All Chapters of He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not: The Flower Shop Sisters: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

A week after Mari and I signed our contract, and three days after Mari moved into my place, I cursed myself for being the greatest fool alive.Live together, I’d said, it’ll be fine, I’d said.Except it wasn’t fucking fine. Mari was in my space, her smell, her voice, her very being taking up both my physical and mental space.She’d filled my fridge with chick food. I was pretty sure she’d bought at least one bottle of rosé and one bottle of chardonnay, both of which I never allowed near my kitchen for obvious reasons. She’d filled my bathroom cabinets with so many items—how did women have so much stuff?It had been so long since I’d lived with a woman I’d forgotten they collected products like magpies collected things for their nests. They had soap for each body part. They had tweezers and clippers and tiny scissors; they had lotion and razors and hair spray. And so much makeup. Thankfully Mari had kept most of her makeup in her bedroom—my second bedroom—because there wasn’t room f

By the time I arrived home—no, not home, it was Liam’s place—I stalled going inside. The entire drive home, anxiety churned in my gut. For the first time, this entire situation had truly dawned on me. It was like I’d been floating through a dream until reality had splashed me with a bucket of ice water.I pressed my forehead to the steering wheel. That too-familiar panic threatened to take over like it had at Jenna’s wedding reception. I took in a shuddering breath. Then another. Until I was calm enough to go inside and hope Liam wouldn’t ask me about my supposed work party.I wasn’t talking to him anyway, so that should be easy enough.Liam was lounging on the couch, music filling the living room. He had a spectacular view of Elliott Bay—way better than my view of a general store I’d had at my old place. The most exciting thing I’d see out my window was when raccoons would knock over the trashcans and the owner would come out, yelling at them and threatening to call the cops. I’d n

Running after a teenager wasn’t exactly in my plans this morning, but here I was, on the streets of downtown Seattle, trying to catch up to Niamh.Liam hadn’t told me much about his sister beyond her aspirations to get into an Ivy League. He’d said she wanted to study political science and to start a non-profit.“Why am I the one doing this?” I said to myself, startling a man walking past me. Liam should be the one here, not me.I could see Niamh and her blue hair up ahead, about a block away. I walked faster, almost running when I saw the WALK sign turn on.“Niamh! Wait!”Niamh glanced over her shoulder, scowled, and walked faster.I was considerably taller than Liam’s sister, my legs longer, and luck was on my side when Niamh got caught in a crowd of fanny-pack wearing tourists most likely walking to Pike Market.Why anyone would come to Seattle in January, I had no idea. Maybe they were actual masochists. Based on their shorts and sandals, they were either insane or robots wh

Niamh left the next day, but not before Liam had made her promise to behave herself.“You’re giving me gray hairs already,” he’d said when she’d hugged him.“You’ll look dashing with a salt and pepper look.” Niamh had turned to me, and to my surprise, had hugged me tightly. She’d whispered in my ear, “Take care of him? He’s stupid but I love him anyway.”I’d just nodded. That moment last night, when Liam and I had sat in silence, had changed something between us. It had been a silence loaded with intimacy, with emotions, with things that were dangerous but heady at the same time.Returning to his apartment, we lapsed into silence again. We hadn’t been truly alone in three days—not since the night he’d given me the greatest orgasm I’d ever had.Sleeping next to him without really sleeping with him? That had been pure torture. His smell, his heat, the way he looked while he slept. His hair tousled in the morning, or how he stretched and showed off every muscle without even realizing

The car ride home from my family’s house was silent. I tried to get Liam to tell me what he and my mom had talked about, but he just said she’d only read his cards. “A bunch of bollocks,” he’d muttered more than once.Tonight hadn’t gone as well as I’d hoped. Despite telling my dad to lay off Liam, he’d been like a dog with a smelly, disgusting bone. While Liam had been with my mom, I’d told my dad to cool it. He’d countered that he’d “cool it” when he’d seen evidence that I hadn’t married a hooligan.“Dad, a hooligan? Seriously? What year is this, 1955?” I’d said in exasperation.“That was the nicest term I could come up with.”Lucky for me and unluckily for Dani, our dad had decided that he’d wanted to discuss something with Jacob. Apparently both Dani and I had struck out in the dad approval department. It was up to Kate to win that award—God help us all.By eleven o’clock, I got dressed in my prettiest new lingerie—a ruby red babydoll that I’d bought for my honeymoon, believe