuttering to stunned silence.
“We love you!” Justine crowed, throwing her arms wide.
Several people smiled as they passed by, and others laughed. Their little trio had become a sidewalk show, and all they needed was a hat for change.
“I love you, too, sweetie,” she whispered, but that we... It had stopped the thudding of her heart for a couple of seconds, and now it raced like an escapee.
“Justine,” Adam said dryly. “I’m going to take it from here, okay, baby girl?”
“Okay, Daddy!”
He neared Flo, and again, she was thankful for the building behind her. It held her up when her legs had the consistency of water.
“Flo, Jussy’s not wrong. We love you. I love you,” he murmured.
She was projecting. She’d finally cracked under the pain and sadness and was now imagining things because she could’ve sworn Adam said he loved her.
“Told you so!” Justine boasted.
“Jussy.”
“Sorry, Daddy!”
Shifting his attention back to Flo, he lifted an arm, his cupped hand hovering near her cheek. But he dropped it, rubbing his palm over his thigh.
“I’m sorry, Flo,” he said, and for a bemused moment, she thought he referred to nearly touching her without her permission. But then he dispelled that by continuing. “I was the coward you called me. But it didn’t have anything to do with you. It was all me. I used your age and career as an excuse not to face my own fears and insecurities. I didn’t want to hear that you loved me because I didn’t think I was lovable or able to be the person you needed. Someone who wouldn’t hurt you, wreck a relationship. A part of me believed I couldn’t be a healthy partner because I didn’t see that growing up. I believed I was my father’s son.”
He inhaled a breath, dragging his hand over his hair, a tell she’d come to recognize when he was uncomfortable or nervous. That she knew that detail about him only emphasized how much she noticed everything about this man. Loved everything about him. And hearing him confess these negative things he’d come to accept about himself had pain and anger sweeping through her. But not at him. For him.
“I don’t know your father,” she said hotly, eyes narrowed. “But from what you’ve told me, you are nothing like him. You are your own person, not a carbon copy of him. And there’s nothing unlovable about you.”
His lips twitched again, but then he sobered. “I’m starting to believe that. And you’re the reason why. You’re the reason why I’m choosing to stop allowing fear to rule every decision I make. I’m choosing you. And Rose Bend. I’m choosing to give my daughter my very best, and that’s you, Flo. So even if you decide I’m not who you want anymore and a future with me is not in your future, I’m still staying here. I’m still giving Jussy you, and you, her. And when you return from Kenya, we’ll be here, waiting for you, trusting you’ll return to us.”
“And what if I decide I don’t want you in my future anymore? You’re going to respect that? Give up?” she pressed, her heart creeping up to her throat.
“I’ll respect it. I’ll even accept it. But give up? Never. I’ll just try harder to convince you of the truth. That you are meant for me, and I’m meant for you. I didn’t fight for you once. I won’t do that again, queen. You’re worth waging a war over.”
His words nearly echoing her earlier thoughts stung her eyes, and she squeezed them closed. Gentle fingers traced the arch of her eyebrow, the tender skin beneath her lashes, the bridge of her nose.
“Look at me,” he softly ordered, and when she acquiesced—she couldn’t do anything less—love filled his hazel eyes. So much love she almost disobeyed him and lowered her lashes again. Almost. “Please forgive me for running. No more and never again, Flo. Jussy and I, we’re staying still and letting you find your way home to us.”
The tangled knot of emotion around her throat wouldn’t allow her to speak, but he didn’t seem to have that problem.
Cupping her cheek, he lowered his head and pressed his forehead to hers. “You have no choice but to stay with me. Jennifer has decided Rose Bend will now be her home base between her travels. Oh, and she’s also decided to become an author now that she’s met Beck Dansing. You invited her to a girls’ night and gave her friends, so she’s your responsibility now. You have to be responsible for saving me from her.”
“Do I get hazard pay?” she breathed, choking on a thick laugh.
“A salary, queen. You get me, Jussy, my meddlesome ex-wife and apparently your new buddy. All you have to do is take us. Accept us.”
“I love you,” she whispered. Then stronger, louder, “I love you.”
“We love you, too!” Justine tossed her arms around her and Adam’s legs. “I’m not running, too, Flo!”
Love, joy and hope surged within her, and she couldn’t contain it all. So she loosed it. Leaning her head back, she laughed aloud, and it was long, loud and so free.
And as Adam kissed her, swallowing her laughter and giving her his own, she knew her running days were over.
She’d finally come home.
Look for the next Rose Bend novel
coming soon!