Chapter 97 — Madison

I was nervous.

Kade would be here any minute to pick me up for our date.

It’s just Kade, I told myself.

Kade. The man I’d known forever.

Kade. The man I was falling for all over again.

I ran my hands down my waist, smoothing the silk material of the little black dress I wore. It hugged all my curves in all the right places. After stepping into my red bottomed heels, I checked my lipstick in the mirror.

I wore my hair long and loose. I’d spent the afternoon with Momma, both of us being pampered. We’d gotten our nails done. Our hair styled.

We’d spent some time in Nordstrom’s and I’d come out with this dress.

We hadn’t talked about anything important. Momma knew I had a date with Kade. That was about it.

We hadn’t even talked about Daddy. We’d just needed some stress-free quality mother-daughter time.

My sister was out. As usual, so I had the run of the house myself.

I wandered into the kitchen and drank half a bottle of cold water.

Then, right on time, Kade sent me a message. I keyed in the code for him to come up and went to wait for him at the elevator doors.

The doors opened and Kade stood there, handsome in a black tux.

He hadn’t said where we were going. I just assumed dinner and had dressed accordingly. Apparently, we’d been on the same wave length.

He stepped out of the elevator, his hands behind his back.

“Hi,” I said.

“Hi.” He leaned over and kissed me lightly on the lips.

Then he stepped back and pulled an ivory rose from behind his back.

“For being my best friend,” he said.

My hands shook as I took the flower from him.

Best friend. Not exactly the sentiment I was going for.

Before I had time to sort this out, he handed me a pink rose.

“For being the person I’ve always admired.”

As I put the pink and ivory roses together, he brought out a lavender rose.

“Because you’re my princess.”

“Where did you find this?” I asked, knowing that lavender roses were hard to find.

Instead of answering, he handed me a green rose.

“For starting over,” he said.

My eyes were misting over.

Then he handed me seven red roses.

“Because, quite simply,” he said. “I love you. And seven is supposed to symbolize infatuation. One for every day of the week.”

I held the bouquet of roses in my hands and bit my lip as I smiled at him. Then I stretched up and placed a kiss on his cheek.

“I’ll put these in some water,” I said.

Kade followed me to the kitchen and leaned against the counter, watching me.

My hands were still trembling as I grabbed a vase my sister kept on the counter, filled it with water, and carefully placed the flowers, one by one into the vase.

Eleven roses. Seven red, a pink, a white, a lavender, and a green.

They made a surprisingly beautiful bouquet.

“Thank you,” I said, looking up at Kade.

He was so incredibly handsome. And the way he was looking at me did strange things to my heart.

Kade. The man I was in love with. Always had been.