Page 90 of Picking Daisies on Sundays

I unzipped the garment bag and confirmed that it wasn’t the dress I packed. Panic spread across my chest like a rash—did I somehow pack the wrong dress?I’ve never even seen this dress before.

“I bought it for you,” Levi intercepted my dread. He completely stopped what he was doing, leaving the tie hanging half-done around his neck as he leaned against the wall watching me.

“You bought me a dress?” I asked with confusion.

“I wanted to repay you for altering my suit. You never let me pay you,” he responded, a quiet look in his eyes, weighing my reaction.

“I…it’s beautiful. You bought this for me?” I questioned. It

wasbeautiful. A dress the shade of pomegranate juice with small white flowers printed into it. It was strapless with an A-line fit, and a mid-calf length.

“Of course I did.”

Out of habit, I flipped the collar of the dress forward to check the size, but instead of a tag, there was a small, embroidered daisy. “I’ve never seen this logo before,” and I’ve seen thousands of logos and tags.

He cleared his throat. “That’s because I sewed it in.”

My eyes widened. “You did this?”

“I thought I’d put my sewing skills to practice again. I wanted you to have something that was just yours. Which now that I’m saying it, sounds ridiculous, because you design clothes for a living—”

I crushed him in a hug before he could continue, squeezing every muscle in his back. He released a laugh of relief.

“Maybe you can pack it for Paris.” I instantly deflated. Paris.He seemed pretty happy,Bella had said.

“Yeah, maybe,” I slowly pulled away.

“I did make us dinner reservations for the day we got there.”

My heart stopped and my head whipped up. “What?”

“I’m coming to Paris with you.”

“You’re going to fly in with me?” I asked with hope.

“No, baby. I’m moving to Paris with you.”

“You’re joking.” My spine was taut, and my hands were shaking. Was he kidding? Was he trying to make me laugh? Because I was about to tear down the middle with tears of joy.

“If I was joking, then why did I just tell The New York Times that I’ll be moving to Paris?”

My stomach dropped and my hands hit my mouth.“You got the job?” HE GOT THE JOB!A heartbeat later, the rest of his words sunk in. “You turned the job down?” I asked in disbelief. “Why did you turn the job down?”

“My professor offered me a position in France. He read my book and wants me to teach French literature at an American school with him,” he explained.

“Levi,that’s incredible,”I smiled with all of the happiness bottled in my body. He looked relieved at my reaction. Until—“But the girls,” I said.Rhea and Claire were his whole world. He couldn’t go to Paris. They needed him.Heneeded them.

Surprise grew between the space of his eyebrows. “Sarah and Jeff are moving back into the city—they got an apartment. It was a surprise wedding gift from her father-in-law. They’ll take care of the girls when my mom can’t. Sarah told me last night.”

Hope escaped from under the rock of my heart and flooded my lungs. “So they’ll be taken care of? You’d actually be able to come with me? Why would you want to come with me?”

He took a step forward. My hair moved out of the way to make room for his large hand on my jaw as if by his command. “Because when you find out the person you’ve been in love with for your entire life loves you back, you’ll spend the rest of your life making up for lost time.”

My heart was beating against my chest at the pace of a hundred drums. Hope bloomed on his face like a gorgeous tulip as he registered my love for him. Of course, I couldn’t hide it, especially not now. He wanted to go to Paris.He had a position in Paris.He turned down the position with The New York Times. Rhea and Claire will be taken care of.

He was beaming at all the same things. I threw myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck as his came around my body.

“We’re going to Paris, baby.”