Chapter 11: Sharing

For the next few days, Florence couldn’t stop replaying their kiss in her mind over and over again. She still couldn’t believe that it happened, and the fact that it was the best kiss she ever had didn’t make it easier.

She didn’t see Scott during the week since he had to go on a business trip, but they exchanged a few text messages when he was free, which wasn’t very constant, Florence had to admit.

Because of that, she tried to stay as busy as possible; at work and at home. But even though she tried to stay focused and occupied, it was getting harder to ignore how much she missed seeing him. And it scared her, even more, to know that they only had been on two dates.

What was going to happen to her if she kept thinking about him that way? She couldn’t fall head over heels for a man like Scott. She was most likely going to end up heartbroken.

They also never really talked about their relationship or what it meant for both of them. And she was definitely not going to be the first one to ask. However, she feared that even if Scott seemed to like her, it didn’t mean to him what she thought it meant for her.

Could they really get into a serious relationship? Could she think about something more? Something definitive?

Florence shook her head, trying to focus on the dishes she was washing after dinner. Now she was trying harder to help and keep her parents still while at home.

Her father’s injury was a lot better, but since he was staying at home for a few days, it was really hard to keep him from doing something around the house. The man was stubborn and impatient as hell.

“Dad, can you please leave the things on the table? I’ll finish the dishes and clean the rest,” she scolded him when noticing that he was grabbing the rest of the stuff from the dinner table and bringing it back to the kitchen. “You shouldn’t be doing anything. You need to rest if you want to get better and go back to work.”

Florence ignored the way he rolled his eyes at her.

“I'm not invalid, Florence. I can help to clean the table after dinner. Do you want me to get sick? I need to do something, otherwise, I’ll go insane inside this house.”

Florence lowered her head and focused on rinsing the plate in her hand to hide her smile. It was funny to see how it bothered her parents, especially her father, to stay at home and do nothing. She could see where she learned to be so impatient and energetic.

“You’re seriously going to give me a heart attack some time,” she joked, teasing him.

“Don’t be so dramatic, you’re becoming just like your mother,” he lowered his voice at the end of the sentence, but it was of no use.

“I can hear you pretty clear from out here, Liam!” Her mother yelled from the living room. Florence knew she was only pretending to be annoyed.

The rest of the night went by smoothly and Florence enjoyed spending some time watching a movie with them before going to bed.

It had been a while since she last heard from Scott, but she didn’t want to be the clingy type, especially at the beginning of their relationship, if that was even what it was.

But it annoyed her to see that he wasn’t texting her so frequently. She wondered if he was already tired of her, but tried to shake that thought off immediately. She wouldn’t sabotage herself like that anymore.

With the kissing scene replaying in her mind once more, she fell asleep.

The next morning, Florence got ready for work and grabbed a cup of coffee on her way, texting Emma and telling her she’d bring one for her as well.

When she arrived at NYU, her friend was waiting for her by the gate and ripped a smile from ear to ear as soon as she saw Florence.

“Morning, sunshine,” she said with uncommon energy. Emma was not the morning type, so it was very weird to see her acting like this.

“What has got you so excited this early in the morning?” Florence asked, handing Emma her cup of coffee.

“Wouldn't you like to know? Guess who came for another visit today?”

Florence felt her heart falling to her stomach.

“Who?” she pretended not to know, but from Emma’s expression, it was more than clear it could only be one person. Unless Brad Pitt had decided to pay a visit to NYU, which she thought was very unlikely.

“Scott Lee, who happened to arrive at the same time I did. We made eye contact and I almost had a stroke, so I decided to wait for you over here. I didn’t know how to act.”

Florence bit her bottom lip to prevent herself from laughing. Emma was so cute fangirling over him. She wondered how Emma would react when she heard that Florence was actually going out with him.

However, it didn’t take long for her to find out about it. While going inside, they crossed paths with Scott, and the smile he opened up as soon as he saw Florence, made Emma look at her as if she was seeing the woman for the first time in her life.

Florence also didn’t know how to react to that. She wasn’t expecting Scott to smile at her that way, not in front of so many people, not in front of Emma. She wasn’t even expecting to see him there at all. As far as she was concerned, he was still traveling.

His smile could be something that would go unnoticed by everyone else, but not Emma since she was following every step of his.

“What was that?” Florence heard Emma whispering by her side, while Scott smirked at Florence one last time, raising an eyebrow at her, and went inside a room to his left. “Flo, did he just… flirt with you?”

Florence gulped. She wouldn’t be able to give another excuse to her friend. She turned her head toward Emma and the look on her face told Florence that she could already picture everything that was going on.

“Okay, spill it out. And don’t you dare keep anything from me,” she said between gritted teeth.

Emma pushed her away from there and back to the cafeteria, making sure no one else was close enough to overhear them talking. Florence wanted to argue with her that they would be late for work, but she knew Emma would simply wave her off.

Sighing, Florence decided to simply be honest with her. She was her best friend after all, and if there was someone in the world that Florence could trust, that someone was Emma Baumann.

The entire time she was explaining the situation to Emma, Florence was happy to see she wasn’t interrupting, which made everything much easier. But when she finished, Florence could basically see Emma’s mind working hard to process all the information and organize her questions. And what came out of her mouth was not something Florence was expecting. At all.

“You know he could be the answer to all of your prayers, right?”

Florence frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that if you can make a relationship with a man like Scott work, you won’t have to work your a*s off to take care of your family. He can take care of all of you. Forever.”

For a while, Florence couldn’t elaborate any words to reply to that. She hadn’t thought about that and she never would. She didn’t like Scott because of his assets or status. She simply liked him because of him. Because he was nice, funny, kind, and thoughtful.

“I would never use him like that,” she managed to say after a few seconds in silence. “It wouldn’t be fair. To him or me.”

“I know,” Emma shrugged. “I'm just saying that he really is the whole package. And it wouldn’t hurt to have some peace in your life for once. You shouldn’t fight so hard to keep your family together. You deserve someone that can take care of you for a change.”

Florence was not expecting the conversation to take that path or for Emma to sound so mature. She felt her eyes burn with unshed tears, and shook her head trying to prevent them from falling.

Emma didn’t know, but it meant the world to Florence to hear and know that someone cared for her that way and was aware of the sacrifices she was making to keep her family happy.

And even if she didn’t want to think about it, it would be really good indeed if Scott really was the answer to her prayers.