Chapter 5 Rosebay Whispers

By Monday morning, the sleepy town of Rosebay was no longer quite so sleepy.

Olivia had only been back for a week, but the whisper trails had already started weaving through the narrow lanes and seaside cafés like wind through the dunes.

And, of course, they had everything to do with her and Lucas Hale.

It started innocently.

Mrs. Darnell, who owned the corner antique store, passed by The Bloom Room and saw Lucas balancing on a ladder, shirt clinging to his back with sweat while Olivia stood below holding his toolbox.

By the time Mrs. Darnell reached the diner, it had somehow become:

"Lucas is personally remodeling the entire flower shop for Olivia Rose. I heard she asked him to move in."

At Clementine's Café, two tables away from where Olivia sat sipping tea, she heard it again.

"Didn't they used to date before she left?"

"No, no. She broke his heart. Poor thing waited years for her, and now look-they're painting walls and falling in love again."

"It's romantic, in a scandalous kind of way."

Olivia tried not to roll her eyes as she stirred her tea.

"They do know I'm sitting right here, right?" she muttered.

Across from her, Lena Morgan, her childhood best friend, laughed and leaned in. "Welcome back to Rosebay, where gossip travels faster than Wi-Fi."

"It's like I can't breathe without someone turning it into a wedding announcement," Olivia groaned.

Lena smirked. "To be fair, you and Lucas do have that... unfinished love story energy."

Olivia blinked. "What does that even mean?"

"You both walk around pretending to be 'just friends' while giving each other googly eyes and touching each other's elbows like it means something."

Olivia laughed despite herself. "We're working. He's helping with the shop."

"Right," Lena said, unconvinced. "Because shirtless woodworking is a common business transaction."

"He's not shirtless!"

"Yet," Lena added with a wink.

After lunch, Olivia took the long way back to the shop, walking down the winding path that led past the dunes and sea cliffs. The ocean was quieter than she remembered, or maybe she was just finally listening.

This was where she'd grown up.

She and Lucas used to walk this trail almost every day the summer before she left for New York. They'd skip stones, talk about their dreams, and once, they shared a kiss just under the lookout tree where the cliffs met the horizon.

Her cheeks flushed remembering it.

So much had changed. Yet some feelings had stayed stubbornly rooted in her heart, like wild roses that refused to die no matter how long they were left untended.

Back at The Bloom Room, Lucas was already there.

He stood inside, bent over a plank of reclaimed wood he was sanding for the front counter. He looked up when she walked in-face flushed with effort, hair falling over his brow.

"Hey," he said, brushing sawdust from his hands.

"Hey yourself."

They worked for a while in companionable silence, Olivia arranging the first batch of fresh blooms in the cooler, Lucas measuring and hammering nearby.

Then she said, "Everyone in town thinks we're dating."

Lucas paused mid-measure. "They've always been good at that."

"I had lunch with Lena. Apparently, we're now Rosebay's most talked-about almost-couple."

Lucas looked amused. "Is that what we are? An almost-couple?"

Olivia hesitated. "I don't know what we are. But I thought you should know what people are saying."

He nodded. "Let them talk. We know the truth."

"Do we?"

He looked at her, really looked. His eyes were soft but steady.

"I'm not in a rush, Olivia. I know you're still figuring things out. But I'm not going anywhere."

A lump formed in her throat.

"You really waited?"

"I didn't know if I was waiting for you or for the idea of you," he said honestly. "But when I saw you standing in this shop again... I knew I still cared."

She smiled. "I don't deserve that."

"Maybe not. But love doesn't care about what we think we deserve."

That evening, after Lucas left, Olivia stood by the shop window and watched the sun dip behind the ocean. The flower shop was nearly finished now. The front sign had been polished, the floorboards cleaned, and the scent of life had returned.

She heard a rustle by the counter and turned to see a bouquet Lucas had left behind-white gardenias with a note tucked between the stems.

For the one who came back.

Her heart tightened.

Outside, Rosebay whispered.

Inside, Olivia bloomed.