I shook my head. “No, honestly I don’t care at all, Hannah. You can have him.”
She laughed. “No, thanks. I’m forever tied to that asshole, now that we have a baby together. His folks are real sweet, though, and they adore Will. I’m actually engaged myself.” Hannah held up the ring on her finger and wore a wide smile. “His name is Greg and he is a professor at the university. We met at a single parents’ barbecue. His wife died giving birth to his three-year-old daughter. William simply adores Candace…she’s Greg’s daughter.”
“Oh, wow. Congratulations,” I said with a smile.
“Thank you,” Hannah said as she turned and started to get the tea, clearly just now remembering it.
We took the glasses she offered to us, and I took a sip before setting my glass down. “Hannah, I want you to know that I have not been seeing Jason. I’ve only seen him once since we broke up over a year ago.”
She tilted her head and sighed. “I believe you.” She paused. “I think Jason is the type of guy who wants what he can’t have. When he found out I was getting married to Greg, he begged me to take him back. Then when I told him there was no way we would be getting back together, he told me was going to try and work things out with you. That was around two weeks before the news about your engagement to Landon broke, which, by the way, I wasn’t the least bit surprised about. Anyone who saw the way you two looked at each other knew there was something there. I’m pretty sure that was why Jason came to me and…”
She let her sentence trail off.
“It’s all in the past,” I said. “I’m just glad to know you’re happy and doing well. I know Addie and my mom miss having you at the bed and breakfast.”
Hannah smiled. “That’s very sweet, but I’ve honestly never been happier.”
Landon set his tea glass down on the kitchen counter. “When are you getting married, Hannah?”
She blushed. “Next weekend. Greg and I are heading to Vegas. We sort of need to get married quickly.” Hannah patted her stomach. “I’m about two months along.”
“Oh! Congratulations!” I said.
“Thank you, I appreciate it.”
Landon smiled. “Listen, we’ll let you and Will get back to your walk. If you could just let your aunt know that I’m not the father, that would be great. Or at least tell her what Jason does for a living so she doesn’t spread the rumor to anyone else.”
Hannah groaned and shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Landon. I’ll get it straightened out right away. And Emmerson, I’m really, really sorry for everything that happened with Jason. He kept telling me how lonely he was, how you were in love with Landon but wouldn’t admit it. I let him sweet talk me into being with him when I knew he was still dating you. I want you to know how awful I feel about that.”
I held up my hand to stop her. “Hannah, honestly, it doesn’t bother me in the least. I myself am very happy. The only thing I’m focusing on is the future. The past is the past.”
“Wonderful. You have no idea how much of a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. Thank you so much. Again, I’m sorry for the misunderstanding, Landon. I’ll talk to my aunt today.”
Landon laughed. “Thanks, Hannah. Congratulations on the wedding and the new baby.”
Hannah’s face lit up. “Thanks again.”
I gave her a quick hug before she scooped up Will and followed us to the front door.
After we said our goodbyes again and made our way to the truck, I let out a little giggle. “One word. That’s it. Mary left out one stupid word,” I said, laughing even harder once we got into the truck.
Landon let out a few curse words and shook his head. “What a damn clusterfuck. I’m glad it turned out to be a misunderstanding and nothing more.”
“I’m glad she’s found Greg and isn’t marrying Jason. I didn’t want to ask her if she knew about his other fiancée, Lillian.”
“What a douche. Enough about that asshole, though. When are we going to another cake tasting?”
Laughing, I reached for his hand. “Are you going to stuff your face so full you get sick again?”
He huffed. “That was a one-time thing. I learned my lesson.”
“No cake tasting today. But you’re in luck, the florist said we can stop by anytime. So if you want to swing by there before you drop me back off and head to work, we can flower shop!”
Landon tried to hide the sour expression on his face, but I caught a glimpse of it anyway.
“Yay…flowers,” he said in a very unhappy tone.
“It’ll be fun! You’ll see!”
Landon
I WALKED OVER to Emmerson and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “You said this was going to be fun. But if I have to smell one more flower, I’m going to throw up again.”
She peeked up at me over a bouquet of roses. “Have you eaten anything?”
“Ha ha, Emme. I cannot take the smell in here!”
Emmerson ignored me and picked up a large white rose. “What do you think about roses?”
I stared down at the flower and smiled. “You’ve always loved white roses.”
When she didn’t say anything, I lifted my gaze to see her staring at me, tears building in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, pulling her closer.
“You never forget anything, do you?”
I brushed aside a strand of her hair that had fallen from her ponytail and tucked it behind her ear as I smiled down at her. “Not when it comes to you. I also know you like dark chocolate and absolutely hate white. You would kill someone if they ever ate your black licorice, and no one can bother you when you’re watching The Wedding Planner. You buy this weird sponge candy from a store up in the northeast ever since you and Hailey discovered it on a road trip, but you never tell her when you order it so you can randomly surprise her with it. You want two kids. A boy and girl, to be exact… And you’ve always dreamed of a wedding bouquet with anemones in it. But why you’d want something from the ocean mixed in with your flowers has always been sorta weird to me.”
A tear trailed down her beautiful face, so I leaned down and kissed it away.
Then she laughed. “Not that kind of anemone. Let me show you what I mean.”
Emmerson took my hand in hers, and we walked through the labyrinth of flowers that were on display. When she said we were going to a florist today, I thought she meant a store. This place was a giant nursery on crack.
“These are the flowers I mean.”
“Oh, wow. I really like these,” I said, looking at the delicate white flower with a dark center. “These are really pretty.”
“I know, they really are.”
“Are you going to use them in your bouquet?” I walked over and picked up a red one. “What if you mixed the white and the red anemones in with your white roses? And then on the tables, we can do some sort of display with the white and red ones. That sorta seems Christmas-like to me.”
Emmerson and I had decided we were going to have our wedding ceremony on the fake ceremony date she had blurted out: December 21. I also knew that she’d always dreamed of a winter wedding, and that simply eloping in a courthouse would never be good enough for her.