Bloom and Branch

Every Friday, Amelia buys nine stems of stock. Then Theo begins adding one flower of his own. For three years, Amelia Hart has kept her late father's ritual alive: the same bouquet for her mother, from the same shop, every Friday. She tells herself it is love. She never asks whether it has also become a way to stop grief from changing anything. Across Saddler's Row, Theo Merrick opens Bloom and Branch. He grows everything he sells, bakes before sunrise, and is far better at choosing flowers than explaining what he feels. Soon, one unexplained stem begins appearing in Amelia's weekly wrapping. Amelia presses each flower into a private sketchbook and translates the meanings Theo will not say aloud. Over twelve months, friendship becomes longing, until one mistaken flower makes her believe he has asked a question neither of them is ready to answer. To find their way to a happy ending, Amelia must stop reading between the petals, and Theo must finally speak without hiding behind them. Bloom and Branch is a tender, closed-door small-town romance featuring dual point of view, a slow-burn friendship, mutual pining, a flower-farmer hero, grief and healing, and one almost-kiss beneath the mistletoe.