Heartsville 05 - Bloom Box (Cate Ashwood) (9 page)

“I have an inheritance from my grandmother that has been sitting in an account for a few years. I knew I wanted to use it for something important, and there’s nothing more important than this. You mean everything to me. I love you. I love this shop, and if there’s a chance we could make this work, I want to give it everything I’ve got.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. In the beginning, when you said you were going to find someone else to lease the place, I always kind of thought, in the back of my mind, that I would take it over, whether or not you wanted to keep the business. But if you’re willing to be my partner, that’s all I could ever want.”

“You’re sure about this?”

“I’ve never been surer of anything in my life. We can do this, Will. Bloom Box is already successful, and I think with the right marketing and the right partnerships, we could easily expand.”

“If you’re all in, I’m all in,” Will said with decided determination in his words.

“I’m definitely in.”

The phone call to Walt went better than Will could have ever hoped for. He listened patiently as Will explained their proposition, and even more patiently as Milo interjected with a rambling description of exactly what their long-term plans were.

Walt chuckled as Milo finished up his chattering and took a deep breath before he answered. It was in that moment Will’s heart almost stopped beating, but then he spoke.

“Your proposal couldn’t have come at a better time. The arrangement with the man who was supposed to take over your lease fell through, and because of it Victor has been urging me to sell. He wants me to give up some of the responsibility that comes with being a landlord so we would have more freedom to travel. He’s right, and I can’t think of better people to sell to. If you’re interested in buying the other half of the building in the future, please let me know.”

“That’s amazing,” Milo said, and Will suppressed a laugh at the sight of Milo’s happy dance over the news.

“You boys sound like you’ve got good heads on your shoulders. I think you’re going to be very successful in all your endeavors.”

“Thank you so much, Walt,” Will said.

“You’ve been in the neighborhood a long time,” Milo said. “Would you have any suggestions for who we should talk to?”

“The neighborhood has changed so much in recent years, and I regret to say that I haven’t kept up with who has moved in and out. I believe there is a photographer nearby, but I couldn’t tell you his name. You should talk to Teddy Carbone. He’s a lot younger than I am, but he’s been around almost as long. He runs the Oasis Theater. He’s one of the kindest people you’d ever hope to meet. I’m sure he could steer you in the right direction.”

“Thank you so much,” Will repeated.

“Yes, thank you,” Milo echoed.

“You two are most welcome. We will get together soon and draft the purchase agreement.”

“Sounds good. Call us anytime,” Will said before hanging up the phone.

“We’re really doing this,” Milo squealed.

“We’re really doing this,” Will echoed.

Milo jumped into Will’s arms, wrapping his legs tightly around Will’s waist. Automatically, Will moved his hands to Milo’s ass in a feat of multitasking to support and grope all at the same time. Tilting his head up as Milo leaned down, they sealed the start of their new venture with a kiss.

A week later, plans were well underway to expand their upstairs apartment. The first sledgehammer hadn’t yet flown, but they were days away from beginning renovations. Will had made arrangements for them to stay at the River Pointe for two weeks while the worst of the demolition took place. It wasn’t officially a honeymoon, since they weren’t even engaged—not yet anyway—but Will felt a bit like it was. A vacation close to home in a fancy boutique hotel, just the two of them, for two weeks.

Of course they would still need to go into the shop every day, which would hopefully be unaffected by the construction work upstairs, but Will would take what he could get. Maybe one day soon, they could have a honeymoon for real.

In the meantime, he was more than happy with the way his life had turned out. He truly believed Milo was it for him, and he’d finally given up on the notion that Milo might one day leave him. They were good. Better than good.

A morning of shopping for new old furniture at Vintage Affection left them starving and in need of coffee. A quick trip to the café was the perfect ending to the day.

“You know that author you like?” Will asked before taking a bite of his cream cheese pumpkin muffin.

“Which one?” Milo asked.

“The one who writes the mystery books?” Will said, gesturing to the poster tacked to the community board.

“Shepherd Knight?” Milo supplied before he even turned around.

“That’s the one. I think he’s coming to do a signing next week—”

“Here? He’s coming here? To Heartsville? Shepherd Knight is coming here. To Heartsville. No way. There’s no way that’s happening. He’s too big, too popular. Oh my God. Shepherd Knight is coming to Heartsville.”

Will laughed. “He is. He’s signing at Bookmarked. Do you want to go?”

Milo planted his hands on his hips. “Does the Pope shit in the woods?”

“Umm, I don’t think that’s a thing….”

“Of course I want to go. I could be in a coma and still want to go. Shepherd Knight is amazing. His series? It’s the best thing I’ve ever read. The guy is a genius. I can’t believe you haven’t read his books. Now you’re going to have to. I’ll pick them up from my place and bring them over today. You have to start now so you can finish them all before we go. You’re going to love them, I just know you will.”

