Chapter 227
Ellie’s POV
For a moment, I just laid there in Dominic’s arms,’staring up at him, too startled to speak. He was looking down at me with an expression that seemed caught somewhere between surprised, annoyed, and amused.
Either way, he didn’t put me down right away. His fingers splayed wide across my back, and he continued to hold me even when the moment had passed and he definitely could have let me go.
He just… stood there. Cradling me against his chest as if I were as light as a feather. And looking down at me with a look that softened slowly, moment by moment, lips parting. Just like he had looked at me on our wedding day, during those brief moments in between two disasters.
Finally, I managed to squeak out a single word.
“Hi.”
Dominic’s brow arched, making the tension dissipate like mist in the morning air. He set me down gently, and for a moment, I swayed on my feet, the fall having turned my muscles loose and jello-y. He held my upper arms until I was steadier. My cheeks flushed, but I tried not to notice.
“Hi?” he said. “That’s all you have to say after you almost just shattered an ankle?”
“It wouldn’t have been that bad,” I protested.
He snorted. Then, looking around at the festival, and especially at the wall of hay bales in the center of the field, he said, “So. What’s all this about?”
“It’s the festival,” I replied matter of factly, smoothing down my shirt.
Dominic glanced at me. “Looks like two festivals to me.”
I opened my mouth to respond, although I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to say. I knew Dominic wasn’t going to approve of the way I had gone about dealing with Vivian, and admittedly, I hadn’t thought far enough ahead to consider how to tell him. I supposed I had hoped the festival would already have begun by the time he figured it out.
But it didn’t matter anyway, because before I had to answer, Sarah’s voice cut across the field.
“Ellie!” I turned to see her speed walking toward us. She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder, pointing at a large white truck with yellow lettering sitting in the distance. “The florist is here to drop off the arrangements.”
“Right.” I let out a small breath. “He’s late.”
“I know,” Sarah said. “Should we help him unload?”
I nodded and followed her. I didn’t expect Dominic to tag along, but he did. I didn’t bother to tell him to leave.
The florist’s truck was parked a ways off. A man in corduroy overalls was standing at the back of the truck, scratching his head with his hat tucked under his arm. When he saw us coming, he turned and looked directly at me.
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“Luna,” he said, nodding his head politely.
I smiled but asked, “What held you up?”
He drew his brows together. “What do you mean? You called and had us change the arrangements at the last moment. We’ve been working overtime to fix everything.”
“Huh?” I hurried over, peering into the truck. “I never called.”
“Well, the person on the phone said it was you,” he said with a shrug. “Said it was urgent, too.”
I looked at the arrangements in the truck. They looked mostly the same, which was a relief. Sprays of sunflowers and baby’s breath, sprinkled in with some black eyed Susans that were, admittedly, really pretty with the arrangements. But I had asked for wisteria, not black eyed Susans, and I definitely didn’t call anyone to have them changed.
My first thought, of course, was Vivian. I wouldn’t have been surprised in the slightest if she decided to call the florist and change something, just slightly, not enough to outwardly ruin everything but just enough to make sure that it was an inconvenience.
And of course she would pin it on me. Get the florist pissed at me and expect me to foot the bill.
The whole thing made my jaw clench with frustration, but I chose, in that moment, not to let it get to me at all. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction. So instead of reacting, I pulled out my wallet and turned to the florist while Sarah and Dominic got to work unloading the bouquets.
“I’m really sorry about the mixup,” I said, offering him a smile. “How much do I owe you for your trouble?”
The florist, softening a little, scratched his head and went over the numbers. By the time we settled on an amount and I paid the difference with cash, Sarah and Dominic had nearly unloaded all of the arrangements, and some of the festival staff were already carrying them away.
I walked over to pick up a basket, and it was then that I heard a loud sneeze behind me.
“Bless you,” I said without thinking much of it. I tucked the basket under one arm then reached for another.
Another sneeze came.
“Bless you.”
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“Ah… Ah… CHOO!”
This sneeze was loud enough to echo in the back of the truck and make me jump. I turned to see Dominic standing there, wiping his nose with a tissue. His eyes were watery and the tip of his nose was red.
“You good?” I asked.
He seemed like he was about to answer, but then another sneeze came, this one bringing with it a wave of dry coughs that left him wheezing after.
I cocked my head and studied him as he blew his nose, then sneezed again, then started coughing even more.
“Good Goddess above,” I said, setting aside the arrangements. “You’re not sick, are you?”
“No.” His voice was all nasally now, and he looked like he was struggling to hold back more coughs. “I…
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AGHOO! I’m um… Allergic to black eyed Susans.”
“Allergic.”
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He nodded and coughed some more. This fit was so bad that he turned away pressing his hand into the wall of the truck, and the force of the coughs shook his entire body-and even the van itself.
I looked down at the remaining arrangements, then at the line of staff trickling over to the festival grounds. The flowers were already all over the grounds by now.
A tiny part of me almost wanted to feel satisfied about Dominic’s reaction, as if it were the slightest drop of karma in the giant bucket of bullshit he’d put me through. But deep down, I knew I couldn’t sit right with myself if I felt that way. All of my training to be a healer wouldn’t allow it.
“Maybe we should get you some allergy meds,” I suggested.
“I don’t have time to run out to the store,” Dominic said, sniffling. “Besides, they’ll just make tne drowsy.”
I sighed, biting my lip as I thought of another solution. Suddenly, I felt something strange and familiar. As if that same pull I’d felt in the forest the day I had been injured by the boar was resurfacing out of nowhere, just as strong and irresistible.
I turned toward the treeline, toward the source of the pull.
In that moment, a little voice in the back of my mind seemed to whisper…
Over here…
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