Finally, before quitting time and hopefully after the last delivery, I turn on my phone to send him a quick text. I don’t know if I’m strong enough for more.

Me: Thank you. For all of them. They were overwhelmingly beautiful.

His response is instant. Like he’s been waiting all day, and maybe he has.

Oz: You deserve a thousand more.

Me: I wouldn’t know where to put them.

I smile and it feels nice. God, I want to forgive him and run into his arms. But I asked for space and I need to take it.

Oz: I would build you a castle, if only you would ask.

Me: Maybe one day.

I bite my lip, thinking maybe I shouldn’t have said that. Damn it. I have to be stronger, I tell myself, but it’s hard when someone makes you feel like you’re so important to them. But then I let out a sigh and put my phone back in my bag. I decide to leave the flowers at work so I can enjoy them longer. I head out and meet Paige in the lobby. I don’t need her for the walk home, but it’s nice walking with her again.

When we get to the apartment, she pulls out her key, unlocking the door and stepping inside.

“Holy shit,” she says, and I try to look around her.

The scent hits me before I can see what’s beyond her, and when she steps to the side, I see it.

“He said I deserved a thousand more,” I whisper as I look around the room.

Flowers are on every inch of every surface, and they’re all exquisite. I stand there stunned and tears sting my eyes. My man behind the curtain will not give up so easily.

Wednesday

“Delivery for—”

“Right here,” Skyler says, standing up and looking over our cubicle wall.

I put my bag away and turn around. I haven’t been here ten minutes and it’s started again already? When I see the man standing there without flowers, confusion hits me.

“Mallory Sullivan?” he queries.

I nod and wait.

“Sign here, please.”

He hands me a small clipboard and I sign for whatever it is I’m supposed to get. He takes the paper and hands me a long, slender, black box tied with an ivory ribbon. It’s an odd size, but I take it to my desk and sit down with it. Looking up, I see Skyler sigh and duck away again. I hear Eric coming in late, and I wait until he’s seated, too.

I untie the ribbon and open the box and see a piece of paper and a pen inside. I read the note and look up to see the deliveryman still there. And then I laugh. It’s the first time I’ve laughed in days, and it feels foreign but so nice.

I read the note again, debating if I should play with him but I can’t deny the smile and flutter that strikes me. It’s nice to not be so sad and I want to soak this moment up even if I’m still mad at him. I tell myself this is for me and not for him. I pull out the pen, doing as the note instructs, and put the paper back inside the box, tie the ribbon and hand it back to the delivery guy. He takes it and turns on his heels.

On the note was a hangman’s pole and blank spaces at the bottom. Oz said he wanted to play a game with me, and though it sounds ridiculous, it was so adorable I couldn’t help but melt a little more. He’s slowly chipping away at the anger I’m trying to hold on to.

I go back to work, pushing Oz out of my mind, keeping busy. About an hour later the delivery guy is back with the same little box. I sign again and he waits while I unwrap the ribbon and read the note.

I’d guessed the letter L and it was no good. So I try the letter S this time and send it back with the delivery guy.

All day Oz and I play back and forth. Each time I got one wrong, he drew a piece of the man on the hangman’s pole. When I got one right, he would fill in the places where the letters went.

Right before five o’clock, I get the last delivery of the box and solve the puzzle.

A DREAM IS A WISH YOUR HEART MAKES

I’d solved it long before lunch, but who would stop a game like this? I’d smiled all day, feeling lighter than I have in ages.

When I get home, there’s been a delivery of dinner from this amazing Italian place, and Paige and I eat until we can hardly walk. She doesn’t ask who it was from. We both know.

Thursday

I’m starting to crack. But I’ve made it this long. I didn’t text or email him all day yesterday even though I’d wanted to. I would start to, then stop each time. I feel like I’m fighting more with myself at this point than Oz. I can wait a little longer. Every time I try and remember why I’m mad at him, I end up defending him. Maybe because of what Paige had told me. All Oz wanted to do was protect me. Something no one has ever cared to do for me in my life. I’m excited to see what he has in store for today.

I’m at my desk sipping my coffee when a woman dressed in a black suit comes over to me.

“Ms. Sullivan?”

I nod a little nervously. I wonder if I’m in trouble. She pulls out an envelope and hands it to me, walking away right after.

“Another game?” Skyler asks as she walks by my desk.

I smile and turn away from her, opening the envelope. Inside I find two pieces of parchment paper and a pressed four-leaf clover in between them.

The clover looks old but perfectly preserved between the pieces of parchment. I look back down inside the envelope and see a note I’d missed the first time.

Pulling it out, I see Oz’s beautiful script and begin to read.

My Mallory,

The first time I saw you was a long time ago. I’d love to tell you about that day and every day until the moment we met. When you’re ready, I will, but until then I want you to have this.