“Okay. We could make a night of it, maybe get dinner beforehand to celebrate? The meeting with Adam went better than I ever could have hoped,” Will said, the same feeling of excitement he’d had that day washing over him.

“We’re basically going to rule Market Street,” Milo agreed, never taking his eyes off the Shepherd Knight flyer.

Will chuckled. “Definitely.”

The afternoon of the signing, Will and Milo closed down the shop early. It was a special occasion, after all. Not to mention that Milo was more distracted than usual and had managed to drop and smash not one, but four terrariums. At that point, Will called it a wash and locked the door.

They had reservations they probably wouldn’t need at Market Street Bistro, early enough to be at the signing in plenty of time. When Will finished closing up the shop and doing his end-of-day totals, he climbed the stairs to find Milo without pants and waist-deep in a pile of clothes.

“You’ve been out of my sight for literally seven minutes. How have you created this much of a disaster already?”

Milo lifted one eyebrow. “It’s my superpower. You’ve known me long enough that this shouldn’t surprise you. I’ll clean it up later, I swear. I just need to find something that isn’t going to make me look like a preteen fanboy fawning all over the place. I know there’s no stopping my mouth and the words that will fall out of it are going to be asinine, but I can at least
look
like I’m not a complete idiot.”

Will walked over to Milo and wrapped his hand around his bicep, pulling him away from the pile of clothes.

“Jesus, Milo. You’re shaking.”

“I’m excited.”

“Come here,” Will said, pulling Milo into a loose embrace. “He’s just a guy.”

“Shepherd Knight is
not
‘just a guy’,” Milo said disbelievingly. “You don’t get it because you haven’t read his books, which is just insane. He’s amazing. The most amazing author ever. I still feel like I’m dreaming that he’s coming here.”

“You’re going to be fine. He’s going to love you. Everyone loves you. But I love you most of all.”

“You’re a dork.”

Will feigned hurt feelings, but Milo kissed him and all hurt feelings, pretend or otherwise, vanished in an instant.

Dinner ran long on account of there being too many things to choose from on the menu, but eventually they were standing at the end of a very long line that wound through the shop and out the front door. Milo fidgeted with the cuff of his shirt, twisting the fabric between his fingers.

“Are you okay?” Will asked. “He’s going to love you, remember?”

“I’m shy.”

Will snorted. “I seem to remember a guy who was not shy at all, climbing onto my lap and rubbing himself all over me.”

“Yeah, but you were worth taking a chance on.”

“I was, huh?”

“Yup. And look what it got me. I slept my way all the way to the top.”

Will laughed. “I love you, you know.”

“I know. I love you too.”

Milo squeezed Will’s hand and moved forward, the line of people ahead of him dwindling by the minute. Finally, it was his turn, the last customer of the night. Will stepped to the side, partially embarrassed that he’d never read the books, but close enough in case Milo needed reassurance.

He didn’t.

The moment Milo got up there, his reservations vanished and he was talking a mile a minute. Shepherd Knight looked as though he didn’t know what hit him. Will tried not to laugh, as the poor author all but bolted out of there, but Milo walked away with a signed book and a huge smile.

“Happy?” Will asked as they walked back through the store and out onto the street.

“Elated.”

“Good. Let’s go home.”

“Home sounds perfect.”

Will didn’t know when it had happened, but sometime after Milo had barged headfirst into his life, Milo had become his family and Bloom Box his home. He couldn’t have asked for a more perfect neighborhood to build a life with the man he loved. It was his happily ever after.

Cate Ashwood

Cate Ashwood wrote her very first story in a hot pink binder when she was in the second grade and found her passion for writing. Her first successful foray into romance writing came five years later when she wrote her best friend, who was experiencing a case of unrequited love, her own happily ever after.

Cate’s life has taken a number of different and adventurous roads. She now lives a stone’s throw from the ocean, just outside of Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband, son, and two cats. Her life is filled with family and friends, travel, and, of course, books.

Also by Cate Ashwood

Newport Boys Series
Keeping Sweets
Resurrecting Elliott
Hope Cove Series
Brokenhearted

Wholehearted

Ironhearted

Canyon Creek Series

Tasting Notes

Zero Hour Series

A Forced Silence

Heartsville Series

Bloom Box

Stand Alone Novels

Thirty Things

The Storm Before the Calm

Brick by Brick

Novellas

Riding the Board

Five Ways a Boy Can Break Your Heart

Red Runs Through

Don’t miss the other stories in the Heartsville series

To save his bookstore from closing, Mark Werner realizes it’s going to take a miracle—like getting reclusive, best-selling author Shepherd Knight to agree to appear for a signing.

After their disastrous last encounter, Mark doesn’t hold up much hope Shepherd will agree. Shepherd’s never made a single public appearance. In fact, Mark wouldn’t even know what he looks like had he not accidentally discovered the sexy stranger he’d been flirting with for months, aka “Tall-Dark-and-Grumpy,” was also his fanboy obsession.